Video channels on Vimeo

Vimeo video channelsWhy are video channels on Vimeo so great? Because you can create several channels under the same account, unlike YouTube where you have to create a separate user per channel with login an password.  Also, on Vimeo you can change the name of your channel at any time while YouTube channels are fixed.  Imagine, you have a great video channel going, only to discover that the name isn’t just that.  Just change it and adapt the links you have out there in web space and the problem is fixed.

With the Plus subscription of Vimeo you can decide which site(s) can embed your video. In some situations this is very convenient, especially if you do not want that other sites use your video.

The only downside is that you cannot upload commercial videos on Vimeo unless you have a paid subscription, like  Vimeo Pro, Business, or Premium.  But for art sites, music clips etc, … Vimeo is worthwhile to investigate as the home base of your next video channel.  Vimeo has already a large community of artists.

15 thoughts on “Video channels on Vimeo”

  1. Rudolf,

    You seem like a well versed guy in web video, so I thought I’d bounce my latest dilemma off you and see if you’ve got any good solutions:

    I’m trying to find an easy way to create a video page for a news website (the extreme example being this: video.nytimes.com/ )

    What’s the best free solution to creating something like that? Youtube? Vimeo? Any ideas?

    Thanks,
    Arlin

    Reply
  2. Hi Arlin,

    Vimeo is probably out of the question because your channel might be regarded as commercial in nature and with the free account you are limited in uploads, but don’t take my word for it, best ask Blake Whitman from Vimeo, perhaps he is interested in your project, you never know.
    Ok, so if Vimeo is out, that leaves YouTube, Myspace etc… with YouTube being the preferred service because it performs quite well this year in speed and video compression (which was really bad in the past). So, I probably would go for YouTube in your situation.

    You will need a content management system to embed those videos (or player lists)and which system to use depends on your own skills and preference. I wrote a comparison between Joomla and WordPress related to video channels (both are free open source systems): https://www.miracletutorials.com/wordpress-vs-joomla-review/

    WordPress is in fact an excellent choice for news sites because the posts are detected almost a day later by Google, which is definetely a point to consider.
    Also, you can have all major rss directories picking up all your new videos as soon they are published on your site, which is another good point.

    Joomla or Drupal are a good option too, but then it helps to know about web development with these systems because they are not that easy to deal with.
    I hope this helps?

    Reply
  3. Thanks for the response,

    After a long debate in our office, I think we agree YouTube is the best system for hosting the files. Despite its amateur appearance, it generates traffic and is very easy to add content to.

    The next question is, once we’ve got the video’s on YouTube, how do we manage a media only section. To give you a little more information, I’m building this for an online newspaper that uses College Publisher as it’s CMS. CP is great for managing articles, however it hasn’t caught up in the video department yet. I think the answer to our question lies in the CP system, however other college papers in a similar situation have approached the problem in different ways:

    George Washington – The GW Hatchet – http://www.media.gwhatchet.com/ – Created their own video page

    Temple – The Temple News – http://www.temple-news.com/category/web-exclusives/video/ – (Using WordPress) Category page, also link off to their YouTube page.

    Harvard – The Harvard Crimson – http://www.thecrimson.com/blog_summary.aspx?blogID=56 – Display the videos in blog form

    All of these schools have answered the same problem in a different way, but I am yet to find an organization that creates an effective all-encompassing video page.

    Thoughts?

    Reply
  4. So far, I think GW Hatchet comes closest to what you want, isn’t it?
    The other 2 are too “bloggy” in appearance. Templenews shows no thumbnails at all from videos, which I think is a mistake. Harvard Crimson shows the full videos which can become heavy if you have many of them, so I think the first option is the one to look closer at. I do not know College Publisher personally, but if there are external plugins to enhance the system (like you have for WP and Joomla), you can make it easier for yourself. If not, I think you will have to do the same thing as Hatchet has done and customize the system. If you have the resources to do this, I think that would be the best option anyway because you can get is exactly what you want, while leaning too much on existing CMS is always a compromise, isn’t it?

    I hope this is useful?

    Reply
  5. Before I forget: The JW Flash video player can be used to create playlists from xml files and it is also useful to embed videos with custom poster images and watermarks. This video player is platform independent, so you could use this in any content management system or html page and it has powerful features. For more info see: https://www.longtailvideo.com/players/jw-flv-player/
    For commercial use, you will have to buy a license fee, though (it’s 30 euros or something).

    Reply
  6. Yes, that’s great stuff. And you can customize the look in whatever way you like.
    I wish you luck with your project.

    Do me a favor, can you show your project to me when finished? I’m curious 🙂

    Reply
  7. Good evening Rudolf,
    I read your article and was wondering if you could give me advice. I’m in the process of creating my own Vimeo Channel and was brainstorming on a title. I have a name but was wondering do I have to secure my channel name legally as I don’t want pick a name someone else has and possibly get myself in trouble. Any advice would be helpful.
    Thanx in advance for help,

    Reply
    • Hi Jay,
      I can’t give you legal advice but the first thing I would do is to search on Google AND duckduckgo.com to find out whether that name already exists. Changes are that it does already in one form or other. If it is found, check whether it is in the same industry. For instance, my channel is Wooden-Dimensions. You will find many results for that name, but none are in the same industry.
      However, you need to check out if an existing name is registered as a Trademark or not. If it is, play it safe and change your channel name and do the search process again.
      When you have found the final name and you plan a commercial venture, pay a visit to a lawyer to find out the most convenient way to register your channel name to protect it, at least in your own country. I hope that helps?

      Reply
  8. Hello, Your info is very informative. I have two questions:
    1-I was looking to set up two individual Vimeo Pro Accounts with the same login email. I doubt that is possible. I really wanted to keep the two accounts unattached. Is my only options to use two different emails?

    2-That being said, re: channels. To the visitor, are multiple channels under one account basically accomplishing the same thing as my question 1? Insofar as how it looks to the outside world? In other words if I have Vimeo Pro AccountMichael/Channel -Cats will videos in it appear unrelated to Vimeo Pro AccountMichael/Channel -dogs? Thanks so much!

    Reply
    • Hi Michael,
      With Vimeo plus or higher, you can set up more than one channel and each channel stands on its own. Incidentally, I still have two channels from the days I had a Plus account myself: https://vimeo.com/channels/lostcorners and https://vimeo.com/channels/woodendimensions, using one account. But visitors can see they are from the same person (the account owner info is displayed). So, if you want this completely separate, you’ll have to set up two accounts indeed, with different e-mails.

      Reply
      • Thanks, Rudolf. That is very helpful and timely (I’m still waiting for an answer from Vimeo!) Especially helpful seeing your two channels side by side. I will probably go for two accounts. Although do I like the simplicity of managing them with one. I am trying to look ahead to a time when the two organizations I am managing may potentially split legally from one another. I’m actually very surprised that Vimeo doesn’t allow this feature…would be useful for one-person( or very small) agencies that have to manage multiple clients (although the solution is likely for the agency to simply use another email account.)Thanks again, I always appreciate an expert!

        Reply

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