The way I see it, Vimeo doesn't work for large media companies with outsized ambition. And Vimeo doesn't work for small creators. So who does Vimeo work for?
In their annual letter to shareholders, here's what Vimeo had to say:
We are a B2B solution, not the indie version of YouTube. We are both an established free video platform and an emerging enterprise software leader. But our customers don't care about how we define ourselves; they care about what Vimeo does for them.
They've already caused a bit of a kerfuffle by telling about 1% of their customers that they will be charged time times more. So they've basically told their most valuable customers to cough up more, or else.
I do agree with one thing they've said — "our customers don't care about how we define ourselves; they care about what Vimeo does for them."
So, let's talk about what a serious media player should expect from an enterprise software offering (like ours):
A seamless video experience and apps across all classes of devices — and I don't mean all types of mobile phones. Video is watched on TVs, and the TV ecosystem is massively fragmented. We aren't just talking iOS vs Android. There are the giants, Samsung and LG, and then the giants no one has heard of — Vewd, Vida Hisense, Foxxum and others who provide the software platforms that TV manufacturers around the world use (instead of Android).
The ability to serve different stream qualities and charge people differently — charge less for an SD subscription, and more for 4K. This is more important that you would think simply because purchase power isn't just an economic statistic, it's a reality — and that means every media company needs to be able to charge people in one country differently than people in another.
Content licenses are real too. How about having the ability to decide what content is available in what region, so media companies can monetise their content directly in countries where local providers aren't willing to pay a premium for a content license.
And don't get me started on supporting multiple payment gateways (for the same plan), managing stream concurrency (so even sharing passwords doesn't mean 100 people are watching content that one person is paying for), and managing (and paying) global taxes.
The way I see it, Vimeo doesn't work for large media companies with outsized ambition. And Vimeo doesn't work for small creators. So who does Vimeo work for?
At Laminar, we aren't trying to be all things for all people. We are an enterprise solution for media companies. If you have a large library, and can grow to a 100,000 or more subscribers with the potential to grow to millions of users, then we are perfect for you.
If you'd like to know more about how Laminar can help you launch an OTT in 12 weeks at zero up-front cost and without hiring a single engineer (ever), talk to us.