Is Vimeo better than YouTube for businesses?
I am working on a few product and marketing videos and I am wondering if I should post them on YouTube or Vimeo or both? Why do people use one over the other? I have heard a few people say that Vimeo is better for business, but I am not sure why. I would appreciate hearing other people's experiences. Thank you.
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Jan 29, 2021
I also used to have to struggle with background noise in video, as even my rather expensive camcorder could not record without noise. I was recommended to read the manual www.movavi.com/support/how-to/how-to-remove-background-noise-from-video-and-audio.html just about removing noise. Now I'm recording much better and posting noise-free videos directly to Youtube.
Jan 28, 2021
I usually do my videos on YouTube, because there is a larger audience, it is more active and of course there is a larger connection with the viewer. There is only the difficulty with the video production itself. There is a constant background noise, I have not decided what to do with it, can anyone suggest?
Dec 29, 2020
By 2019, video content is predicted to command a hefty 80% of all web traffic. If you haven't started thinking about how video fits into your long-term marketing strategy, now's the time to start taking it seriously.
Before you dive into creating videos, it's important to figure out where you're going to host them. YouTube is obviously the largest video hosting platform on the web, but it might not be the best choice for every business.
To help you find the best fit for your company's unique needs, we compared YouTube directly against smaller, more niche platform Vimeo across a number of factors. Read on to see the results, and decide for yourself.
YouTube will be the better choice for most businesses. It's free, generally performs better than Vimeo in search, offers solid analytics for businesses looking to track ROI, and commands a massive number of users. If you have specific branding requirements or need advanced support, Vimeo could be a better choice.
Number of Users
Winner: YouTube
There's no real competition here. YouTube commands an audience of over one billion users -- about one-third of the entire internet-using population. Vimeo's 240 million monthly viewers and 35 million registered users seem insignificant in contrast. For maximum reach, choose YouTube.
Search optimization
Winner: YouTube
YouTube leaves Vimeo in the dust here. YouTube is the second largest search engine on the internet, right after parent company Google. If you're planning to create a video tailored to a specific search query, (e.g., how to pick a font for your website), your video belongs on YouTube. Not only will it appear in search results directly on YouTube, but Google also seems to favor videos from YouTube over those posted on other platforms.
Mobile
Winner: YouTube
More than half of all YouTube views come from mobile, and the YouTube mobile app is absolutely dominating the mobile streaming space -- outranking even formidable competitors like Netflix, Hulu, and Twitch.
Videos uploaded to Vimeo and YouTube are both optimized automatically for mobile, but YouTube offers more opportunity for mobile discovery and reach.
Cost
Winner: YouTube
YouTube is free -- even for businesses. Vimeo operates on a tiered pricing model, ranging from a free basic plan to a $50/month package aimed at businesses.
Support
Winner: Vimeo
With their paid packages, Vimeo offers several levels of technical support that could be a game changer for businesses without much video expertise. YouTube offers plenty of free help documentation and access to a (rather crowded) support community, but if you're seeking higher-touch, personalized support on demand, a paid Vimeo account is the better option.
Storage
Winner: YouTube
YouTube offers unlimited, free storage for all accounts, while Vimeo charges for storage on a tiered basis. The basic, free Vimeo account option gives you 500MB of storage per week. With their highest level, $50/month package, you can store 5TB total with no weekly limits.
No Pre-Roll Ads
Winner: Vimeo
If you upload your videos to YouTube, there's a good chance a pre-roll ad will play before it, which has the potential to deter some viewers from sticking around. Vimeo currently doesn't allow ads, and it doesn't look like they'll be changing this policy anytime soon.
Running Ad Campaigns
Winner: YouTube
If you're thinking of running your own ads on a video platform, you can't beat YouTube (You also can't purchase ad space on Vimeo, even if you wanted to, because they don't allow it.)
YouTube offers an advanced, user-friendly ads platform, as well as personalized support from a "YouTube Advertising Expert" when you spend $10 a day on ads.
Community
Winner: Vimeo
User numbers don't tell the entire story. With such a massive audience on YouTube, the environment is naturally more competitive. It's easier for your video to get drowned out by thousands of others if you aren't planning to feature it somewhere off YouTube. Vimeo's smaller, more community-driven platform might be a better option if you're hoping to tap into an existing creative niche, or get featured on their hand-curated staff picks page.
Advanced Privacy Options
Winner: Vimeo
Both YouTube and Vimeo give you the option to set videos to private or public (the default setting on YouTube is public), but Vimeo offers a handful of more nuanced, specific privacy options if that serves your interests. You can add a password protection option to videos, share a video only with people who follow your account, or even hide it from the Vimeo.com community -- which could be useful if you plan on embedding the video on your website and want it to be viewable in only one place.
Customizable Player
Winner: Vimeo
Vimeo's sleek embedded player offers a number of useful customization options that YouTube can't match, including hex color customization and the ability to include a custom player logo (on Business and PRO accounts). Plus, when you change the default customization options on your account, all previously embedded videos will update to reflect the changes automatically, with no need to go back and tinker with any code.
Analytics
Winner: YouTube
YouTube takes the win here because all their analytics -- ranging from basic statistics like views to more advanced options -- are completely free. Vimeo does also offer powerful analytics tools to evaluate performance, but you'll have to pay to access everything but basic stats.
So which one should you choose?
It depends largely on what exactly you want to accomplish with your videos. If you're looking for a creative community where you can connect with other video creators and gain some exposure in a specific niche, Vimeo is a better place to start sharing your content. If you have business goals that revolve heavily around search optimization and ads, YouTube is your best bet.
Nov 11, 2020
YouTube will be the better choice for most of the business sectors. It's free, generally performs better than Vimeo in search, offers perfect analytics for businesses looking to track ROI, and commands a massive number of users. If you have specific branding requirements or need advanced support, Vimeo could be a better choice.
As per the latest guidelines and restrictions from google make video business to the next level by creating their own streaming platform. I'll suggest creating your own video solutions with a perfect monetization model. Check out the list of famous Top 10 Online Video Platform
Apr 1, 2020
I think Herman's answer is spot on.
I'd like to add that I am an advocate for 'keeping people in your space. '
So I'd also recommend both but to be used in this way:
Vimeo- I think Vimeo is great. You can customize your videos, add call to actions and there are not suggested videos at the end that can cause the visitor to leave your site. So use this on specific business pages.
Youtube- You can't beat Youtube's reach. I'm sure you are creating videos as well with the goal to be found in search and to bring traffic to your offers. You have to utilize Youtube for this. Vimeo will offer little to no help on this. Treat Youtube as its own entity and only place them on relevant blog posts etc that you want to rank. Stay away from adding them on product pages or anything where a distraction like suggested videos could distract them from the purchase.
Steven J Wilson
Apr 1, 2020
Jen,
Since many have already addressed the main key points, I will address this from a slightly different angle and standpoint. If you are building a community of people, Youtube is a good platform to pull viewers from one channel and to have them gravitate to yours. However, there are just too many people on Youtube vs Vimeo. Vimeo has better bandwidth basically due to the usage. Youtube has too much competition for viewers and traffic. I suggest that businesses have both platforms. I would put all of the Corporate videos on Video and the Casual videos on Youtube. Another platform that is gaining lots of traction is Tiktok.com. It caters to Teenagers, but having all 3 platforms will produce the best results for any business. To be competitive, most companies will need to have 3000-5000 backlinks and utilize every platform to put their footprint on the global stage. It's no longer about choosing this or that. Sign up for all available platforms and integrated them into your SEO business solutions.
Herman Bongco
Senior Partner
Modelworks Direct
Microsoft MCITP/MCSA Certified
ITIL Certified/ Comptia Certified
Dec 3, 2015
Hi Jen,
I agree with Jo. They are tools suitable for different business purposes.
In a nutshell YouTube is optimal to build awareness among a wide but not necessarily well defined target, thus helping you to broaden your "users' base". Conversely Vimeo helps you to focus "who and how" approach your potential new customers.
You may want to decide between the two options on the basis of your objectives .
All My Best
Emilio
Dec 3, 2015
I think Vimeo is more suitable for Business promotion, althought YouTube has huge amount of audiences, most of them take no internet in business related things.
Sep 30, 2015
The way you are asking your question -the answer should be yes for businesses , but for other purposes no because on YouTube you may get the chance for wide publicity , no one can no ,It may happen suddenley so I think you need both .
Sep 30, 2015
I recommend YouTube for reasons already stated, plus two of my own.
First, I can see how a lot of webmasters want to "control the viewer experience" (the Apple philosophy), but as a viewer, I want to control my own experience (the PC philosophy). If I need to use a low bandwidth or switch to a higher resolution in the middle of the video, gosh darn it, don't micromanage me! Plus, if I want to view other videos posted by the same account, YouTube lets me click on the name and choose other videos from that "channel." Treat me like a grown-up and let me make my own choices.
Second, I have experienced severe bugs with Vimeo. I have never had playback issues with YouTube on any browser, but watching Vimeo is like driving the main drag during rush hour during a blackout in any major city or, more often, like waiting for a painted stop sign to turn green. "Clean" and "control" may seem nice to you, but they suck for your stakeholders, especially if they have to get out and push-start the car every eight seconds.
Sep 30, 2015
I agree with most of the comments below -- YouTube is wonderful for exposure and getting found. It's the #1 place that everyone goes to get videos. We use both Vimeo and YouTube, mostly because in the beginning, YouTube had rules about needing so many followers in order to post longer videos. Plus, like many others have stated, you get a lot of control over the viewing experience. Hope this helps!
Sep 30, 2015
Hi Jen,
Great question! The answer is Vimeo and YouTube. There are 3 things to consider when deciding.
1. The first question is, what type of video are you uploading and why? If you are uploading informational videos to add value to your clients and prospects to drive traffic to your site, then hands down use YouTube. Why? Because YouTube is owned by Google and is searchable by keyword. Very searchable. For example, I have a Customer Service Training video called, "What is excellent customer service? The 7 Essentials to Excellent Customer Service." Thanks to the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) from YouTube and Google, I now have over 265k views. This is way better than Vimeo.
2. Next, if you are looking to host a video that is part of a paid subscription or online course, I recommend Vimeo Pro. There is a small fee involved, but you can protect anyone else from viewing your video unless they are a paid customer. You can embed the video onto secure pages within your website. Your webmaster will know how to do this. In this case, Vimeo is the winner.
3. Finally, for marketing videos, YouTube is great for placing direct links in your video to your landing page or website where you want the viewers to go. It is simple to set up and if someone watching wants to go further with what you offer, it is easy for them to do so at the click of a button. Remember, in the video itself to remind viewers that they can do that, and tell them explicitly to leave a comment below the video and to share it on social media. This will help your video go viral.
I hope this helps Jen, and please reach out to me if you have any additional questions. I am happy to assist you. Congrats and crush it!
To your success,
Coach David Brownlee
Author - Speaker - Coach
The Brownlee Group
YouTube Channel - CoachDavidBrownlee
Sep 29, 2015
Jen: I am assuming you are asking to compare YouTube (free) versus Vimeo Pro ($199/year). If your goal is "control", then I would recommend Vimeo Pro. With Vimeo you "control the viewing experience" -- you get high-quality cross-platform playback (desktop, mobile, tablet, and TV); you get up to 20GB of HD video storage each week (that's like the equivalent of 20 new one-hour shows in HD quality) plus unlimited bandwidth; you get advanced privacy features including the ability to explicitly "control" where the video can be embedded and played from (a plus if you are at all concerned about piracy -- for example with fee-based educational content); you don't have to worry about disrupting your users viewing experience with ads ever; you also get a fully customizable and embeddable HTML5 player, dropbox integration and more. If you are not concerned with "control" then go with YouTube. I find that YouTube is great for gaining exposure and building community. As others have suggested, there is no reason not to use both. Let the requirements of the project dictate the solution.
Sep 28, 2015
Use both? Put your videos on YouTube to be found, include tags and a link back to your website. Put your videos on Vimeo to enable cleaner hosting on your website. Ultimately you can host YouTube videos on your website without adverts - simply don't monetize your YouTube account - however 'related videos' seem to be enforced these days. You might be able to find a hack or code tweak to hide the player controls and related videos but I'm not sure on that.
Sep 28, 2015
I think Vimeo is better for business representation of your products. But there are other options, for example, http://wistia.com/ they have really great static system. For your video production services we use Vimeo because it has better embedded video options.
Sep 27, 2015
What you do with videos is the difference between just having videos and video marketing. The platform you use is completely relevant, if you want your target market to find your videos and bring in leads then YouTube is essential. You can certainly use both as Blaine suggests, but it's YouTube that will get you found. No other marketing will bring in more traffic faster then video marketing and it's YouTube that drives it.
Sep 27, 2015
...as a B2B business, for my work there is no question that vimeo is the preferred choice. Youtube is amateur hour, sort of like Linked In vs. Facebook.
I only use LI for my professional contacts, friend and clients. Vimeo is more professional for the reasons stated previously.
I disagree somewhat with Blaine's comment about SEO juice. The world of SEO as we know it is going away in the next few years. Shared content and paid ads are the future.
That being said I have built up strong SEO, most of my work comes from online keyword searches and the platform I choose to host my videos is irrelevant.
Good luck.
Sep 27, 2015
Personally I think Vimeo and Youtube caters to 2 very different audiences. Vimeo is more geared towards professionals (particularly in the film and media industry) while Youtube has a more general user base.
One advantage of using Vimeo over Youtube is that you can easily update or replace a video without changing the URL. The absence of ads is also another big advantage.
Sep 27, 2015
The simple answer is Yes and No. First the Yes. It is a much cleaner video system to use when you are posting a video on your website because you have much more control over it and you can post it without annoying popup ads showing up that are unrelated.
Now the No answer. It pales in comparison with YouTube's search capabilities and if you want to be found in searches you need to be on YouTube. It is, after all, the second largest search engine, owned by the largest search engine, Google.
Here's a solution I highly recommend to my clients. Shoot the video, post it on Vimeo and use this one for your website and then post the same video on YouTube for the search engine juice. This way you get the best of both worlds.
Jen
I would agree with Alex that if you are considering a paid service, you should take a look at Wistia before deciding on them or on Vimeo. I really like their service levels and they do have a free tier of service too.