Streaming Video Hosting
Streaming video has taken over the internet with the emergence of both free and paid streaming video hosting services.
However, as this phenomenon continues to grow, many webmasters are left wondering about where they should host their videos. Some people prefer to host the videos on their own server, while others prefer using a streaming video hosting service.
Regardless of which option you choose, there are some important facets that need to be kept in mind.
There are potential drawbacks wherever your decide to host your videos. The key is choosing which drawbacks may apply to your situation and avoid them.
Free Streaming Video Hosting
Free streaming video hosting through websites like YouTube have grown extremely popular; however, there are some potential drawbacks that may affect your website.
The first is that YouTube will provide links to related videos near your video. If your competition has a related video, then it is possible to lose your customer to them.
However, if you are adding the video to your website as well, this could be minimized, especially if the video is product-specific.
YouTube also has a tendency to make videos look a little grainy. This is because they reformat your video so that it takes up less space. If it is reformatted poorly, there is very little that you will be able to do.
Commercial Streaming Video Hosting
The primary drawback to commercial hosting is that it can be outside the range of many new businesses budgets, and even beyond their needs.
It is important to decide if paying a commercial streaming video hosting provider is actually worth the cost.
Additionally, if you choose an unreliable commercial provider, there is a chance that your videos will not be available when someone visits your website.
Hosting Streaming Videos Yourself
It can be argued that hosting streaming videos on your own server will eat up your bandwidth as well as your disk space.
However, if you need less than 1000 total minutes of play-time a day, then hosting it yourself may not be a bad option. Unfortunately, once your website grows, you may need to get more server space as well as more bandwidth.
Streaming video hosting has become essential to many websites. While the importance of video isn’t doubted, the problem lies in where to host the videos. All three options have their potential drawbacks, but at least one option will fit your needs.
