Is your business suffering from bad site performance and poor playback? It’s time to store your videos on a video sharing platform. Why? Apart from actually producing and editing your online videos, you need a video server to host them. You might first think to upload them to your web host. However, this isn’t a great idea as your already overloaded server may not be able to store heavy video files and cause poor site performance, poor streaming quality and playback. Instead, most online businesses use video sharing platforms to get their video content online. In this blog, we will share about video sharing platforms, the best ones out there and more .
Video sharing platforms are online platforms that allow users to upload, share, and view videos. These platforms serve as a medium for content creators (owners) to distribute their videos to a wide audience. Video sharing platforms provide a centralized and easily accessible space for content owners to distribute their videos. Users can upload their content to the platform, making it available to a global audience.
So, why would a business choose not to host their videos on their own servers? The main reason is that videos are large — thousands of times larger than the average image on a page.
The biggest benefit of video sharing platforms for viewers is that content owners can gain access to broad categories of videos within seconds. Also, uploading a video to a video platform enables easy embedding on a website.
Whenever you try to store large video files on your web server that is overloaded with data, it can cause poor site performance, poor streaming quality and playback, and exceeded storage limits. That’s the reason why businesses prefer storing their videos on a dedicated video hosting site and then embed videos in their website. Video sharing platforms solve this problem by enabling users to upload their videos to a specialized video server, and viewing those videos on the host’s website.
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Audience Accessibility: Video sharing platforms allow content creators to reach a global audience. Users can upload and view videos from anywhere in the world, breaking down geographical barriers.
Cultural Exchange: The global reach fosters cultural exchange as creators from different regions can share their perspectives, traditions, and stories, leading to a more interconnected world.
Ad Revenue: Many video sharing platforms offer monetization options, allowing content creators to earn money through ad revenue. Ads can be displayed before, during, or after videos, and creators receive a share of the revenue generated.
Subscription Models: Some platforms offer subscription-based models where users pay a fee for premium content or an ad-free experience. Creators can earn a steady income through subscriber support.
Interactivity: Video content provides a dynamic and engaging medium. Viewers can comment, like, and share videos, fostering a sense of community and interaction.
Real-time Interaction: Live streaming features enable real-time interaction between creators and viewers through comments and live chats, enhancing user engagement and creating a more immersive experience.
Data-driven Decisions: Video sharing platforms provide detailed analytics and insights to content creators. This includes information on viewer demographics, watch time, and engagement metrics. Creators can use this data to understand their audience better and tailor content to meet their preferences.
Performance Tracking: Creators can track the performance of individual videos, allowing them to identify trends and patterns. This data-driven approach helps optimize content strategy for better results.
Accessibility: Video sharing platforms simplify the distribution process. Creators can upload their content to the platform, and users can access it instantly without the need for complex distribution channels.
Cross-Platform Sharing: Most video platforms allow users to share content on other social media platforms, expanding the reach even further. This cross-platform sharing enhances visibility and attracts a diverse audience.
Muvi Flex is an enterprise-level cloud video sharing platform offering VoD solutions. It is an end-to-end cloud video platform that offers a variety of advanced features like cloud encoding, top-tier delivery, video security, and cross-device playback that enables enterprises to launch a VoD platform instantly, without any coding knowledge.
Muvi Flex is a robust and customizable video hosting platform that allows you to upload, manage and distribute videos and also lets you build responsive video solutions on your apps/websites.
Its built-in multiple monetization options enable content creators to monetize their content by opting from its varied content monetization models including PPV, subscriptions, and AVoD.
Muvi Flex Pricing
Muvi has multiple pricing tiers for organizations with different sizes and budgets:
Wistia is one of the private video hosting platforms ideal for marketers. Wistia serves as both a video host and a marketing tool for businesses. It’s a customizable platform with some robust tools for marketing allowing marketers to create, manage, and stream video content.
Features of Wistia:
Wistia Pricing:
Wistia has a three-tier pricing plan
Vimeo is a video streaming service directed at creative professionals and businesses and offers premium business video hosting features and is best known for their dynamic video player and video editing tools. The platform has garnered a reputation for hosting higher quality content overall, and is known for its powerful features and reliable customer support.
Key Features
Limitations
Need professional support for some feature
Pricing Plans
Vimeo has a 4-Tier Pricing plan:
Brightcove is an old player in the video streaming industry and offers video hosting solutions including cloud encoding, video-on-demand hosting. Brightcove’s Video Cloud is a video publishing platform that promises high-quality, and secure video streams. The platform is easy to use and has a lot of pre-built features that make the streaming journey of content creators hassle-free. The company supports all kinds of revenue generation models for online video distributors and is best suited for larger enterprises.
Features of Brightcove’s Video Sharing Platform:
Limitations:
Pricing Plans
The three-tier pricing plan of Brightcove includes:
SproutVideo is another video hosting service that contains sharing and collaboration tools to track engagement and grow customer base. This video sharing platform allows you to embed ad-free videos onto your website with a customizable player. Videos can be toggled to include lead capture forms, social sharing buttons, and CTAs as well.
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Cons:
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SproutVideo offers four pricing plans to target different budgets, including:
This video sharing service needs no introduction- YouTube is by far the most popular and the largest video sharing website on the internet with 1.9 billion logged-in users active on the site every month.
YouTube’s omnipresence makes it a go-to for many online startups that produce and distribute video. The biggest benefit being its free usage. However, in the long run, YouTube isn’t the best place to host videos. The biggest drawback of YouTube is its ads between video playback in exchange for free hosting. Also, there is no scope for branding and frequent recommendations from our competitors make it even more challenging for your brand to gain recognition. However, you can get more engagement from your YouTube videos by using an AI thumbnail maker to design visually appealing thumbnails.
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TikTok has been the hub for short-form content creators since it came out. It’s the go-to video sharing platform for entertainers as you don’t have to be extraordinarily talented to use it as a YouTube alternative. As long as you can entertain, inform or lip-sync, you are ready to fetch a high number of audience engagement on your videos. The best part is that it’s free.
TikTok is only recommended for entertainers who are starting out and want to get an overall view of the market before investing in a paid video hosting service. It’s not suited for enterprises looking to host secure long-form videos. TikTok does not offer business owners any customization or branding options.
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Cons
Apart from YouTube and TikTok, another popular video sharing platform where content creators can easily add their content to a diverse video content catalog is Facebook Watch. The feature that makes Facebook a great YouTube alternative is the ability to watch videos with friends at the same time. The highly personalized feed enables users to easily scroll through their favorite uploads. Adding videos to the timeline and Facebook Watch made Facebook one of the leading video distributors on the internet. Facebook Watch is also limited to video sharing and restricts customization of the interface and doesn’t provide any branding options. Users can only upload videos.
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Cons
Twitch is a prominent and widely used video sharing platform that has gained immense popularity, particularly in the realm of live streaming content. Launched in 2011, Twitch initially focused on catering to the gaming community, allowing gamers to broadcast their gameplay sessions in real-time. Over the years, it has evolved into a diverse platform that encompasses a variety of content beyond gaming, including music, art, talk shows, and more. It is not ideal for enterprises seeking to host secure long-form videos, as Twitch lacks customization and branding options for business owners. For businesses aiming to securely host long-form videos, TikTok falls short as it lacks the customization and branding features essential for entrepreneur
Features
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Pricing
Click to know more about Twitch’s pricing plan.
IGTV, or Instagram TV, is a video-sharing platform that has emerged as a prominent player in the digital content landscape. Introduced by Instagram in June 2018, IGTV was designed to provide users with a long-form video format, allowing creators to share more extensive and engaging content with their audience. For businesses aiming to securely host long-form videos, IGTV falls short as it lacks the customization and branding features essential for entrepreneurs.
Features
Cons
Muvi is a platform that can assist in creating a comprehensive video sharing platform with features tailored to meet various needs. Here’s how Muvi can help in launching a multi-screen customizable video sharing platform:
Muvi allows you to create a multi-screen video streaming platform that is customizable to suit your brand and preferences. You can design and personalize the user interface across various devices such as desktops, tablets, smartphones, smart TVs, and more. This ensures a seamless and consistent viewing experience for your audience.
Muvi Flex provides a single Content Management System (CMS) to manage all your video content. This centralized system allows you to upload, organize, and update your video library efficiently. It simplifies the process of content management, making it easy to add, edit, or remove videos as needed.
Muvi Flex supports a variety of monetization models to help you generate revenue from your video content. You can choose from subscription-based models, pay-per-view, advertising, and more. This flexibility allows you to implement a strategy that aligns with your business goals and audience preferences.
Muvi Flex incorporates Digital Rights Management (DRM) security features to protect your videos from piracy and unauthorized access. DRM ensures that your content is encrypted and can only be viewed by users who have the proper rights or licenses. This helps in safeguarding your intellectual property and maintaining control over distribution.
Analytics tools provide detailed insights into your viewers and their video consumption habits. You can track various metrics such as viewer demographics, popular content, viewing duration, devices used, and more. This data empowers you to make informed decisions, optimize your content strategy, and tailor your platform to better meet the preferences of your audience.
In-depth analytics can offer information on:
There are a lot of options out there for hosting your videos on the internet. You have to choose the ideal video hosting software based on your unique requirements. We would suggest you to opt for paid video sharing platforms instead of free services to host your videos as they are more secure, more data-driven, customizable and will help you to promote your brand in the long run.
If you want a stable product, look forward to the ability to scale without hiccups, want robust monetization options, and want guaranteed privacy of your original content you should invest in a paid video sharing service like Muvi Flex. We recommend taking advantage of free trials of paid streaming solutions to get a feel for how their platforms work.
Interested in Muvi Flex? Take advantage of Muvi’s Flex’s 14-Day Free Trial to take a test drive of our enterprise-grade video sharing platform.
Video sharing platforms provide a centralized and easily accessible space for content owners to distribute their videos. Users can upload their content to the platform, making it available to a global audience.
Yes, video sharing platforms provide multiple options to generate leads and convert them through efficient video hosting and streaming
Secure video hosting ensures that this information is protected from unauthorized access or leakage. Secure hosting platforms often include features like DRM (Digital Rights Management) to prevent unauthorized downloading or sharing of content.
Yes, video sharing platforms are versatile across different industries
Written by: Sreejata Basu
Sreejata is the Manager for Muvi’s Content Marketing unit. She is a passionate writer with a background in English Literature and music. By week Sreejata spends her time in the corporate world of Muvi, but on weekends she likes to take short hiking trips, watch movies and read interesting travelogues.
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