Vimeo will be acquiring Livestream. The resulting service is called Vimeo Live.
The acquisition of Livestream and the resulting launch of Vimeo Live enables users to live-stream their favorite events in full HD (1080p) straight to Vimeo. After the broadcast concludes, it is saved and published as a regular video to your collection. If your original video feed was 4K, that resolution will be applied, even if the livestream is limited to 1080p. The necessary transcoding (4K to 1080p) is applied in the cloud, but you can also use your own encoder of choice if you like.
Vimeo PRO Live is a whooping $75 per month ($20/month without the Live feature). This includes 5 hours of live streaming per month. If you want more, you’ll need to purchase a business Live subscription for $300 per month, which includes unlimited streaming hours but limits individual events to a maximum of 5 hours. For a complete list of features, check out the Vimeo Live website.
Vimeo’s core business is focused around selling tools and services to professional and semi-professional video creators, as upgrades to its basic and free plan. This includes Vimeo’s VHX unit, an acquisition from last year, which helps companies launch their own video streaming services to sell their films, shows and web series across platforms. The service, according to its website, is used by Foo Fighters, NPR’s “This American Life,” Comedy Central, Drafthouse Films, and several others.
Livestream’s 180 employees worldwide will offered jobs at Vimeo, where they will work on Vimeo’s products and platform.
The company plans to fully integrate Livestream into the Vimeo platform after the acquisition completes.
