Online Video Hosting Services: A Comparison
From YouTube to Vimeo to Vidyard and Wistia, marketers have a wealth of options to consider with respect to online video hosting. However, it’s important to recognise the perils of using multiple hosting services simultaneously. Though it may sound intuitive to “cast a wide net” with your video, it will mean dividing crucial viewership data and harming your ability to gain useful insights. So then you ask “which one do I pick”. There is no one best answer. Each hosting service has different strengths, weaknesses, and costs. We’ve broken down a few of the most popular ones here to help you decide which of the four most popular online video hosting service is best for you.
YouTube
YouTube is the undisputed king of video hosting services. Every minute, 300 hours of content are uploaded to YouTube by its army of content creators. Setting up an account is free and easy, and if you use Gmail, chances are you already have an account and you didn’t even know it! Though the simplicity of YouTube is definitely a selling point, the site’s best feature is searchability. YouTube is the world’s second most popular search engine after sister company Google. As a result, videos hosted on YouTube invariably outperform videos hosted on other sites when it comes to Google PageRank. Moreover, this online video hosting service provides a decent level of insight into viewership statistics, and is entirely free.
On the other hand, video quality on YouTube is not always as high as you might like. If you are a professional videographer, you may find that the watermark the site imposes on its videos is intrusive. Additionally, the default setting for the player is to drastically reduce video and sound quality if a viewer’s connection is slow, rather than taking time to buffer. If you find these playback quality concerns important, perhaps you should look elsewhere for your online video hosting needs.
Vimeo
The “Apple” to YouTube’s “Microsoft”, Vimeo is another major player in online video hosting services. Though it has a free offering, you only capture the specific advantages of hosting on Vimeo if you opt for one of their premium services. In particular, a “Vimeo Plus” account or any of the more advanced packages allows users to customise the look and feel of the video player, and remove the Vimeo watermark. If you are looking to showcase high-quality video content online, or feature your content on your own website, Vimeo allows you to create a beautiful experience for your videos. You also have the option to upload an image of your choosing for the thumbnail, and aren’t restricted to using a frame from the video itself.
However, with all of these advantages, Vimeo offers perhaps the least robust analytics data. What you gain in viewer experience, you lose in terms of searchability and viewership data. This makes it excellent for creative services professionals, but suboptimal for firms that depend heavily on their online analytics for marketing efforts.
Wistia
If the above online video hosting services don’t meet your requirements, then perhaps you should look at one of the premium hosting services. Wistia is an online video hosting platform that boasts in viewership data, alongside many of the premium features offered by Vimeo. For example, with the top-end packages, users can remove the Wistia watermark from their videos. Moreover, the platform integrates with CRM platforms Pardot, Hubspot, and Marketo. This allows you to streamline your online marketing efforts and gain key insights when one of your leads views your content.
The key drawback of Wistia is the price. Pricing for the higher-end services is not available online, but its lowest-cost premium package starts at $99 per month (well above the top-tier Vimeo offering at $55). Additionally, you pay $.25 for each video uploaded. For companies with a large collection of video content, this can start to add up. Marketers must carefully weight the clear benefits of Wistia against the heavy costs involved.
Vidyard
The other most prominent online video hosting service is Vidyard. Where Wistia tends to specialise in offering robust analytics, Vidyard aims to master integrations. Viewership data from Vidyard can be integrated with the Salesforce suite of products, as well as Marketo, Hubspot, and others. It also boasts strong customer support team. Vidyard markets its online video hosting services as a tailored experience for digital marketers, and is a bona fide customer relationship management platform in its own right.
However, like Wistia, Vidyard is costly. In fact, it lists no pre-priced packages on its website. This is because of the tailored approach it takes to presenting your videos, based on your needs. Therefore, this platform is often best for firms that depend greatly on their CRM and marketing automation systems in conjunction with their online video content to drive sales.
We hope this review can be helpful in your online video hosting choices, let us know if you’ve got any further thoughts to share!
