In the family of online video-sharing sites, YouTube is the handsome, athletic, charming, and very successful older brother. Blip is that confused second cousin who hugs you for just a minute too long while Dailymotion is probably off torturing small animals somewhere. That leaves Vimeo, the awkward artistic younger brother who listens to Sigur Rós and probably collects Hi8 cassettes. But like any kid brother, it looks like Vimeo is fighting to get out from under the shadow of their big brother YouTube and make their own mark.
Taking a page from those greedy baristas at Starbucks, Vimeo has recently introduced something called a “tip jar.” The new addition will feature a button where viewers can contribute money to creators. This “tip jar” is in lieu of Vimeo running pre-roll advertisements like the ones you see before basically every YouTube video.
CEO of Vimeo, Kerry Trainor told Bloomberg, ““We want to be the high-quality sharing platform,” also adding, “It’s never about throwing stones at YouTube.”
Even though Vimeo is taking 15 percent off the top of revenue generated from the “tip jar,” this addition will hopefully launch a brand new digital market for video creators. For years now, Vimeo has been a stronghold for creators looking to create artistically driven film without the limitations that YouTube places on some creators. While YouTube has been seen as a place to discover new global talent, Vimeo is a place for filmmakers looking to perfect their craft.
The “tip jar” and the “pay-to-view” service allows the public to finally reward Vimeo filmmakers for creating some of the best digital content online. Need an example of some of the great stuff on Vimeo right now? Just check out the video below and see for yourself.
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[…] the use of advertising. As I understand it, the filmmaker keeps 85% of the revenue from the “tip jar” and Vimeo gets the other […]
[…] pay-to-view is a huge gamble for Vimeo filmmakers, as audiences have grown accustomed to getting most of their content for free. It seems that by […]
[…] Share on TumblrBack in September, Vimeo announced that they would start rolling out a “tip jar” feature for all of their creators. The new feature would allow fans to tip their favorite […]
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