As video producers, we’re keenly aware of the benefits of featuring engaging video content on landing pages. In fact, according to HubSpot, 30% of the most successful landing pages include video content, and it is estimated that this increases conversions by up to 86%. 

Video is an incredibly dynamic medium that can solve many different problems. At the same time as being visually engaging, it can present complicated ideas to an audience to increase product knowledge or tell your brand story to encourage customer loyalty. The data clearly shows that video is a crucial aspect to include on your website that can help you stand out from competitors and convert leads.

However, while the advantages to using video are clear, figuring out how to present your visual content can be overwhelming. As video producers, we are often asked what platform we use to host our video content on. Like anything to do with content creation, there is no universal answer to this question. We use a few different platforms because they each come with different benefits. What works for us may not work for your marketing needs—however, our goal in this article is to give you a quick run down of the pros and cons of a few of our favourite video hosting sites!

What We Use

Currently, we use Vimeo and Frame for internal hosting. This means that these platforms are used by our post production team to collaborate on videos during the editing stage. They are wonderful options because they allow for streamlined workflow with a remote team.

As they are very similar options, we have only ever used one at a time. Currently, we use Vimeo.  

However, while we have used Vimeo and Frame for our internal video hosting because they are great for feedback, they aren't necessarily the best option to host video content that is only meant to be viewed by an audience. For video players that are embedded in the VidOps website, we use YouTube. 

YouTube embed codes are easy to copy from YouTube and only need to be copied and pasted into your website page. For more information on using embed codes to add videos to your website, see our article How and Why to Incorporate Videos Into Your Marketing Strategy, or check out examples of Vimeo and YouTube embed codes.

While this is a functioning solution to the video player problem, it is not necessarily our recommended solution. YouTube is functional and straightforward, but there are drawbacks to its simplicity—it is very limited in terms of your control over what is displayed in the player after your video is finished playing. 

It can display ads, or the platform algorithm can suggest what it identifies as related videos from other sources, directing your audience to other sites and away from yours in the process. In fact, we are planning to switch over from YouTube to another video hosting platform in the near future. But with more than 8 years worth of videos on our Latest Work page, this is no small feat!

Our Picks

One of the most popular alternative video hosting sites is Wistia. 

Pros:

• There are no ads.
• Controls over what is displayed after your video plays.
• Offers option to embed lead capture forms and CTAs in video player.

Cons: 

• It is comparatively expensive compared to the free options listed above—billing starts at £15/month for the lowest subscription tier.

Another popular option for digital marketers is Spotlightr.

Pros: 

• No ads.
• Customizable video player—allows for control over recommended videos. 
• More affordable—the first subscription tier comes to just £5.50 monthly, or less if billed annually.
• Lead capture gates. 

Cons:

• Seen to be relatively complex compared to other options, and best suited to business owners who have previous experience in digital marketing. 

What’s the verdict?

As we've said above, there is no universal video hosting platform. Your choice as a digital marketer should ultimately reflect your individual needs, and these needs may not be the same as ours. However, at VidOps we believe in and value transparency, so we’re excited to bring you along our thought process in considering a new video player and hope it can shed some insight into the available options for you during your own search. 

We don’t just work with video in the post-production stages. If you’re interested in beginning your video production journey, or in learning more about the process, book a call to chat with us.

Book a consultation here.