In this internet era, the presence of videos is unavoidable. People watch videos every day, from entertaining cat videos to general video ads. Those can be found literally everywhere.
Marketers have pulled off a chance to spread their marketing campaigns from this phenomenon. Video marketing, in the form of explainer videos or ads, is one of the best tools to gain conversion rates in a short time.
In order to activate your video marketing campaign, you need to wisely choose which video hosting provider is apt for you. There are many things to consider such as content protection, branding, analytics, and content management. These elements are essential to secure your video marketing on the internet.
Before we dig down to the top 10 video hosting providers, you should understand what benefit a business can get from video hosting platforms.
The Benefit of Video Hosting For Business
Video hosting platforms aren’t solely for independent content creators we find out there. You can use this video hosting provider to improve your business in a way your web host platform cannot do. So here are the benefits of video hosting:
Boost SEO
One of the best benefits of getting video hosting is to add value to your web SEO. The popular hosting sites have their own native viewers that can add up some views on your video marketing campaign.
The views are more likely coming from your non-target audience which are great sources of possible engagements like share and likes. Also, the Call-to-Action link you put on your video can increase massive traffic to your website. These result in a higher search engine result page.
Analytics View
You don’t need to worry about analytics when you use video hosting providers. The analytics is the measurement of whether a video marketing campaign is successful. You can check how many times a video is shared or at which time viewers stop watching the video.
When you have these analytics, you can plan what kind of video catches the audiences’ attention for the future campaign. However, it can be a hassle if you don’t have this measurement simply because you are not using one video hosting platform.
You still can use analytics without the help of video hosting providers. But, you need another extension or tool to be attached to your website that requires a lot of jobs.
Branding Opportunities
Once you register on the popular video hosting provider, you will benefit additional exposure from it. This is a good chance for your business to get a name without having a lot of effort.
These video hosting platforms also allow you to brand your business exclusively. You can be featured on their blogs for your service or simply as the one example of how your business has developed using their platform.
Less Hosting Expenses
There is a download limitation from the provider that hosts your website. When you reach this limitation, you are forced to make an upgrade which costs you a higher price.
It is an avoidable move especially when you have increased traffic, this limitation can be a disaster. You need to purchase the upgraded slot otherwise your web performance is slowing down.
Using a video hosting platform can prevent you from a situation like this. It can maintain the video view performance without getting exhausted over multiple views.
Secure from Video Piracy
One of the common internet crimes is content stealing. Surely, you don’t want your video marketing campaign hijacked by some irresponsible people. However, it is still that one hardest thing to prevent on the world wide web.
By registering your business on a video hosting platform, you can prevent this distribution and secure more of your videos. Video hosting providers have their own security systems where a source code link is embedded in each video to protect against illegal downloads.
The Top 10 Video Hosting Sites for Your Business
Now you understand the benefit of using video hosting platforms for your business. It is time to break down which providers meet your expectations. These video hosting platforms are popular for marketers to run their campaigns, thus, you can decide from the list below.
1. YouTube
YouTube is the world’s second-largest site on the internet with 6 billion hours of video being viewed every month. No video sharing platform can outnumber YouTube hence making it popular for video hosting providers.
If you are a content creator, YouTube is a great choice to start. It already has a wider audience and its recommended feature can bring you views without your video being on the first result.
A business may find this feature disadvantageous since the next video can steal your audiences’ attention, especially when the Call-to-Action is put on the end of a video. The presence of ads also brings another fall point since your competitors can put their ads in between your video marketing campaign.
2. Daily Motion
Daily Motion has over 350 million active users with 3.5 billion videos watched each month making it the second option for a free video-hosting platform. It is one of the best YouTube alternative so far.
Daily Motion has a web layout that looks like a lifestyle site. It is simple and clean with not many videos cramped under one page. The site allows your business video to get featured on its platform. This facility is unlike any other site.
You can upload videos, host a live-streaming, and input on-demand videos. With a channel feature (just like YouTube), your target audience can follow your business platform to get more updates.
3. Vimeo
Vimeo is another popular video hosting platform with over 80 million active users around the world. It is the best choice for a serious content creator as it provides the on-demand freelance video talent feature.
Vimeo allows you to meet other collaborators and make a team out of it. This platform also facilitates content creators to invite clients to review their projects without signing up for the site. In brief, you can both work as a private creator and for professional clients.
One of the best things about Vimeo is the nature it brings to the platform. It gives a business atmosphere that results in a nice comment section considering how toxic comments on YouTube are.
4. Facebook
Facebook is a social media platform where its audience is almost matched with YouTube in numbers. Although it is not designed to be video hosting providers, Facebook has surprisingly 2.45 billion monthly active users who view its video section.
Facebook videos can be everything from promotional ads to movie trailers. Its wide ranges match with the massive active users. This benefits your business if you combine Facebook ads and video marketing for a campaign.
This platform offers you unlimited free video hosting and a massive audience every month.
5. Wistia
It is the most business-feel video hosting platform compared to the options above. Wistia is a great start for activating digital marketing campaigns that need video embedded in it.
Wistia also has a built-in tool like heat maps to engage with your target audiences. This is a nice feature especially for business owners to build their reputation. Another feature includes in-depth analytics that allows you to keep on track with your video marketing campaign.
The pros of Wistia include a white-label branding tool, a heavily popular video hosting platform that has years of experience, and a free account to start.
6. Sprout Video
Sprout Video is designed for businesses video that offers a sharing and collaborating tool with other collaborators. It provides up to 8k video playback that is unlikely with another video hosting platform.
This platform has its build-on analytics to keep your video performance on the track. It provides powerful security for your video marketing without getting external tools. It also offers a template to build your business videos.
Or you can use Sprout Video as your portfolios as it offers to build a video-first website. You can embed videos on an external website with the flexibility to make it private or public. All videos on this platform are login protected which means viewers need to sign up to view a video.
7. Vidyard
Like another professional video hosting platform, Vidyard has the option not to just host your video. Vidyard has many features that businesses do need their hosting service to increase conversion rates.
Vidyard offers automatic SEO service to optimize your business on top of search engine result pages (SERP). It also provides interactive Calls-to-Action that is customizable. Both features are what your video marketing campaign needs to be included.
Other features include marketing automation integrations, A/B testing, and real-time analytics. These compact facilities are great for every business owner who wants the viewers to take action after watching a campaign video.
8. Brightcove
If you need to build a streaming service for your business, Brightcove will be a great companion for you.
You can customize its layout by adding your company logo, color, and link to your website. Using Brightcove, you have a chance to create and design everything on your own that matches your company value.
Brightcove allows you to host a live-streaming session, run ads on your video, and access to its video marketing tools and integration. You will also experience the best HTML5 player with an OTT experience.
9. JW Player
This video hosting platform offers a fast video rendering that showcases JavaScript API, HLS & DASH Adaptive Streaming, and multi-bitrate HD encoding. JW Player provides an unlikely advanced feature such as real-time video analytics. It allows you to directly check whether video marketing works or not.
JW Player is easy to embed and customize your video. It is also up-to-date with the latest technology such as HTML5 video player. With its enterprise package, you have access to OEM distribution rights and Android and iOS SDKs which are essential if you are running a medium-large business.
10. Uscreen
Unlike other video hosting platforms, Uscreen allows you to sell your video online. You can set up Uscreen membership to enable your video course and share it with your audience.
One thing about Uscreen is that there are no ads attached to the video. It helps your viewers access your business video without getting interrupted every minute.
Uscreen also provides marketing materials to enhance your business. Email marketing, video analytics, and sales reports are some of the features to help you run your business video.
Closing Thoughts
This is it!
You have gone to this section after one page long. This means you are ready to choose which video hosting platform for your business. These platforms, however, have their advantages and distinct features that others may not have. You can wisely choose which apt for your business — based on your preferences, needs, and budgets.
For instance, if you are running a medium enterprise, YouTube is not definitely for you. You should consider Wistia or Vidyard for your business.
On the other hand, if you are a small independent content creator then YouTube or DailyMotion can be your start to grow your business.
Author Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).