How to Handle Video Hosting Properly

Videos are becoming increasingly popular as web content. Creating videos is easy nowadays. Even with a regular smartphone, you can record decent quality videos. But how do you then make these available to visitors on your own website? Find out about the options available and what you should consider in the following article.

Webmasters want to keep their visitors on their website for as long as possible. Google also considers websites with longer dwell times more relevant and rewards them with better positions in search results. Gone are the days when visitors could be kept on a website with just a few texts and images. Therefore, videos are being used more and more as content to provide added value. Videos are often more entertaining and many contents can be conveyed much more vividly with the help of images and sound. But how should the videos be made available to website visitors after creation?

Providing videos on your own website

Since many web hosts nowadays offer ample storage space in their packages, the idea of ​​loading videos directly onto your own webspace seems obvious. However, this is where the mistake lies. Videos should never be simply uploaded to your own web hosting. This is for several reasons:

Underestimated file sizes

The file size of a video depends on the resolution. A 15-minute video at a resolution of 720p requires approximately 100 megabytes of storage space. For videos in HD format or even in modern 4k resolution, this is even higher by a multiple. If videos are created regularly, a large amount of data quickly accumulates over time, exceeding the limits of the webspace package. Problems can also arise when uploading the videos. Most hosts have a restriction on file size. Video files with a size of several hundred megabytes are often not uploadable.

Traffic consumption

Far more significant than the file size itself is the traffic consumption. Let's assume a 100-megabyte video. If this is viewed 100 times, that's already 100 x 100 MB = 10,000 MB, which is 10 gigabytes of traffic consumption. Considering that over time, numerous videos are made available, each viewed multiple times by many visitors, a significantly high data consumption quickly accumulates. On a basic Shared Hosting package, even if some providers suggest to the customer "unlimited traffic," a host will not tolerate such a high traffic consumption for long. This high traffic consumption also negatively impacts the bandwidth. This means that some visitors may only be able to access websites on the server very slowly or not at all. When playing videos, there may be buffering and delays. Often, this leads to the suspension of the webspace. Some hosts therefore fundamentally prohibit their customers from hosting video files.

Alternatives for Video Hosting

As an alternative to hosting on your own webspace, Video Hosting and Video Sharing platforms are options. The most well-known platform is YouTube, owned by Google. Such platforms offer many advantages: they are easy to use, videos can be uploaded and then embedded on your own website. This allows the videos to be displayed and played on your own website, but they are actually loaded from the video platform in the background. Therefore, the traffic consumption does not occur on your own webspace, but only on the video platform, which has a significantly more powerful infrastructure.

However, there are not only advantages here. Especially with free offerings like YouTube, there are some disadvantages to consider: Firstly, videos on YouTube are by default discoverable by any internet user. Hosting private videos or videos intended for a specific group of people is therefore more challenging. Secondly, YouTube typically displays additional video suggestions from other members after the video finishes playing. This can appear less professional, especially for commercial or corporate videos.

However, there are suitable solutions here too, in the form of paid video platforms for professional use:

Video Hosting with Vimeo

The most well-known competitor to YouTube, named Vimeo, was founded in the USA in 2004. The platform has since established itself with its paid service Vimeo PRO as the most popular choice for those looking to conduct professional video hosting.

Video Hosting with Wistia

Wistia is a professional video hosting and analysis service, founded in 2006 by two university students in the US. Nowadays, the platform is popular as a video hosting service, particularly due to its extensive analysis tools.

For those planning to publish videos on their own website, it is important to thoroughly research video hosting and choose the appropriate offering from free or paid platforms based on individual requirements.