Vimeo On Demand: Selling Videos
Is Vimeo On Demand right for me?
Vimeo On Demand is designed primarily to help creators sell films and episodic series. If you make those, Vimeo On Demand can definitely help. However, we don’t restrict the type of work you can distribute, with the exception of explicit content, which is not permitted. If you have a question about whether your work is suitable for Vimeo On Demand, please contact us and we’ll talk you through it!
Also, as you may have suspected, Vimeo On Demand is strictly a digital distribution platform. It can’t burn DVDs and send them to festivals on your behalf. :)
How do I sell my video using Vimeo On Demand?
From there, you can upload videos into a customizable On Demand page, which you can design to perfectly match your work. Add a trailer, extra features, and a poster. Decide if you want to offer your work for Rent, to Buy, or both. Set your prices, choose any additional settings (such as rental period or available regions), and you’re ready to publish!
Spread the word by telling people about your Vimeo On Demand page via your favorite social media channels, email, flyers stapled to telephone poles, skywriting, and whatever other methods you devise. The marketing part is up to you, so make sure to get the word out! When someone makes a purchase, we’ll let you know.
Want some more guidance for setting up your On Demand page? Check out our best practices guide.
What’s the difference between “Rent” and “Buy” options for Vimeo On Demand?
Rent: Viewers can rent your videos for a time period that you select, anywhere from 1 day to 1 year. People who rent your work can stream it during this time frame, but cannot download it.
Buy: Buyers can watch the work for as long as it remains on Vimeo, and download it to their computers and devices DRM-free.
You can to choose Rent, Buy, or both for all Vimeo On Demand videos. If you chose to sell it both ways, you would typically set a higher price for the Buy option.
To set your prices, head to the Price tab on your Vimeo On Demand page’s Settings.
Can I use Vimeo On Demand to sell videos in a series?
For videos sold in a series, you can set individual prices per episode and add a “Rent All” or “Buy All” option if you wish.
What do “Rent All” and “Buy All” mean?
If you add a “Buy All” option to your Vimeo On Demand page, it gives buyers access to any videos you add to your VOD page for as long as it remains online.
How do I manage my Vimeo On Demand pages?
There you’ll find all of your published and unpublished On Demand pages. Click the Settings gear icon in the upper right hand corner of the VOD page you wish to edit, then make any desired changes.
I got an error when connecting my PayPal account to my On Demand page. What gives?
You will also need to make sure that you entered your first and last name exactly as they appear on your PayPal account.
How do I get paid through Vimeo On Demand?
You keep 90% of revenue after transaction fees, and we cover all delivery costs. When the payment is processed, a statement reflecting the amount paid will be sent to the email address associated with your Vimeo account.
You will need a verified PayPal account in order to withdraw your payments. (Learn more about PayPal’s verification process in their FAQ.)
Please be aware that the payment will not necessarily appear in your PayPal account immediately — it may take up to 30 additional days for the payment to appear in your account after it has been processed by Vimeo. Please contact PayPal to inquire about the status of any pending payments after Vimeo has processed them.
You can review our full Payment Addendum.
Do Vimeo On Demand uploads count against my PRO storage space?
How large can my Vimeo On Demand video files be?
We strongly recommend exporting your video files according to our Video Compression Guidelines before uploading them. This will maximize your storage space and ensure that the videos will look awesome on Vimeo.
How do I set up a custom domain for Vimeo On Demand?
You can use a domain that you already own (http://my-rad-site.com), set up a sub-domain on your existing website (http://movies.my-rad-site.com), or purchase a new domain to use (http://my-new-site.com).
Step 1: Set up your domain
- Purchase a domain from a registrar such as DreamHost.com, name.com, or 1and1.com.
- Alternately, you can set up a subdomain on your existing site. (Contact your registrar or hosting service for instructions.)
- If you want your VOD page to live on your top-level domain (http://my-rad-site.com), follow your domain registrar’s instructions to set the domain’s A-Record to 107.162.132.21. (Note: This IP will be changing soon. We will email you with further instructions.)
- If you want your VOD page to live on a subdomain (http://movies.my-rad-site.com), you will need to follow your registrar's instructions for updating your CNAME Record so that it points to vimeopro.com.
- Note: It may take up to 72 hours for these changes to take effect across the Interwebs.
- On the Advanced tab of your VOD Settings page, enter your domain or subdomain into the "Enter Domain" field, then save your changes.
- Open a new browser window and navigate to the domain or subdomain you just set up. You should now see your VOD page! If you don't see your page, and it has been more than 72 hours since you updated your A-Record or CNAME Record, contact your domain registrar for further assistance.
Someone left a bad rating on my video. Can I delete it?
How are transaction costs calculated?
If the purchase is made in Euros, we convert it to US Dollars using real-time exchange rates provided by openexchangerates.org.
If you’d like a more thorough estimate of transaction costs based off your work’s specifications, feel free to reach out to us! We are always working to make transactions more favorable for creators.
What currencies does Vimeo On Demand support?
To accept Euro purchases, go to the Price section in your VOD Settings and check “Accept Euro.” From there, you will find customizable price fields for all available purchase options, including a suggested Euro price based off the up-to-date exchange rate.
I want my video to be available only in certain regions. How do I do that?
What analytics do I get with Vimeo On Demand?
Your VOD Dashboard displays stats broken down by sales, gross revenue, and country, as well as a list of the top websites that have referred audiences to your work. You can organize your stats chronologically, by the day, month, year, or all-time.
In addition, we offer Google Analytics integration to capture glorious insights about the traffic your custom-hosted VOD pages are receiving. If you're hosting your VOD page on your own URL, you can enable Google Analytics on the Advanced tab of the VOD Settings page. Click Add a custom domain if you haven't already, then click Track traffic with Google Analytics and provide us with your Google Analytics ID. Insights from your hosted VOD page will start appearing in your Google Analytics account. Google Analytics will only track traffic on your hosted VOD page and not on vimeo.com.
I'm a Vimeo Plus member, but I really want to use Vimeo On Demand. What should I do?
If you’re a Plus member on a monthly renewal cycle, or you’re in the first month of your annual subscription, you can log in to your current Plus account and head to vimeo.com/pro to make your purchase.
If you’re farther into your annual Plus subscription, contact us so that we can help you make the transition.
How should I compress my videos for Vimeo On Demand?
What dimensions should I use for my Vimeo On Demand poster? What about the thumbnail image?
I made a mistake! How do I delete a Vimeo On Demand page?
If you've got a Vimeo On Demand draft that you'd like to get rid of, head to the VOD section of your profile, then click the red X in the upper-right corner of that draft. Delete with caution because this action cannot be undone!
If I add one of my existing videos to a Vimeo On Demand page, what will change?
Can I customize my Vimeo On Demand page?
How do I know when someone purchases my work?
Does the "Buy All" option give viewers access to videos added after their purchase?
Where do I see Stats for my On Demand videos?
Dive deeper by clicking the speedometer icon in the upper right corner to open your VOD Dashboard.
You can also get the juicy details by shimmying over to vimeo.com/stats, or in the Performance tab of your VOD Settings.
Can I see Stats on videos I've removed from my Vimeo On Demand pages?
Why do my Vimeo On Demand Stats show more loads and plays than Purchases?
Each time a viewer revisits or refreshes one of your Vimeo On Demand pages, another Load is counted in your Stats because the video player is re-loaded on the page. Whenever a viewer clicks the play button, whether it is to rewatch the video entirely or simply revisit a certain part that they particularly like, another Play is counted.
Why am I seeing "Unknown" embed stats?
Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do to recover additional data from those visits. It simply isn't available to us!
If you've set up domain-level privacy, we can assure you that any stats listed as "Unknown" are only coming from the domains you've chosen to allow.
Ultimately, when it comes to displaying stats for your work, we give you as much information as possible. If we didn’t include "Unknown" stats; otherwise, you wouldn’t know how many people visited or purchased your work.
What happens to the Vimeo On Demand videos I’ve sold if I delete my videos or account?
Rentals: Your renters will have access to the videos until their rental period expires.
Buys: Your buyers will be able to watch or download the videos for 30 days after you delete them from the site. They will receive an email from Vimeo encouraging them to back up their purchase while the content is still available.
How do I set up preorders for my Vimeo On Demand work?
To start selling your work before it’s released, head to the Basic Info tab of your Vimeo On Demand Settings, check the box next to “Make my work available for preorder,” and set your release date. (Your release date must be no more than 90 days from the date that you make your work available for preorder.)
Once you’ve uploaded a poster and a trailer, click Start Preorder!
From that point on, viewers will be able to preorder your work. When someone preorders, Vimeo authorizes the purchase so that we can charge the card upon the release of your video.
You can change your preorder release date up to 3 times. When you do this, people who have already bought your work will receive an email.
Publishing on your release date
Once your release date rolls around, you must return to your Vimeo On Demand Settings to upload the work within 48 hours.
Simply upload the video (or videos), and click Publish.
Once you do this, your preorder customers will be charged, and they'll receive an email informing them that your work is ready to view. Content will also be available to them when they visit the VOD page, in their Watch Later queue, and in their VOD Browse page.
If you do not Publish your video or change the release date within 48 hours of your original release date, all of your preorders will be released and the buyers will receive an email saying the preorder has been cancelled.
Cancelling preorders
If you need to cancel your Vimeo On Demand preorder page, head to its Settings page and click Advanced >> Manage VOD >> Cancel Preorder.
This will unpublish your Vimeo On Demand preorder page, release any purchases that have been made, and trigger an email to your buyers explaining that the order has been cancelled.
Can I create promo codes for my Vimeo On Demand work?
To add a code, head to your Vimeo On Demand Settings and click on the Promotions tab. Under “Do you want to offer promo codes?” select “Add a single code.”
In the text field under “Code,” enter the exact text viewers should use to redeem your promo code. Codes are case-sensitive, may only contain letters and numbers, and may include up to 32 characters. Under “Limit,” specify how many times this particular promo code can be used by entering a number between 1 and 1,000.
From there, select what kind of discount you’d like to offer and whether it applies to rentals, purchases, or both. For the creators of a series, you have the option to offer promo codes toward rentals / purchases of single episodes* or your entire series.
Finally, you can decide when your promo code will be active. Under “Start/End Dates,” click the calendar icon to select a start date for your code. Check “Expires” to set an end date. All promo codes default to “Does not expire.”
When you’re all done, click Add to save your code.
You can generate up to 100 codes per Vimeo On Demand title. Unused codes may be edited or deleted. Once a code has been used, it can be disabled but not deleted. When a code’s limit is hit, it will be disabled automatically.
*Please note that, though you can set a promo code for single episodes within a series, you cannot specify which episode can be accessed with that code. Your viewers will be able to apply this code to the episode of their choosing.
At this time, promo codes cannot be applied toward purchases made in currencies other than USD.
What are Vimeo On Demand Content Ratings?
Content Ratings help us keep Vimeo On Demand titles accessible to as many people as possible.
We ask creators to tell us if their VOD works contain nudity, violence, profanity, or drug/alcohol references. Based on the categories selected — or not selected — one of the following badges will appear on the Vimeo On Demand page: All Audiences, Mature, or Not Yet Rated.
When setting up your VOD page, you will be asked to rate the work you’re selling. The rating you choose should apply to all the work you’re selling. Choose the appropriate rating ("All audiences" or "Mature"), then, if applicable, select one or more of the mature content categories. This rating will be applied to your VOD page. You can return to your VOD settings at any time to update your rating.
Can I sell Vimeo On Demand works through videos embedded on other websites?
Yes indeedy! If you embed the videos from your VOD page on other websites, viewers will be able to rent or buy the videos right then and there using the "Purchase from" prompt in the top right corner of the player.
If you're selling a Feature, we recommend embedding your Main Video. That way, viewers will see the trailer when they visit the page, and then they'll be able to watch the feature from that same spot once they make the purchase. (They can also watch it on Vimeo.com or from your VOD page, of course.)
If you're selling a Series, we recommend embedding your trailer or your first episode and then directing viewers to your VOD page (where the other episodes can be accessed).
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