Comparison of 5 Platforms for Course Video Hosting

Looking for the best platform to host your online course videos? This blog compares the top five video hosting platforms, including VIDIZMO, YouTube, Wistia, Brightcove, and Vimeo. Learn about their features, such as secure streaming, interactivity, and scalability, to make an informed decision for hosting your course content.

Wouldn’t it be bland if you’re course only consisted of text? Your employees will just skim through. Do you know that the average employee will have forgotten 65 percent of the material covered in the course? What is a better way to learn is through videos that engage learners more.

Learn a new skill or gain knowledge via an online course has never been easier. Video-based learning is the new norm. 91% of educational institutions have the same opinion that video increases learners’ satisfaction. While having creative course content is one thing, course video hosting is another.

You have this idea that, oh, I’ll upload a video on a native hosting site. Easy! Well, this is correct but let’s have a different perspective. You upload a video, and it takes too much space therefore, slowing your site down with a bad playback quality. How will you tackle this?

Moreover, by simply adding a video you can’t add quizzes to it. A hassle-free way is to opt for a video hosting platform for your online course.

This blog will give you a brief as to why use a video hosting platform and the features to look out for. Furthermore, we will compare the different course video hosting platforms.

What is Video Hosting?

Video hosting is the process of uploading and storing video content on a platform or server, where it can be accessed, streamed, or downloaded by users.

It’s an essential component for anyone looking to share video content online, whether for personal, educational, or business purposes.

Video hosting platforms allow creators to store their videos, control who can access them, and provide an optimal viewing experience across different devices.

Why is Video Hosting Important?

Video hosting is critical because it provides several benefits:

• Storage Management: It saves users from using up their personal storage by offering a secure, centralized place to store videos.
• Seamless Streaming: Hosting platforms ensure your videos are delivered with high-quality streaming and minimal buffering.
• Security & Control: With video hosting, you can control who views your videos through privacy settings and restricted access.
• Analytics & Insights: Hosting platforms offer insights on viewer behavior, engagement, and video performance.

How Does Video Hosting Work?

When you upload a video to a hosting platform, the following steps occur:

• Upload: You upload the video file to the hosting platform.
• Processing: The platform converts your video into various formats and resolutions to ensure smooth streaming across devices.
• Storage: The video is stored on a server, often in multiple copies for reliability and redundancy.
• Streaming: Viewers can access the video via a direct link, an embedded player on your website, or an app.

Types of Video Hosting Platforms

There are several types of video hosting platforms, each designed to cater to different needs:

1. Public Video Hosting Platforms

   • Platforms like YouTube and Vimeo offer public access and are often used for content discovery.

   • Ideal for marketers, content creators, and influencers who want to reach a large audience.

2. Private Video Hosting Platforms

   • Platforms like VIDIZMO allow private, secure access to videos, ideal for corporate training and educational content.

   • Offers better control over who can view your videos and provides tools for internal use.

3. Enterprise Video Hosting Platforms

   • Tailored for large organizations, these platforms offer advanced security features, analytics, and integration with internal systems like LMS (Learning Management Systems).

   • Great for hosting educational videos, training sessions, and company presentations.

Benefits of Using a Video Hosting Platform

• Improved Viewing Experience: High-quality streaming without interruptions and buffering issues.
• Customization: Platforms often allow customization of the video player (colors, branding) to fit your organization’s needs.
• Security: Protect your videos with password protection, encryption, and access controls to ensure content is secure.
• SEO Optimization: Video hosting platforms often offer SEO features like metadata optimization and video indexing to improve search engine rankings.
• Scalability: Hosting platforms can handle large volumes of traffic without compromising performance, especially important for viral videos or large online courses.

Video hosting is an essential tool for anyone sharing video content online, whether it’s for educational purposes, business marketing, or entertainment.

By choosing the right video hosting platform, you can ensure that your videos are stored securely, streamed seamlessly, and reach the right audience with valuable insights.

Why Use Video Hosting Platforms for Your Courses?

Of course, you can expect course videos to be in GBs which can hinder your website’s speed and playback quality. Since there is rising demand for HD videos, the quality can’t be compromised, and businesses prefer for internal and external use.

However, these HD videos also take up hardware storage, and when that happens, the dedicated server is incapable of handling massive traffic. Hence, a video platform is much more convenient.

Moreover, you need a private video hosting platform, where only certain users can access your courses by logging in to the platform. One step ahead, every user should only be able to access the course assigned to them and no other.

In short, video hosting platforms not only tackles with the bandwidth, playback and storage issues but also gives you a powerful toolkit and features to take your course videos to a new level.

Also, not all platforms are able to provide an appropriate audience for a video-based course. Therefore, it is vital to choose a video hosting platform with a relevant audience.

What Features to Look Out For

Video hosting platforms give you extensive features, but as an online course creator, you would want some specific requirements as mandatory. To help you make the right decision, here are some key features

• Interactive Video Player that streams HD videos seamlessly
• A learning platform must facilitate live streaming for real-time lectures and on-demand video streaming for self-paced learning.
• Must have an online video library to manage and sort bulks of videos in a proper manner.
• Have the ability to group videos in courses.
• Make your course videos engaging by adding interactivity.
• Analytics for evaluating user interactions, track and analyze different video metrics. This is important if you need to measure the effectiveness of your training.
• It should have a feature of secure embedding on any website
• Can be integrated with multiple IT systems, especially your LMS.

With these key factors in mind, let us get to the top course video hosting platforms.

Top 5 Course Video Hosting Platforms

1.  VIDIZMO

VIDIZMO, a Gartner recognized comprehensive video learning platform, offers uploading, streaming and sharing live or on-demand videos for external and internal use. The corporate trainers can stream online classes and have them recorded to stream on-demand.

The e-learning experience is made exciting and engaging with the help of interactivity such as quizzes to test the learners’ understanding of the course or have feedback forms.

VIDIZMO lets the trainers and administrators manage bulks of videos via content video library, and group videos together in a YouTube-like playlist, categories and collection. Furthermore, you can download analytics reports and track down viewer's interactions such as views, downloads and shares.

There is more to it than those features. Integrate with other systems such as CRM, CMS, video conferencing tools etc. Assign video access to certain users via user groups, segregate content with multiple autonomous portals and have your course videos play in HD.

2.  YouTube 

YouTube is a simple platform but the most popular with free course videos. YouTube is a easy platform to host your videos. The platform provides a lot of features but is not comprehensive.

• It allows easy embed of videos
• Create playlist
• Transcription
• Easy sharing
• Private Video option

You can also monetize your videos and earn money using ads. However, there is no interactivity + integration feature. Above all, once you upload your course videos, you give YouTube permission to redistribute and gain ownership of your content.

Therefore, there is no system for content restriction.

3.  Wistia

Wistia is a marketing platform offering a variety of marketing tools. It is good for online course creators who actually want to sell their courses online. One of the standout features is the customization of the video player.

It offers tools to track and monitor the engagement metrics of your courses. Integration with different systems such as CRM is possible. However, you can’t live stream in Wistia, so things like live sales training or product demos cannot be conducted.

Moreover, the subscription is not budget-friendly, and Wistia charges you for every video uploaded.

4.  Brightcove

Fourth on the list is Brightcove that is a business-centric video hosting platform. You can expect speedy servers and flawless live streaming capabilities. It supports integration, provides embedding options, and you can add interactivity to your educational modules.

The content uploaded is monetized, and you retain the ownership. It caters better to external use cases. Brightcove within itself lacks few functionalities and relies heavily on integration with other systems, which can be a hassle.

Read More | Comparison Between VIDIZMO and Brightcove       

5.  Vimeo

Vimeo offers you a simple yet professional user interface to host your online video courses. Even though it offers limited storage, its powerful customizing options, analytics tools, and helpful community make it a good choice for online video course creators.

You can also easily embed videos. Moreover, Vimeo doesn’t display ads or pop-ups in your videos which can be annoying otherwise. The drawback of Vimeo includes

• No restrictions on videos on the free package
• The other (Plus and Pro plans) have weekly limits on bandwidth

Furthermore, as a simple platform, it doesn’t have extensive features compared to VIDIZMO or Brightcove.

Key Takeaways

• Importance of Video Hosting Platforms: Video hosting platforms are essential for delivering high-quality, secure, and interactive video content for online courses. They offer solutions for storage, playback quality, and audience control.

• Key Features for Course Video Hosting: Key features to look for in a platform include HD video streaming, interactivity (quizzes, feedback), secure embedding, analytics, and integration with other systems like LMS.

• Top Platforms Compared:

  • VIDIZMO offers a comprehensive suite of features like HD streaming, live streaming, interactive quizzes, and seamless integration with various IT systems.

  • YouTube is a popular and free option, but it lacks advanced interactivity, and uploading content gives YouTube control over the videos.

  • Wistia is great for marketing-focused courses with strong customization options, but lacks live streaming features and can be costly.

  • Brightcove is a robust business platform offering seamless streaming but relies heavily on integrations with other tools.

  • Vimeo offers simplicity, customization, and ad-free videos, though its storage options are more limited.

• Choosing the Right Platform: The choice depends on your specific needs. For detailed control and corporate use, platforms like VIDIZMO are ideal, while platforms like YouTube and Vimeo are suitable for smaller-scale content creation.

Why Video Hosting Platforms are Essential for Your Online Course

Choosing the right video hosting platform for your online course is crucial for providing a seamless learning experience. By utilizing a video hosting platform, you can address storage, playback quality, and security issues while also offering advanced features such as interactivity and analytics to enhance engagement.

From popular platforms like YouTube to enterprise solutions like VIDIZMO EnterpriseTube, each offers unique advantages to meet specific needs.

The importance of video hosting for online courses cannot be overstated. It allows you to maintain high-quality video streaming, ensures secure access, and provides tools for managing and analyzing learner engagement.

With the right video hosting platform, you can elevate your course content, making learning more effective and enjoyable.

Ready to explore a comprehensive video hosting platform for your courses? Start your free trial with VIDIZMO today and experience seamless, secure, and interactive video-based learning for your organization.

People Also Ask

What is video hosting?

Video hosting is the process of uploading and storing video content on a platform or server where users can access, stream, or download the videos. It ensures seamless playback, secure storage, and provides management tools for controlling who can view the content.

Why is video hosting important for courses?

Video hosting is crucial for online courses because it ensures high-quality streaming without buffering, provides storage solutions for large video files, and offers features like interactivity, security, and analytics to enhance the learning experience and measure learner engagement.

How does video hosting work?

When you upload a video to a hosting platform, it is processed into various formats and stored on a server. Viewers can then stream the video through a link or embedded player, while the platform handles storage, playback, and data security.

What are the benefits of using a video hosting platform for my course?

Using a video hosting platform for your course ensures seamless streaming, enhanced security, and proper storage management. It also provides features like interactivity (quizzes, feedback), detailed analytics, and the ability to integrate with LMS or CRM systems, which enhances the overall learning experience.

How do I choose the best video hosting platform for my course?

The best video hosting platform depends on factors like the size of your audience, required features (e.g., interactivity, security), and your budget. Look for platforms with robust video storage, customization options, analytics, and easy integration with your existing systems.

Can I monetize my course videos on video hosting platforms?

Yes, some platforms like YouTube offer monetization options through ads. However, for a more controlled and professional course environment, platforms like Vimeo and VIDIZMO allow monetization while retaining full ownership and privacy of your course content.

What types of video hosting platforms are available?

There are three main types of video hosting platforms: Public (e.g., YouTube), Private (e.g., VIDIZMO for internal use), and Enterprise (e.g., Brightcove for large organizations with advanced security and integration needs).

Are there limitations to using free video hosting platforms?

Yes, free platforms like YouTube may have limitations such as ads on videos, limited customization, lack of interactivity, and ownership of content. Paid platforms like VIDIZMO or Vimeo offer more control, security, and customization features for professional use.

Can I control who accesses my course videos?

Yes, most video hosting platforms allow you to control access through privacy settings. You can restrict video access with password protection, user authentication, and access controls based on user roles or groups.

What is the role of analytics in video hosting for courses?

Analytics in video hosting platforms help course creators track learner engagement, such as views, interactions, and retention rates. This data allows you to optimize course content, improve learning outcomes, and tailor the course experience based on learner behavior.