Video upload failures are pretty common. No wonder popular sites, such as YouTube/Google Support, eBay, Cornell University, etc., have written articles on troubleshooting video upload failures. What if we told you that you can address video upload and playback errors by better understanding video hosting platforms?
Listen to us. There are several reasons why your video upload gets stuck in the middle, say 50% or 67%. Large video files usually experience this kind of error. Uploading errors eventually lead to video playback errors. Playback errors are usually a product of unsupported file formats, the lack of adaptive bitrate streaming, viewers’ Internet bandwidth limitations, etc.
The above errors can be collectively referred to as video hosting issues. Enterprises like yours that rely on video content to achieve their business goals cannot afford to have severe video hosting challenges. The good news is that video hosting software can effectively address these challenges.
Not only this, but enterprises are habitual in creating sensitive, proprietary video content that is only meant to be seen by certain exclusive eyes. This is why secure video hosting platforms are considered highly important to ensure data protection and compliance. So, you see, many other challenges are faced, such as data security, when hosting videos for businesses.
Even for public-facing enterprise video content, such as virtual events and webinars, video hosting poses a prominent challenge in the form of streaming failures. Advanced video hosting platforms for business can, no doubt, do the trick.
This blog discusses video hosting platforms, how they work, whether to self-host videos or choose video hosting software, the benefits of video hosting platforms for business, key features to consider, and top platforms.
Video hosting platforms refer to specialized software applications for hosting live and on-demand enterprise video content and digital media. If you think their sole purpose is to store enterprise video content, then you’re wrong. Video hosting platforms do much more than merely offer a space to store video content and digital media.
Apart from hosting, video hosting software helps you record, encode, transcode, analyze, and share video content created and acquired by enterprises. Even that’s not all. If you consider private video hosting platforms, they go miles further in protecting enterprise video content from unauthorized access.
No wonder the adoption of video hosting platforms is increasing exponentially. As mentioned earlier, companies are hosting different types of video content on such platforms as corporate communications, employee training, investor relations, etc.
Have you ever wondered what happens when you hit the Upload Video button on a video hosting platform? Once you upload a single video or multiple videos at once, the action begins in video hosting platforms. These platforms perform the following functions to ensure efficient hosting of your enterprise video content:
Encoding and Transcoding
When you upload a video file, it is not ready for smooth streaming and playback. What you actually upload on video hosting platforms for business are raw files that are in a specific format and have a large file size, which is probably not suited for streaming on all devices and in all bandwidth conditions.
To tackle the above challenges, advanced video hosting software first automatically converts the video content to multiple formats so that your viewers do not experience the Unsupported Format issue when streaming your video content.
Video hosting platforms also create multiple renditions of the video (240p, 360p, 480p, 720p, 1080p, etc.) so that the video player automatically switches to a suitable quality version according to the audience’s Internet connection quality when streaming video content using adaptive bitrate streaming.
To learn more about adaptive bitrate streaming, check out our blog post on adaptive bitrate streaming.
AI Processing
With enterprises increasingly using video content for a variety of use cases, the extent of enterprise video content has increased exponentially, with organizations creating hundreds of thousands of videos. Because of the rise of video content, it is natural to assume that its management can become a hassle.
To overcome this issue, video hosting platforms for business organizations are using artificial intelligence (AI) in one way or the other. AI processing of the video content can take several forms, such as:
Applying several AI models at this stage makes it easier for you to manage the increasing load of enterprise video content, as AI automates certain tasks without you needing to go through them and lose your precious hours.
Video Hosting
Here comes the holy grail – video hosting. It refers to the phenomenon wherein you upload and store enterprise video content on video hosting software. Where you will store your enterprise video content is one of the primary considerations when faced with various video hosting platforms.
Many video hosting solutions are limited in terms of their deployment options. Most video hosting applications are SaaS-only offerings. If you want flexible deployment options like on-premises, hybrid, or private cloud, you need to consider a video hosting platform that offers them.
With the increased need for data protection in enterprises, private video hosting platforms are available that offer several security and data protection features to keep unauthorized people away from accessing your sensitive, confidential enterprise video content.
Video Content Delivery
Video hosting is simply not enough. After all, you should deliver enterprise video content hosted on video hosting platforms to ensure smooth streaming, which we will discuss later in this blog. Having said that, video content delivery is one of the most challenging feats to achieve to ensure a superior viewer experience.
The enterprise video content is delivered to viewers using a content delivery network (CDN) or a specialized enterprise content delivery network (eCDN), which is purpose-built for organizations. By using a CDN/eCDN, you can effectively scale up the delivery of your video content to a significantly large audience scattered across the globe and manage sudden Internet traffic spikes.
If you are interested in knowing more about CDN streaming, read our blog post on CDN video streaming.
Video Streaming
There’s still another stage to ensure that the video hosting process gets completed in its true essence. Ask yourself. Why would you choose to host your enterprise video content on video hosting platforms? So that others can stream it, right? This is why video streaming is one stage that you cannot ignore.
Video streaming is a way of consuming video content without having to download it. This lets your viewers save their storage space. However, this means you need to ensure a stellar viewing experience that is not disrupted.
The closest alternative to hosting videos on video hosting software is to self-host video content. But the question is, should you go for it? We would firmly say no for quite a few reasons. Let’s find out what these reasons are:
Resource-intensive Server Setup
Setting up a server for self-hosting your enterprise video content is an overwhelming task. Not only does it drain your time, but it also requires some technical expertise or coding experience.
You will also need to invest in RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), hot-swap storage, cable management, and other server components. This demands considerable effort from your side in terms of both financial and non-financial costs.
Excessive Computing Power
Self-hosting video content requires a lot of CPU usage. The private server used for self-hosting videos can have more than 100% CPU usage. You should keep in mind that there should be a buffer of 20% to handle spikes in CPU usage.
To handle the high CPU usage, you will need to choose bare metal servers. Bare metal servers are dedicated servers that offer better performance. Since they are dedicated servers, the CPU cores do not get shared with other private servers. However, these benefits come at a considerable upfront cost.
Bandwidth Limitations
Videos, whether live or on-demand, are known for consuming a large amount of bandwidth to stream. According to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), streaming a 1080p video requires at least 5 to 8 Mbps download speed. It increases to 25 Mbps for a 4K video.
Addressing the high bandwidth needs for video streaming when self-hosting videos can be challenging. Depending on your server's limitations, you might experience increased page load time and multiple issues in video streaming, including playback errors and rebuffering. These can significantly impact your viewers’ experience.
Encoding Issues
When you choose to self-host videos, you face the additional burden of encoding your video content manually. This requires you to find the right encoder and set it up. However, this is not even the difficult part of encoding your self-hosted videos. Third-party encoders like Telestream Wirecast are known for being resource-heavy and demanding extensive CPU and GPU usage to encode videos.
This creates a challenge for self-hosting videos when they need to be served to different devices, such as laptops, mobile phones, and tablets. Choosing an inefficient encoder can lead to buffering issues or the video not playing at all on devices.
Storage Challenges
Video content takes up a lot of space. This is why self-hosting videos is not viable, especially if your business operations are video-intensive. For instance, if you are a large organization producing hundreds of videos in a quarter, self-hosting is not the right choice for you.
Once you hit the limit, you will have to upgrade your data storage infrastructure—no surprises here. But mind you, this will require you to burn a great deal of money to scale up the storage. It’s better for you to look for a solution that offers scalable storage.
Security Risks
Data protection and security remain one of the most pressing challenges for organizations. Securing your data is much more complicated when self-hosting your videos. To give you an idea, you will need to:
See, there is too much work on your end to secure your enterprise video content. Despite all of this, there will be significant data security gaps to fill, such as the fact that you cannot restrict domains without opting for external software.
Backup and Redundancy
Since you’re self-hosting videos critical to your business operations, you would need to create data backups using external applications, such as Restic or Kopia. Having a backup server can cost you since, as mentioned earlier, setting up a server is the most taxing job when self-hosting your video content.
Also, when you choose self-hosting, you have to worry about outage mitigation as well. For this, you need to have an uninterrupted power supply (UPS) along with necessary battery replacements in case of any uncertainties.
Now that you’re aware of the downsides of self-hosting your enterprise video content, it is time to explore the benefits of its counterpart – video hosting platforms. The many benefits of video hosting platforms are listed as follows:
Easy-to-use Platform
Hosting enterprise video content in video hosting platforms is super easy compared to self-hosting videos. You don’t have to be a technical geek to make sense of how to host video content. Also, since the video hosting software has already done it all for you, you do not need to go through setting up complex servers. Your entire focus is on hosting your video content on the video hosting platform.
Advanced video hosting platforms come with a user interface that is easy for you to understand and a user experience that appeals to your intelligence without straining you with the unnecessary workload.
Automated Workflows
Advanced video hosting software helps you automate the workflows for hosting your enterprise video content. Instead of manually encoding and transcoding your videos, you can sit back and relax as video hosting platforms automatically encode and transcode your content once you upload it on the portal.
Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), you can also enhance existing processes and automate workflows, such as that of content search and discovery. Using an AI-powered video hosting platform, you can also transcribe and translate your video content in multiple languages.
Secure Video Hosting
Just hosting a video on a platform is not enough. Considering the sensitive nature of enterprise video content, protecting its integrity at all costs is essential. With private video hosting platforms at your disposal, you can ensure that your enterprise video content remains protected from unauthorized access.
You can restrict IP addresses and domains from accessing your content, authenticate users before they can access your video library using single sign-on (SSO) and multifactor authentication (MFA), temporarily share your video content using URL tokenization, etc.
Storage Scalability
One of the most important benefits of video hosting platforms is their storage scalability. This means you do not need to worry about your storage limits hitting the cap as the amount of video content you’re hosting increases. You can always purchase more storage without breaking the bank.
With storage getting cheaper, video hosting software offers options to scale up your cloud storage. Some even offer more secure data storage options through on-premises deployment. You can also take a hybrid approach to data storage, storing your highly critical video content on-premises while hosting public-facing video data on the cloud.
High Availability and Redundancy
With specialized video hosting software, you can ensure that your enterprise video content remains ‘highly available.’ In simple terms, this means that there is significantly less downtime, and you can always access the video content at critical times or during business hours. Most video hosting providers offer an uptime of more than 99%.
You also do not have to worry about creating periodic backups of your data, as video hosting platforms ensure data redundancy. This ensures that you can easily retrieve your hosted enterprise video content in case of any data loss.
Superior Viewing Experience
Hosting enterprise video content on a video hosting platform lets you ensure that your viewers experience smooth video streaming. By smooth video streaming, we mean that your audience will not experience buffering issues and player load errors.
Video hosting platforms use different technologies, such as adaptive bitrate streaming and low-latency streaming protocols like real-time messaging protocol (RTMP), to make sure that no interruptions occur when your viewers stream your live or on-demand enterprise video content.
Enhanced Audience Engagement
As we mentioned earlier, video hosting software helps deliver a smooth streaming experience to viewers. By delivering a smooth viewing experience, you increase your chances of your audience engaging more with your video content.
Not only this but video hosting platforms are also equipped with audience interactivity and engagement features. For instance, you can add in-video quizzes, forms, and handouts in your videos to evoke responses from your viewers. Moreover, you can also ensure live interactivity to ensure two-way communication during your live stream.
Granular Video Analytics
Another benefit of having a video hosting platform is that it offers granular, in-depth analytics regarding video consumption. This helps you understand how your audience interacts with your enterprise video content and their preferences. However, that’s not all the data you get from video analytics.
Advanced video hosting platforms offer even more granular video analytics, such as quality of experience (QoE) and quality of service (QoS) analytics, such as cache hit ratio, player error rate, etc. You can also take advantage of device analytics, top browsers used, heatmaps, and more.
Customization and Branding
Video hosting software offers you extensive branding and customization options for hosting enterprise video content. By creating a branded experience for your viewers, you can make sure that your brand remains on the top of your audience’s mind.
White-label video hosting platforms let you add your color, colors, font and even use a custom URL. Moreover, using custom CSS, you can stylize your platform according to your preferences. As far as customization is concerned, you can customize video players and controls that suit your viewers’ preferences.
Third-party Integration
Last but not least, video hosting software offers integration with third-party applications. This lets you take advantage of leading applications that add value to your content management workflows. This also helps in minimizing data silos.
You can integrate video conferencing platforms, like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Webex, to host recorded meetings. Similarly, you can integrate tracking apps (Google Analytics and Woopra), content management systems (SharePoint), etc.
Key Features of Video Hosting Platforms
When considering video hosting software, you need to look for certain features that are essential for managing your enterprise video content efficiently. These features include a centralized library, AI-powered search, video analytics, adaptive bitrate streaming, etc.
To know why these features are considered important in video hosting platforms, read our detailed blog on 14 key features of Video CMS.
Top Video Hosting Platforms
Given the sheer abundance of video hosting platforms for business, we have compiled a list of top video hosting platforms. These platforms are mentioned as follows:
Host Enterprise Video Content on EnterpriseTube
EnterpriseTube is an AI-powered video hosting platform that offers automated workflows for efficient enterprise video content management. It comes with features such as AI-powered search, automatic transcription and translation, secure video hosting, SSO support, etc.
Try out EnterpriseTube for free for 7 days or book a demo with us to see one of the best secure video hosting platforms in action.
What are video hosting platforms?
Video hosting platforms let you record, upload, store, manage, analyze, and securely share enterprise video content with internal and external recipients.
Which is the best video hosting platform?
EnterpriseTube is a leading Gartner-recognized video hosting platform that automates video content management workflows, saves time by automatically transcribing and translating video content, and expedites its search and discovery through AI-powered search. It offers a wide range of data security features, including custom security policies, role-based access control, IP and geo-restrictions, SSO support, etc.
Should I self-host a video?
No, it is not recommended to self-host a video due to the following reasons:
How do I host a private video on EnterpriseTube?
You can host a private video in EnterpriseTube by using security features, such as role-based access control, IP and geo-restrictions, SSO support, custom security policies, category access rights management, etc.
What are the top 8 video hosting platforms?
The top 8 video hosting platforms are: