David Farnor | On 14, Nov 2015

Vimeo has added new “coming soon” pages to its Vimeo On Demand service.

As Facebook and YouTube intensify their race to become the most fully-featured site, from virtual reality and 360-degree videos to copyright detection and live-streaming, Vimeo is quietly stepping up its VOD game.

The site has long established itself as an alternative to YouTube, from the pay-per-view option of Vimeo On Demand, allowing creators to release titles to buy or rent worldwide, to shirking the idea of a general subscription service and instead letting users offer their own SVOD package. Now, Vimeo is giving them more control over how to publish their content by introducing an option for a “Coming Soon” page.

When creating a new page on Vimeo On Demand, users can choose between three options: Ready to Sell, which places videos live immediately, Pre-Order, which lets creators raise funds before releasing their videos, and Coming Soon, to start building an audience with an early marketing campaign and a fixed URL.

As a project progresses, users can easily switch between states to take their page from placeholder to marketplace, with an auto-release date for videos also available.

Support for VIP codes has also been added, giving press, friends and – most importantly for crowd-funded projects – backers exclusive access to soon-to-be-released titles. This can also differ from the product available to the public: for example, backers can receive a free download of a film, while members of the public can allow rent it for 24 hours, or people outside of chosen distribution zones can be given access.

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