YouTube—currently owned by Google— is the first place most people think of when it comes to online video. The world’s largest video service has over one billion users, is free, offers users a chance to monetize their video content, and integrates well with Google’s search optimization algorithms. That’s some of what’s good about it.
I don’t hate YouTube, but there are a few things I hate about using it. The platform is overcrowded, inundated with bad content and comment trolls, offers less content control options, and has too many irrelevant and annoying ads. As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
For the past eleven years I’ve been more than satisfied with paying for Vimeo—one of YouTube’s main competitors—to host most of my online videos. Below are five of the reasons I feel that way.
1. Vimeo is more professional
Vimeo’s professional quality standards outweigh YouTube’s. It’s why so many professional filmmakers and video content creators use it. It’s clean, bright minimalistic user interface makes it easy to navigate through my dashboard and manage my video content.
As a content creator who is looking to get better, it’s nice to know I can associate myself with others who want to get away from the clickbait thumbnail video landfill YouTube has become. When I’ve had technical support issues with some of my videos, I’ve always received emails from Vimeo technical support staff to help me resolve them.
Vimeo also makes it easy to gain knowledge through community forums and video blogs offering tips and advice on producing better videos.
As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
2. Vimeo offers greater control over where my content can be seen
Each video uploaded to my Vimeo account is treated as an individual asset. I can control individual privacy, sharing, and embedding features for each video. This comes in handy when I want to upload a video to my account for embedding on my website, but I don’t want the Vimeo community to view it or if I want to share a video with a particular person. The platform also offers the option of creating showcases where I can segregate and display content for different purposes.
Advanced settings allow customization of the Vimeo player to suit my purpose. For example, on many of my website videos, I choose not to display the video title, my profile picture, player controls, or the Vimeo logo. I can change these features with a few mouse clicks.
I can also choose to create the video thumbnail from the video, upload my own, or create a GIF file from a section of the video and download it for publishing elsewhere. Interaction settings allow me to control the look and behavior of the video end screen without going through the hassle of the YouTube Subscribe button and next video placement.
3. No annoying ads to drown out my content
YouTube makes its money on advertising. The site is overrun with ads—on the website and within the video player—before, during, and after content. I’ve always found it to be annoying, distracting, and overwhelming. What good does it do me if YouTube’s algorithm elects to run an ad promoting a competitor’s video right after mine?
Because Vimeo earns the bulk of its revenue on membership fees, there are no ads to distract my viewers when watching my content. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve noticed a periodic banner ad every now and then in my dashboard panel. If I don’t want to see it, I click it and it goes away.
4. Vimeo is simpler to use
Have I ever told you how much I enjoy simplicity and hate over-complication? If I upload a video to my YouTube channel and want to update its contents, I’m forced to delete the video and start the entire process over. Yes, that means re-entering the video information and tags, the thumbnail, and the end screen elements.
With Vimeo, replacing a video is as simple as—wait for it—clicking the Replace video button and uploading an updated version while retaining all my original settings.
Whether it’s organizing my videos into folders, checking the viewing stats on my videos, adding a cover video to my profile, or sharing content on my social media accounts, everything about using Vimeo is straightforward and simpler than YouTube with less stress. Everything in life should be this simple. Have I ever told you how much I enjoy simplicity?
5. Excellent value for my money
I subscribed to Vimeo’s cheapest paid plan—Plus. It runs me $7 per month in exchange for 5GB of weekly uploads with no limit on total storage space. That’s more space than I need and gives me plenty of room to host my videos and several of my website clients.
Pick what works for you
Everyone has diverse needs. Some people use YouTube to amass huge followings and earn money. Others like myself prefer quality and ease of use over popularity. The YouTube video landfill is going to remain the king of online video hosting for many years to come. I don’t have any plans to dump my account, but for my quality video content, Vimeo is my provider of choice.
I don’t mind paying for professional quality.
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YouTube—currently owned by Google— is the first place most people think of when it comes to online video. The world’s largest video service has over one billion users, is free, offers users a chance to monetize their video content, and integrates well with Google’s search optimization algorithms. That’s some of what’s good about it.
I don’t hate YouTube, but there are a few things I hate about using it. The platform is overcrowded, inundated with bad content and comment trolls, offers less content control options, and has too many irrelevant and annoying ads. As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
For the past eleven years I’ve been more than satisfied with paying for Vimeo—one of YouTube’s main competitors—to host most of my online videos. Below are five of the reasons I feel that way.
1. Vimeo is more professional
Vimeo’s professional quality standards outweigh YouTube’s. It’s why so many professional filmmakers and video content creators use it. It’s clean, bright minimalistic user interface makes it easy to navigate through my dashboard and manage my video content.
As a content creator who is looking to get better, it’s nice to know I can associate myself with others who want to get away from the clickbait thumbnail video landfill YouTube has become. When I’ve had technical support issues with some of my videos, I’ve always received emails from Vimeo technical support staff to help me resolve them.
Vimeo also makes it easy to gain knowledge through community forums and video blogs offering tips and advice on producing better videos.
As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
As a content creator, I’m more interested in creating and sharing quality content than amassing a huge online following.
2. Vimeo offers greater control over where my content can be seen
Each video uploaded to my Vimeo account is treated as an individual asset. I can control individual privacy, sharing, and embedding features for each video. This comes in handy when I want to upload a video to my account for embedding on my website, but I don’t want the Vimeo community to view it or if I want to share a video with a particular person. The platform also offers the option of creating showcases where I can segregate and display content for different purposes.
Advanced settings allow customization of the Vimeo player to suit my purpose. For example, on many of my website videos, I choose not to display the video title, my profile picture, player controls, or the Vimeo logo. I can change these features with a few mouse clicks.
I can also choose to create the video thumbnail from the video, upload my own, or create a GIF file from a section of the video and download it for publishing elsewhere. Interaction settings allow me to control the look and behavior of the video end screen without going through the hassle of the YouTube Subscribe button and next video placement.
3. No annoying ads to drown out my content
YouTube makes its money on advertising. The site is overrun with ads—on the website and within the video player—before, during, and after content. I’ve always found it to be annoying, distracting, and overwhelming. What good does it do me if YouTube’s algorithm elects to run an ad promoting a competitor’s video right after mine?
Because Vimeo earns the bulk of its revenue on membership fees, there are no ads to distract my viewers when watching my content. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ve noticed a periodic banner ad every now and then in my dashboard panel. If I don’t want to see it, I click it and it goes away.
4. Vimeo is simpler to use
Have I ever told you how much I enjoy simplicity and hate over-complication? If I upload a video to my YouTube channel and want to update its contents, I’m forced to delete the video and start the entire process over. Yes, that means re-entering the video information and tags, the thumbnail, and the end screen elements.
With Vimeo, replacing a video is as simple as—wait for it—clicking the Replace video button and uploading an updated version while retaining all my original settings.
Whether it’s organizing my videos into folders, checking the viewing stats on my videos, adding a cover video to my profile, or sharing content on my social media accounts, everything about using Vimeo is straightforward and simpler than YouTube with less stress. Everything in life should be this simple. Have I ever told you how much I enjoy simplicity?
5. Excellent value for my money
I subscribed to Vimeo’s cheapest paid plan—Plus. It runs me $7 per month in exchange for 5GB of weekly uploads with no limit on total storage space. That’s more space than I need and gives me plenty of room to host my videos and several of my website clients.
Pick what works for you
Everyone has diverse needs. Some people use YouTube to amass huge followings and earn money. Others like myself prefer quality and ease of use over popularity. The YouTube video landfill is going to remain the king of online video hosting for many years to come. I don’t have any plans to dump my account, but for my quality video content, Vimeo is my provider of choice.
I don’t mind paying for professional quality.
