With YouTube essentially the de facto standard for user-created web content, long-time competitor Vimeo has been pursuing a number of alternative strategies to take on the web video giant. Yesterday, the company announced the launch of a global TV store, selling shows like Mad Men, Orange is the New Black, and Weeds in more than 150 countries.
The new store was initially announced by the company last month, but at the time, only Lionsgate-owned shows were among those included. In a press release issued on Tuesday, the company announced Starz as its newest partner, meaning that shows like Black Sails and Ash vs Evil Dead will soon also be available via the service. No specific date has been set, but Vimeo says the shows will arrive in the next few weeks.
“We’re truly excited to be partnering with Lionsgate and now Starz to offer their content, and today’s launch marks a huge expansion for our offering of premium programming,” Vimeo’s senior vice president of programming, Sam Roles, said in a statement.
This may seem a strange move to some, as Vimeo’s new store is closer to something like iTunes or Amazon Video than the streaming services that are increasingly popular. In the U.S., this may not have much of an impact, as many of these shows have already been available via the aforementioned services, but this is the first time many of them have been available in a number of other countries.
This isn’t the only business strategy Vimeo has in its arsenal. Earlier this year, the company acquired the video distribution platform VHX, with the goal of offering a video-on-demand platform for independent creators and more niche-focused channels.
Vimeo is in talks with other studios to offer their programming through its new store as well, according to The Hollywood Reporter, but so far there is no word on which studios these are, or when users might expect to see the results of these talks.
