Content creators that post their videos to Vimeo.com can look forward to two new ways to make money with their video. Starting today Vimeo Plus and Vimeo Pro users can add a "Tip Jar" button just below their video to allow viewers to donate anywhere between 99 cents to $500 at a time. Additionally, Vimeo will be offering a pay-to-view option in early 2013 for content makers looking to put up a hard paywall in front of their video. The service will work much like an online rental service, exchanging indefinite access to content in exchange for a fee, both determined by the content creator.
Since its inception, Vimeo has shied away from being ad supported and even disallows commercial content from being posted by anyone but Vimeo Pro members who are required to pay a premium. With that, it's not surprising that they have decided not to go the route YouTube has chosen by showing advertisements and sharing the revenue with the creators.
The pay-to-view service is still lacking details, since it doesn't debut until 2013, but here is what we know about Vimeo Tip Jar. First, anyone can give tips (even non-registered users), but only Vimeo Plus and Vimeo Pro users can add the tip jar to their video. Those that tip can use either PayPal or a standard credit card. Vimeo will take 15% off the top. Finally, the tip jar will not be visible from embedded videos; only from the player on Vimeo.com.
Here at Videomaker, we're always in favor of new ways for video producers to make money with their content. While this solution isn't necessarily better than any other online, it appears to be a great option for those that dislike the intrusiveness of on-page ads and pre-roll commercials or the bottleneck of viewers that comes from a traditional paywall.
You can learn more about Vimeo Tip Jar and Pay-to-View on Vimeo's Creator Services page.
