[Author input] Video Tutorials Hosting: YouTube vs. Vimeo?

I’m in the process of creating a series of video tutorials for my new theme. I’m trying to decide between YouTube and Vimeo to host the videos. I was wondering if anyone had any insight. Here’s how I see it:

YouTube

• More exposure (I think they tend to come up more as they’re integrated into Google search)
• Potential to monetize (not that it’s something I’d do with theme-specific tutorials)
• Free and unlimited

Cons

• More “amateur” stigma (so far as I can gauge)
• Not as nice looking (in my opinion)

Vimeo

• Nicer interface
• More professional

Cons

• Monthly fee to upload more than one HD video/week
• Not as much search exposure

What do you guys think? For those who have made a similar decision, what made you decide, or did it matter?

Thanks for your input!

Chris

The Vimeo license doesn’t allow to use this service for commercial purposes unless you are a PRO user. The PRO plan costs $199/year. I would count it as a disadvantage.

I prefer Vimeo but I think it does not make a big difference for the end-user.

e404 said
The Vimeo license doesn’t allow to use this service for commercial purposes unless you are a PRO user. The PRO plan costs $199/year. I would count it as a disadvantage.

I remember someone posted an official answer from Vimeo in this forum, where it says that it’s allowed.

Stammi said
I remember someone posted an official answer from Vimeo in this forum, where it says that it’s allowed.

Do you mean this topic? It’s about embedding Vimeo videos in theme previews, not about using Vimeo as a video hosting for tutorial videos.

^ Ahh, you’re right, sorry. My brain is full of wishful thinking.

I’d go with YouTube.

I agree, from my standpoint Vimeo does have a nice looking player, but YouTube videos in my opinion tend to have more exposure as well as rank higher in search + you can link out from the video itself – not sure if Vimeo has this feature…

Thanks, guys! I was thinking Vimeo Plus would do the trick ($60/year), but you’re right that they clearly expect commercial users to sign up for Vimeo Pro now that I look into it. I appreciate the heads-up!

Also, for even more clarification: https://vimeo.com/help/pro_guidelines

1. You MUST become a Vimeo PRO subscriber if you want to do any of the following:

You want to upload commercial videos. Commercial videos are videos that promote a product, service, or brand or contain any advertising (e.g., pre-roll ads, post-roll ads, overlay ads, or links). For example, a company that wants to upload infomercials or product tutorials must be a Vimeo PRO subscriber.

You want to use Vimeo for your business’s video hosting needs. This applies whether your videos are commercial or not. For example, an online newspaper that is monetized by advertising must have a Vimeo PRO account if it wants to use the Vimeo Service to play news videos on its website.

You want to upload videos that you did not create (but own or have the right to upload). For example, a user who wants to upload a public domain video that he or she did not create must be a Vimeo PRO subscriber.

@nimbleo – can I ask what you mean by “link out from the video itself”? Just woke up, but I’m not sure I follow

Well, I’ve decided to go with YouTube.

Personally, if Vimeo matched service with YouTube even at the $200/year Pro pricepoint (which isn’t unreasonable), I’d have gone with them. However, if you’re a pro account, you get excluded from the Vimeo community, which means you really get zero extra exposure. I love Vimeo, and I totally understand why they want to do that (not to pollute the community with commercial videos), but I’ve gotta go with YouTube on this one.

....

So, I linked YouTube to my Google Apps account, and I’m met with this video:

Remember that thing I said about wanting to look professional??

facepalm

sevenspark said
@nimbleo – can I ask what you mean by “link out from the video itself”? Just woke up, but I’m not sure I follow

I was referring to the fact that you can add an overlay to the video itself that has a specific call to action which in turn could link out to your templates, e.g. “click here to check out my templates”.

Hope that clears it up

nimbleo said
I was referring to the fact that you can add an overlay to the video itself that has a specific call to action which in turn could link out to your templates, e.g. “click here to check out my templates”. Hope that clears it up

Ah, I understand now – good point, thanks!