Vimeo has opened submissions for the second Vimeo Festival + Awards, which celebrates the most creative and original videos online, as well as the individuals who make them. Vimeo will award grants of $5,000 to all of the category winners as well as awarding a grant of $25,000 for the Grand Prize winner.

“Since our inaugural event, we have watched online video explode into a primary medium for new talent discovery,” said Jeremy Boxer, Director of the Vimeo Festival + Awards. “More and more creators earn visibility, credibility and, ultimately, work by showcasing their videos online. We created the Vimeo Festival + Awards to celebrate the best of the best of these videos.”

Beginning now through February 20, 2012, filmmakers can submit their works for consideration in one of 13 different judged categories. With the continued exponential growth of quality online video, Vimeo is recognizing four new categories:

• Fashion: Fashion photographers are exploring creative filmmaking, blurring the line between fashion and art. Similarly, designers are able to bring to life the mood and inspiration behind their collections in greater detail and with more emotion than through still photos.
• Action Sports: As lightweight, durable, and wearable HD cameras have become more accessible, adventurers, athletes, and documentarians can go anywhere while filming it all.
• Advertising: Due to the high volume of content online, advertisers have been forced to become increasingly creative in order to reach audiences. As a result, many people now seek out commercial films as standalone entertainment.
• Lyrical: This category celebrates videos that showcase the natural world or personal experience using a dramatic creative style. With filmmaking techniques such as slow motion and time lapse now increasingly available, these videos provide thought-provoking and oftentimes heart-wrenching windows into other people’s worlds.

A full list of the video categories can be found at www.vimeo.com/awards.

An independent jury will judge entries, which includes all of the category winners from 2010 as well as two industry luminaries/experts per category. Vimeo released the following jury members for its newest categories: Stacy Peralta for Action Sports, David Droga for Advertising, Nick Knight for Fashion, and Phillip Bloom for Lyrical. Vimeo plans to release the full jury in January.

Vimeo will accept submissions from December 13, 2011 through February 20, 2012 for a $20 (U.S.) fee per video ($5 for Vimeo Plus and PRO members) at www.vimeo.com/awards. Entrants can submit any original work that premiered anywhere online between July 31, 2010 and February 20, 2012 or any original work that has never been premiered before.

All entries must comply with the Official Rules of the Vimeo Festival + Awards. For more information on the Vimeo Festival + Awards, please visit www.vimeo.com/awards.

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ComScore, a leader in measuring the digital world, today, released inaugural data on worldwide online-video viewing from the comScore Video Metrix service. The report found that nearly 1.2 billion people aged 15 and older watched 201.4 billion videos online globally during October 2011.

Google Sites, driven by YouTube.com, ranked as the top video destination with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property worldwide during the month.

“As global broadband connectivity continues to rise, online-video viewing has taken off in a big way and has become a fully integrated component of the digital content experience,” said Dan Piech, comScore product manager for video. “With the introduction of comScore’s global measurement of online-video viewing, multinational media brands and advertisers can now gain a more comprehensive understanding of how online video reaches audiences around the world.”

Google Sites, Youku and VEVO Lead Global Online-Video Rankings 

In October 2011, 201.4 billion videos were viewed online from a home or work location, with the global viewing audience reaching 1.2 billion viewers aged 15 and older. Google Sites led as the top global video-property with nearly 88.3 billion videos viewed on the property during the month, accounting for 43.8 percent of all videos viewed globally.

YouTube.com was the key driver of video viewing on Google Sites, accounting for more than 99 percent of videos viewed on the property. China-based Youku, Inc. was the second largest video property globally with 4.6 billion videos viewed in October (2.3 percent global share), followed by VEVO which accounted for nearly 3.7 billion videos (1.8 percent share). Nearly 2.6 billion videos were watched on Facebook.com during the month (1.3 percent share), followed by Japan-based Dwango Co. with 2.5 billion videos viewed (1.2 percent share).

Canadians Watch Most Videos, While Turkey has Highest Video Penetration 

An analysis of selected online video markets by engagement revealed that viewers in Canada and the U.S. averaged the highest number of videos per viewer in October, at 303 videos and 286 videos, respectively. Viewers in the UK averaged 268 videos per viewer during the month, while viewers in Turkey and Germany both watched an average of 250 videos.

Analysis of selected markets with the highest penetration of online-video viewing revealed that 93.6 percent of Internet users in Turkey watched videos during the month, followed by Canada with 90.9 percent of web users consuming video.

Although markets in Latin America showed lower overall engagement with online video compared to their counterparts in other regions, Chile, Argentina, Brazil and Mexico ranked among the markets with the highest penetration, highlighting a significant opportunity for marketers and advertisers as these online-video markets continue to develop.

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