YouTube vs. Vimeo

Exactly two weeks ago, I posted a short, funny video based on the character Javert from Les Miserables. It was, actually, a Public Service Announcement where Javert denounced Jean Valjean in a message he ‘paid for and approved.’

Please check it out here.

This was a fun experiment for me for a few reasons (not the least of which was that it was impossible not to keep laughing while making this). Number one, in terms of knocking off a quick project, this was super easy. Since all I needed was a voice-over artist, I was able to audition actors over the phone.

Second, recording a voiceover is a lot easier than trying to record an actual scene or even a documentary-style interview like I did with Otherworldly Encounters. There’s no lighting to rig, no picture to set, no making sure your mics can actually pick up the voices of your subjects as they move around - there’s just a guy in a sound booth talking into a mic that’s directly hooked up to your camera.

But my reason for this post really has nothing to do with debating the pros and cons of video vs. voiceover. What I really want to talk about is YouTube vs. Vimeo.

Javert’s PSA was the first video I ever posted on YouTube. Prior to this, I was putting everything on Vimeo. This was mainly because I’d been influenced into thinking Vimeo is the site for ‘serious’ film-making professionals, and I grant you, there’s some truth to that. While just about any kid with a cell phone can and will post video clips on YouTube, on Vimeo you’ll find actors’ reels and serious attempts at short film and animation. Without a doubt, the people who see your work on Vimeo are the people who tend to really care about film.

BUT... when you think of things going viral, do you ever think of Vimeo?

Most likely, no. And now I understand why. 

Your Vimeo video will not link to any other videos on Vimeo. They won’t link to you. You can choose to ‘join’ someone’s page, but that’s only if you somehow first find them and become a fan of their work. It’s great if you fall into ‘staff picks’ and get featured on the home page, but with a ton of people vying for that honor each week, chances are slim. You do sort of get a feed of videos that might interest you, but apart from the title and cover image, it’s usually hard to know what they’re about without taking the time to click into each.

YouTube, on the other hand, offers links to other options at the end of and even during videos, so if anyone watched something similar to mine, mine would pop up and maybe intrigue them enough so that they’d watch it. Within the first few hours of Javert’s PSA being posted, it got 20 views - and I hadn’t yet sent it to one person in the world, tweeted it, or put it in my Facebook status. So, doing nothing, people had already begun to find it and like it.

“But No MFA Project,” you might say, “It’s not a fair contest. This video was based off of Les Mis, a movie that was up for an Oscar last week. It had built-in buzz.”

That may be, but in the case of Otherworldly Encounters, a collection of interviews with people who had had supernatural experiences, I released it just a few days before Halloween. It was also timely, with some built-in holiday buzz.

That was 4 months ago, and Otherworldly Encounters, even after my getting the word out, has had 97 views on Vimeo.

Javert’s PSA has been up exactly 2 weeks as of today and currently has... 461.

If your film is still in the festival circuit and you want to keep it mostly under wraps, yes, use Vimeo. If you only want other film people to be the ones checking it out, as opposed to the masses, yes, Vimeo.

But if you want sheer number of views, I’d go YouTube all the way.