How To: Setting Up Private Portal in Vimeo OTT

Private Portal uses a special (and simple!) configuration of the Vimeo OTT platform to provide a secured viewing experience for your users. Follow the steps below to get started, and reach out to accounts@vimeo.com should you run into any issues. 

1. Create a Vimeo OTT Account 

  • If you haven't already done this, the very first step to getting started is creating your account on Vimeo OTT. You can sign up any time for free right here: https://ott.vimeo.com/

  • Add Team Members - Now, grant access to the Private Portal admin to your team members that will be curating your site! Navigate to  Account and select Members. Then follow this guide to add users and understand which level of access to provide for each of them.

2.  Alert Your Vimeo Solutions Lead to Enable Private Portal Functionality 

  • Once your site (ex: subdomain.vhx.tv) has been created, your Vimeo solutions lead will enable the site for Private Portal. 
  • This will remove the need to input billing information and allow you to easily upload your user lists. 

3. Set Up a Subscription Product: 

While you won't be charging for your event, using our subscription product as will provide the right architecture for organizing and validating your user base to sign into your Portal for your event or secured content. Here's how: 

  • In the Vimeo OTT Admin head to Products and click on "Create Product" 
  • Click the Create Product button and select Subscription from the dropdown

  • You will then be taken through the process of creating a subscription, first landing on the SETTINGS tab where you can set:
    • TITLE - Set a name for the Subscription.
    • DESCRIPTION - Describe what your subscription is! This will be shown on the checkout form.
    • THUMBNAIL - provide a 16:9 ratio image (3840 x 2160 pixels works best) to represent your Subscription.

  • Next is the CONTENT tab. At least one piece of content is needed to create your product and set it live. You can choose to upload a placeholder video directly from your device or one that you have uploaded to the Videos section of your site. For more on uploading videos to your platform, head here!

  • Next is the PRICING tab. Have no fear, we know you won't be charging for access to the portal. Here's what you need to know: 

    • A price is only used here as a placeholder to activate the site. 
    • You may use a very low price like $1.99 here. It will be an arbitrary number. 
    • When your Solutions lead enabled your site for Private Portal in Step 2, the payment process is eliminated from the platform, and it will indicate to the Vimeo OTT platform that no user should be charged for access. 

  • Click Save and 

  • Ensure that the product is Enabled. You will know it is enabled when you see a red "Pause new subscriptions" button on the left hand side. If there is a blue "Resume subscription" button, go ahead and click that! 

4. Customize Your Private Portal Site 

Time to make the site your own! You can add elements of branding and customization through the theme editor: 

  • Head to the Distribution dropdown in the top navigation
  • Select Platforms 
  • Click on Edit Theme

The theme editor is a robust site editing tool used to fully customize our Vimeo OTT subscription products, here is a list of the most important customizable elements to focus on for your Private Portal: 

  • Site Settings 
  • Global Options 
  • Hero Promotion 
  • Footer 
  • Footer Links 

4. Begin to plan out your Private Portal content strategy:

  • For more on how to organize content vid categories and collections headhere. 
  • If you plan to have live events, contact your Vimeo Solutions lead for a walk through of the Live tool! 

Now you've completed your site configuration! It's time to add or upload your users. Find more on how to do that here.