The first Vod platform to offer both On-Platform tipping and paid Subscriptions, Vidme became one of the top 1,000 most popular destinations on the web, reaching over 200 million people annually. Fewer than a dozen full-time employees, and in spite of increasing competition for audience attention from the likes of Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon, who began spending billions of dollars per year on Video content.

What we accomplished

<ul><li>New sign-ups and uploads will be disabled effective today. </li><li>Existing videos will be playable and exportable from your Video manager until December 15th. At which point they will be permanently deleted from the Vidme Servers.</li><li>All paid channel subscripitions will be suspended immediately, and subscriber-only videos will be exclusively accessible by their video owners. </li><li>Any outstanding earnings will be paid out upon verification within 60 days. </li><li>All Vidme paid subscriptions will cease as of today, and subscribers will no longer be billed. </li></ul>

What this means for users

At the time we offered sharable video links, sharing videos was more difficult than it is today — Facebook, Twitter, reddit, and other large platforms didn’t have native video, it was often impossible to send large files over SMS, and YouTube required sign-in and publishing to your G+ page. Vidme’s simple, one-step video upload drove massive early adoption and traffic.

Sharing Videos

Not every member of the Vidme team will be staying on for the next chapter. We’re talking with some Creator-Focused companies that might incorporate our technology and revive Vidme in some new form in the future.

What’s next for the team

We started Vidme (initially Viddme, before we could afford the shorter domain) in 2014 with the mission of helping the next generation of entertainers find their audience and earn a living.At the time, YouTube was the only major platform that provided revenue sharing — a system that often neglected creators with small or niche audiences.

Why we started Vidme

Monetizing user-generated content is increasingly challenging &nbsp;<ul><li>Facebook and Google combined control 60% of Online ad spending in the U.S.</li><li>Advertisers want their ads to complement "Brand-Safe" content. Even Poorly-Moderated videos can result in a PR disaster.</li><li>Few advertisers are willing to negotiate direct deals with platforms that don’t have enormous scale. This means there’s less overall revenue to be shared with creators.</li><li>The profit margin was insufficient to cover the high costs of storing and delivering Video.</li></ul>

Monetizing Content

If you’re considering building your own video platform, here are a few suggestions: <ul><li>Be wary of Monetizing with ads prior to achieving massive scale.</li><li>Consider Peer-To-Peer storage and delivery to further reduce infrastructure overhead. Consider restrictive storage policies, and own as much of the physical infrastructure as possible.</li><li>Leverage an existing audience, and/or Incentivize all platform participants by issuing a native currency.</li></ul>

Insights for newcomers

UPDATE: Vidme was acquired by Giphy, and its mission of empowering independent video creators lives on as part of the Giphy platform! After careful consideration, the Vidme team has arrived at the…