As a business owner looking to host video content online, the choices can be overwhelming when it comes to choosing a company to handle your video hosting. Many companies may claim to offer great service and a robust infrastructure, but this is often not the case. This decision can be a difficult one due to the fact that most services will be sufficient until your video content becomes wildly popular.
The more popular that your content becomes, the more important it is to have a content delivery network that is properly scalable and that has the proper infrastructure to handle the growing needs of your company. It is important to do the proper research prior to choosing a video hosting site to allow for the growth of your business. What you do not want to happen is to have to change video hosting sites after your videos become popular. This can result in confusion and a loss in views, which often translates to a loss in revenue for your company. Below we have outlined what we classify as the top 10 video hosting sites for businesses.
10. Vitomy
Vitomy is a hosted video solution that offers complete customization of the video player itself. This is beneficial from a branding perspective for those looking to ramp up the exposure of their company. The downside is that this branded video player is only available for their paid accounts, not their free accounts.
9. Vzaar
Vzaar is a popular video provider that offers the ability to upload your videos from any number of devices including mobile devices. This allows for users to upload videos from literally anywhere. Vzaar also integrates with Google Analytics, which is a benefit for those that are already tracking other web sites within this popular analytics tool.
8. Vidyard
Vidyard is a video hosting service that offers real time analytics not often seen with mid level content providers. It also offers unique features such as a public uploader that allows you to accept videos for contests or other campaigns in which you ask for your customer’s input. Vidyard also integrates well with Twitter and other social networks. Because Vidyard is a newer platform it is lacking some of the name recognition that other providers have in the industry.
7. Ooyala
Ooyala is a video content provider that was founded in 2007 and provides video hosting services for a large number of companies around the world. Because Ooyala is geared toward a more enterprise customer, their plan prices are quite expensive. For this reason, small businesses would likely think that Ooyala’s prices are too high for their needs. While Ooyala does offer a wide variety of analytics and features, the price is difficult to swallow for companies that are just starting out online.
6. Viddler
Viddler is another popular video service for businesses that should be considered when finding a hosting provider. While Viddler does offer a free trial, some users have complained that the mobile experience of Viddler is not on par with some of the more popular video hosting platforms. Since mobile users are a huge sector of the online video market, this is something to keep in mind when choosing a content delivery network for your videos.
5. Brightcove
Brightcove is a video hosting service geared towards businesses. While it does offer many features, it is quite expensive for small businesses. Brightcove is built more for large businesses that need to insert commercials into most videos. For smaller companies, Brightcove is likely overkill.
4. Wistia
Wistia is another option, especially if you are only hosting a small amount of videos. Wistia offers a free option for up to three features while still allowing you to use all of the features that are standard with Wistia’s premium accounts. One of Wistia’s strengths is their analytics, which allow you to intimately track user behavior.
3. YouTube
YouTube is likely thought of as the most popular video sharing site online today. This is primarily due to the fact that it was one of the earliest sites to offer video hosting. While YouTube is still wildly popular for personal use, it is not utilized as often for business use. This is mainly because of unreliable download speeds and poor video quality. Businesses looking for high quality video content hosting should likely look to other services. YouTube also offers a limit of 15 minutes for videos which can be frustrating especially if you are uploading training videos and other informational videos that could last much longer than 15 minutes.
2. Vimeo
Vimeo recently launched a service aimed at businesses called Vimeo Pro. This service offers a somewhat inexpensive way to host content that can be viewed on a variety of different devices including all types of mobile phones and tablets. The downside to Vimeo is that the analytics are pretty bare bones, but if this is not necessary for your business then Vimeo could be a good option for you. With a Vimeo Pro account you get 50 GB of storage, which sounds like a lot, but with the quality of HD videos today, 50 GB can fill up quite fast.
1. TikiLIVE
TikiLIVE by Eyepartner offers a robust content delivery network that is perfect for businesses looking to quickly get their content out to as many people as possible. TikiLIVE offers unique HTML5 capabilities for mobile users, which cater the viewing experience based on the device. This is a huge advantage, as the number of mobile devices should outnumber the number of humans on the earth by 2014. TikiLIVE also integrates with Roku and other set top boxes to allow your content to be seen by those not just on the Internet, but those who use set top boxes to access digital content as well. As more and more people leave their cable boxes behind, these services will become even more important. Eyepartner also offers incredible customer service that is available by phone, live chat or email which is quite different than many of the other video hosting providers available today.
For more information on the incredible features included with TikiLIVE, give us a call today at (305) 289-4557. Our support team is standing by to answer any of your questions about hosting videos for your business online. Call today and be hosting content the same day. If your business is not posting video content online for your current and potential customers, you are likely missing out on significant business. Or contact us via our online form.
