Videos are what make a site pop rather than flop, but which is the best video platform for your audience? While your choices may be limited, there are several pros and cons per platform to consider. Bear in mind, it’s also important to know what your end goal is and ask yourself… Is your audience broad or niche? What’s your list of SEO keywords? How far will your budget take you? If you already mulled it over, it’s time to consider which video platform will attract the most web traffic.
YouTube
Starting with YouTube, the most popular video platform, with almost 5 billion videos watched daily. If the name of the game is attracting a large audience, then you may want to consider a platform owned by the world’s most popular search engine. The popular choice, however, may not be the right choice. So let’s consider the following positives of using YouTube:
- YouTube has a large audience. 30 million people use YouTube per day, which means you have the potential to attract millions of viewers to your videos.
- Google and YouTube work together. Since Google, the world’s most popular search engine, owns YouTube, it goes without saying that a Google search favors YouTube videos over any other platform. Using YouTube as your platform could significantly make it easier for people to find your content.
- YouTube is free to use. If you’re working with a strict budget, remember that YouTube is free to use for all your uploading needs. Unlike other video platforms that require a monthly subscription to use their services, YouTube allows you full access to their services without costing a penny.
While there are perks, there are also consequences. YouTube may be the popular choice, but there are a few problems worth considering.
- The ads. YouTube requires ads to generate revenue, and that could mean viewers will have to watch an ad first. While some ads can be skipped within five seconds, that’s already five seconds wasted which could result in a loss of views.
- The competition. While YouTube is a popular video platform, it’s also a public platform, which means a lot of competition. With up to 300 hours of content uploaded a minute, YouTube is oversaturated with content. While you may have a chance of attracting thousands of viewers, your video can also be swept away in the vast amount of videos out there.
- The distractions. YouTube is a wonderful tool, but it’s also a double-edged sword. While featuring videos may drive in traffic, it can also distract your audience toward other videos. One video is all it takes to dive down the YouTube rabbit hole.
Vimeo
Although not as popular, Vimeo is best for professional content creators who can sell their videos directly. Whereas YouTube is more of a public platform for a vast variety of content, Vimeo has a much more professional community. Users are called “creators” as Vimeo is mostly used by indie filmmakers, videographers, and documentarians. While there’s generally a smaller, more niche audience, it focuses on quality versus quantity. So why would Vimeo be the right choice?
- Vimeo doesn’t have frustrating ads. Unlike YouTube, Vimeo doesn’t play ads prior to the video. No ads mean no distractions, or worse, driving web traffic away from your site.
- Vimeo focuses on high-quality videos. Whereas YouTube recommends what’s popular, Vimeo has more of a prestigious reputation. Instead of recommending content based on popular choice, Vimeo curates videos with a high production value. If your video is uploaded on Vimeo, it means it passed the stricter upload guidelines, giving your content and site a little prestige.
- Vimeo has a supportive community. Several online communities can be toxic, and the last thing you want is to attract trolls, spammers, and harassers to your site. Vimeo has its own community guidelines that restrict any harmful or hateful commentary, and, of course, spam.
While there is some prestige to using Vimeo as your video platform, there are some drawbacks. Working against Google isn’t the only issue here.
- You have a smaller audience to work with. Unlike YouTube, Vimeo isn’t as popular and focuses on much more specific audiences. Depending on who you’re trying to market to, this may not be such a drawback, as it could mean less competition. A smaller audience, however, is an important factor to consider.
- It can be expensive. While Vimeo is free to join, its better features will cost you. The more professional packages, such as Vimeo Pro and Business, which has crucial features such as unlimited bandwidth, higher upload capacities, and better analytics, can wind up costing you up to $600 a year.
- You have limited uploads. Even the best Vimeo package limits how much you can upload. This may not be as much of an issue, especially if you already limit how much you upload per week. Videos, however, take up a lot of data, and you can upload 20 GB of video content fairly quickly. Unless you’re willing to spend $50 a month for unlimited weekly uploads, you could end up making harmful compromises.
Self-Hosted
Another possibility is to become your own video platform. While there are a few perks, you’ll need to learn how to code. It can, however, give your website a professional edge if you decide to host your videos. Whereas YouTube and Vimeo are easy-to-use, they can also distract your audience with ads and other videos. Self-hosted videos ensure people can only view videos on your site. If you’re not enticed by either YouTube or Vimeo, here’s what you should consider about self-hosting.
- You have more privacy and control. Because the video is hosted on your site, it means all the data collected is strictly yours. Your videos are also less at risk of being stolen or downloaded, and because you don’t have to follow any strict or bizarre guidelines, no one can ban or delete your videos.
- It keeps visitors on your site. While YouTube and Vimeo do all the heavy-lifting for you, you’re still using their server, and your audience’s attention can drastically wane when there are other recommended videos to view. Self-hosting your videos keeps all traffic on your site, and if someone wants to share your video, they’d have to redirect it directly to your site.
- You have complete control over how it looks. If you happen to know a thing or two about coding, then you can create something professional looking without including YouTube’s or Vimeo’s logo.
You may have more control if you decide to self-host, but unless you have the time and coding skills to do so, you may be better off using another video platform. Here are a few other issues to consider.
- Your server bandwidth. One of the biggest issues of self-hosting has to do with your server bandwidth. Video platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are designed to handle multiple viewers watching the same video at the same time. If you have a limited bandwidth, however, not everyone may be able to see your videos.
- Less visibility and traffic. While you won’t have to deal with distracting ads or competing videos, you’re also competing with two popular video platforms. YouTube is the world’s most popular video platform, and it’s usually where most people turn to first when searching something. You may be free from the strict upload guidelines and advertisements, but you also lose out on their popularity, which that alone can help attract viewers.
- A lack of compatibility. Some browsers can be finicky with certain video formats. If you still want to self-host, it could mean constantly converting your videos into other formats or worse, losing viewers.
Deciding the best video platform for you comes down to your audience, how much you plan to upload, and your budget. Which video platform you decide to use, however, can significantly impact your web traffic, so choose wisely.
