There’s no question that the popularity of video hosting providers’ changes rapidly, but certain platforms remain as cornerstones of the video hosting market, even as new players enter it. Companies actively engaging in video marketing outside of social domains, typically require a “true” video hosting platform that can allow its content to be stored, delivered and analyzed non-locally across multiple sites and landing pages. YouTube is a prime example of this type of video platform and in this post we will provide a high-level overview of it and the four additional providers which make up what we consider to be the top five available video hosting providers available to today’s digital marketers.
YouTube
The original and still widely popular, YouTube offers scalable potential for your content and no costs associated with storage. It is widely accessible by billions of people worldwide, easy to share, easy for many different platforms to embed, and offers one of the strongest and most accurate search functions for video. Being part of the Google umbrella means that YouTube can provide very solid and reliable analytics. Additionally, hosting content via YouTube may provide your website with a minor boost in ranking for Google-based search results, as their algorithms historically favor their own platforms.
Vimeo
While not as widespread as YouTube, Vimeo has many of the same perks to offer users. Its platform makes sharing and searching simple and easy. It is a very cost-effective and reliable platform for video hosting, with solid name recognition among web users. Additionally, Vimeo has a more upscale or artistic feel when compared to YouTube. If you want a professional image without paying a premium price for your business video hosting, Vimeo may be an ideal option. They offer several different packages ranging from the free “Vimeo Basic” package to the $50 a month “Vimeo Business” package for companies wanting a customizable player and video analytics.
Wistia
If you’re looking for customization, Wistia may be the top choice for your business videos! In addition to an easily customizable video player, Wistia offers users great analytics, with free plans allowing companies to upload three videos a month. Paid plans offer a variety of sizes and benefits, depending on your usage and needs. With Wistia you’ll pay based on the number on videos you’ll be hosting. You’ll also be charged an additional fee if your bandwidth exceeds the 200GB limit which is highly unlikely unless you’re a highly positioned consumer product business with an extremely established audience. Wistia is one of the original pioneers of this space and as a result have a large number of integration partners such as HubSpot and MailChimp.
Sprout Video
Like Wistia, Sprout Video offers easy, but limited customization of its player. They also have in-depth marketing and analytic offerings. Unlike the previous inclusions on this list, Sprout Video does not offer an ongoing free option to users. However, paid plans start at only $25 per month, and they scale easily if your needs increase over time. After signing up for the free trial, we found the Sprout platform easy to use, but not nearly as advanced as Wistia’s interface. One extremely limiting factor we encountered was the inability to set the embed thumbnail frame at the exact time we wanted it at. At the time of writing this post it appeared to limit the thumbnail to one of three auto-generated frames similar to YouTube.
Vidyard
Vidyard is a very popular option because of its user-friendly dashboard and easy-to-utilize data analytics. If you are curious about how a video is performing, Vidyard makes it easy to integrate your video with other professional enterprise-level online services, like Salesforce and Marketo. Vidyard is probably the most cost-intensive platform on the market today with monthly subscriptions starting at $500 per month. One of the things we enjoyed the most about Vidyard that truly separates it from the other vendors on this list is its ability to push video content to other content channels like Facebook directly from within Vidyard. Instead of having to upload your content on each platform, Vidyard will push the video content to targeted channels such as YouTube, saving the video content administrator tons of time.
In Summary
It’s no secret that video is the future of content marketing. The recent boom in companies and marketers experimenting with, and investing in, online video content has given way to an entirely new breed of software providers with solutions designed to store, manage, deliver and analyze the millions of digital video assets that are being produced by businesses all over the world. When it comes to video hosting providers it’s important that you choose the right video hosting platform for your business and its overall video marketing aspirations.
About the Author
Peter Horton is the Managing Director and co-founder of Telideo, a Denver video production company and video marketing agency that provides businesses with video services such as strategy, production, and go-to-market. To learn more about Telideo’s video production services please visit www.telideo.com.