According to Vimeo’s CEO, the 14-year-old video service originally created for indie filmmakers is changing business models from a bona fide video viewing platform, to selling software tools.
The move will allow Vimeo to swim in a less saturated social “SaaS” market where it will focus on stock images and video, leaving the tired video content market that is currently monopolized by “big-money” tech giants investing billions into original content.
Titled Vimeo Stock, Vimeo’s new royalty-free marketplace allows its massive community of “social creators” to monetize their work by selling their content to marketers, businesses, agencies and other creatives.
What time is it? TOOL TIME!
As the golden age of internet media continues to flounder, Vimeo says it has pulled back on investing in original content for the past year, in anticipation of the pivot.
Axios reports that instead it wants to “fill the vacancy being left by large video platforms in the realm of creator tools.”
There’s no shortage of companies like Getty and Shutterstock making a name for themselves in the stock-arts, but compared to the influx of influencer stunts and “roommate comedy” tirelessly ransacking video viewing platforms, the stock vid-scape has miles of room.
And Vimeo plans to hit the ground sprinting
Vimeo already has a stellar reputation among its users, with more than 240m viewers a month, and close to 800k auteurs tapping in to its creator-focused tools.
Most importantly, their creator-revenue percentages blow competitors out of the water, promising 60-70% of revenue made from its Vimeo Stock contributors, compared to Shutterstock, which reportedly pays its creators closer to 30%.