Jan 7th 2014, 14:00, by Ryan Lawler
One of the key differentiators for Vimeo over the years is simply its user experience, and a lot of that comes from its video player. It’s one of the reasons that all sorts of artsy independent creators decide to upload and distribute their videos on Vimeo instead of just putting them on YouTube.
But believe it or not, Vimeo thought it could improve that experience and its video player. With that in mind, it went back to the drawing board and built its video player from the ground up, with an eye toward making it faster, more accessible, and more beautiful.
The new Vimeo video player is the fastest player yet, loading up videos almost instantly. In fact, the company has cut load time in half compared to the previously player. It’s also more responsive, defaulting to HTML5, which can be played directly in most browsers without having to load a plugin.
The fact that it’s HTML5 also means that the Vimeo player is now a lot more accessible. The same player will be available on desktop, mobile, and tablet browsers. It’s also added screen reader and voiceover compatibility, allowing creators to add closed captioning and translated subtitles.
The Vimeo player is also designed for better sharing, with tools for sending to friends via email, as well as embedding and posting on other social networks.
But one of the biggest new features is support for in-player transactions, which is meant to bolster sale of videos through the company’s Vimeo On Demand offering. Now creators who have videos for sale on the platform can add a purchase capability directly within the player.
Vimeo’s putting a lot of effort behind trying to get people on its on-demand platform. It takes only about 10 percent of all sales in an effort to get folks to sign up. Allowing people to make purchases within the player will speed transactions and should boost conversion for on-demand video sales, since potential customers will no longer have to go to another page to actually make a purchase.
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