YouTube and Vimeo are both video sharing platforms. Both facilitate a smooth viewing experience, and both have options for free or paid-for accounts.

So what’s the difference? Should schools use one, the other, or both? We’re here to share our recommendations of how to use both platforms in your #ContentStrategy.

Overview

YouTube is the second largest online search engine (behind its parent company Google) and the second largest social media platform behind Facebook. Users can personalise their accounts, share videos to their subscribers and embed them on content pages of a website.

Vimeo defines itself as an “All-in-one video hosting, creating, live streaming, marketing, and communications tool… for business”. It’s branded as a tool for professionals by professionals.

Features

A key YouTube feature is playlists: this allows schools to group their related content into ‘folders’. Playlists are a great organisational tool, but are also great for overcoming ‘Up Next Videos’, which are based on a user’s history, rather than what you would recommend to them. Their journey and attention may be lost if they are distracted by an unrelated video - we recommend playlists to mitigate this.

Playlists on Riverstone International School’s channel

Additionally, users can privatise playlists to ensure only the intended audience can access the content. This is useful if schools are using YouTube as both an external and internal platform.

YouTube also allows channels to add Video Spotlights. These are videos that are added to the top of the page that can act as a channel trailer - make sure to use this strategically!

Vimeo has several different plans, which come with a range of features. It also has almost all of the same features as YouTube plus more, making it a great platform for schools’ videos.

One of the best features of Vimeo is the support that is offered. Being on a paid Vimeo plan entitles you to email support with a six-hour response time.

On Vimeo, Recommended or ‘Watch Next’ videos will be based on the video you have just watched, meaning viewers will not be distracted by their own watch history. Instead, audiences will be recommended content that has already been shared by the user, or indeed is neatly organised into a playlist.

The Vimeo Standard plan entitles creators to brand both the embedded video player, and the player on videos shared via an unlisted link. This allows for an additional layer of branding on Vimeo itself and on the video that is embedded into your website.

Users can also utilise Vimeo’s video templates in Vimeo Create. These can be customised with your own footage and features.

The templates are a great guide for schools to follow and can create branded videos in an instant. A great way to use them is to create short promotional videos for upcoming events!

Vimeo Create uses AI to improve videos; it examines the footage on three levels - visual analysis, audio analysis, and storytelling. It detects camera motion, tracking, and more, then crafts a script for the final cut of the video to edit the video seamlessly together.

However, a huge negative of the platform is the amount of videos users can host on their profiles. With the Standard plan, users can only host 120 videos, including both private and public videos. This may sound like a lot, but this limit may be reached, forcing users to delete their videos. Users can upgrade their plan to host up to 500 videos, but that cost is four times more than the Standard plan!

Branding

YouTube is great for brand strengthening, and provides opportunities for users to personalise their accounts. Both platforms are almost equal when it comes to branding and offer very similar features:

Western Reserve Academy is a great example of a school branding their channel effectively:

Privacy

YouTube does have privacy options, but they’re nothing on those available to Vimeo users:

Vimeo’s additional privacy features allows you top specifically cater your videos to your desired audience.

Audiences

YouTube has one of the largest audiences in the world with more than 2.7 billion users worldwide. As of July 2023, YouTube’s demographic consists primarily of 18-44 year olds. YouTube’s parent company Google prioritises YouTube in its search results, meaning Google users are encouraged to view YouTube content.

Vimeo has a significantly smaller user-base, with only 260 million users. The median age group is also slightly older at 35-60.

However, given the size of YouTube’s audience, there is an increased likelihood of toxicity within the community. YouTube has removed the visibility of dislikes to the public and added the option to prohibit comments.

So, which platform?

YouTube is a fantastic platform, particularly for the ability to reach an enormous, global audience. However, this may not actually provide much value, as those viewers may not be a school’s target audience: they could be anyone! Content shared to YouTube should be videos that you just want to be seen. Views are likely to be higher on YouTube than on Vimeo, so make sure viewers come away with a meaningful impression of your school.

Vimeo comes with more valuable functionalities and with fast customer support, making it a reliable option. Videos shared to Vimeo ensure a higher-quality viewing experience and an uninterrupted user journey. This content should be what users intend to share with their community through the website, newsletter or email marketing strategies.

If you are still unsure as to which network to use, please reach out to our Digital Storytellers at social@interactiveschools.com - we’ll look forward to hearing from you.

YouTube vs Vimeo: The Video Platform Showdown!