By now, video has become a common practice that’s used to attract new customers, improve business communication, and optimize workflows across departments. Not surprisingly, the average number of videos per business currently stands at a whopping 293 and is increasing by the day.
Not only do businesses consume more videos, but they also produce more videos themselves! Reports show that 85% of organizations produce videos in-house, with top video use cases being webinars, demos, and social videos.
With hundreds, sometimes thousands, of hours of video footage that require secure access and means of distribution, secure and reliable video hosting solutions have become a priority in companies’ technological infrastructure.
Today’s video hosting platforms provide businesses with a host of innovative features, ranging from custom video players to video analytics, to optimized video delivery on all devices, to enhanced privacy features for both video material (DRM) and employees (GDPR).
We’ve decided to review three different video hosting providers that cover a range of business use cases. Keep reading to discover the best video hosting solution for your company!
What is Video Hosting?
Video hosting is the process of uploading video content and making it accessible to viewers on the internet or intranet.
Imagine, for example, you have a video file you would like to share with an individual, perhaps with more than one person. Maybe even with the entire world!
You now have two options: you could either send each intended viewer a copy of your video file (which is often too big to send over email and other media) or upload it to a server, where viewers can access it easily. For example, by clicking on link or browsing through a video library.
Given these are the available options, which one do you think makes more sense? Now that you understand what a video hosting solution is and why you may need it, let’s move on to some of its key features:
Key Features of a Secure Hosting Solution
Video hosting platforms offer a wide range of features, some of which are useful for specific scenarios, others are elementary for all.
Must-have features:
- Fast and customizable video player (HTML5)
- Reliable video delivery on all devices
- Easy-to-use video content management system (video CMS)
- Comprehensive copyright and data protection (DRM, GDPR)
- Real-time video analytics covering key metrics
- Access to user roles and permissions
- Integrations with your existing tools and systems
- Easy ways to embed videos into websites and share them with others
How Much Does Video Hosting Cost?
The pricing of your video hosting solution depends on a few variables, one of which is the volume of the video material, either in terms of minutes or file size.
Adding or removing features from your hosting package is another criterion that can affect your bottom line, depending on your provider.
Note that some providers offer free tiers. Nevertheless, those are usually restricted as they are meant to provide users with a taste of the comprehensive solution rather than access to all functionalities. In fact, sometimes solutions with a free-tier option offset their losses by charging more for their paid plans.
Our suggestion: prepare a list of requirements and desired features before you contact any of the vendors.
Read on for our review of three secure video hosting providers: their use cases, features, and pricing.
Vimeo – The Collaborator
Perfect for creative teams that want to share their content with an engaged audience
Overview
A while ago, Vimeo was recognized as YouTube’s main competitor. The platform’s focus has shifted since. Today, it’s known for providing professionals and creators with a video hosting /video collaboration suite.
There’s a lot to say to Vimeo’s advantage: The platform truly streamlines video collaboration, allowing creators to invite customers and team members to review projects and receive time-stamped feedback.
Vimeo also provides marketers with useful features to optimize their acquisition campaigns. Users can easily embed their video player into any website and even add clickable calls to action, linking straight to the video.
However, and while Vimeo is available to everyone, it’s primarily known as the go-to platform for filmmakers, animators, independent musicians, and their respective audiences. If your content falls into this category, you very well might find it an ideal solution.
Key Features
- High-quality video streaming on all devices
- Password-protected access to videos and domain-level privacy
- Support for 360 videos
- Customizable player
- Direct integrations with popular video editing tools
- Video statistics and analytics
- Collaboration with unlimited reviewers
- Permission settings for up to 10 teams
Pricing
Vimeo’s pricing starts at 16€/month for a Pro plan, allowing you to host up to 20GB of video content per week.
Vimeo’s Business plan stands at 40€/month. This plan allows you to host up to 5TB of video content and provides you with access to some more advanced, marketing features.
Vimeo’s Premium plan comes at 70€/month, an increased 7TB storage quota, and unlimited livestreaming.
Wistia – The Marketer
Perfect for digital marketing experts looking to acquire new leads, dig through data, and personalize viewers’ experiences.
Overview
Wistia is packed to the brim with features to streamline your lead collection and ROI optimization.
One of Wistia’s main benefits when it comes to video hosting is its focus on your content rather than ads and recommended videos, two sections that may distract your viewers’ attention.
The integrated content management system provides full control over who’s allowed to do what with your videos. Password protection and permission settings ensure appropriate access to all video assets.
And with a straight focus on digital marketer’s needs, it’s easy to add email collection forms, calls to action, or annotation links straight to your video to increase viewer engagement.
Key Features
- Custom video player
- Interactive video tools
- Ad-free experience
- CRM integrations
- Fast, high-quality video playback
- Automatic video SEO
- Video analytics including heatmaps and audience tracking
- A/B testing
Pricing
Wistia’s video software offers a free plan that allows you to manage up to 3 videos using Wistia’s standard features, plus access to A/B testing.
The Pro plan stands at 84€/month and allows you to manage up to 10 videos (+0.25€ for every additional video) as well as customize your video player.
To access key integrations with essential marketing tools such as HubSpot, Pardot, Marketo, Facebook, and Google, you will be prompted to get in touch with Wistia’s sales team for a quote.
movingimage – The Communicator
Perfect for large and enterprise-level companies that wish to securely video-communicate with customers, employees, and shareholders.
Overview
movingimage’s enterprise video platform has become the go-to video hosting solution for some of the world’s largest corporations.
VideoManager Pro—movingimage’s flagship product—is a video content management system designed to meet the most stringent security standards. It allows users to set granular access controls with enterprise-level features such as SSL encryption, IP range, token authentication, and GEO blocking.
The solution offers a variety of AI features that provide automation capabilities to support users across their video journey, from the creation stage, throughout management, all the way to distribution.
movingimage’s CorporateTube is a customizable video portal for internal and external corporate communication, allowing users to create, watch, share, and rate video content on any device or web browser.
The platform offers over 50 video plugins as well as access to REST API to support seamless integration with your existing IT landscape.
Key Features
- Comprehensive role-based access control (RBAC)
- AI-powered workflow automation
- ISO 27001 certified security + full GDPR-compliance
- High-speed HTML5 video player
- Enterprise-level content delivery network
- Powerful API
- Interactive collaboration features
- Fully customizable interface
Pricing
Unlike Vimeo and Wistia, movingimage’s charges by video length rather than file size, an advantage that allows users to skip video compression and enjoy uncompromised video quality.
Get in touch with our video experts today for a free consultation.
What is the Best Video Hosting Solution for My Business?
To put it simply: the best video hosting solution for your business is the one that meets your business needs best. As demonstrated in our review, each video hosting is different in terms of functionalities, target audience, and overall coverage.
Therefore, and to answer the above question, we suggest you first create a list of your requirements and compare different services and pricing plans.
Bonus: Why Shouldn’t I Use YouTube for Video Hosting?
YouTube, Dailymotion, and similar consumer-facing video hosting platforms usually don’t meet large businesses and enterprises’ video hosting requirements. Additionally, and though it does allow a certain degree of customization, it’s relatively limited compared to enterprise video hosting solutions.
The same applies to social apps such as Facebook, Snapchat, or Instagram, where video functionalities are limited and are geared towards private communication purposes rather than corporate communication.
