Vimeo ditches SVoD plans

Video-sharing site Vimeo has scrapped its plan for its own SVoD service, which had been scheduled to launch in 2018.

Details of the proposed service were announced by Vimeo in a letter to its shareholders in November last year.

However, the company released a statement yesterday confirming it has decided not to proceed with the service, which would have offered original programming.

The decision comes only a few months after Vimeo, which is backed by Barry Diller’s IAC, hired Paramount Pictures’ Alana Mayo to lead its original content division.

“This was a difficult decision – the idea of pursuing an SVoD service for Vimeo has always been intriguing, and I would have loved to have seen the incredibly talented Alana Mayo’s programming vision realised here at Vimeo,” said Joey Levin, IAC CEO and interim chief exec of Vimeo.

“She and her team are creative, sharp risk-takers, and I believe will all, to a person, have an incredible future in programming. But the opportunity ahead for Vimeo to empower creators is too large and too important for us to attack with anything other than absolute focus and clarity.”