YouTube Competitors – Advanced Analyze For 2020

YouTube has long dominated the digital video scene allowing people around the world not just to make funny videos and share them with their friends but also companies worldwide to promote their brand, build awareness and increase visibility. Now YouTube is the number one social media network and the biggest video sharing platform out there. 

However, as the market increases, so does YouTube competition. There are more and more YouTube competitors offering similar functionalities like YouTube because a healthy Internet thrives on competition. There cannot be just one player in the game, because, then, it’s not the game. Even though the number of video sharing platforms is getting bigger, you need to keep in mind that, according to Alexa, YouTube is the world’s third most visited website. This gives it an unbeatable advantage over its competition. Most competitors lack features required to take a bite out of YouTube’s pie.

So let’s take a look at the top YouTube competitors in the market.

 1. Vimeo 

Vimeo is an online video sharing platform that allows you to upload, download, view and share various types of video content. It supports a variety of languages including Portuguese, Japanese, English, French, German and many others. Vimeo actually opened their gates even before YouTube, but YouTube became much popular and the things haven’t changed so far. But, Vimeo isn’t going anywhere for sure. Once it was published it was well-received by the public and has become one of the most used video sharing platforms in the world after YouTube. It is still a choice for many vloggers and it offers a variety of packages ranging from basic noodles to premium beef stroganoff. 

Like YouTube, Vimeo is a great option for hosting. Besides similarities there are some big differences between the two platforms we will now elaborate on. 

Pricing 

Both of these platforms are for-profit companies and their pricing options are based on the way they make money online. For instance YouTube is free, and it mostly makes its money by showing advertisements which are displayed inside the sidebar, video player or the YouTube app. There is also something called YouTube Red which allows viewers to remove advertisements and access YouTube original shows. The good thing is that you, as a content creator, are allowed to upload as many videos as you wish.

On the other hand, Vimeo’s business model is pretty much different that YouTube’s. Vimeo makes its money by selling video hosting services which lets publishers and businesses have an add free experience. Besides a free plan, you can join Vimeo Plus, Pro or Business Plans.

Keep in mind though that the free plan is quite limited when it comes to storage and features. 

Upload Limits 

Again, both platforms have different policies when it comes to upload limits. With YouTube, you are allowed to upload unlimited videos, but the length of each video should be under 15 minutes. The best thing is that you can upload videos with up to 128 GB file size (12 hours long). This is awesome and very generous for all types of content creators. 

Vimeo, however, has a number of limitations when it comes to upload size. In other words, it has different upload plans: Free, Plus, Pro and Business.

Audience Size and Reach 

Both of these video sharing tools have their own communities, various options and social features. 

YouTube has a great and obvious advantage when it comes to audience size and reach. First of all, it is owned by Google which automatically means that it is much more visible in all of its products than any other video sharing platform. Also, take into account that almost every Android phone in the world comes with a YouTube app installed. On top of this YouTube has a huge community which is always on the rise. Currently it has more than 1 billion users which is approximately more than one third of the Internet. Did we mention that YouTube is the second largest search engine in the world?

Unlike YouTube, Vimeo has a much smaller user base than YouTube – it has over 170 million users and it is growing at an incredibly fast pace. Besides channels, Vimeo has Group Features where users can create groups and participate in them. While Vimeo has a distinguishable search feature allowing people to search for video content, other people channels and groups, their design is not as noticeable as YouTube’s. 

Privacy Controls

Privacy controls are also different when it comes to these two platforms. For instance, YouTube offers three privacy settings for videos you want to upload. They include: Public (all the videos are publicly visible to all the people on YouTube), Unlisted (these videos are only visible to the people who have the URL, but they will not appear in YouTube search), Private (these videos are only visible to you, as well as the specific users you choose to have access to the video).

On top of this you can also disable comments on your videos.

Vimeo allows you to make videos private, public or unlisted and you can protect videos with passwords. This lets you add your videos to password protected posts on your website. 

 Video editing 

While both platforms are great tools for video editing, YouTube is a better one.

YouTube is offering super-powerful features. For example, it allows you to create videos from your previously uploaded videos, photos and much more. Besides this, you can create videos by using photos from your Google Photos because their editing tools offer so many interesting options you can choose from to make awesome videos. Most importantly, YouTube videos let you add annotations, links, cards, captions and subtitles to your videos. And did you know you can also live broadcast events, casual vlogs or news? 

Vimeo doesn’t have so many interesting and useful features like YouTube. It offers the basics that you need. You can add category, description, license, audience rating, video title and you can upload captions and subtitles to your videos. There are no annotation features included, which means you cannot add links to your video that users can click on. 

Monetization options

This is another important criteria when it comes to comparing these two video sharing platforms. Both platforms allow their users to make money online. YouTube allows its users to sign up for something that’s called Google Adsense in order to monetize their videos. On top of this YouTube allows content creators to use other monetization options as well. For example, YouTubers who publish content can sell products in their videos, join affiliate programs, as for donations, get sponsors, etc. 

On the other hand, Vimeo doesn’t have an advertising program you can join. It has “Vimeo on Demand ” where you can sell videos directly to viewers.

 2. Twitch  

 Twitch is another video sharing platform that has been gaining much interest ever since it first appeared in the market. While Twitch has 140 million active users today, YouTube is still the number one social media platform with 1.8 billion monthly users. Here are a few important things you need to know about these two platforms: 

 1. Content Discoverability 

As we have mentioned before YouTube is owned by Google, which means that YouTube uses an algorithm to find out what you are searching for. Also, this means that there are many variables you can analyse to find out how search results are ordered. Overall, this means better discoverability. 

Twitch, on the other hand, is more like a directory where search results are based on video views. In other words, the search is skewed towards established streamers, meaning that it is almost impossible to be found through Twitch’s search. 

All in all, YouTube is much more discoverable, allowing you to publish a video and get even million views. This can help you easily grow your channel if you are not consistently uploading content. 

2. Channel growability 

To grow your channel you need a large audience that is always on the increase because this lets you break through the noise and get ahead of the curve. If you are not easily discoverable, you need to have a lot of live streaming. In other words your channel will grow the most if you are live constantly and consistently. Here, again, YouTube has the edge. With such a strong discoverability, and a lot of video archives (which are actually watched by viewers, which is not the case with Twitch), you don’t have to be constantly streaming to your channel. Once you publish your videos, they easily find their own viewers on their own.

3. Content Format 

When it comes to content format, these two platforms differ in terms of the content their users share. For instance, Twitch attracts users that are more into games, that is gamers. Actually, Twitch is 100% live streaming which is what makes it so popular among gamers. Watching others play has become a great form of entertainment especially with kids and teenagers. Apart from gaming, other types of content like reviews, shows, and other game-related subjects have been covered on Twitch. 

When it comes to YouTube, it’s a platform that attracts all different kinds of viewers that like to watch pre-recorded videos and live streams as well. YouTubers are people who are mostly interested in learning new things, from learning new things (86%) and solving problems about work, school, or hobbies (70%) to having fun (57%). So, entertainment comes third. 

So, while YouTube offers all kinds of content, from evergreen and more refined content to live streaming and game-related subjects, Twitch is mostly directed towards streamers, giving them opportunity for genuine interaction. 

4. Measurement and Analytics

Both of these channels offer access to their analytics via their APIs. For example Twitch has established Twitch insights allowing game developers to have access to data metrics about how the entire community interacts with their offerings. These metrics include things like average concurrent views, peak views, non-live views and others. This means that marketers can easily measure results, do the analysis and determine which streamers they should collaborate with. 

YouTube is again a winner here. It has developed YouTube Analytics API and YouTube Reporting API allowing both content owners and channel owners to retrieve analytics data. Actually, this API retrieves two types of data including metrics, which show individual measurements like average view duration and ratings, total video views, and dimensions which are the collected data including date of user activity, users’ country, etc. 

Both of the platforms allow their viewers and channel owners to make the right moves or decisions, create successful campaigns, satisfy viewers and make more revenue in the long run. 

5. Pricing 

Generally, pricing depends on many factors. This especially refers to influencer sponsorship. These factors include subscribers, engagement, followers, etc. Most Twitch and YouTube influencers choose partnerships that are based on a flat-fee payment model. Therefore, advertisers need to be insightful and analytical when negotiating prices with influencers. 

However, when talking about pricing bases, these two platforms have different criteria. For example, brands and agencies that use YouTube are mainly focused on average number of views and subscribers. Twitch, on the other hand analyzes the average number of concurrent viewers per hour of broadcast. 

As for YouTube, which is a much larger landscape, there is a bigger number of influencers and micro-influencers that can be tapped. Also, the average price for an influencer service is $20 per 1000 subscribers and $50-$100 per 1000 views. 

So, overall, here are a few reasons why YouTube is a better choice than Twitch:

Twitch

• People often watch streams only once which means that you can only reach viewers that saw that video at that very moment. 
• While Twitch provides analytics and measurement capabilities for game developers, marketing agencies and channel owners, range of information is highly limited when compared to YouTube 
• Despite covering different types of content, Twitch mainly attracts the niche audience of people that prefer online gaming

YouTube 

• There’s much more evergreen content on YouTube than on Twitch. This means that people will come back to YouTube over and over again to view the videos through the years. 
• YouTube provides sharable content enabling marketers to share their content not only inside but also outside of the platform and extend their reach significantly. 
• The content is more easily discoverable on YouTube than on Twitch. Users can find videos just by entering relevant keywords into the YouTube search box. On top of this, there are many different ways you can optimize YouTube channel as well as the content that you share and make it more visible to the audience both on YouTube and Google in general.

3. DailyMotion 

Dailymotion is another video sharing platform that certainly isn’t new to the game. It was launched back in 2005, actually the same year when YouTube was launched. Naturally, YouTube hit the top ranks and has been the most popular video sharing platform ever since. DailyMotion is a French-based platform that offers endless opportunities to a wide variety of viewers including independent contributors, artists, producers and others. They are allowed to share different types of content on DailyMotion as it also supports 18 different languages throughout the globe. It mainly focuses on educational, engaging and informational content. 

But, let’s see what the main differences are between these two platforms:

Numbers

As we have mentioned before, the number of people that publish content on these two platforms plays a major role in marketing efforts of many companies worldwide. Depending on its popularity and the number of people engaged, businesses will make a decision where to place a text or a video ad. While DailyMotion has proven to be one of the top video sharing platforms on today’s market, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared to Daily Motion’s 112 million visits per month. 

Viewing 

One of the reasons why there are much more viewers on youTube is simply because YouTube has much more versatile and generally more content to offer to its audience than DailyMotion. YouTube claims that over 72 hours of video content is uploaded to YouTube every minute. However, both YouTube and DailyMotion organize video content into categories such as Automotive, News, Technology and they both feature non-HD videos, professional accounts, video-embedding capability, targeted advertising. However, YouTube has some features that are not covered by DailyMotion like Science and education and Cooking and Health categories. 

Analytics 

YouTube provides access to the robust and super-powerful YouTube insight. Through YouTube insight marketers ad, businesses can monitor who is watching their videos, how often and how long they watch the videos, whether they interact or not. This allows them to make as many adjustments as possible to make the video even better and draw even bigger audiences to their YouTube channel. On the other hand, DailyMotion doesn’t offer that. In fact, Daily Motion has its own YouTube channel, where users promote multiple videos in order to promote DailyMotion channel. 

Restrictions

Both of these platforms have certain policies that tell users what they can publish and promote on their channels and what they are not allowed to promote on their channels. Both of the platforms officially prohibit pornography, copyright infringements and various forms of abuse. There are filters in both of the sites you can use to turn on or turn off the prohibited content in order to protect minors from seeing things they shouldn’t.

Quantity 

YouTube definitely wins in quantity because it allows unlimited video length. DailyMotion videos, on the other hand, should be less than 60 minutes. Also, as we have already mentioned above, a large amount of videos are uploaded every minute on YouTube allowing YouTubers a free access to always fresh video content at any time of the day or night. This is why YouTube has a bigger advantage in terms of unique site visits. 

 Categories and Innovation

YouTube has several categories of video content and a wide range of videos for a wide spectrum of viewers. This is not the case with DailyMotion. 

Also, YouTube unquestionably offers the best possible 3D visual experience to its users. This great feature has significantly contributed to the popularity of YouTube. Unfortunately, DailyMotion does not have this kind of capability. Also, it is possible to download videos on YouTube. On DailyMotion, videos can only be watched online, they cannot be downloaded. 

Monetization 

YouTube ads have proven to be a very successful platform for a wide range of marketers across industries. Also, there is a whole range of formats available for YouTube through Google Adwords. Sponsored cards, skippable and non-skippable video ads, and overlay banner ads are all the available options to marketers. Also, anyone who wants to create content can also monetize their videos by joining the YouTube Partner Program and also signing up for Google Adsense. 

DailyMotion offers several advertising options for marketers including display, instream, and rich media formats. Using these formats, users can sell their own videos. In a nutshell, they can choose the size, the price, a player. They can broadcast on DailyMotion itself and get access to the statistics regarding these videos. 

4. Metacafe 

Another big YouTube competitor in a row is definitely Metacafe. Metacafe was created in 2003 by three people. Its headquarters are in Tel Aviv and Palo Alto in California. It has grown to be one of the biggest video sharing platforms on today’s market and is still gaining popularity especially among young people. This site manages more than 17 million users each month. These users upload more than 450 million video clips and then they use “Video Rank ” which is Metacafe ranking system. There are both similarities and differences between YouTube and Metacafe. So let’s elaborate on both. 

Similarities 

Naturally, the first and the most obvious similarity between these two platforms is that both of them are social media video-sharing platforms. On both websites you can create your own channel where you can post your video content and customize it so that it suits your own personal need or business needs. Other users and viewers can freely like, comment or share the videos on other social media channels thus increasing the number of viewers and the impact those videos have on the web and the society in general. On top of this, both of these platforms are supported by advertising and all the viewers can view the video content without subscribing or signing in. There are categories on both of these sites allowing viewers to sort through the thousands of videos more easily. 

Differences

Despite the obvious similarities between these two platforms there are also some things that make these two platforms different. Since YouTube has established itself as the number one video sharing platform, there is literally no other platform that can beat it. That’s why Metacafe has partnered with major video games companies, music producers, movie studios and other influential organizations so that they would help it stay competitive on the market. Also, unlike YouTube, Metacafe doesn’t have the options for like or dislike. While this might not sound like a huge difference, you must admit that this button plays a major role on YouTube and makes it much easier for people to express their opinion and engage with the content that you publish. Also, by seeing how many people liked or viewed the video, other people can judge the video content without having to go through the comments. 

Also, when it comes to monetization, there are a few differences you should keep in mind. For instance, when it comes to making revenue, their approaches are different. While both of them require selecting a monetization option when uploading a video, they have different monetization options. For example, Metacafe rewards you $5 for every 1000 views with the first payout after you reach $ 100. YouTube, on the other hand, is ad-based. In a nutshell, YouTube will place ads near your video or inside your video, and based on pay-per-click payout, you earn money through Google ad sense. Basically, the more people click the ad, the more money you make. 

5. Vevo 

Vevo has become the world’s leading social media video sharing platform that goes hand in hand with the top player YouTube. Vevo has over 23 billion monthly views globally. The best thing about this platform is that it delivers personalized and expertly curated experience for audiences to explore music videos and exclusive live performances and programming from a whole range of artists. It is owned by the three biggest companies in the USA – Warner Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Universal Music Group. So, you could say that Vevo is also a huge player on today’s market. However, there is one big difference between Vevo and YouTube. Vevo Channel on YouTube only hosts those music videos that are signed to Universal Music Group and Sony Music Entertainment and only then are those videos promoted on YouTube. 

So, let’s see what the main differences between these two are:

YouTube 

• YouTube is limitless when it comes to the amount, the size and the type of video content shared. 
• Total ability to quickly and easily manage all parts of your channel at any time
• Ability to upload and take down videos quickly
• Access to Creator Studio

               – Ability to view, analyze and report your channel’s analytics

               – Ability to manage and optimize your individual videos with tags, cards, end screens, etc.

               – Ability to set channel and video upload defaults

• Live stream capabilities
• Interaction with your YouTube fans through likes, comments and messages
• No consideration for feature placement on Vevo
• YouTube, you can also optimize Vevo and make your videos stand out and grab your viewers’ attention.  

Vevo 

               – Cannot update channel yourself, but can have the below details updated through your distributor per request

               – Artist image

               – Channel Banner

               – Channel Trailer Video

               – Channel Description (found under “About” tab)

               – Social Media Links

               – Featured Channels

               – Google Analytics Tracking ID

• Makes you look more “legit” as an artist
• Doesn’t guarantee more exposure, but has more potential to go viral
• More likely to get your video featured in a well-exposed playlist, i.e. Vevo playlists
• Video content lives on Vevo YouTube channel AND Vevo.com (App included)
• Vevo doesn’t let you update things yourself, but you can have details published on the first day 
• Vevo is mainly focused on music content.

Interface 

Vevo: It seems that the main Vevo’s inspiration was Hulu. Except for the change in colour scheme (green and grey vs red and grey) Vevo and Hulu resemble each other pretty much. From the Vevo homepage you can easily browse by Videos, Artists, Genres and Channels. You can even use a search box that is located to the left of these links. Like most video sharing platforms, there are various options you can choose from like Top Videos, Top Playlists, Most Popular Today, etc. This channel is pretty much straightforward and easy to use. It is also stylish and caveman simple. 

YouTube: The best thing about YouTube’s interface is that it is easily customizable. If you are not really fond of one of the info boxes on the homepage, YouTube gives you just enough freedom to switch it up when you want. Isn’t this awesome? Also it works really well, and the design is already well-known and recognizable. 

Content 

As mentioned before Vevo is a site made mainly for music properties. Also, you will not find the latest sensations from the Internet there, nor clips from your most favorite shows. But if you start browsing various music genres from electronic and hip hop to spoken word videos and soundtracks, you will come across a whole range of videos. 

You already know that YouTube is an absolute winner. If you cannot find some video on YouTube, it probably doesn’t even exist. 

Video player 

Vevo is clean, fast and mostly works fine. However, if you try to skip to a later part of the video, it may freeze forcing you to restart the video which is definitely something that you want to avoid. There is also another feature which is cool but rather useless – lyrics button. If you click it, the lyrics will appear which is great but not so helpful. 

YouTube’s video player is super lightweight and videos load instantly. This means that you don’t have to jump to a part of the video that has not loaded yet. Plus, YouTube gives you a number of options including four different sizes of screen. 

Video Quality 

Vevo: Videos on Vevo are of high quality with high resolution and HD option on top of that. 

YouTube: YouTube videos are also of higher quality. Plus there is a wider selection of videos you can choose from. 

6. Netflix 

Netflix and YouTube are absolute global superpowers. It’s well-known that Netflix has been gaining popularity over the years and that currently it is one of the most popular video sharing platforms in the world. It now produces movies and TV shows which have gained global fame and for a good reason. Stranger Things and Orange is the new black are the two most exciting Netflix shows that have created hype. It will definitely continue to grow and hold a loyal band of subscribers. 

YouTube has gained global notice ever since 2005. Now it offers both live television and on-demand viewing options. So, if you want to watch free programming, you can create a YouTube account. 

Similarities 

These two platforms are completely portable meaning that they can be streamed on almost any kind of device including smart TV’s and gaming systems which is a huge benefit. You don’t have to continue subscription for any length of time and you are allowed to stop the service whenever you want. Both YouTube and Netflix offer on-demand programming options that can be streamed at any time. Also, both allow an unlimited number of people to create multiple accounts and make live streams. Also, both platforms offer a possibility to download an app and use it on your tablets and smartphones. 

Differences

Besides a  number of similarities, there are also some differences you need to keep in mind. First of all, the biggest difference between these two platforms is definitely the price. Netflix allows you to turn off your subscription indefinitely. YouTube will close your account if you don’t use it for six months. 

When it comes to costs, Netflix offers three packages and the option to include DVD rentals. The first package is the lowest-priced package and it starts at $8.99. The medium-priced package starts with $12.99 on a monthly basis offering two live streams in high definition. Finally, the third is the most expensive package for $15.99 a month. In this package you get multiple streams in high definition.

As for YouTube, it offers one package with multiple add-on channel packs. You get a wide variety of channels for only $49.99 a month. Premium news and sports channels can be added for additional cost each month. 

Also, video sharing companies are trying to stay ahead of the curve on the market by upgrading their content. But this seems to be a costly endeavor. As they try to get bigger, content spent per dollar of revenue actually increases. Specifically, Netflix has this problem and is unlikely to solve it any time soon. 

Also, while Netflix has brought innovation on the distribution side when it went digital, it has changed very little when it comes to content production. Actually, it’s much worse when compared to other traditional content businesses. In other words, unlike other businesses, Netflix achieved substantially less revenue per dollar spent on programming. 

Luckily, YouTube has wisely bowed out of fight and focused on upgrading its platform, where its user-generated content and strong network effects make it stand out from the crowd and beat its competition. 

All of the moves that YouTube has recently taken suggest that Google sees YouTube as a substantially stronger business than any other video sharing platform on the market including Netflix, especially when it comes to what’s achievable in the subscription streaming market. 

All in all, the future of subscription streaming as a standalone business was not an easy task foro Google. However, the economics of user-generated content looks much more favourable as it is bolstered by a network of great and unique content that doesn’t cost so much. 

7. Amazon Prime Video 

Amazon Prime Video 

Amazon Prime is a subscription service that gives its subscribers a variety of benefits and perks like 2-day shipping, access to Amazon Prime deals and many other things. It offers a growing library of original content including an amazing collection of movies and TV Shows. However, the biggest disadvantage with this platform is that it is very hard to find new and even existing content.

Here are some of the important things you need to know about Amazon Prime:

Streaming Content 

Even though this platform started out as a place where you can purchase and watch TV shows and movies, it has improved over time and came to the point when it embraced the world of buffet-style streaming for a single monthly fee. For example, currently Amazon Prime is producing a series based on the Lord of the Rings Franchise. The list of these originals continue to grow, but it is still far behind platforms like YouTube and Netflix. 

Also, Amazon falters behind when it comes to animations and cartoons. But there is a whole range of animated kids’ shows you can watch.

Pricing 

There are two ways you can access Amazon video content: through standalone Amazon video subscription and Amazon Prime subscription. An Amazon video subscription costs $8.99 a month and it only includes things like Amazon’s streaming video library. If you pay $12.99 per month for an Amazon prime subscription, you will get Prime video as well as other perks such as unlimited music streaming, free two day shipping and others. 

Web interface

One of the biggest problems when it comes to this platform is it shoehorns all of its services into the same interface. It looks fine, but it cannot match other big competitors like YouTube or HBO. 

YouTube vs Amazon Prime 

Influences 

Unlike Amazon Prime, YOuTube is mainly about influences. Besides offering a chance to view an incredible amount of versatile content it is also widely used for marketing reasons. As a matter of fact, YouTube has become one of the most important tools marketers use in their marketing efforts on today’s ever-increasing market. Brands want to leverage YouTube to increase their awareness and boost their visibility so that they can gain advantage and make their customers purchase their products and services. YouTube is still peddler in chief here. Also, YouTube is made for new creators who are just entering the world of business and would like to stand out as soon as possible. In other words, there is a direct relationship between the ability to generate influence and earn a living.

8. Wistia 

Wistia is another super popular video hosting service that many companies choose for their businesses. If you still haven’t made up your mind which platform to choose for your marketing efforts, we will go through its main features and compare it with YouTube and its features. 

Wistia Pros 

In a nutshell Wistia has:

• -Great interface, simple, clean and very easy to use.
• -Wistia also offers fantastic branding options which allows you to easily customize the look and feel of your video to make it blend with your page.
• -With Wistia the traffic is yours! It goes to the page of your video, not to a third party hosting site.
• -You can also add social buttons, clickable Calls To Action, and gates (“gating” is about implementing some “conditions” for viewers to keep on watching the video)
• -Wistia also provides you with a robust video analytics dashboard, that provides you with key information about how your videos are performing.

Wistia cons 

• -Cost! The free plan gives you space for only 5 videos. After that, pricing ranges from $25 to $300 per month.
• -Unfortunately, the content on Wistia is not “searchable” and can be seen only by those who have access to it.

If we consider YouTube, we will soon realise that there are no cons, only pros. This makes sense because YouTube is the most powerful search engine in the world and the greatest social media network with incredibly big reach potential. Also, keep in mind that YouTube is not only a video hosting platform. So, here are some of its pros:

• -YouTube is the second most popular search engine, behind its daddy, Google. Consequently, it ranks well on Google, especially under keywords containing the word `video”. Also, keep in mind that the traffic goes to their platform, not to your site.
• -YouTube is also the third largest social network on the Internet with a huge built-in community.
• -Who hasn’t heard of YouTube? Not only that, YouTube is top of mind when someone is asked about the leading video hosting platform.
• -It is simple, and most importantly free! YouTube is free to use, no payments at all, and as part of the “combo”, is very easy to set up and to use.

All in all, you need to be aware of the fact that Wistia and YouTube are two different kinds of platforms with different kinds of purposes. YouTube is primarily designed for content creators to help them monetize their videos, as well as for organizations whose goal is to position themselves on the market as soon as possible by running big brand-building advertising campaigns. On the other hand, Wistia is designed primarily for companies that want to use videos on their websites for sales, marketing and support. All in all, while Wistia is only ideal or “on site” videos, YouTube is a social media platform you can use for your unique marketing strategy allowing you to reap the benefits of your marketing efforts and really position yourself on the market in no time. 

So, when you weigh the benefits, YouTube is much better. It will help you extend your reach and increase engagement with your existing and potential viewers which ultimately helps your brand hit the top ranks in a short period of time. 

9. DTube  

Besides YouTube, recently some content creators started utilizing a platform called DTube – a number one video destination on the Internet. DTube is a short form of Decentralized Tube – a YouTube-like video that is built as an application on top of the Steemit. Steemit is a blockchain-based social media platform that was launched back in 2016. Essentially, this is a Reddit-kind of a service where anyone can earn some kind of rewards by curating, posting and up-voting relevant content. On top of this, there are monetary rewards that come in the form of cryptocurrency token named STEEM. So, in a nutshell, users post video content and then are rewarded for creating and uploading that same content. So how does DTube actually differ from YouTube?

DTube is actually built on Blockchain. By utilizing Blockchain DTube benefits in a number of ways including:

• No censorship – this means that no entity controls what users upload and publish. In other words, content cannot essentially be blocked on DTube because of copyright or non-family friendly content. While this is a great benefit for the users, media and brands will be shocked to find out that they simply cannot pull down content that other users have uploaded. 
• No ads – since there are no advertisements, viewers can watch any kind of video without being constantly interrupted 
• You can’t delete content – once you upload a video on DTube, you cannot delete it. This means that users have to be 100% sure that they are uploading content they don’t want to delete at some point for some reason. 
• No view counts – surprisingly, on this platform views are not even shown. Instead of that, the amount of money that that particular video has earned is displayed. On the other hand, YouTube is all about the views, likes, comments and shares because this is what increases brand awareness and ultimately brings higher revenue. To put it simply, with YouTube you get an overview of your different types of revenue streams. Also, since you are paid in familiar currency (and not blockchain), it’s much easier to get an insight into how much money you have earnt. 

All in all, YouTube is a great tool because it links for popular content index superbly well in Google. With content on YouTube, it’s quite easy for users to find the content they are looking for. DTube, however, is a relatively new platform and it is barely recognized by Google which is why it has become a great hub for smaller content creators who missed the boat on YouTube. 

On top of this, another drawback of DTube is that videos stop being monetized after seven days. So, after the seventh day, you will never ever earn a penny off your videos. On the other hand, on YouTube you can keep making money until your video starts getting traffic. 

Also, keep in mind that DTube is still in Beta version, and there are still a number of issues for its users. For instance, loading and uploading videos on DTube can be quite slow and there is a lack of communication from DTube developers which makes it a bit unreliable and not a good option for consistent monetization. 

10. Facebook

While most of us consider Facebook as the biggest and unquestionably the most popular social media channel in the world, it has also become one of the most popular video sharing platforms which makes it a direct YouTube competitor. It is now a well-known fact that video is the premier format for native platforms. Did you know that Facebook drives over 800 billion average daily news? At the same time, YouTube attracts around ⅓ of users on the web which is quite a significant and impressive number. As a matter of fact, there are around 30+ billion active daily users on YouTube. So to help you get a closer look at what goes viral on each of these platforms and how each one contribute to overall brand awareness, we’ve done a bit of a research and came across these interesting findings: 

Episodic vs Digestible 

The main difference between these two platforms is the way audiences of each platform discover the video content. For example, on Facebook, most users stumble upon a compelling video as it pops up suddenly in the news feed. On the contrary, on YouTube, users choose what videos to watch, so they have complete control over the content they want to digest. Also, videos on Facebook tend to be shorter because they have to draw viewers’ attention quickly. On the other hand, on YouTube, watch time is the key metric for the platform’s algorithm meaning that longer videos tend to perform much better.

Characters vs Captions 

Most of the famous YouTube videos tend to come from the most popular YouTube influencers. The biggest power of influencers is that they have their own loyal followers who keep following every video that a certain business promotes and they sometimes truly engage by commenting or discussing it and sharing it on other social media platforms. This is a huge trend we can see in a variety of niches from comedy and beauty tutorials to tech reviews and literally any kind of subject. On Facebook, videos tend to be more third-person, meaning that the the characters are the subjects of the videos. These videos are emotional, but also provocative, funny or simply heartwarming. 

Textbook vs checklist 

How-to videos are a popular type of video content both on YouTube and Facebook. However, there are some differences. For example, BuzzFeed Tasty was proclaimed one of the most popular Facebook pages because of its short, engaging and easily digestible recipe videos which gained huge popularity instantly because they are short, snappy and much more of a checklist. These kinds of videos also do well on YouTube but they are more prescriptive and, again, longer than on Facebook. So both platforms are ideal for how-to videos and guides.

Branded vs Brand Allergic 

Social users don’t like traditional forms of advertising. But they still want to learn more about the brand they are interested in. This especially rings true on YouTube. Many YouTube videos are, especially influencer videos are pretty consistently sponsored, and there is even a whole genre for unboxing videos, where YouTubers present their products. 

This is a little bit different when it comes to Facebook. There are fewer videos that are branded on Facebook. But , there are some product-focused videos which usually tend to be about some futuristic inventions or new life-hacking products. So if you want to properly advertise your product, YouTube is the channel you should focus on.

There are a few criteria you need to keep in mind when trying to decide which platform is better for your business:

1. Number of views 

Total time watching 

1. Engagement and shares
2. Conversions 
3. Number of views 

Number of views

Currently the ultimate winner here is YouTube. It has the largest slice of a pie because, as we have mentioned before, it is the most popular video sharing platform when it comes to video hosting, having over a billion active users altogether. Moreover, when searching for a specific video, YouTube is where the majority of people go. 

Total time watching

While on Facebook, people tend to watch just a few seconds of your video, on youTube they tend to watch the entire video. This makes YouTube a winner again. 

According to the research, Facebook videos have proven to be the best when they are no longer than 20-40 seconds. When it comes to YouTube, this number is just under 3 minutes. This means that a random viewer may only watch a video for 3 seconds and then scroll down on your feed in search of some other news. In this way, the viewer just watches the video for a few seconds out of curiosity without really absorbing the message. So, from a video analytics perspective Facebook also seems weak. 

Engagement and sharing 

When it comes to engagement on social media, both channels play a major role. However, there is an important difference between the two when it comes to the engagement. Namely, on YouTube people usually search for a specific video, like for example a video of a funny cat. This makes the view intentional and it implies engagement. On the other hand, Facebook auto-play feature means that the video is played by default and that it was not necessarily user-initiated, and that their experience with that specific video was rather passive. 

This is where YouTube again plays a more important role than Facebook because of its YouTuber phenomenon. More and more people are using YouTube to promote their brand or themselves and this is how influencer marketing came to life. Young YouTube stars draw enormous engagement.

Conversions 

According to studies YouTube is an absolute winner when it comes to introducing new products to the wide audience and clearly helps people make purchasing decisions. While YouTube mainly relies on video content to convert, Facebook has many commercial features including links, suggested pages, Facebook ads, etc. 

All in all, both platforms when combined will make a massive impact on your audience and help you increase your brand’s visibility and build awareness in no time. Both of these platforms are essentials if you want to stand out on the market.

11. Veoh

Next in the row is Veoh – a video sharing platform that has been gaining much interest among viewers. It’s a video streaming service that features TV shows and free movies online. Also, it organises video content based on the duration of play. Here are a few things you need to be aware of when it comes to this platform:

Categories of movies and TV shows

Veoh hosts millions of videos and movie,s various kinds of music and channels. For instance, a movie category has 11 subcategories including Drama, Family Sci-Fi, Cartoon, Fantasy, Romance, Crime and Mystery, Musicals, Biography and many others. This platform allows you to filter movies according to the length, popularity, alphabet and subtitle. However, the duration of most videos are below 60 minutes. Even though there are videos in a wide range of languages promoted on this platform, the collection of videos is not so impressive. 

Video quality 

Unlike the biggest video sharing platform YouTube, Veoh’s quality of published videos are not of so high quality in general. Even though you have the HQ option that lets you stream a better version of the video, this option is far from HD resolution. 

Video Player options 

Don’t expect any specific quality or anything fancy on Veoh. You will get simple options like volume up/down, video scrubber, HQ and the option to expand video size lesser than full screen. There is a small button where you can expand the video size but not the full screen. So, all in all, the features Veoh offers are not anything special and YouTube features are so much better in general.

Ads experience

When it comes to video content and advertising, it comes as a surprise that there are no ads on this platform. This is a bit strange as most video sharing platforms show advertisements.

Buffering experience

Another bad thing about this platform is that most of the content take 7-10 seconds to load before they start playing. Also, if you choose to go backward or forward, be ready to wait for some time for the content to upload. 

Application for other platforms 

There is no regular IoS or ANdroid app of Veoh on the web even though that the site mentions apps like Web Player Toolbar, video uploader, Web player and Veoh.com for TV. Plus, its web player toolbar does not support Google Chrome. 

Navigation

Another problem with Veoh is bad navigation through the platform. The site feels cluttered and the search feature is not as useful as it should be because of the huge amount of content on the site. For example, if you search for a particular show you may find full episodes in the results. However, in this case, Veoh may include some additional videos that it has pulled from YouTube. Plus, Veoh has one more annoying feature – the proprietary player. If you watch videos that come from certain platforms like Hulu, you can see the video directly in your browser. However, when you want to watch some other videos that come from some other video sharing platforms like ABC, you must download a special player. This is both time-consuming and irritating.

Overall, Veoh is not such a pretty site and it doesn’t have very good navigation, but it has a vde selection of content and the community it has built. So if you want to discuss the entertaining shows with other viewers, this is a great site for you. Still nothing can beat YouTube and its extensive, probably the largest community of viewers which do not only increase engagement but also promote the YouTube video content on their social media networks making it even more popular and omnipresent. 

12. Vidyard 

Vidyard is a video sharing platform that helps businesses transform communications and makes revenues through a strategic use of online video. It helps businesses connect with more viewers through personalised and interactive video experiences and then turn those insights into actions. All in all, it resembles YouTube and its main features. However, there are still differences between these two platforms, so we need to be aware of how we use them to achieve our business goals. So, let’s take a look at some of the main features of both video sharing platforms:

YouTube – main features:

1. Sharing buttons – these buttons allow you to share videos directly from YouTube which will then link directly back to YouTube player, not the web page, regardless of whether it is embedded or not. 
2. Info cards – By inserting cards into your videos you can direct viewers to some of your other videos or a company website page and increase your brand awareness in no time
3. Pre-roll advertisements – A random business or a company can advertise their offerings before videos start playing 
4. Post-roll recommendations – Once your video finishes, you get suggestions about similar videos that you have seen as well as based on your watching history. These videos include everything from a funny cat video and laughing babies to documentaries and competitors’ videos. 

Vidyard – main features:

1. Customizable video players: Vidyard provides branded video players that enable you to match your colors, lock embed sizes, and choose between Lightbox and inline embed options. 
2. Sharing buttons: Vidyard allows you to share videos directly from Vidyard, which is exactly the same as with YouTube. However, unlike YouTube, with Vidyard, the share will link to the page you shared it from and not to the player. 
3. Built-in call-to-actions – with Vidyard, you can build clickable buttons that direct viewers to new content. There are pop outs and interrupted and uninterrupted lead gates which allow you to generate leads within your video 
4. No advertisements – When your viewers click on your video they are not interrupted by any advertisements. Instead they are focused on the most important thing, your product. 
5. Post-roll recommendations – Once your video is viewed, you finally have complete control over your content, which means that you can recommend any blog, video, white paper form Vidyard directly. 

Analytics 

When it comes to analytics both of these platforms provide insightful data. Also, both of these platforms provide views by time, average view time, geographic location, device breakdowns, etc. So, both of them are pretty insightful. But, there are a few differences here as well:

YouTube 

• Traffic sources – the great thing about YouTube is that it tells you how your viewers found your videos. For instance, it knows if the view came from YouTube ad, social media networks or YouTube recommendations. 
• Average view duration – This shows an average viewership of a particular video without showing the names of those who watched the video or the number of times they have watched it. 

Vidyard

• Click through rates – if we divide the number of times a video has been viewed with a number of times that same video was presented to a visitor, you get a clickthrough rate. This is a good indicator of how relevant your video actually is on specific web pages. 
• Engagement data – this data lets you understand which parts of your videos are most frequently and least watched. In this way you can easily plan your future content and then tell which people are pre-watching videos or dropping as some point. 
• Visitor information – beside previously mentioned factors it is also important to know more information about visitors that come to your channel. So, after completing a lead for within a Vidyard player, the system tracks individual viewership and engagement data. 

Overall, YouTube measures views and how viewers found your videos which is invaluable information that will help you navigate your marketing campaigns. Vidyard measures specific audience behaviour. So YouTube is about views and Vidyard is about leads. To get the best results and develop a long-lasting marketing strategy, it’s imperative to use YouTube. If you want to make even better results you should take advantage of Vidyard as well. 

How does YouTube beat them all?

The iconic red play button has been a staple for more than a decade, and for a good reason. Different kinds of people, from random common people and teenagers who want to be influencers to celebrities and other influential people on ever-increasing market realize the incredible impact Youtube can have on their business and many different ways how it can be leveraged to grow audience. Many businesses are using this great channel as a part of their inbound strategy. So let’s see what the amazing data-backed benefits of using YouTube for your marketing efforts are. 

1. It lets you capture attention 

Naturally, the ultimate aim of any marketing tool is to capture people’s attention and grow awareness worldwide. Since YouTube is the second most visited site, your potential for exposure is simply extraordinary. Despite the growing competition and a variety of features they offer, YouTube is still the number one video sharing platform in the world. However, to truly get ahead of the curve, you first need to create compelling videos that will capture people’s interest and make them want to follow your channel and see more videos. So, promoting your video on YouTube will help you stand out only if the video has a real value. 

2. It lets you generate high traffic volumes 

According to research conducted by YouTube, there are over a billion users who watch over a billion hours of video every day. This is a huge amount of traffic. The video content you create has the potential to reach a huge number of viewers across the globe and generate high traffic. Naturally this is highly unlikely but not impossible. Not only does YouTube let you create an amazing marketing strategy, but it also lets you extend your reach as it is more influential than TV and cable together. Did you know that statistics say that by 2025 , half of people under 32 will stop paying for a TV service? Almost 81% of businesses use YouTube as a marketing tool. Video is no longer a trend, it is a necessity. Here are a few types of videos that are ideal for promoting your business on YouTube, engage viewers and increase the number of subscribers:

1. Explainer video – Most people are constantly in search of instructions on how to do certain everyday things. This is why how-to videos are one of the most important and popular videos on YouTube. Through these videos you address common pain points of your audience 
2. Training video – once you start promoting your product, it’s best to tell your current and potential customers what benefits your product can bring them
3. Webinars – people like webinars because it helps them clarify all the things they don’t understand and provide answers to all the questions that bother them. So educate your audience on certain things they are interested in and that they want addressed
4. Customer stories – through customer stories, your customers can promote what obstacles they came across and how your product or a service helped them overcome those issues and achieve their goal. 

3. Experiment with viral marketing 

YouTube is unquestionably the top marketing tool in the world. However, it is not the only one. Once you share your video on YouTube, your viewers, if they like the video or if they find it interesting for some reason, will want to share it with their friends on their social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or will simply share it by word of mouth. This is called viral marketing and it is an essential ingredient in your digital marketing strategy. 

The great thing about YouTube is that you can use it in so many different ways to spark shares. For instance, you can embed your video in some blog post or share the link in relevant groups on LinkedIn or Facebook. Also, if your video draws people’s attention and makes them want to engage and discuss a certain topic you elaborate on your video, this will encourage them to share your video content with other people and talk about it. The main thing you should focus on when creating videos is to provide your audience with some informative and valuable content that will help them in some way. 

To do this you need to make your video engaging. The author of Contagious: why things catch on, Jonah Berger, outlines the STEPPS framework for creating contagious content. This framework includes:

1. Social Currency – people want to be “in the know”, they like to be updated on the current trends
2. Triggers – make sure that certain context that aligns with your brand function as a trigger that makes people think about your brand
3. Emotion – you need to create videos that will make your audience feel something, regardless of whether it is happiness, anger, sorrow or any other feeling
4. Public – think about how to create campaigns that easily spread 
5. Practical Value – make sure you create educational content that will teach your viewers how to reach solutions 
6. Stories – use narrative forms to deliver ideas, because people generally like sharing stories 

4. Gain ROI from multiple marketing channels

Although YouTube should definitely be your ultimate choice when it comes to creating a successful marketing strategy, you should also leverage the power of other marketing channels to deliver tha video and the story of your brand to as many people as possible. In other words, your YouTub marketing channel is your bread and butter, while other marketing channels are your support. Plus, YouTube’s algorithm boosts your viewings by suggesting your video content to viewers who are watching content. 

5. Boost search engine rankings 

It’s common knowledge that YouTube videos are often ranked high on Google’s search pages which shows that building your marketing strategy around this platform can bring amazing SEO results. So once you create and publish your video on youTube, make sure you treat it as a blog. Start by adding keywords and then optimize your YouTube content including the whole YouTube channel and YouTube video description and headline. Also, don’t forget to include tags. You should also think about how you want to include your YouTube content on your website. Here are a few great things you can do if you optimize your YouTube channel and its content: 

• You can build backlinks – providing a high-quality video on your website can earn quality backlinks within your industry and help you increase your rankings. 
• Reduce bounce rate – if you include a high-quality video on your website it will make your visitors want to stay longer on the website
• Earn high ranks in video suggestions – if you make your video super relevant and optimized, Google might rank it under the suggested videos 

6. Integrate with your social media marketing 

As we have mentioned before, users like sharing YouTube videos on other social media networks. To drive engagement and make people want to share your video content on other platforms, you need to make them want to view, like, comment, discuss your videos and finally subscribe to your channel so that they would always stay up to date with the latest videos. Once other viewers see that a certain video has been viewed many times and that it has triggered some kind of discussion, this will spark their interest and they will want to share it even if they didn’t like the video. The more popular the video is the more people want to share it. So, one of the things you should definitely focus on is increasing the number of views, shares, likes and subscribers and encouraging other viewers to subscribe and keep track of what you do. While there are numerous techniques and tricks you can experiment with, you can also try buying likes comments, views and subscribers and speed up this process as much as possible. In this way you will gain greater visibility and make your channels cut through the noise. 

The bottom line: Make your videos as engaging as possible because this will bring a huge popularity to your video channel. The more popularity your YouTube channel and videos receive, the higher they will rank. 

7. Reach Global Audience 

We all know that YouTube is a world sensation and that we should leverage its impact to get to as many people as possible. As a matter of fact, this incredible social media giant is available in 76 different languages and 88 countries. This level of availability makes YouTube one of the most effective marketing tools available in the universe. 

Wrap Up

The bottom line: YouTube is your best channel to use for video marketing. It allows you to build your traffic and brand awareness, reach global audiences, improve your ROI and use a variety of channels to bring the best marketing results in comparison to Youtube competitors.