Vimeo is the latest video streaming service to get into original content, today announcing that it’s ordered six episodes of the short comedy High Maintenance to debut later this year. The show already has 13 episodes that were released independently last year on Vimeo, each running anywhere from around 5 to 15 minutes long. If the name didn’t tip you off, the show is centered on a weed dealer, played by Ben Sinclair.
Vimeo gets into original content with short comedy series ‘High Maintenance’
is The Verge’s executive editor. He has covered tech, policy, and online creators for over a decade.
You'll likely have to pay to watch
Unlike Hulu, however, it's likely that you won't just be able to show up to Vimeo and start streaming the new series. High Maintenance will live on Vimeo On Demand, Vimeo's movie rental and sales service. Though pricing is yet to be determined, it seems as though it'll cost something to watch, otherwise it'd just debut on Vimeo proper, where there's no pay wall.
This is just the beginning for Vimeo’s original content too: it’s set aside $10 million to use for licensing content for Vimeo On Demand. Paying per episode is a far different business model than what most streaming services jumping into the original content game are using — Amazon and Netflix, most notably, both require subscriptions — so Vimeo’s initiative may pan out quite differently. One thing’s for certain: if it does sell shows episode by episode, each one better be good.
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