Vimeo Adds HD Video Offering - Is this a Monetization Angle?

Vimeo sure has been getting some major media play the last week. We wrote about Vimeo in the challenge with Viddler and noted some of their new features as well, Silicon Alley Insider called them a "sale" and today they get mainstream attention from the NY Post.

Henry notes, "We groove on the concept, too, except from a business perspective: Streaming videos that are four times as sharp costs four times as much, and video companies are having a hard enough time making a living off of the crappy-definition stuff."

From the Post column, "According to founder Jakob Lodwick, the investment in HD was made worthwhile because Vimeo's user base is made up largely of amateur filmmakers, as opposed to casual fans who rip content from other sources and simply post it online.  "Our audience completely rejects the notion that Web video needs to be a lower quality than television," said Lodwick, who came to IAC through its purchase of collegehumor.com."

I look at this as a potential monetization angle. Want HD? Pay $10/month. If Vimeo's user base is "largely amateur filmmakers" as Lodwick suggests (I disagree), then I believe they would go for a plan like this. If Henry is right and streaming HD videos costs 4x as much, I doubt basic ads can support it alone. Another angle is to provide white-label services for a fee to other social networking providers (i.e. Ning, KickApps, Magnify, etc.) along with other video startups.

Update: Viddler has been supporting HD from the beginning.