Why Vimeo Is Now Charging Content Creators A Ton Of Money
Vimeo's new pricing plan is causing it to lose a multitude of its content creators.
This article is more than 2 years old
Costs are soaring for just about everything in recent months. From what you pay for food to how much you are forking over at the gas pump. Inflation has truly taken over the economy. What’s more, is that now those prices are no longer limited to consumer sustenance and necessities. The Verge detailed that Vimeo has begun charging some of its content creators an exorbitant amount of money to continue using their platform as a means to promote their work.
Content creator, Lois van Baarle, found this out the hard way after she received a shocking email from the video-hosting platform. Vimeo’s email informed van Baarle that due to her success on the platform in order to continue posting content she would have to pay a whopping $3,500 per year. Van Baarle was absolutely flabbergasted at the staggering figure outlined in the email. Prior to being notified of the increase van Baarle had already laid out $200 for Vimeo’s annual plan. She couldn’t justify what warranted the sudden $3,300 increase. Especially since the number of people watching her videos never exceeded 815.
In defense of its policies, Vimeo argued that it only charges users higher premiums, or what they refer to as pricing for a custom plan, when they exceed a certain level of bandwidth. Vimeo outlined that the acceptable monthly bandwidth allotment falls between two to three TB per month. Matt Anchin, Vimeo’s head of communications, explained when the company becomes aware of a certain user exceeding that pre-defined allotment they then reach out and inform them of the pricing changes.
However, a multitude of users see Vimeo’s outrageous pricing structure not only as unwarranted but detrimental. Creators of the Vimeo account Channel 5 detailed, in a Patreon post, their dissatisfaction with Vimeo. In the post, they cited that the company was attempting to charge them $16,200 in exchange for not deleting their videos. Channel 5 creators Andrew, Nic, and Evan could not reason why Vimeo would risk losing one of their top content creators by trying to charge such an enormous amount of money.
The reason why Vimeo is suddenly trying to charge some of its most successful content creators thousands of dollars can likely be attributed to the businesses model shift implemented by current Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud. Vimeo’s fourth-quarter revenue results reveal that the company is trying to appeal more to the corporate sector and move away from amateur and indie content creators. Essentially, Sud is trying to rebrand the company and distance itself from young upstarts.
Charging content creators outrageous sums who are simply trying to establish themselves and get their videos exposure is a good way to push them off your platform altogether. Although, he maintains that the company’s ultimate goal is to provide the, “…best video solution possible and work with our users…”, he directly spoke to his endgame when he informed top Vimeo stakeholders that “Today we are a technology platform, not a viewing destination. We are a B2B solution, not the indie version of YouTube.”
Whether or not Sud is making the right move at present, and whether it will serve Vimeo well in the future is an outcome that can not yet be realized. Despite the uncertainties revolving around Sud’s new business ploys, what is overtly clear is that the outrageous costs associated with his new strategies are causing the platform to lose passionate creators. Fueling the corporate sector is fine, but is it okay when it comes at the expense of creativity and ambition?
