Leaked Email Reveals What Vimeo Is Charging YouTubers to Build Custom Subscription Platforms

Popular YouTube channels like Sidemen, Dropout, The Try Guys, and Watcher are creating branded subscription channels using Vimeo's content-monetization service, Vimeo OTT. With millions of subscribers on YouTube, these creators are exploring new revenue streams by converting a portion of their audience to paying subscribers.

Rich Bloom, Senior Vice President and General Manager at Vimeo, shared with Business Insider, "For a creator to be successful on our platform, they need to convert about 1% to 5% of their free YouTube subscribers to paying subscribers."

Vimeo charges creators a fee to use its service based on several factors, including audience size and features like livestreaming, digital-rights management, and interactive video. According to an email reviewed by Business Insider, Vimeo OTT's basic web-only subscription service starts at $15,000. Adding app experiences on platforms like iOS, Android, Apple TV, and Roku costs an additional $12,000 to $36,000. Additional features include access to digital-rights-management software and support packages.

A Vimeo spokesperson declined to comment on these rates, emphasizing that Vimeo operates on a software-as-a-service model. Creators enter into annual or multi-year agreements that include an annual licensing fee and usage-based charges typically tied to their number of subscribers.

"Paywalling content doesn't work for everyone," Bloom noted. "What these channels have in common is they're part of larger creator groups that produce high-quality content at scale. A lot of it is a question of how engaged the audience is. We often say that if you can sell hats and T-shirts to your audience, you can get them to buy your content."