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A video hosting service allows users to upload videos to its servers that can be kept indefinitely or for a certain amount of time. Using a video hosting service has many benefits, including large bandwidth, guaranteed up-time, and the convenience of accessing videos anytime. Owing to the increased usage of cell phones that can capture video and upload it to the web, there has been an increasing demand for video hosting services. It’s also used for video blogging. The vlogger uploads the videos to a video hosting website hosting them on their own website or server.
Platforms for hosting videos offer various advantages. They have virtual data storage, user-friendly interfaces for uploading and monitoring videos, and the network infrastructure to distribute videos on several other platforms.
Advantages of Video Hosting Platforms
The most significant advantage of online video hosting is that it allows you to distribute your videos while maintaining control over them from a single dashboard. As a result, you’ll get the best possible experience and be able to distribute videos quite easily.
Here are a few more advantages of using a video hosting platform:
- The majority of the hard work required for uploading videos can be automated through video hosting services. They will automatically encode the video and compress it if necessary, making it viewable on various devices.
- Video marketing becomes easy and successful. You’ll be more likely to make your videos reach a large audience and get a better return on investment.
- Role-specific functionality may be available on a video hosting platform to make uploading and sharing easier.
- Many hosting platforms can connect with other apps, allowing you to distribute your video through multiple networks. You may also make changes after it’s been released or easily remove it.
- Hosting networks replicate your video through multiple data centers across the world, enabling it to be viewed in multiple countries simultaneously.
Best Video Hosting Platforms
We are all familiar with YouTube, but the list curated by us contains video hosting platforms other than YouTube. So, let’s start.
1. Vimeo
Vimeo is a versatile video hosting platform. As a result, it can be used for both business and private video hosting. Anyone can create three accounts: a free account, a paid account, and a partner account. It isn’t as popular as YouTube, but it is known for hosting high-quality videos.
Although file size and bandwidth are unlimited, you are limited to 500MB of video uploads per week. There is a 25GB cap per year. Use the paid accounts if you want to watch ad-free videos. The best thing about Vimeo is that commercials never appear in the middle of a video.
Vimeo offers five different plans to meet the needs of all types of video creators. All plans offer unrestricted bandwidth and videos that can be embedded on websites. Pricing begins at $12 a month or $84 a year and goes up to $900 per year.
2. Wistia
Wistia is the best video hosting platform for businesses. Wistia creates the video embed code for you to copy-paste when you want to embed videos on your website. The paid plans of the Wistia offer all videos in HD (High Definition) quality and with no advertisements.
Although many websites are static, Wistia enables you to connect with your audiences and monitor leads via Mailchimp, HubSpot, Marketo, and Pardot. You can also interact with your audience on social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram.
Here are some of the key features of Wistia:
- Lead generation – Wistia’s interactive tools enable you to collect email addresses from your viewers. Easy opt-in forms and calls to action, annotated links, and chapters are some of the key tools for generating leads.
- Collaboration – Invite team members and marketers to leave comments at particular timestamps on videos and provide input.
- Analytics – Use comprehensive analytics to improve the content and marketing strategy, including stats on play rates, activities, and interaction rates. You can also use stats and heatmaps to monitor individual viewer interaction and customize the content you submit based on their acts.
3. Twitch
When you think of Twitch, the first thing that comes to mind is possibly live broadcasting. In fact, Twitch is one of the most popular live-streaming sites for gamers. In recent years, the platform has gained immense popularity. Many people prefer to watch their favorite content creators live rather than on pre-recorded video.
Twitch TV is a division of Amazon. Twitch began providing free hosting services to their users due to their popularity and the site now has as much pre-recorded content as live broadcasts. Twitch affiliates have access to unlimited free video sharing. Videos include everything from past broadcasts to videos shot completely off-line and only posted after editing. You can only upload 5 times at a time per account, with a total of 100 uploads in 24 hours.
4. Dailymotion
Dailymotion was a direct rival to YouTube for a long time. In the early days of the internet copyright act, Dailymotion served as a counterpoint to YouTube, offering access to videos that YouTube was beginning to clamp down on.
With many companies and emerging services using the app for embedded content, Dailymotion’s status as the cowboy YouTube is now a thing of the past. Users may also monetize their content depending on the number of views it receives on Dailymotion.
5. Vidyard
Vidyard is another great online video hosting service for businesses. The most significant disadvantage of its free plan is the restriction on the number of video uploads. You need to upgrade to the paid plans if your website content demands more than 5 embedded videos a month. Its pricing plans include the Pro, which costs $19 per month, the Starter costs $150 per month, and the Plus, which costs $850 per month. Also, there’s one more plan Enterprise, that is available for custom pricing.
Across all plans, Vidyard provides unrestricted bandwidth to its customers. Its easy-to-use dashboard and plethora of features make it a remarkable video hosting platform for video creators.
Following are the prime features of Vidyard:
- Functionalities for Lead Marketing and Sales – Add opt-in forms directly to your videos. Monitor videos to find out how much time leads are watching them. You can also use screencasting, your camera, or film videos and send them to leads to continue the sales process.
- Video Analytics – See statistics for your entire Vidyard collection as well as individual videos and leads. The total number of viewers, total minutes viewed, and other metrics are provided.
- Unlimited Video Hosting – Vidyard provides unlimited video hosting. There are no bandwidth restrictions, and 4K videos are supported.
6. Hippo Video
In addition to being a video hosting service, Hippo Video is an all-in-one video marketing suite. It has its own video player. The marketing features offered by Hippo Video allow you to generate more leads, increase sales, and gain a deeper understanding of your audience.
Below are the key features of Hippo Video:
- Opt-in Forms – It’s cool to put inline opt-in forms before or after videos. Still, it’s not nearly as good as putting them in the video player itself, where the viewers’ attention is centered.
- Professional Videos – Hippo Video has a professional video editor that you can use to polish your videos. Custom branding is also available for the video player and a custom domain for your landing pages.
- Customer Support Features – This service integrates with Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, and Zoho Desk, enabling you to accept video support tickets. Video conferencing is also supported.
Hippo Video is an excellent choice for creators who are looking for a private, ad-free video hosting platform at a low cost.
It’s also one of the best options for entrepreneurs who want to use video marketing to expand their businesses. However, there are certain drawbacks to this platform, such as the bandwidth being limited to 200GB. Also, you can only upload a video that is less than 3GB in size with a maximum resolution of 1080p.
7. Sprout Video
Just like Hippo Video, Sprout Video is a video hosting platform with marketing features. Although it doesn’t have as many features as many leading video hosting platforms, it still is a great choice for creators who want large bandwidth and several video resolution options.
Nonetheless, it’s another service that provides ad-free video hosting at a low cost.
Sprout Video comes with the following key features:
- Lead generation – Use call to action within videos and post-video screens to capture more leads and guide viewers to different landing pages.
- Restrict Access – You can restrict access to your videos in various ways, including making them public or protecting them with a password. You may also restrict access to users from specific countries and IP addresses.
- Video Analytics – Monitor the number of plays, visitors, play speeds, hours viewed, and average interaction with video analytics. You will also see which countries your viewers are from and the platforms they use to access your video content, such as your website or Twitter.
How to Pick the Best Video Hosting Solution?
Make a list of the objectives that you want to accomplish with your videos. Also, you need to find answers to a variety of questions to find a video hosting solution that is ideal for you. You need to ask yourself questions, like do you want to raise brand awareness? Do you want to build a pipeline? How can you persuade late-stage investors? Will you assist the CEO in having fireside chats and assist consumers to solve their problems?
The most important distinction to make between hosting platforms is whether they have a discovery feature or not. The discovery features make it possible to attract viewers to your videos. Both types of platforms, i.e. with and without the video discovery feature, have their own set of benefits. For example, YouTube has a discovery feature and is the world’s second-largest search engine and it suggests your videos to people who would possibly like them.
Final Thoughts
YouTube is the popular video hosting platform for the great majority of video makers. However, there are significant disadvantages for companies. Your competitors can cut and put ads on your videos to prevent the embedding choice from becoming professional. With a smart, customizable player and a large, active professional video creative community, Vimeo is a very cost-effective solution. Wistia is paid for analyses, insights, and the capacity to pick up the video player.
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