Vimeo has been lagging behind such competitors as YouTube in offering live streaming video but on Tuesday it announced two big moves aimed at closing the gap.
The Barry Diller-backed company said it had agreed to acquire video broadcasting services provider Livestream and also launched Vimeo Live, a new set of membership plans that offers professional live streaming capabilities through Vimeo’s video platform.
“Live streaming is the #1 request from our creator community this year, and we’re focused on bringing a new level of quality, convenience and craft to this evolving medium,” Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud said in a news release.
“With the launch of Vimeo Live and the addition of Livestream’s impressive team and innovative product suite, we can empower a diverse range of creators to produce beautiful live experiences with professionalism and ease,” she added.
Livestream powers more than 10 million events per year for more than 10,000 paying subscribers like Dow Jones, Philadelphia Eagles, Tough Mudder, and Spotify, offering a suite of tools from cameras and software to switches and production services.
Terms of the acquisition — the largest in Vimeo’s history — were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close early in the fourth quarter and Vimeo plans to fully integrate Livestream’s tools into the Vimeo platform.
“This combination is not about cost cutting, it is about growth and attacking a massive opportunity in the market together,” Sud said.
As The Verge reports, Vimeo “has been stalling behind its competitors when it comes to embracing live-streaming tools.” YouTube launched mobile live-streaming back in 2016, as did Facebook and Instagram.
TechCrunch said the Livestream deal made morse sense for Vimeo that its aborted move into subscription video-on-demand “ever did, especially since it would have had to compete with leaders in the space like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu who are spending billions on content.”
Vimeo’s core business is focused around selling tools and services to professional and semi-professional video creators. Sud told Variety that Vimeo Live is “not a consumer-level product” and that it will cost $75 a month.
