How to price your digital videos

Steve once worked at and then left Vimeo to move to Michigan, get married, have a kid, and join VHX, which then became part of the Vimeo family, and now he's back. Life, man.
Stephen Niebauer
You just put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making a movie — That was hard! Selling it shouldn't be. But how much should you charge?

You just put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into making a movie — That was hard! Selling it shouldn’t be. But how much should you charge? Can you really put a price on genius? Probably not, but here are some tried-and-true guidelines based on Vimeo OTT’s research that will make the decision to purchase it a no-brainer.

Short-form content

What we’ve found: Episodic content does well around the $3.00 mark.That said, you can price short content as low as a buck, and if you use the “Pay What You Want” sliding payment scale feature, ask your fans to pay what they want, from $1.00 up. Check out how our friends at ” Hello Cupid” charge $3.00 per episode (and their fans love them for it). Visit STRIPPED’s website to see how they sell individual clips of bonus content for $2.99 each.

Feature-length content

What we’ve found: Single feature-length videos (without bonus content) perform best when priced between $4.99 and $9.99.

  • Chalk it up to our mysterious brains: When people see a film for below $4.99, transactions don’t increase. Why undercharge for no reason? On the other end of the spectrum, films exceeding $20 drastically underperform, so it’s best to stay away from that territory.
  • Don’t offer your film for $1 or less. Vimeo OTT titles at this price point haven’t sold well, plus transaction fees cut too much of your already small profit. We’ve found people are unlikely to take out their credit cards for a buck.

Make it deluxe

Offer both standard and deluxe products with bonus content. 50% to 75% of Vimeo OTT customers opt for more material when it’s available. Your fans always want more of the story: throw in deleted scenes, show them how everything came together with a director’s cut, serenade them with your great soundtrack… get creative! Your fans will thank you.

  • Price deluxe products 30% – 60% more than standalone videos. Offering a simple Q&A? Bump the price up 30%. Including 100 minutes of bonus content? Add a full 50%. So, for example, a $7.99 film with bonus content should sell for between $10.99 and $12.99.
  • MINECRAFT is a great example: 67% of their customers purchased the deluxe products with a lot of bonus material, priced 50% higher than the standalone film.
  • Don’t sell extra content on its own (remember when we talked about $1 purchases?). It might be tempting to offer a bargain item, but a product that doesn’t include the film itself usually doesn’t sell. And, remember that over 50% of your audience is likely to purchase a deluxe edition. So keep product options to a minimum and then up-sell with plenty of extra appealing content.
  • Make the deluxe product the default option on your website. People will spring for added value if it’s presented as valuable. (And it is!) And because it’s the first thing they’ll see on your site, they’ll consider going for it automatically.

Bundles

Selling multiple films or episodic content? Bundle it up. Make one awesome product. Over ⅔ of Vimeo OTT customers purchase bundled products over single episodes, seasons or films.

  • Bundled products should be priced at a 20 – 25% discount relative to individual videos. Extra value will convert most customers to products. For example…
  • Episodic content: Consider selling just the first episode, or give it away for free, so fans have a taste of what’s to come. Then sell the remaining episodes in a bundle to optimize revenue and minimize transaction costs. Have multiple seasons? Sell them individually, but make a master bundle as well. Check out the television show “MeatEater” for a great example.
  • Multiple films: Sell each on its own (because fans will always look for a specific title), and offer them as a discounted product together. This way, a lot more people will end up watching all your films and spreading the word about your work.
  • BURN is another great example: They sell TOO HOT FOR BURN, BURN and both together; 41% opted to purchase the combo.

Recap

  1. This might feel like a lot to remember; it’s really not! Here’s a quick guide:Price single videos around $5 and $10 (stay away from the $20 price point)
  2. Offer deluxe products with bonus content for 30% to 60% more
  3. Selling several videos? Offer them individually and together for a 20% – 25% discount

There you have it! You’re well on your way to making more cash, not to mention getting a lot more people to watch your movie (which is probably why you made it in the first place). All your blood, sweat and tears were worth it. And what more can you really ask for?

Before you can sell your content you have to create and edit it. Learn more about Vimeo’s video creation, editing, hosting, and analytics tools tools to help enhance your videos by integrating background music, adjusting video dimensions, and more so you can make, share, and manage your videos.


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