Vimeo buys Livestream, launches Vimeo Live

Vimeo has agreed to buy live video platform Livestream and has launched its own Vimeo Live product, offering live streaming through its platform for the first time.

Vimeo said that its live offering is targeted at businesses, organisations and professional creators, and was created in response to requests from its users.

Livestream will be integrated with Vimeo, allowing content makers to capture, edit, stream, and archive live events, as well as host, distribute and monetise videos.

“Live streaming is the number one request from our creator community this year, and we’re focused on bringing a new level of quality, convenience and craft to this evolving medium,” said Vimeo CEO Anjali Sud.

“With the launch of Vimeo Live and the addition of Livestream’s impressive team and innovative product suite, we can empower a diverse range of creators to produce beautiful live experiences with professionalism and ease.”

The combination of Vimeo and Livestream will mean that users will be able to broadcast live events in full 1080p HD, and replace auto-archived live videos with 4K files.

Vimeo Live events can be embedded online in the Vimeo player and in the future broadcasters will be able to syndicate across social platforms including Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and Twitter.

Vimeo said it also plans to eventually integrate live with its over-the-top technology, enabling live content to be broadcast in branded apps across platforms like iOS, Android, Roku, Amazon and Samsung.

Livestream co-founder and CEO, Mark Kornfilt, said: “We’re thrilled to join Vimeo’s world-class platform, where we can accelerate the adoption of professional-quality live video by combining our tools and capabilities with Vimeo’s video expertise and global scale.

“Together, we will be able to go faster and further in making live video a truly ubiquitous form of communication for businesses and organisations.”

Livestream is headquartered in Brooklyn, with offices in Ukraine and Bangalore, India. Its service powers live events for clients including Spotify, the Philadelphia Eagles and Dow Jones.

DTVE first reported that Vimeo was planning to move into the live video streaming back in October 2016.