Vimeo Buys Livestream & Launches Live Video Streaming

Big news for Vimeo - a grand new expansion into live video streaming courtesy of LiveStream's technology. This means you will have a new option for live streaming your events, including plans to make it easy for you to rent, purchase, or subscribe to your live events. Find out more in the following article: From TechCrunch.com

...After abandoning its plans to launch a subscription video-on-demand business earlier this year, IAC-owned streaming video site Vimeo announced today that it’s acquiring the live video streaming platform, Livestream, and launching its own live streaming product, Vimeo Live. The move to integrate Livestream’s technology into Vimeo will allow video creators to capture, edit, stream and archive their live events, the company says, in addition to hosting, distributing, and generating revenue from their videos.

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the deal is expected to close early in the fourth quarter. Vimeo tells TechCrunch that it’s also the largest acquisition in its history,

The deal makes more sense for Vimeo than its scrapped move into subscription video-on-demand ever did, especially since it would have had to compete with leaders in the space like Netflix, Amazon and Hulu who are spending billions on content.

Instead, 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.

With the addition of Livestream’s technology, Vimeo creators can now branch into hosting live events, as well...[continue reading]