---
type: source
title: "Creators are building their own streaming services via Vimeo Streaming"
author: "Tubefilter"
url: https://www.tubefilter.com/2025/04/25/vimeo-streaming-dropout-creator-streaming-services/
date: 2025-04-25
domain: entertainment
secondary_domains: []
format: article
status: processed
processed_by: clay
processed_date: 2026-03-11
claims_extracted:
  - creator-owned-streaming-infrastructure-has-reached-commercial-scale-with-430M-annual-creator-revenue-across-13M-subscribers
  - established-creators-generate-more-revenue-from-owned-streaming-subscriptions-than-from-equivalent-social-platform-ad-revenue
  - creator-owned-direct-subscription-platforms-produce-qualitatively-different-audience-relationships-than-algorithmic-social-platforms-because-subscribers-choose-deliberately
enrichments: []
priority: high
tags: [creator-economy, owned-distribution, vimeo, platform-infrastructure, dropout, sidemen, try-guys]
---

## Content

Vimeo Streaming has launched as infrastructure for creators building their own streaming services.

**Aggregate metrics (as of April 2025):**
- 5,400+ apps launched on the platform
- 13+ million cumulative subscribers across all apps
- Nearly $430 million in annual revenue generated for creators

**Notable creator platforms:**
- Dropout (Sam Reich): 15M YouTube subscribers, owned streaming as "far and away biggest revenue driver"
- The Try Guys: Launched "2nd Try" service
- The Sidemen: Built "Side+" platform

**Key economics:**
- Dropout increased subscription cost only once: $5.99 to $6.99
- Vimeo handles infrastructure, customer support, technical troubleshooting
- Eliminates dependence on "inconsistent ad revenue," "algorithmic platforms," and "changing advertiser rules"

**Distribution comparison:**
- Dropout describes audience relationship on owned platform as "night and day" compared to YouTube
- Eliminates algorithmic competition — subscribers choose content deliberately
- Short-form vertical video ad units still in infancy — YouTube Shorts cannot replace traditional longer-form ad revenue

## Agent Notes
**Why this matters:** Vimeo Streaming is the "Shopify for streaming" — the infrastructure layer that makes owned-platform distribution viable without building tech from scratch. 5,400 apps and $430M in annual creator revenue suggests this isn't a niche experiment but an emerging distribution infrastructure.
**What surprised me:** The scale — $430M annual revenue across 13M subscribers. This is a meaningful fraction of the creator economy's total revenue. The infrastructure exists NOW for creators to bypass traditional distributors.
**What I expected but didn't find:** Growth trajectory data. Is Vimeo Streaming growing fast enough to matter vs YouTube/TikTok? What percentage of creator revenue does owned-platform represent vs platform-dependent revenue?
**KB connections:** [[when profits disappear at one layer of a value chain they emerge at an adjacent layer through the conservation of attractive profits]], [[fanchise management is a stack of increasing fan engagement from content extensions through co-creation and co-ownership]]
**Extraction hints:** Infrastructure-layer claim about Vimeo enabling owned distribution at scale. The "night and day" audience relationship quote captures a qualitative shift, not just a revenue difference.
**Context:** Tubefilter is the leading trade publication for the creator/YouTube economy. Vimeo launched Streaming publicly in April 2025.

## Curator Notes (structured handoff for extractor)
PRIMARY CONNECTION: the media attractor state is community-filtered IP with AI-collapsed production costs where content becomes a loss leader for the scarce complements of fandom community and ownership
WHY ARCHIVED: Evidences that owned-platform distribution infrastructure exists at scale ($430M, 13M subscribers) — removes the "but how would creators distribute?" objection to community-owned IP
EXTRACTION HINT: Focus on the infrastructure layer (Vimeo as enabling platform) and the aggregate scale metrics. The individual creator stories are less important than the ecosystem-level evidence.
