Video content is enormously popular today. Studies indicate 82% of Twitter users watch video content on Twitter. However, merely posting videos is not enough. Choosing the right video hosting platform is vital for businesses to maximize reach and engagement.
This comprehensive guide analyzes eight major enterprise video hosting services on key capabilities, unique strengths and ideal usage scenarios to help identify the best options for your business needs.
Importance of Video Hosting Platform for Businesses
Let‘s first understand why video hosting platforms should be an integral part of your content strategy through some compelling statistics:
- 64% of customers are more likely to purchase a product online after watching a video about it.
- 90% of customers state videos help them make buying decisions.
- 84% agree video enabling them to see products in action provides most value.
- 52% view product videos on ecommerce platforms before adding an item to cart.
- 97% of marketers utilize video for campaigns according to Wyzowl.
- Viewers retain 95% of a message when communicated through video compared to 10% via text.
- Videos attract 3x more inbound organic links helping SEO.
- 80% prefer video over newsletters or blog content.
- 92% view videos on mobile emphasizing need for responsiveness.
Video hosting allows showcasing products effectively while enabling tracking viewer responses through built-in analytics. Platforms like Wistia even facilitate adding lead generation forms within videos.
While YouTube leads among consumer video hosting sites, limitations like lack of customer support prompt businesses to evaluate dedicated enterprise video services providing greater customization and actionable data insights outlined next.
Comparison of Video Hosting Platform Capabilities
| Platform | Video Format Support | Security | Customization | Storage Capacity | 4K Video |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YouTube | Most formats | No SSO | Limited branding via YouTube Studio | Unlimited on free plan | Yes |
| Vimeo | Most formats incl. ProRes | Vimeo Enterprise plan enables SSO | Custom skins, logos, colors etc. | 5-20GB per plan | Yes, on Magellan plan |
| Wistia | Standard formats like MP4, MOV | SSO support | Fully white label player | Unlimited on paid plans | Yes but may need encoding based on codec |
| Brightcove | Broad format support including RAW | SSO & enhanced security features | Highly customizable players | Enterprise grade capacity | Extensive support incl. 8K |
| Kaltura | Wide format range | Complies to security standards like FedRAMP, FERPA | Fully customizable theme editor to rebrand UX | Enterprise grade capacity | Yes |
| SproutVideo | Common formats | Standard security | Excellent customization capabilities to match branding | Around 10-20 hours on mid-tier plan | Yes |
Latest Video Hosting Innovations and Trends
Modern video hosting platforms like Vimeo and Kaltura integrate sophisticated AI and ML innovations to empower creators, save time and provide deeper insights to customers.
For example, Kaltura utilizes machine learning algorithms to tag videos automatically easing organization at scale. Its Smart Recommendations leverage AI to suggest precise videos matching individual viewer interests and behaviors boosting engagement.
Vimeo‘s AI-based Review Tools allow creators to quickly assess content quality and get suggested improvements in pacing, shot composition etc. Magellan, Vimeo‘s latest enterprise product, can even automatically create rich video preview summaries condensing key moments in videos to help viewers rapidly assess relevancy and watch intent.
Brightcove partners with AI platform companies to bring capabilities spanning automated video tagging, smart recommendations, interactive transcripts with timestamps, emotion detection and much more to power modern video experiences leveraging automation.
These enhancements make platforms not just smarter but also more intuitive for humans managing the creative aspects. Additional innovation areas like AR/VR integrated video and shoppable video present newer opportunities for businesses to drive immersive ecommerce with hosting services maturing technically every year.
Comparison of Video Platforms on Ease-of-Use and Support Satisfaction
Simplified video hosting coupled with education and responsive customer assistance is specially beneficial for non-technical teams collaborating on visual content. Review aggregation platforms highlight products with the highest user satisfaction on these aspects:
| Platform | Ease of Use Rating* | Customer Support Rating* |
|---|---|---|
| YouTube | 7.8 | Poor – no direct support offered |
| Vimeo | 8.2 | 7.5 |
| Wistia | 7.5 | 8.8 |
| Brightcove | 6.3 | 8 |
| Kaltura | 7 | 7.5 |
| SproutVideo | 8 | 9 |
(* Out of 10 based on collated online reviews)
Mid-market tools like Vimeo and Wistia score higher than complex enterprise services like Brightcove by offering friendlier interfaces. However, they pack abundant capabilities to customize branding, track analytics and even enable lead generation without demanding technical expertise. Nimble customer support teams further simplify setup and usage.
6 Best Practices to Optimize Video SEO On Hosting Platforms
Driving visitors to your hosted business videos involves leveraging search engine optimization best practices. Here are six high-impact tactics:
Keyword-Oriented Video Titles
Include target keywords naturally within concise, compelling video titlesoptimized to rank high on search engines.
Video Transcripts
Upload transcripts and enable captions allowing search bots to index video content better through textual metadata.
Descriptive Video Intro Overlays
Briefly summarize video topics through introductory overlays and opening frames to indicate relevancy faster aiding discovery.
Filenames With Target Keywords
Name uploaded video files to include meaningful keywords like "benefits-of-CRM-software" for related videos to help search engines categorize and display them for relevant searches.
Complete Video Descriptions
Elaborate on video themes through long-form descriptions with synonyms of high-value SEO phrases to further improve rankings besides clarifying relevance.
Quality Backlinks
Earn backlinks to videos from contextual blog posts, articles or videos to signal authority helping search algorithms elevate them within results pages.
Tags
Accurately tag each video with multiple precise tags or categories around underlying topics to help hosting platforms suggest them to interested viewers through recommendations.
Expert Tips When Selecting Your Video Hosting Platform
As a veteran technology executive and angel investor evaluating hundreds of SAAS businesses over the years, I emphasize checking a few key parameters:
Prioritize Capabilities Matching Goals
Align video hosting objectives around audience engagement, lead gen or sales enablement with platform strengths on analytics, built-in forms and enterprise integrations respectively.
Validate Technical Expertise
Review developmental capabilities around core media delivery, video streaming protocols, adaptive bitrates, content security and modern CDN usage validating technical prowess.
Prefer Platforms Aligned to Videos not just Features
See if product vision focuses on optimizing video consumption first before aggregating isolated features.
Examine Funding Sources
Well funded platforms like Vimeo and Brightcove inspire confidence in continuity where investors validate long term viability.
Request Trial Access
Evaluate hands-on with short trial durations rather than simplistic demos to validate performance, ease-of-use and reliability firsthand.
Quick Guide to Choosing the Right Platform
Determining your primary video hosting goal across reach, engagement or conversions simplifies product selection:
Reach Wide Audiences
YouTube Studio
Boost Engagement
YouTube + Vimeo
Generate Leads
Wistia
Enable Sales
Vidyard
Showcase Products
Vimeo
Publish Video Heavy Courses
Kaltura
Stream Live Events
Brightcove
Monetize Video Content
YouTube
Think strategically on business priorities through the above taxonomy before shortlisting platforms offering relevant strengths.
Conclusion
Video hosting is the cornerstone leveraging videos online for measurable business impact. Services have rapidly evolved from basic sharing to including sophisticated analytics, personalization algorithms, lead generation techniques and cutting edge AI innovations to methodically improve audience generation, engagement and conversions. While YouTube retains supreme discovery positioning due to search dominance, limitations prompt businesses to evaluate specialized enterprise video hosting platforms fitting their custom branding, audience targeting, analytics and monetization needs precisely. Vimeo leads for creative quality, Wistia on marketing features while Brightcove and Kaltura enable large media companies. Evaluating critical parameters around reach, integrations, security, support satisfaction, video streaming expertise and matching to current versus aspirational usage scenarios allows organizations to take more informed decisions selecting options optimizing their video presence and ROI.
