Vimeo…Isn’t it just like Youtube?

There are a lot of people who don’t know what Vimeo is or know but have never used it before. I spent the weekend getting reacquainted with the website because, just like a lot of internet users, I primarily use Youtube. So aren’t they just the same thing? A website that hosts video. Well the answer to that is a little more nuanced.

Vimeo is more about quality then quantity. In fact, when I was working on my cinematography degree in 2010, it was the only website used by the professors. Why is that? The nuts and bolts of the website may be the similar, but the design of Vimeo is closer to independent films then memes.

Vimeo is not as popular because of the way both websites broke into the market. Youtube was originally designed to get money for the content creators but lately have been pulling farther and farther away from that platform by making views worth less each year and demonetizing videos with a large brush.

Vimeo didn’t start out with advertisements in the same way Youtube did but they did still have to pay for servers. That means that while you can technically have a free channel, that channel also has a size limit or 500 MB per week. If someone wants to upload more each week then they can pay for higher tiers of service. This makes it less desirable for someone that is trying to build an audience and more desirable instead to people who already have an audience but need somewhere to put their creations. That’s why an audience will find thoughtful independent films, animations, or Kickstarter advertisements instead of 8 hours of “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher” (Sorry that song is now stuck in my head!).

So it is a good site and extremely good quality. Uploading has never been a problem for me. I would only upload highlight films, or sometimes the entire film, once a week at most so the limits never hurt me personally. I used it primarily for my videography business. However, I had so many couples request something they could share on Youtube instead so I moved back over in 2015. Now I am slowly moving my channel back to Vimeo because it is, in my opinion, a much better platform for businesses. The design is undeniably more professional and you do not need to worry about a clickbait thumbnail distracting from your content. I also do not want to have to worry that whatever advertisement plays in front of my wedding video highlight will upset the bride’s grandparents when they show them their video.

The downside is that Youtube does have a wider chance of someone finding your video randomly and building an audience. There is more access to website video editing tools (and Youtube has a library of background music that anyone can use for free). However, the quality of the website for a professional venture is always going to be with Vimeo.