How to succeed in secure video hosting

Videos serve as valuable tools for businesses in many areas, such as livestreaming or promotional videos.

Many companies cannot fulfill all of these requirements in sufficient quality alongside their day-to-day business. Video hosting platforms remedy the situation by taking over precisely these tasks.

Definition: What is Video Hosting?

Video hosting is an external service through which companies can publish their videos. Video platforms store the content on their own servers. Each uploaded video receives an embed code. Companies then use this code to integrate the content on their own websites.

Video hosting solutions offer companies several advantages:

- Relieve internal server

- no burden on the loading time of your company's website

- easy handling of videos

- Customer support for technical problems

- wider reach of video content (e.g. video on demand)

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Free Web Hosting or Paid Hosting?

The hosting of video hosting providers can be free of charge or for a fee. Both variants offer advantages and disadvantages. These depend on the type of video, the target audience and the intended goal.

For example, a marketing video and an onboarding video do not have the same intentions. Thus, they are not necessarily suitable for the same hosting format. Hosting depends on the marketer's general and video content marketing strategy.

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Free Video Hosting

If you don't have a lot of money, free offers for small businesses can be helpful.

But there are also disadvantages. Videos often don't look professional if they don't include logos or are placed with ads. Often there are limitations in marketing and technical support. Restrictions to make money with the videos and few tools to create and distribute the videos.

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Hosting for a fee

Paid hosting providers offer exclusive presentation and better transfer rates without advertising. Depending on the package there are additional links like

• Upload via app or API,
• Tools for video analytics and
• improved functions for safety.

Companies should compare vendors to find the most appropriate one. Some offer links for systems like Salesforce and virtual event capabilities.

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Challenges and benefits of secure video hosting

Secure video hosting comes with some challenges, but also benefits.

The following four areas should be considered when selecting the appropriate provider to host:

1. content delivery network (eCDN)

An eCDN service ensures good quality videos by forwarding data copies to geographically closer servers. As a result, videos load faster and without interruptions, especially for live streams and high-definition content. Browser-based platforms enable video access regardless of device.

2. API Access

Interfaces allow companies to integrate third-party content or services. Not every video host service offers such an API. Others provide API access only for certain third-party providers. Here, companies should carefully consider whether their requirements are met.

3. make money with videos

For revenues, which are to be generated via the videos, three forms are possible:

- Advertising

- Pay per view

- Subscription

4. safety

Event security is one of the main aspects when choosing a host for videos.

Theft

Sensitive video content must be secured against theft. This includes, for example, protecting videos with strong passwords, whitelisting, and domain, IP, and geographic restrictions. In addition, regular checking of server logs for unauthorized access of videos can be done.

DDoS attacks

In order to defend against DDoS attacks, a secure hosting platform can use various methods:

• Traffic filtering to identify and block malicious traffic
• Load balancing to avoid server overloads
• Use of anti-DDoS services with advanced techniques such as an analysis of behavior and AI.

Privacy

On the part of the customers, data protection must be ensured when watching the videos. In Germany and the EU, the regulations of the respective DSGVO and GDPR apply for this. Here, it is often recommended to choose a provider from the respective countries, as they comply with the regulations.

Video platforms with secure video hosting:

• Brightcove: (Boston - USA)

Tailored to the business and offers advanced features such as monetization and analytics. The platform also offers the ability to integrate APIs, automated workflows and promotes work process improvement. However, the U.S.-based company is increasing the cost of the advanced features.

• Kaltura: (New York City - USA)

Scalable and flexible. The platform is suitable for live streaming, interactive creation of videos and linking to the API. It offers a variety of tools for editing videos and embedding VR/AR technologies. Kaltura is also based in the US and may not be as user-friendly for beginners.

• MovingIMAGE24: (Berlin - DE)

The platform offers advanced features like branding, API integration and analytics tools. The costs may be higher compared to other video hosting providers. Also, MovingIMAGE24 may not be as intuitive for beginners as comparable platforms.

• Vidyard: (Kitchener - CA)

The platform combines video hosting, creation and analytics. It allows to create videos for individual customers and leads. One drawback may be the high cost compared to other providers. Also, the user interface may not be as intuitive as other platforms.

Conclusion

Be clear about their requirements. The content and target audience of each video should determine which type of video hosting is more suitable. Content that can be hosted includes webcasts and livestreams delivered as on-demand video.

Internal or otherwise sensitive content benefits from the higher security standards of paid hosting. Videos that are exclusively available to paying customers are also better made available to companies via this form of hosting.

For more reach, a free video on demand provider should be used. In many cases, companies provide different content for different target groups. Here it is worth combining two providers to be able to use the advantages of free hosting and paid hosting at the same time.

Paid hosting providers should meet some basic requirements. These include a browser-based platform that uses a CDN for better rendering. Also, the ability to integrate third-party apps, paywall integration, and DSGVO compliance.

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