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Vimeo, a video hosting and sharing platform, has adopted AI at scale.
This week, Vimeo announced that it’s designed to let users create scripts and record footage using the built-in teleprompter, removing long pauses and unwanted inconsistencies like “ahs” and “hmms” from recordings. announced a suite of AI-powered tools. These will be available starting July 17 as part of his Vimeo Standard plan for $20 per month (billed annually).
Vimeo Chief Product Officer Ashraf Al-Kalmi said the new feature is aimed at entry-level users such as CEOs, employees, and social media managers who lack the skills, time, and resources to achieve the effects they want to achieve. It said it was aimed at video creators.
Vimeo’s internal research shows that 50% of customers do multiple takes while creating a video, and 25% of reshoots do 5 or more takes.
“Despite being the most effective way to convey a powerful message, video production inherently creates barriers to this preferred communication channel,” Alkarmi told TechCrunch via email. “Our state-of-the-art AI-powered workflow reduces these barriers and empowers any creator with confidence that he can actually make a video in one take.”
Use Vimeo’s new tool to generate scripts using AI.
To that end, Vimeo’s new script generator uses generative AI (especially the OpenAI API) to match short descriptions with tone (“confident,” “inspirational,” “casual,” etc.), length, etc. Create a video script based on key inputs from . The Teleprompter tool provides a customizable script display with different font sizes and pacing. Text-based video editors, on the other hand, automatically identify and remove filler words and annoying pauses.
Alkarmi believes these tools are used to quickly create highlight reels, host virtual events and corporate meetings, and export quote clips for short marketing videos.
Vimeo’s teleprompter.
“One of the biggest misconceptions about Vimeo is that it’s an entertainment hub, but we’ve come a long way over the years,” Alkarmi said. “Our goal is to enable any company to use video in the same way it uses text and images as a powerful way to communicate with internal and external audiences.”
Of course, the trend is to leverage AI to achieve these goals. But Alkarmi points out that Vimeo has been investing in AI for some time. In 2019, the company acquired Magisto, which developed AI technology for video editing. Vimeo built the Create tool on top of the Magisto infrastructure. It allows users to stitch together stock photos and videos as well as personal archives to create videos.
Vimeo’s AI-powered editor.
Alkarmi expects AI to remain a core focus for Vimeo going forward. That’s probably wise from a competitive standpoint. A growing number of startups offer AI-powered video editing tools, including Capsule, Descript, and Dumme. So do incumbents like Adobe, and like Vimeo, he sees AI as a key component of future video editing workflows.
“We have obviously only scratched the surface of what AI can do for organizations and the people within them. I envision a future where AI knowledge is a prerequisite rather than a luxury for video production. ,” Al-Kalmi said. “AI is a priority for me and my product team, not because it’s the latest tech trend, but because it solves customer problems. You can expect more products like this from our team in the future as we work to make AI seamless within our product suite in a way that differentiates the user journey.”
Vimeo, a publicly traded company with about 260 million users, got off to a tough start to the year, laying off about 11% of its workforce. But things seem to be getting better. Probably thanks to the platform’s new AI investments. The company beat expectations in its latest earnings report, released in May, reporting revenue of about $103.58 million, versus consensus expectations of $103.07 million.
