Vimeo, the IAC-owned user-generated video site with 15 million members that competes against YouTube and others like DailyMotion, is getting down to the business of making money, and to that end it today announced that it would be appointing Mark Pinney as its first CFO.
Pinney most recently comes from troubled wine site Lot18, but prior to that cut his chops at a number of media efforts, including Tremor Video (where he was CFO/COO) and ad tech pioneer Tacoda, where he was also CFO, prior to its acquisition (and eventual closure) by AOL (owner of TechCrunch). He’d also been one of the first employees at 24/7 Real Media (now part of WPP) among other places.
“Mark brings a wealth of video, subscription, and media experience to Vimeo,” said Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor in a statement. “His unique background spanning startup, growth and scale operations will help us grow while continuing to invest in the high quality video platform and audience that sets Vimeo apart.”
So far, Vimeo has tried to cut a place out for itself as a kind of anti-YouTube, a place for higher-quality user generated content not dominated by big media. More recently it has been trying to do more to eek out revenues from that position.
It launched a tip jar, where users can tip the content creator; and it is preparing to launch a paywall around some of its inventory. And the acquisition of GIF-maker Echograph, Vimeo hopes, will help it capitalize on the wave of popularity of social, short-short-form video typified by Tumblr and the recent launch of Vine by Twitter.
“Vimeo is ideally situated to leverage its current market position as the premium video platform for creative communities,” said Mark Pinney in a statement. “I am excited to join a company with such tremendous growth potential.”
Vimeo says it has 15 million registered members with a global audience of over 93 million each month.