Vimeo acquires Livestream

Live streaming comes to Vimeo with its latest acquisition

Livestream is about to become part of Vimeo. Almost immediately after we visited Vimeo’s booth at IBC 2017 last week in Amsterdam, we heard today that Vimeo has acquired the live stream hosting company Livestream.

Vimeo is well known as the platform most used by creators to show their video productions. While it’s a competitor to YouTube on the face of it, the reality is that it’s an entirely different sort of place, where the video takes priority and creators have more control over their work. The emphasis is on quality too.

Livestream is a live video hosting service that provides all the stuff you need for making and promoting a live stream - and analysing audience figures before and after the production. It also makes a range of live video production equipment that’s optimised for reliable and easy operation.

We’ve had first-hand experience of using Livestream and it’s very good indeed: we’ve produced our own shows, and taken part in a live stream direct from their (very cool) offices in Brooklyn.

What does it mean for the live streaming community? We suspect that it will mean good things. Vimeo understands the needs of content creators and Livestream was doing a great job. We were initially concerned about Livestream’s employees but the early signs are that they will all be employed by Livestream.

It really does look like a good fit, and will probably catapult Vimeo right into the forefront of live streaming, with a first-class streaming service from day one.

We’ll keep you updated as we hear developments.

Meanwhile here’s a recording of our presentation with Sony from Livestream’s offices in Brooklyn last year.