There’s a fight going on in the video sharing space that resembles the battle between Mac devices and personal computers, Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.”
In the battle for Internet video viewers, Vimeo views itself as Apple'sMac and Google’s YouTube as the equivalent of a regular PC, Trainor said. He added that his company looking to distinguish itself as a juggernaut in the online video space.
“Vimeo is the high-quality video sharing site, specifically for creative people, and we are rewarded with that because we are doing something distinctly different,” the CEO said. (Read More:How One Start-Up Is Taking on Google.)
In an attempt to further distance itself from other video sharing sites, the company has launched a “tip jar” that will allow contributors to get paid for their submissions. The option will “empower filmmakers with tools to be able to go directly to the audience, and start to earn revenue from their work,” Trainor said.
Viewers will be able to pay with a credit card or through PayPal, and the creator will receive 85 percent of the funds via a PayPal account. PayPal is an eBay business.
“We view this as an expansion of the video market overall in terms of bringing new content to market," Trainor said. "We're very interested to see also just how big this market can get, so we don't have any specific estimates in terms how large we expect the market to get or how broad."
Vimeo will also launch a pay-to-view service.The combination of the services could give content creators more ways to monetize their films.
“They're very different ways ultimately to generate revenue from your audience, one where it is free to view and they can tip voluntarily and the more familiar traditional pay wall,” he said.
Quality content and new payment options have Trainor bullish on the outlook for his business.
“We're very happy with the overall growth of the platform just in terms of members,” he said. “We do have a robust growing subscription service, we have an advertising business and that's in addition to the transaction business.”
