Vimeo CEO Kerry Trainor Talks Echograph Acquisition, Monetization, And The Future Of Mobile Video Creation

For Vimeo, the David to YouTube’s Goliath, the focus moving forward will be on creating and delivering mobile video, according to CEO Kerry Trainor.

A big part of that future focus will come from Echograph, a GIF-making app that was recently acquired by Vimeo in a deal whose details weren’t disclosed.

“Like many video platforms, we’re focused on where things are going with mobile video,” said Trainor. “One area we see evolving very quickly is mobile video creation, and like Vimeo itself, Echograph took the position of creating a high-quality experience for both creating and viewing.”

Vimeo has also positioned itself as a more high-quality, professional experience than YouTube, which has more volume and traffic, but a vast number of crappy, amateur videos.

According to Trainor, the purchase of Echograph has nothing to do with Vine’s launch into existence. “No, truthfully, it’s really not a reaction in any way,” said Trainor.

Vine was launched out of Twitter at the end of January, and has received quite a bit of attention for being a potential Instagram for video.

But setting Vine aside, Vimeo’s focus on mobile video creation is only rivaled by its focus on monetization. The company already has subscription services, upgraded tools for the upload suite, there is a smaller advertising business working on the site, and Vimeo recently launched a Tip Jar service that lets viewers offer monetary Kudos to projects they like.

Soon, Vimeo will roll out a Paywall option to content creators giving them complete control over what portion of the film can be seen (if any) and how much it costs to get behind the paywall.

In terms of competition, Vimeo doesn’t seem so concerned with matching YouTube’s level of volume. “There’s no part of the model for us that relies on volume of what’s being created,” said Trainor. “It’s more about giving people the tools to empower them to create video.”