diff --git a/youtube_dl/extractor/vimeo.py b/youtube_dl/extractor/vimeo.py
index bd09652cd9..28bcc89cd7 100644
--- a/youtube_dl/extractor/vimeo.py
+++ b/youtube_dl/extractor/vimeo.py
@@ -244,6 +244,16 @@ class VimeoIE(VimeoBaseInfoExtractor):
         # and latter we extract those that are Vimeo specific.
         self.report_extraction(video_id)
 
+        vimeo_config = self._search_regex(
+            r'vimeo\.config\s*=\s*({.+?});', webpage,
+            'vimeo config', default=None)
+        if vimeo_config:
+            seed_status = self._parse_json(vimeo_config, video_id).get('seed_status', {})
+            if seed_status.get('state') == 'failed':
+                raise ExtractorError(
+                    '%s returned error: %s' % (self.IE_NAME, seed_status['title']),
+                    expected=True)
+
         # Extract the config JSON
         try:
             try: