Early next year, Vimeo will introduce a new feature to its PRO account holders. In short, those users will be able to charge for their videos on a per view (or per whatever) basis. It’s a move that could either attract a whole different class of known independent filmmakers or amass a sizable mountain of videos that are fine as free (or ad-supported) content, but maybe not worth a premium price tag.
Vimeo has always been ad-free and vigilant about maintaining its original content community. The availability of a paywall doesn’t mean that every video will instantly cost a fee to view, and could prove a more effective way of monetary payment for creators. But for viewers, paying for premium videos on Vimeo could become a gamble if something that looked interesting turned out to be a mediocre production from a director or studio with an inflated sense of their own talent. The question is: would ads be a better option for Vimeo? [TheNextWeb]
