Competition makes all markets better. Unfortunately for internet based content creators, there haven’t been many competitive options for distribution. YouTube represents the vast majority of internet traffic for user generated video.
There are other sites to host video, but investing time in a platform is a dicey proposition if that site doesn’t stick around. Outside of YouTube, creators also might lack options for monetization.
I’ve been through numerous solutions to try and find other outlets for publishing. Mevio, Blip, and now Vid.me. Vid.me subscribers received an email yesterday alerting us that the service will be closing its doors on December 15th.
This delivers another data point, that the future of user generated video production is in delicate position. Traditional advertising based models currently seem unsustainable, and new players are unable to survive in this market.
YouTube’s recent initiatives are most focused on competing against traditional broadcast models. I’m a happy YouTube TV subscriber, but we haven’t seen similar idea investment in traditional YouTube. YouTube Red certainly supporting a significant user base, but failing to elevate YouTube to the production level of Netflix, Amazon, or Hulu.
So, I find myself again looking for a solution to house MYMHM, my old movie review podcast. And again, I’ll have to rely on Archive.org as a solution. Archive is a an incredible resource, and I hope people will consider supporting them as they’re going through another public fundraising drive. Episodes currently linked on this blog will continue to function as we switch the video embeds.
Below is the letter from Vid.me detailing the end of their service. Hopefully we see another player in this space enter to compete.
Dear JuanBagnell,
We’re writing to let you know that after careful consideration, we’ve arrived at the difficult decision to suspend the Vidme site and apps effective December 15th.
You can read more about our rationale for this decision here: https://medium.com/@
warrenshaeffer/120b40becafa What this means for you:
- New sign-ups and uploads will be disabled effective today.
- Existing videos will be playable and exportable from your video manager until December 14th, at which point they will be permanently deleted from the Vidme servers. If you want to backup any of your videos, be sure to sign in and visit your video manager and click the export button (displayed below). After a few minutes, you’ll receive an email with a link to download your exported video.
- All paid channel subscripitions will be suspended immediately, and subscriber-only videos will be exclusively accessible to their video owners.
- Any outstanding earnings will be paid out upon verification within 60 days.
- All Vidme paid subscriptions will cease as of today, and subscribers will no longer be billed.
Please see our full FAQ for more details, and email us at hello@vid.me with any questions.
Thank you for giving Vidme a chance, and we’re very sorry that we won’t be able to continue to support you on the next stage of your creative journey. It has truly been a joy to watch people from all over the world connect, collaborate, and make new friends in this community, and we’re happy to know that many of those relationships will long outlast Vidme itself.
Wishing you the best of luck.
♥ Team Vidme
PS, If you’d like to get updates about what we work on next, please sign up here.