kalyani sAn impressive 86% of marketers use video as a marketing tool and 92% view it as important to their marketing strategy.
For those who don’t use it, 10% say it’s too expensive and 5% say they can’t find a way to convince key decision-makers to use it.
It makes sense. Implementing videos in your marketing strategy can be an expensive affair.
But what messes up with your budget the most is self-hosting the videos or using the wrong platforms for video hosting
We’ll solve this problem for you with a round-up of the best video hosting platforms. They carry plenty of powerful features that’ll take your video marketing to the next level.
Table of Contents
What Are Video Hosting Sites?
These are platforms that provide a place for business owners, marketers, and other content creators to store their videos.
You can then edit and manage your videos from the video hosting site’s server and publish or share it as needed using embed codes and links.
Why Self-Hosting Videos is Inferior to Video Hosting Platforms
Videos are large compared to images. Self-hosting them can hog your bandwidth, causing poor site performance. It can also result in poor playback and streaming quality.
Besides, self-hosting videos is complicated. You’ll need a bit of code, such as when specifying which video formats you’ve created.
For this, you can leverage video editing software to split a video, resize a video, add a title to a video, and add music to a video. These tools help you edit your videos without any technical expertise.
Platforms for video hosting provide a separate home for your videos and you get customer support that you can rely on whenever you get stuck.
10 Best Online Video Websites to Build a Streaming Platform
This list contains free platforms for video hosting that’ll save you money and paid options that’ll provide immense value for your money.
1.YouTube
With over 2 billion active users, YouTube is one of the top platforms for video hosting with great potential for a wide reach.
Besides, Google owns YouTube. So your videos are likely to show up on the first page of SERPs.
It has a non-customizable player, but you can always rely on a good YouTube video editor to make your content better for your viewers
It provides unlimited bandwidth and storage. You can upload up to 12 hours per video or up to 128GB per video.
You can create smart links to share your YouTube sales videos on LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social media platforms and generate good leads.
What are the Pricing Plans for YouTube?
- Free
- Premium
2.Brid.TV
Another of the most powerful platforms for video hosting is Brid.TV. It facilitates smooth video encoding and transcoding to give your viewers an optimal experience.
You get unlimited storage, which makes it ideal for anyone with large publishing needs. Ad-based monetization features help you make some extra income from your videos.
If you sign up for the premium plan, you get access to a video editor and video syndication capabilities.
Brid.TV supports easy integration with Google Widevine, Microsoft PlayReady, and more.
Pros
- Provides advanced security for your content
- Brid.TV comes with insightful video analytics to help you upgrade your content
- It has a user-friendly video CMS
Cons
- Live streaming is only available for the premium version
- Does not support SVOD monetization
Pricing
- Free: $0
- Essential: $24.99/month
- Business: $89.99/month
- Premium: Custom pricing
3.Vimeo
If you’re in search of platforms for video hosting that carry OTT support, Vimeo is an excellent choice.
Vimeo is rich in features that cater to the needs of marketers and business owners, such as in-video CTAs, custom forms, and shoppable hotspots.
You can add social share icons to your videos and create a centralized hub where you can organize your videos and share them easily.
Vimeo also offers premium templates that make video creation easier. It integrates seamlessly with Google Drive, Dropbox, Adobe Premiere, iMovie, and Final Cut Pro X.
Pros
- You can analyze the performance of your videos on Vimeo and social media from a central place
- Provides advanced privacy settings
- Vimeo comes with a highly-customizable HTML5 video player
Cons
- Doesn’t provide unlimited storage
- Has bandwidth limitations
Price
- Starter: $9/seat/month
- Standard: $25/seat/month
- Advanced: $65/seat/month
- Enterprise: Custom price
4.Spotlightr
Any marketer or business owner will find Spotlightr one of the best platforms for video hosting.
You can overlay interactive questions that can collect customer information, add coupons that boost conversions, and more.
If you want to add an extra layer of protection to your videos, Spotlightr makes it possible.
You can use password protection, a sharing link, or use domain restrictions. It’s also possible to restrict the number of times a person views your video.
For example, you can avoid unwanted views on your shoppable videos to get real insights for your online video shopping campiagn.
Pros
- Helps you protect your videos with dynamic IP watermarks
- Spotlightr provides advanced overlay capabilities, including HTML overlays
- Powerful reporting features that provide details about viewer location, engagement, etc
Cons
- Some users have complained of occasional slow video load times
- Its user interface isn’t beginner-friendly
Price
- Spark: $7/month
- Aurora: $16/month
- Polaris: $40/month
- Supernova: $125/month
5.Wistia
Whether you’re looking for a platform for live event streaming, enterprise or marketing video hosting, or for streaming a video for sales, Wistia is one of the video hosting platforms for the job.
It comes with practical customization options like adding branding and logos to help your customers recognize your business.
Interactive video tools and organization features will make content delivery easy for you.
Wistia uses global video CDNs and adaptive streaming to help you deliver high-quality ad-free videos to your audience wherever they are and through any device.
Pros
- Free plan that includes basic analytics and a customizable video player
- Provides excellent customer support, including an onboarding specialist
- Powerful analytics, including viewer-based tracking
Cons
- The customization option is limited
- The number of videos you can upload on each plan is limited
Price
- Free: $0
- Plus: $19/month
- Pro: $79/month
- Advanced: $319/month
- Premium: Custom pricing
6.Brightcove
Brightcove offers some of the most comprehensive features, making it one of the best platforms for video hosting.
It supports both VOD and live streaming.
You can share your videos through social platforms, websites, apps, and more.
You can group your videos into channels, which makes it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for.
An intuitive dashboard shows you the metrics of your videos, making it easier to know what’s working and what’s not.
You can integrate this platform with your Facebook fan page and can get insights from Facebook videos that shared through this integration.
Pros
- Integrates with the most popular marketing tools, including HubSpot and Salesforce
- A wide range of monetization options
- Powerful security and privacy features
Cons
- It has lots of features that can be overwhelming for new users
- Pricing models are not publicly available
Price
- Contact customer care
7.VdoCipher
Using VdoCipher as your video hosting platform provides audiences across continents with smooth streaming even with slow connections.
In addition, it has one of the best security features compared to other video hosting platforms and has even won an award for it.
Its tight protection from copyright infringement makes it ideal for creating learning course material, provided you use it alongside equally secure course creation platforms like Thinkific, Kajabi, Teachable, and many more.
Pros
- Tight protection features including DRM encryption, dynamic watermarking
- Provides plugins for both WordPress and Moodle
- A Smart HTML5 player that supports multiple qualities and speed change options
Cons
- You need third-party providers to monetize your videos
- All plans come with strict bandwidth limits
Price
- Starter: $99/year
- Value: $399/year
- Express: $699/year
- Pro: $1499/year
- Plus: $2999/year
- Premium: $4999/year
- Enterprise: Custom price
8.Uscreen
If you intend to release a video course or series for your audience, Uscreen could be one of the best video hosting platforms for the job.
It offers excellent support for video monetization, including subscriptions, pay-per-view, and TVOD. It’s an excellent YouTube monetization alternative.
You can set up your own streaming app with no coding knowledge and link one of the integrated payment processors to collect payments.
Pros
- Provides unlimited video streaming and bandwidth for all plans
- Lots of help and resources are available to help you set up including a 1:1 onboarding call
- Provides lots of integrations, including email automation tools
Cons
- Expensive compared to other platforms for video hosting
- Live streaming is only available in the most expensive plan
Price
- Basic: $79/month
- Growth: $159/month
- Uscreenplus: Custom price
9.Vidyard
Vidyard supports you in uploading, managing, and analyzing the performance of your videos.
You can use custom branding, video thumbnails, and GIF previews to draw interest to your videos and get more viewership.
It’s one of the video hosting platforms that also come with Password and SSO protection for your videos and more powerful features.
Integration with tools like SalesLoft, Outreach, Salesforce, and Marketo helps you at every stage of the sales cycle and boosts your revenue.
Pros
- You can generate 3-second GIF previews and share them on social media and email
- Automated captions and metadata help you rank better on search engines
- Supports your marketing campaigns through A/B testing and CTAs
Cons
- Unlimited embeds are only available in the most expensive options
- Automatic captions are not available for the free and pro plan
Price
- Free: $0
- Pro: $19/month paid yearly
- Business: $145/month paid yearly
- Enterprise: Custom price
10.SproutVideo
From state-of-the-art security features to extensive marketing tools and powerful analytics, SproutVideo is one of the must-have platforms for video hosting.
You can launch your own video site and collaborate easily with your team through role-based permissions, content-cloning, and more.
Zapier integration makes it possible to work with your most crucial ecommerce platforms.
Pros
- Automatic bandwidth detection and video quality adjustment
- Great marketing tools like in-player CTAs, video SEO, and lead capture forms
- You can audit the log of activity to capture video edits
Cons
- It has a steep learning curve
- Limited bandwidth and storage
Price
- Seed: $10/month
- Sprout: $35/month
- Tree: $75/month
- Forest: $295/month
Which Platforms for Video Hosting Piqued Your Interest?
There you have it, a roundup of the best video hosting platforms in the market.
Marketers, small business companies and micro influencers use these platforms to share their creative content to get exposure from the video marketing.
Choose the solution that works best for you based on your unique needs and budget.
You can always give the free trial a chance first, then pay for the premium features once you’re convinced that you have the right platform.
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