Well Vimeo, It Was Nice Knowing You

As far as online video platforms go, YouTube clearly dominates the field, and has done so for years now. But Vimeo has continued to chug along, appealing to filmmakers and marketers with its high video quality, customization options, and lack of advertising, among other things. That could be changing, however, in light of Vimeo’s recent acquisition by Bending Spoons, an Italian mobile app developer. As Aisha Malik notes:

Bending Spoons has a pattern of acquiring companies, then laying off staff and cutting features. For example, Bending Spoons acquired note-taking and task management app Evernote in 2022, after which the company laid off most of its U.S. and Chile staff and moved operations to Europe in 2023. Evernote then shut down the Linux and older legacy versions of the app, and then proceeded to place heavy restrictions on the app’s free tier in 2024.

In another example, Bending Spoons acquired WeTransfer in July 2024 and then laid off 75% of its staff a few weeks after. A couple months later, WeTransfer began limiting free users to 10 transfers per month.

Vimeo currently offers several tiers, including a free plan that lets you upload up to 5GB of video and a $20/month plan with a 100GB limit. There’s no word yet on what changes Bending Spoons will implement, or if/how Vimeo will become enshittified like Bending Spoons’ other acquisitions. But if Evernote et al. are any indication, then Vimeo will likely serve as yet another reminder that there are always risks with relying on platforms — platforms that can always be acquired and disrupted.