The Definitive Guide to Online Video Hosting Pricing and Costs in 2021
Businesses are using video content for all sorts of purposes in business. In fact, 80% of marketing professionals say that video content is becoming more important in this arena. It is used for sales, marketing, training, virtual event hosting, and more.
Broadcasters use video hosting to store and deliver their content. Naturally, this comes with a cost.
In this article, we’re covering everything broadcasters need to know about online video hosting costs. We will talk about video hosting in general before we compare video hosting pricing on several different platforms. We’ll also discuss some additional broadcasting costs before we look at a few video-hosting use cases.
We will make sure you understand how much does video hosting cost, so you can budget accordingly for your business’s video hosting needs.
What is Online Video Hosting?
Online video hosting r efers to storing video content to be delivered through a user-facing online video player. Video hosting is made possible through a dedicated platform that supports uploading, managing, and delivering videos online.
While it seems pretty straightforward, it’s important to note that not all online video hosting platforms are created equal. Great hosting platforms will let you upload in different formats and will make your videos available around the world. Others will limit your video content by format, size requirement, and video reach.
There are free video hosting platforms, like YouTube and Dailymotion, that are effective for beginner broadcasters. YouTube’s storage costs for your videos is nothing. Unfortunately, these platforms have limitations on privacy, monetization, rights to content, and more, which make them less than ideal for professional broadcasting.
You may not have to pay for YouTube storage costs with money, but you have to make many trade-offs with control when using a free video hosting service.
That’s where paid professional video hosting tools come into play. These are often equipped with advanced streaming platform features that provide a more professional broadcasting experience.
The Different Types of Hosting
There are two types of video hosting: live and on-demand.
Live video streaming is a powerful tool for businesses. It provides real-time coverage of events and activities, which allows brands to connect with their audience in an almost-lifelike way. 53% of enterprises are streaming or broadcasting live video in their organization at least once a week, with 29% using it daily.
Some professional enterprise hosting platforms offer complete live streaming solutions that are suitable for professional use. This is a great option for businesses that want to broadcast events, church services, sporting events, and beyond.
Video on demand (VOD) is a type of streaming that allows viewers to access the content at their convenience. This is the streaming model that Netflix uses. This type of video content has fewer technical requirements and isn’t as complex as live streaming since any issues that come up can be fixed before the video is played.
Online VOD streaming continues to become more and more popular. More than 39.3 million people canceled their cable subscriptions in 2019 to focus on digital content, and it is predicted that the number of “cord-cutters” will reach over 51.5 million by 2021.
The cost for live streaming content and hosting videos-on-demand can vary, which is why it is important to understand the difference between these two video content types.