One-third of online activity is spent watching video with users consuming more than 500 million hours of video content on YouTube each day. And, with the average user spending 88% more time on a website with video (WordStream) you should be looking to include video marketing as part of your online strategy, but where would you host your new content?
Most people when asked the question: where should I host my video content? Would answer: YouTube.
As the second largest search engine after Google, why wouldn’t you chose YouTube?
There are loads of benefits to YouTube:
Why would you chose anything else?
YouTube does have some limitations, and some video creators argue that the videos they upload to platforms like Vimeo and Wistia can provide better quality than YouTube. These other video hosting platforms may also provide greater control over your video and allow you to include a call to action.
If you are going to use the video on your website, why not host the video yourself on your server? Well, if only it was as simple as that.
Yes, hosting the video on your server will give you complete control over the video and prevent any ads or recommended videos showing on your video but there are some downsides to hosting the videos yourself.
Videos require a lot of resources to play without any issues and unfortunately most website owners simply do not have these types of resources. Another downside is that you limit who will be able to see it i.e. just your website visitors. If you opted to upload to YouTube your video could potentially be seen and shared by hundreds of people, helping to spread the awareness of your brand.
If you are looking to increase your brand awareness, potential traffic and not jeopardise the performance of your website it is worth uploading your video content to a video hosting platform. As YouTube provides the best potential for driving traffic to your website, this platform would be the platform of choice for your videos.
Inspiration taken from: Search Engine Journal