Business

Diller’s Vimeo makes push at Toronto Film Festival

Naked yoga videos, an Eminem boxing film and a unique collection of thought-provoking independent movies are helping Barry Diller’s video platform Vimeo create a new distribution model for online content.

Executives from Vimeo (an anagram of the word movie) are headed to the Toronto International Film Festival this weekend to persuade filmmakers to distribute their own works on the advertising-free destination and set their own prices.

Content chief Sam Toles is taking part in an education seminar to help filmmakers market their work. Vimeo recently started a $10 million fund to help filmmakers build an audience for their works well before they’re ready for release.

Vimeo isn’t just about indie films, however — it plays host to some stranger offerings. Among the more offbeat video series are titles as varied as “Naked Yoga School” and “Christian Bible School.”

Among Vimeo’s more popular titles are “Total Slaughter,” a boxing ring-style rap battle from Eminem’s Shady Films, and “Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie,” a fan-funded project.

In March 2013, Vimeo began offering an On Demand platform for people uploading video they want to sell or rent — it takes a 10 percent cut of the proceeds. Vimeo is hitting the indie film circuit to make sure moviemakers are getting the message.

While the world’s No. 1 online video destination, YouTube, is focused on advertising, Vimeo is both growing a subscription business and attracting an audience for unique paid-for self-distributed content.

In the online video category, the 10-year-old Vimeo ranked 10th versus Netflix, which came in at No. 21 in July, according to ComScore. The IAC-backed destination counts almost 500,000 subscribers through the second quarter and grew revenue by 45 percent in the most recent period versus the year before, the Chelsea-based company said.

The company doesn’t break out earnings for Vimeo, which sits in its Media unit alongside the Daily Beast, but digital analyst Jason Helfstein at Oppenheimer & Co. told The Post the video site is forecast to make revenue of $90 million in 2015, around double its 2013 figure.

Helfstein explains that Vimeo essentially has two separate businesses, a paying community of consumers editing and sharing movies, and pay-per-view.

Vimeo has three tiers of service. Customers can check out free user-generated content and film trailers at the site. They can buy videos about everything from travel documentaries to snowboarding expeditions to crochet series.

The company has a $9.99-a-month paid offering with storage for all those movies you just bought (or $59.99 for the year). And lastly, there’s a Vimeo PRO version for $199 for those who need huge amounts of storage for longer features.

Greg Clayman, general manager of audience networks and former publisher of The Daily, tells The Post: “We have a strong presence at the film festivals. Toronto is huge for us. It’s one of the largest markets. It’s important we go and talk to producers and directors and all those who are creating and distributing films.”

Clayman says filmmakers are only now coming around to thinking about building audiences before they start to make their movies. In the past, the target market was an afterthought.

“The question is, can you get the masses to think about Vimeo? Can it replace the alternatives? The hope is people [who are on free] will pay, I liken it to Dropbox,” said Helfstein.

ComScore reports that Vimeo has seen a 75 percent spike in videos viewed, with this July clocking in at 149,697 versus July 13, when the number was 85,618.

“IAC thinks this company has the potential to break out,” adds Helfstein.