IBM Video Streaming vs. Vimeo

Very limited customization features. Permissions are a mess too if you want to have people assigned as chat moderators for events for instance, but dont want them access to the admin panel. The quality of the broadcast and live captions work well, but they charge extra for live captions. For operating a video on demand site, the design of the page is really poor and limited on customization. Been a user for years and seen almost no new innovation on the platform which has been disappointing. The metrics are a mess on the user panels too. They do provide an api link for your external metrics and/or data dumps for using something like tableau, but that features not really something to write home about and a rather basic offering. This is an expensive platform with limited options and an outdated style unfortunately. We have been getting by for our uses but there's nothing really keeping us with IBM if another platform offering came around

If you're a small company with one or two employees, I'm sure that Vimeo is great. When it comes to larger organizations and teams, they clearly are treating such customers stepmotherly. You need a basic account in order to be an admin on a Pro-plan team, but you only get basic support (3 days wait). The teams function is riddled with bugs and affects the whole experience. In this case, I would not recommend Vimeo at all.

• IBM Video Streaming allows for the integration of interactive elements into video content, such as quizzes, polls, and live Q&A sessions. This can make learning more engaging for young students by making it interactive and fun, thus increasing their attention and participation.
• Teachers in a K-5 setting can access and share professional development materials and teaching resources through the platform. This can help them stay updated on the best practices for early childhood education, innovative teaching methods, and subject-specific strategies, ultimately benefiting their students.
• IBM Video Streaming provides the capability for teachers to create a library of on-demand educational videos. This is particularly useful for young learners who may need to revisit concepts multiple times to fully understand them. It also supports differentiated learning by allowing students to learn at their own pace.
• Young students often benefit from visual aids in their learning process. IBM Video Streaming can deliver high-quality video content that includes animations, demonstrations, and visual explanations of concepts. This can be particularly effective in subjects like science, math, and reading, where visualizations can enhance understanding.

Incentivized

• Image and Branding - Vimeo has always had an edge on design and branding versus its competitors like YouTube. Using Vimeo as a content delivery platform gives the appearance of being luxurious and having a high-end product.
• Video Configuration - I've used YouTube through multiple iterations of their video management and configuration options, and Vimeo has continued to beat it hands down, both in ease of use and robustness. I can easily organize my Vimeo videos into tags and playlists while I still struggle with YouTube, where it is quite laborious.
• User Interaction - Vimeo allows you to capture user email addresses for email lists with ease, something its competitors have not figured out yet. You can easily split your video into chapters and hyperlink from within the video to other areas, features which competitors like YouTube have in some form but not nearly as easy to use or well-implemented as Vimeo.
• Video Analytics - Vimeo has a full-featured analytics suite that helps content creators understand user interaction and engagement with their videos.
• Versioning and Collaboration - Vimeo has workflows for video history and for collaboration where you can have a content creator upload a video which enters a pipeline for an editor to approve. I have not used these workflows, but it's pretty cool that they have implemented features like this.
• Custom Micro-Sites - I have only ever embedded Vimeo videos in websites that I've created, or sent them as links to clients, but I have seen well-designed micro-sites for content creators built using Vimeo. Overall, Vimeo does design and branding very well. Their micro-sites look much better, visually speaking, than competitors like YouTube whose equivalent feature, the YouTube Channel, just seems dry in comparison.

Incentivized

• Occasionally, we experience a form of static that lasts for about 1 to 2 minutes. It appears in the live stream and in the auto-recorded file, but not in the live worship assembly. It occurs roughly 1 in every 4 hours of webcast time. I wish there was a way to trace the source of that recurring static. The diagnostic tools could be more robust.
• It would be nice if the chat room allowed a user photo/avatar for each user to personalize that a little more.
• I have wished for a way that an admin could use a “laser pointer” on the video window to point out something on the feed that other live viewers could see.
• It would be wonderful to have a mini-tutorial for viewers who are not technically savvy that would inform them of how to get to the site and explain how they can use the software. For example, how they can see and type in the chat room, how to maximize the screen and make it smaller. Some of our viewers are in nursing homes or otherwise limited in capability to learn to use this on their own.

Incentivized

• The Vimeo videos do not appear on search engine results, it would be better if search engines can find them.
• The search option can be made better. Looking up for old videos are a hassle sometimes.
• Can have CC autogeneration option, it would be better.

Incentivized

Our organization depends heavily on this streaming service. Now that we have the option of allowing our clients to attend meetings virtually, we can never retract that option as so many of our clients love the flexibility. Also, we have no complaints with the service itself. It is reliable and dependable and any issues we have encountered have never been to blame on the service but rather our lack of knowledge of it or needing to update our embed code

Incentivized

I usually extract the links of all lectures from the embed code, but now Vimeo is not allowing that feature. Instead, I have to copy the whole embed code and then extract the URL from the embed code separately. This process has become cumbersome and a bit of hassle since I don't need the whole embed code.

Incentivized

The user interface is pretty straightforward, but simply needs optimization. (Please hire a seasoned UX person to fix it.) However, all of the key features are there and understandable. It's a great platform overall, a bit expensive, and could use some more options for its viewing experience, and a better "smart" embedding window for mobile applications.

Incentivized

The design is clean and intuitive for the most part, which allows for ease of use by both novice and experience users. We are grateful for the ways that the front-end video player is easy to navigate and intuitive to use, and the backend is generally designed the same way. Tools and options are where you expect to find them, and it was easy to navigate the storage on the backend through folders and content filters

Incentivized

Absolutely. We have never had an outage problem or any application errors that I have been privy to. We are duly notified generally in advance of outages or updates

Incentivized

I use Vimeo all the time, and never had any issues with the system.

Incentivized

As we use it now, we are satisfied with the streaming performance. I cannot speak to integration yet as we have yet to engage in that but have plans to in the future

Incentivized

Vimeo does well in performance with systems with ease. I have not encountered any issues with loading pages or slowing down in other software or systems.

Incentivized

We funded 'white glove' service as our timelines were tight and our needs were well-defined. Tier 1 and Tier 2 support were able to help us get up and running in shorter order than we would have on our own. Documentation on the eCDN product had gaps, increasing the time to resolve and created concerns about success.

Incentivized

Terrible support. When I subscribed to Premium we were guaranteed support. However, after the first e-mail I received from them, I never heard from them again. I sent several emails over the course of a couple of weeks acknowledging that due to covid, I did not expect a miracle overnight and that I was keen to work on the issue with them. I have not heard from customer service at all. This is very disappointing. We lost customers due to the poor quality of the livestreams and were left to sort the issue out without their help.

Ustream is easy to implement. It takes any stream we have thrown its way and distributed it quickly and with quality. When talking to others that are pursuing live stream implementations, I often remind them that the technology used to distribute your live stream is less important than the quality of the content you are distributing. Taking care to use the right camera equipment, the proper encoder, and quality sound gear will result in a high-quality stream that will allow the strength of the Ustream CDN to shine.

Incentivized

Vimeo does provide the legwork of content curation and management of sources. The quality of content is not bad from a viewer's point of view. I think the analytics could use a little bit of improvement, only because my department has a lot of users.

Incentivized

Vimeo offers better tools for on-demand like chapters and marketing tools. But their live options are limited to event durations. YouTube can stream for longer durations but IBM 24/7 stream has been much more reliable and easy to use.

Incentivized

Vimeo is more reasonably priced and a little more user-friendly. Plus, I like the look of it and that I can use it at a price that doesn't break the bank for a small business like mine. It seems to have more features than these other platforms, so you don't have to have so many different platforms just for your video needs.

Incentivized

IBM global network.

Incentivized

Vimeo does well with integrating videos in the Absorb LMS that I currently manage.

Incentivized

• Our ROI is measured by the provision of ministry and satisfaction of our congregation. We are extremely pleased with our USTREAM and feel that it is a valuable asset to our church.

Incentivized

• General membership engagement has increased significantly. We are accustomed to 20-35% of users viewing content and that has increased to about 40-60% within the past 5 months.
• We have found that linking a Vimeo video where the video can be viewed in-app or on the website is when we see most views, rather than redirecting users to the Vimeo account.

Incentivized