vimeo.com
There is no doubt that YouTube is the most popular video streaming site, with hundreds of millions of users and user-generated videos. It has a stranglehold over the market, and any other site trying to compete will have a hard time doing so.
Many people around the world have grown to despise YouTube for its many advertising-filled aspects. For those who have ever spent any amount of time on the site, you've probably noticed how cramped it is with ads. You can't even skip them all, and some videos (especially on monetized channels) have them built-in throughout the entire video.
Many YouTube users have abandoned the site altogether because it is frustrating to have several ads throughout the course of a single video.
Since YouTube began placating advertisers with ads, they've gradually increased the number of ads and decreased the ability for users to control which ones they see. This is especially true today, as I estimate that approximately 30% of your video watching time on YouTube is spent watching advertisements.
Many people have found that YouTube no longer meets the needs of today's viewers. For one, it constantly tries to push its premium services on users, even when they are not using them. This is hardly surprising, given YouTube's history of trying to amass as much data about its users as possible. And then there are the surveys that frequently show up in videos- many viewers find them intrusive and annoying. Consequently, several competing video sites have popped up in hopes of stealing away some of YouTube's audience.
The site Vimeo is a streaming service that you can use to watch videos without ads. There are some important differences between how it works and the types of videos that are made on the service. For example, you have to pay to use the service, which may be a downside for some people. However, the service attracts a different type of video maker than YouTube does, so it may be a viable alternative for certain people. Let's take a look!
History
In 2004, Jake Lodwick and Zach Klein founded Vimeo. Lodwick came up with the name ?a play on words created by combining ?video? and ?me.? Vimeo, conveniently (or creatively) enough is also an anagram of the word ?movie.? Thus, with a catchy name and a dream of providing the world with ad-free video streaming, Vimeo was born.
In July of 2008, Vimeo began taking more control over the type of video content that was hosted on its website. Initially, only videos that did not include pornographic content were allowed to be posted. However, in order to allow for a greater diversity of content, Vimeo later expanded this policy to include all types of videos.
In July of 2008, the website hosting gaming videos announced that they would no longer be hosting these videos. They cited several reasons for this decision, but the crux of the issue seemed to be surrounding the lengths these sorts of videos tended to be, resulting in their eating up of too much server space. In September of that same year, every gaming video was purged from the site. However, as Vimeo grew in popularity, and as server space became more scarce, the ban was lifted. As of October 2014, gaming videos are again allowed on the website.
In 2014, Vimeo became the first streaming service to offer HD videos, and this year they introduced 4K video support technology. This has led to nearly every other streaming service incorporating 4K capabilities.
Their next big move was one that they were, admittedly, a little late to the game on. By 2017 most websites allowed users to upload live video feeds. However, it wasn't until September of that year that Vimeo introduced its live streaming platform, acquiring the company LiveStream in order to do so. As a result, Vimeo does have some of the highest-quality live streaming of any website, even if it took a little longer to get there.
Design
I think Vimeo's website design is nicer than YouTube's. The font sizes and thumbnails are smaller on Vimeo, and the delineations between video player, description, comments, and suggested videos are much clearer.
I really like the way that Vimeo's website looks. It's much more visually appealing than YouTube, and it puts the focus where it should be - on the videos you are watching. Instead of simply slapping a video on the page, Vimeo designs its website in a much more elegant way, with clean lines and neatly organized layouts. These make for a superior site design in my opinion.
Content
This may be the first area where Vimeo falls short of YouTube in terms of video variety. In terms of numbers of videos, Vimeo has a smaller community than YouTube. This is due to the fact that there are fewer active users on Vimeo compared to YouTube.
Vimeo has only 170 million users. This may not seem like a very small number at first. Until you put it into conversation with YouTube, which boasts a staggering 2 billion monthly active users. Vimeo is, then, but a small fraction of the size of YouTube. Unfortunately, the content on Vimeo reflects this.
That being said, Vimeo tends to favor quality over quantity. So, even though the numbers of videos and users are comparatively minuscule, the streaming quality and supportive nature of the userbase is where the perks of the tradeoff come into play.
As I mentioned before, Vimeo offers videos in 4K resolution, whereas many YouTube videos tend to be grainy. Vimeo also has significantly faster-buffering speeds, whereas YouTube often lags and glitches. Plus, the community of Vimeo is supportive, and many of its members offer thoughtful and constructive criticism where it is appreciated, praise where it is appropriate.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
Although the traditional browser site is gorgeous, the functionality of the app could use improvement. It is not nearly as organized or logically laid out as the site is, resulting in cumbersome browsing. It also has a bit of a learning curve before you become fully comfortable using it.
Pricing and Plans
However, if you want the ability to upload your own videos and share them with friends, or if you want to create more elaborate content, Vimeo Pro is for you.
In addition to the Vimeo Basic plan (which everyone can use for free), four different plans are available: ad-free streaming with no uploading capabilities; uploading limited to 10 minutes per video; uploading limited to 2GB per month; and uploading unlimited. The free version will suffice for those who just want ad-free streaming of videos, but if users want the ability to upload their own videos and share them with friends, or if they want to create more elaborate content, Vimeo Pro is for them.
There are a few different plans that you can use Vimeo for content creation.
Vimeo Plus is a subscription service that costs $7 a month and give you 5GB of storage space each week.
Vimeo Pro is a monthly service that gives you 20GB of data storage.
Vimeo Business is a monthly service that costs $50, offers no weekly limits, and allows you to store up to 5TB of videos.
Vimeo Pro is a good value for $75/month. It comes with no limits, 7TB of storage, and HD live streaming.
Suggestions that I Have for Vimeo
Some of my suggestions for Vimeo's app design are making it easier to navigate and more intuitive to create and edit videos.
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