In the world of online video, YouTube is far and away the number one player. According to smartupstart.com, “Of the 182 million Americans who watched a streaming video in May [2013], 154.5 million watched it on YouTube.” This is a staggering 85% market share.
However, this is not to say that YouTube is the only option when it comes to online video. Another less well known service is Vimeo. Founded in 2004, the primary benefit of Vimeo is that, unlike YouTube, it is ad free. This means there are no ads before or after your videos play, and no ads that are superimposed over the video while it is playing which require you to manually close them.
As the internet has gotten exponentially faster, the patience of its users has decreased, probably at comparable rates. A video has a preciously small amount of time to get a viewers attention; many viewers will simply move on if a streaming video fails to load within a few seconds. Users are also unlikely to sit through ads unless they already have enough interest in the subject of the video to override the wait time. Most YouTube ads will let you skip them after the first 5 seconds, but shorter 15 and 20 second ads must be watched all the way through. Therefore, it’s crucial for you to capture a viewers’ attention immediately, and an ad might be just enough to dissuade them from watching your video.
While this makes for a decent argument in favor of Vimeo, the dominance of YouTube cannot be understated. Forgoing YouTube in favor of Vimeo means losing out on the world’s second largest search engine and the loss of innumerable click-throughs to your website. Smartstartup aptly compared not choosing YouTube to choosing Myspace over Facebook.
In conclusion, while ad free video has its advantages, these benefits are mitigated by the fact that it simply won’t get the same viewership as it would on YouTube. The world’s primary source for videos is at your fingertips and TalkingTree Creative can help you take full advantage with our video production and marketing services.
TalkingTree Creative initially began as a music production company over 25 years ago. Now we produce everything from original videos, live events and entertainment. We communicate client stories in captivating, creative ways. We match our storytelling skills with high production values so the finished piece is clean, professional, and exciting. We make sure that the feelings and experience that attendees take away from the media is a positive one.
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