Youtube vs Vimeo; What do you use?
I can virtually guarantee you’ve heard of at least one of these video services. They’re both fairly well known (Youtube more so than Vimeo) and useful websites. We use them to watch videos, follow people, learn new things, be inspired, or just have a laugh.. In short, they’ve grown to be pretty important to our culture.
So for today, after my recent foray into the land of video, I’ll be looking at the pros and cons of each site in an effort to understand where each succeeds. I don’t claim to have all the answers here, so you’re more than welcome to chime in with your own opinions and preferences.
Vimeo
Pros
• Beautiful interface for watching videos
• Use of menus at the top of the page is extremely useful
• Easy and quick to upload, even if your internet connection is slightly patchy.
Cons
• Less awareness / general audience
• Selection of videos on home page is less compact
Youtube
Pros
• Most well-known video platform online
• Large volume of videos on all different topics
• Easier to share videos with other platforms
Cons
• Recent upsurge in ‘censoring’ the music/sound of videos
• Quality of videos is diluted because of the large amount of content
Conclusion
Personally I’m a fan of both sites for different reasons. In terms of design and idea/quality I prefer Vimeo since that gives me access to a lot more of the artists and animators that I’m aware of. For reaching a wider audience, keeping up with people, and a sense of community I prefer Youtube.
Therefore I’m not going to say that one is better than the other; I want to start using both. However what I will say is think of the reason you want to post videos, there may be times you need more than only a vast audience or a beautiful interface.
So here’s this week’s question:
What video platform (if any) do you use and why?
The3dStudio.com
Don’t use either for now but I expect that I will start with YouTube just because I am more familiar with it. Interestingly, the latest videos I have put on my blog are from vimeo. Worked just as well as Youtube so no big deal.
That is interesting… I guess the platform doesn’t matter too much in the grand scheme of things – best of luck when you do start!
I’ve never heard of vimeo, I’m a You Tube user. However, I’m going to take a look and see what it’s like.
Thank you for sharing.
Regards
Paul
.-= Paul´s last blog ..Forgiveness =-.
Glad to hear it was useful – let me know what you think!
Ditto, I’d never heard of Vimeo at all until today. Will be checking it out over the next couple of days (just as soon as I finish that darn essay
) but for us, YouTube is great because of their program for non-profits. I’ve only just registered Give A Brick with them so it’s too soon to be able to share what it’s like but they give charities free access to services that others pay a premium for. Branding is one of those things which is something I’m looking forward to exploring.
The other thing I feel unsure of with either platform is where we stand in terms of music royalties. I assume that the same rules that govern images would apply to music on a video? But if one were to name the artist, does this make it OK? Don’t worry, I’m not expecting you to answer. Just throwing it out there in case you or others do happen to know more
.-= Eleanor Edwards´s last blog ..How to procrastinate =-.
I didn’t know that about Youtube – pretty handy though.
Good luck exploring your branding and so on El, let me know if you need any help and so on.
I think that the same rules would govern Vimeo, but they don’t go through arbitrarily removing audio. Whether this is because they message the person first (so they provide references) or because the people on Vimeo are more diligent about copyright is unknown to me, but certainly I’ve never seen a video with its audio removed on there. Also, if you name the artist and the song it’s generally accepted as ok though the DM act may still mean it gets removed.
Not sure who they think they’re helping with that exactly (more music = more exposure for artist = ultimately more sales). Ah well.
Well, I have heard of both. YouTube got brought by big dogs Google. Since that happened it seem to put in to force the ‘Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998′…
I don’t personally use either of the sites, so can’t comment on the upload side, I believe V downloaded the video faster (or maybe it was just a good day).
Also V doesn’t spam the YOUTUBE logo, which can be annoying in a video tutorial…
Like Ralph said, there isn’t much different in the platforms. They all play the same, mainly cause its flash and encoded in *amusing* avi, or something similar…
I’d noticed that actually; seems like Google has taken its stand with the Digital Millennium Act and not looked back really. As I mentioned to Eleanor I’m not entirely sure what they’re looking to achieve with that since you’d think that more exposure would lead to more awareness etc.
Never really noticed the Youtube logo until you mentioned that; can see why it’d be annoying though.
Anyway, thanks for stopping by – some food for thought there.
Using youtube at the moment, adding more video distribution is on my ever growing list of things to get done.
.-= Dave Doolin´s last blog ..Saturday Morning Surfing: How’s Your Blog Traffic Lately? =-.
Just now I’m using Vimeo, though I want to start using both. Not sure if I want to have the same content on both services though!
Thanks for stopping by.
Hey I use toptenreviews for anything I want to compare like my most recent was email/reader programs. I do not do a lot of video posting but some of you may find this link useful. Enjoy
http://video-share-review.toptenreviews.com/
.-= Ryan Hanzel´s last blog ..My weapons of choice =-.
Really useful Ryan, thank you! Seems that Vimeo puts in a poorer show by comparison looking at that… may need to check into it further.
Yes, like Paul I’ve never heard of Vimeo. Right now, I’m trying to get my head around all of this video stuff, so your post came at the right time. Thanks for this info…
.-= Steve Scott Site´s last blog ..The Secret of Successful To-Do Lists [Video and Free Template] =-.
Not a problem, and thanks for stopping by Steve. If you’re looking for more video info, Ryan gave us a really good link you should check out – it compares the top ten video platforms so it might give you a clearer picture from the technological side.
Here
Cool…just saw it and will check it out.
.-= Steve Scott Site´s last blog ..Results of the February Success Habits =-.
[...] has a nice little post about the pros and cons of YouTube and Vimeo. I never heard of Vimeo before but this is a site that I’m definitely going to check out once I [...]
Vimeo is great and has such a nicer UI when you embed it into a webpage.
One problem with Vimeo is that they don’t like any videos that promote a business in anyway – even if it’s your own.
A well know web design podcaster, Paul Boag, got stung by this recently. So you need to be careful!
I never knew Vimeo had a problem with that, thanks for pointing it out Ben! I’ll keep an eye out for it (though I don’t think they’ll have much of a problem with tutorials).
With you though; I prefer the way the UI looks for Vimeo. Thanks for the comment, definitely worth taking into account!
I use or have both, I like vimeo it lets me fix whatever size shape I need, although the upload is slow but I prefer it, I also have a youtube account and I believe there isn’t much exposure for specific needs. In Short, to promote yourself use vimeo, much nicer on a website
I agree Winnie, for a lot of things Vimeo is much nicer. Especially the appearance itself!
The only reason I’d want to use Youtube over Vimeo would be for reaching a potentially wider audience… any thoughts on that?
Thanks for stopping by!
I have heard of them both, but have just used Youtube on my site for the first time.
I was under the impression that you had to pay for Vimeo, but I could be wrong.
The ads and icon for Youtube are annoying, but it’s very easy to embed videos on your sites. That’s another factor to consider when choosing between them.
Good discussion here on the two formats.
Karen
With Vimeo you get a lower per week allowance (500 mb as opposed to 1 Gb) so it’s possible that you have to pay if you exceed that… something to check into certainly.
I like Youtube though I’d agree; the logo and ads are pretty annoying… Embedding from Vimeo works in exactly the same way. I guess the main factor is the amount of uploading you’d be doing in a week and your audience.
Thanks for stopping by Karen, good to see you.
Neat! I actually wrote a blog post very similar … i was wondering the same thing. I created a chart to compare the 2. YouTube vs Vimeo – The Face Off -> http://thestrategicfirm.wordpress.com/2011/01/05/youtube-v-s-vimeo-%E2%80%93-the-faceoff/
Just had a quick look, nice comparison! Hadn’t realised Youtube had upped their time limit either.
for traffic it is youtube but you are correct, they feel they can censor their users and that will be their downfall. they should just let matters be settled among parties. They are to big but what can you do about it? I upload to a number of video sites and can tell you that you can get a lot of exposure outside of youtube and you can even start your video sharing site.
I use both but YouTube is better for me..At least i have more following there..
Hi,
I did a lot of comparing the two when I started sharing my video tutorials. Personally I find the UI, service and appearance of vimeo better but, as has been mentioned, youtube has a wider audience.
That said the compression and presentation from vimeo is far superior.
It’s also a friendlier place. Youtube has a lot of flaming and counter-constructive commenting. You see little of this on vimeo.
In the end it’s finding the balance between reaching new viewers and giving the most value to existing. I think that if you get your tweeting/SEO/ facebook message out there efficiently then vimeo is the way ahead.
Or both. A lot of people seem to use youtube for fun, silly stuff and vimeo for pro or quality creative work.
Cheers
Rob
Honestly I’m in a similar boat – I use Vimeo for anything professional or important (showreels, tutorial hosting, etc) but if its less critical or doesn’t have to be high quality I’ll use Youtube for the views etc.
Or some combination of the two depending on what it is of course!
Thanks for commenting,
Heather