Video content dominated again in 2023, especially short-form videos like Reels and Tiktoks. This trend is likely to continue in 2024. Marketers will keep trying to make their videos as engaging and interactive as possible in 2024. One of the predictions for 2024 is that live streaming will grow even more in popularity. This is not surprising as live streaming encourages interaction and audience feedback.
Video creators need to use video hosting sites to host their videos. These video hosting platforms come in various different forms. They provide video content creators with storage space so they can upload and distribute their videos. However, the best online video hosting platforms offer far more than just a way to store videos. This article suggests some of the best video hosting platforms that offer more than just storage for videos and more than just basic security measures. This can help you to find a secure video hosting platform that’s best for your business.
What is secure video hosting?
Businesses today use video for both external and internal purposes. Internal videos work very well for purposes such as HR-related videos, employee training, town hall meetings, etc. If you want to host private videos, you need to prioritize robust data protection features. Paid video hosting websites offer better security options than free ones and give you full ownership over your video content.
Access restriction policies: As a video host you don’t want unwanted viewers to download and share your private videos. You should be able to set user permissions for who can view your videos. For example, you should be able to restrict access to videos according to employee roles and only allow them to see what they need to do their work.
AES encryption: Encryption is a common way to protect sensitive data. Incorporating AES encryption into streaming prevents a stream from being intercepted by cybercriminals. Only legitimate viewers with the encryption key as part of their login process can watch the stream.
Other security measures: Some other security measures video hosting platforms use include single sign-on, multi-factor authentication, domain restrictions, and watermarks.
Multi-layering of security measures is the best way to ensure security and privacy. Cybercriminals are always looking for new ways to get around your defenses. If you have multiple layers of protection, it makes it harder for them to succeed.
What to look for in a video hosting platform
The best video hosting websites offer a user-friendly experience. They focus on business needs and provide ways to reach prospective customers and increase conversions. They also help to improve internal communications and allow for more collaboration between departments. You should be able to upload videos in bulk, organize them effectively, and much more.
- On free platforms customization options are usually very limited. You should be able to customize your video player, thumbnails, etc. to personalize your brand and enhance security.
- Ensure that your videos can play seamlessly on all devices and across platforms. A platform must have adequate bandwidth for streaming without buffering or freezing. Check whether a platform has a content delivery network (CDN) to enable this.
- Make sure it is easy to embed your videos on your website without the need for coding knowledge.
- See whether a platform has SEO tools you can use so people can find your videos in the search results.
- You must have ways to market from within your videos, such as calls-to-action and contact forms.
- Keeping your confidential video content safe and secure is a priority. Measures such as end-to-end encryption will help to ensure this.
- You should have access to in-depth analytics to gain insight into video performance so you can make strategic improvements.
1. Sprout Video
SproutVideo provides secure and professional video hosting for websites. Whether you are sharing secure internal communications or live streaming, it has the video hosting features you need.
- Video website: You can set up a professional, mobile-optimized video website and start sharing videos. It only takes minutes to design and launch a customized website to show off your video content.
- Customization: Make animated thumbnails, and playlists, and customize the video player.
- Marketing tools: Drive organic traffic and gather leads by adding features such as calls-to-action. Use easy video SEO to improve your search rank.
- Privacy and security: Extensive privacy controls allow for secure video hosting and sharing. Single sign-on, two-factor authentication, domain whitelisting, and role-based user permissions are some of these features. You can password protect your whole video website or implement single sign-on to be sure only an intended audience can access videos. You can also deter theft by adding dynamic watermarks in videos and setting expiration times for your embed codes.
- Integrations: The platform integrates with Mailchimp, Zapier, Hubspot, and other software platforms you may use.
- Viewer engagement: Measure, track, and analyze viewer activity to evaluate and improve video performance. You can see who is watching videos or live streams, improve content by observing viewer behavior, and measure completion rates of educational videos.
- Pricing: A free 30-day trial allows you to test all the features. Pricing starts at $10 a month for the Seed plan which offers core features for solo entrepreneurs. The Sprout plan is $35 per month for a customizable video website, flexible security options, and restricted viewer login protection. The Tree plan at $75 a month is suitable for teams and the Forest plan at $295 a month offers enterprise-level tools, including extensive security measures and analytics.
2. Wistia
Wistia is one of the best video hosting platforms for marketers. Many of its features and embedding options are designed with marketers in mind. It is a solid VOD-only platform with a number of innovative features. One of these features is its project organizational structure.
- Marketing tools: Generate leads with a turnstile email collector. Add a form at any point in a video to help generate leads. People must enter their email addresses to gain access to the rest of the content.
- Calls-to-action, annotation links, automatic transcripts, and closed captions are also available. These marketing features are available when you embed a video on a webpage or in a marketing email.
- Marketing integrations: Wistia integrates with other marketing platforms, such as those for email marketing like Campaign Monitor, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.
- Security: Wistia is hosted on Amazon Web Services (AWS) which has some good security controls and privacy features. Accounts are password protected and domain restrictions ensure videos can only be played on specific domains. Most of the security options relate to keeping users from unauthorized downloading of video content. Wistia doesn’t offer a way to manage user permissions according to roles across large audiences.
- Analytics: Understand the performance of each of your videos at a glance. See how long your viewers stick around for, and if they fill in your form or click a link.
- Pricing: A free plan is available for 10 videos and features like basic analytics and a customizable player. There are also free trials for its paid plans. The Plus plan is available for $19 per month and includes 20 videos as well as various lead-generation tools.
Vidyard
Vidyard offers video hosting for websites that focus primarily on sales teams. It has many features available that help them to host videos and share them with prospects and clients.
- Video recording and customization tools: it is easy to record videos and a webcam allows your sales teams to create videos on the go. There are strong customization options that allow you to promote your brand.
- User-friendliness: Vidyard is not that user-friendly and this can complicate security compliance. For instance, it can impact the ability of managers to sign and track user permissions. Users can’t organize videos into folders and subfolders for the purpose of making security settings changes to multiple videos at the same time.
- Integrations: Integrations are available with many different platforms and programs.
- Security: Vidyard has a multi-layer security system that includes password protection, playback restrictions, and IP whitelisting.
- Pricing: There is a free plan and a 14-day free trial for the Pro plan. The Pro plan is $29 per month and includes unlimited videos, customizations, and viewer insights.
Vimeo
Vimeo began as a simple video-sharing platform and has become one of the largest video hosting platforms. It is both a public and private video host and allows video creators to create, edit, host, and publish their videos.
Many useful features are available for businesses such as team collaboration, marketing, and analytics. Vimeo supports live streaming and offers OTT monetization.
Customizable player: You can remove the Vimeo logo and embed videos on your website using your own logo.
Collaboration: Invite team members, freelancers, or clients to preview your private projects. You can set different permission levels for reviewers or collaborators on your videos.
Security: Vimeo has fairly limited security options. Some of these security features include password protection, private links, and domain privacy.
Pricing: Vimeo has a free plan with limited features and free trials for its paid plans. Users need to subscribe to the Starter plan at $12 per user per month to benefit from data privacy features. AI features are available on the Standard plan from $20 per user per month. This includes 120 videos, an AI script generator, marketing integrations, a brand kit, a teleprompter, and text-based video editing.
Cincopa
Cincopa is an all-in-one secure online paid video hosting platform that gives you the option to host not only video but images and audio as well. With a suite of tools to host, manage, embed, and publish videos it’s perfect for teams in enterprise organizations.
Customization: Customization options include being able to customize the video player for quality, appearance, and device compatibility. You can also customize thumbnails, templates, galleries, and even create video playlists.
Marketing tools: Calls-to-action, contact forms, annotations, and closed captions are just some of the on-video tools you can use to gain leads and convert them. You can also use video chaptering to make certain content easier to access.
Integrations: You have access to an array of integration options, including Mailchimp, Zoom, Salesforce, Hubspot, and other software platforms.
Security: Cincopa offers multiple ways to protect privacy and security. End-to-end encryption keeps content safe from cyber criminals. If you want to host private videos, you can add different user permissions for viewing them according to user roles.
Share your videos securely by implementing domain-level and geographic restrictions. For example, you can whitelist a range of domains or IP addresses to add extra security.
Embed the video player on a public website behind a login wall or allow viewers to access videos using Cincopa Share pages or Portals which are secured via HTTPS/SSL.
Single sign on (SSO), two-factor authentication, and email pay gates offer additional layers of security that help to protect your video content. You can also watermark your video content to make it easily identifiable with your brand.
Analytics: Make use of in-depth analytics to assess video performance. See heatmaps that show viewer behavior, including when they rewatch, skip, or drop off. Make use of dashboards that show the performance of individual videos and live streams.
Pricing: Cincopa has a free plan and offers a free trial for the Plus Plan that starts at $25 a month. This plan includes 50 videos, live streaming, unlimited embedding, integration with Zoom, Slack, etc., and basic analytics. Cincopa also offers Corporate and Enterprise plans.
Conclusion
Free video hosting sites don’t come with the customizable tools and features that allow you to keep your video content secure online. You need a secure video hosting solution to help you protect and monetize your content. Free trials can help you to make the decision about which platform suits your business or organization best. You need to choose an option that has the features you want at a price you can afford. Cincopa’s free trial gives you the opportunity.
