Video-Sharing Platforms: How Others Compare to YouTube and 6 to Try

Video sharing is popular among friends, family, co-workers – and especially marketers. Animoto says that 90% of brands post a video on YouTube at least once a week. Additionally, 83% share videos on Instagram. In fact, in the past year, traffic to video-sharing platforms – such as YouTube – has doubled on a typical day.

Although YouTube is the king of video-sharing platforms, it isn’t the only one you should consider. Here’s a look at 6 alternatives to YouTube, how they differ from each other, and why you might want to consider them depending on your video sharing needs.

How Does YouTube Compare to Other Video-Sharing Platforms?

What is a video sharing platform, and more than that, what is the best video sharing platform? Well, YouTube is probably one of – if not – THE most popular video-sharing sites on the interweb and its popularity has only continued to grow over the years. But why?

For starters, it’s free. But more than that, the video content is of high quality and is easy to share. Even a novice can enjoy watching and sharing videos with YouTube. There’s no need to spend a lot of time figuring out how to navigate the platform; categories and search features make it easy to discover and watch videos that interest you. And it’s even simple as a newbie to upload your own video because the process is so straightforward.

Of course, YouTube is the most well-known of video-sharing platforms, but it’s not the only one. If you’re looking for something a bit different, here are a few we’ll explore.

Dailymotion

Dailymotion is a free video-sharing platform that has fewer restrictions on video content than YouTube, which means it is more inclined to host, ahem, mature content. In addition, a few users have noted a smaller audience reach than YouTube, as well as significant technical issues, including:

Links that do not work.
Pages that are not responsive.
Videos that have been removed but still appear in search results.

Despite that, Dailymotion is popular because it allows users to view, upload video files and share videos with a maximum file size of 2GB and a maximum video length of 60 minutes. Furthermore, Dailymotion Publishers can earn a share of the revenue from monetized videos through a program called the Dailymotion Publishing Partner program.

Aside from its evident cons, Dailymotion offers one of the most flexible revenue-sharing models for content creators through in-video advertisements, paid content, and monetization via their own website.

Vimeo

Vimeo is great for those who have little to no patience for YouTube’s incessant ads. Unlike its major competitor, this video-sharing platform doesn’t have ads at the start of (or in between) their videos.

Yet, if you’re using this platform to upload videos for video hosting services, there is a downside that might outweigh the lack of ads. With the basic free plan, your upload maximum per week is 500 MB. However, those limits increase to 20GB per week and 1TB per year if you choose Vimeo Pro. With Premium, you also get unlimited live streaming video – ideal for businesses that do a lot of that. And you also get a whopping 7TB of storage! You can also purchase Enterprise plans, but you'll need to contact them with any pricing inquiries.

The video formats supported by Vimeo’s video upload are:

MOV
MPEG4
MP4
AVI
WMV
MPEGPS
FLV
3GPP
WebM

Still having trouble deciding whether Vimeo is right for your business? There are currently 175 million active Vimeo users worldwide. More than 60 million creators use the video-sharing platform, including artists, musicians, and even filmmakers. If you make a lot of music videos or are in a creative field, this platform could be right for you.

Speaking of creative types, musicians may have a better option...

VEVO

With VEVO, every artist can create a web channel, upload videos, and update their profile. Artists can create their own premium channels on this video streaming platform.

The downside? Only those living in the U.S., United Kingdom, and Canada can access this service. Interestingly enough, YouTube has a partnership with VEVO that allows its users to access your content across 200 countries. There are over 450 thousand videos posted on Vevo every month! And more than that, there are over one billion hours spent watching those videos. Pretty cool, huh?

Oh! Did we mention that aside from simply showcasing its artists, Vevo also produces original TV shows such as Ctrl, which tells the stories of urban musicians, and Rounds, which features European artists?

TikTok

TikTok is the hottest thing out right now. This is a super easy platform to engage and entertain your audience. It has even come up with a feature called Brand Takeover, which is basically full-screen static displays that users are introduced to when they open TikTok, but they cannot comment or like them (The non-skippable ads and bumper ads on YouTube are similar to these ads)

If you like the video interaction provided by Instagram Stories and Reels but aren’t a fan of the static image feed, check out TikTok! Its audience has nearly tripled since 2018 and consists mainly of teenagers and young adults (around 60% are between 16 and 24 years old). If you want to grow brand awareness among Gen Z-ers, then this is where you need to be.

Byte (Video Sharing App)

Once upon a time, Vine was all the rage. For those who don’t remember Vine, it was the predecessor to TikTok. There were short video clips (6-seconds!) that were quirky, and often funny enough to make you laugh for a full 60 seconds after watching them. Well, Vine’s co-creator, Dom Hoffman, launched a similar style app called Byte in January of 2020 (available for iOS and Android).

What does Byte mean for brands? Byte’s Partner Program is currently invitation-only. Despite the fact that brands can apply for consideration, Byte wants to keep the amount of advertising on its platform to a minimum. The reason? The app is very much user-centric and knows how annoying non-skippable advertisements can be. That said, Byte still allows advertisers to place ads, you won't see any pre-roll or ads in your feed.

Is Byte the right choice from Video Sharing Platforms for your video marketing? In case you’ve been contemplating trying TikTok, you should know Byte topped Vine as far as downloads go in the first week. As of the first week after launch, Byte had 1.3 million downloads compared to Vine’s 775K downloads, so it's one to consider!

Twitch

Our usual focus is on video streaming platforms with functionality for businesses doing live videos – or on those wanting to host or share videos on social media platforms. However, if you want a place where you can stream your gaming videos, Twitch is a great option.

If you’re unfamiliar with Twitch, it’s a video game streaming service that lets users stream with a max bitrate of 6000 kbps. There are more than 6 million partnered content creators on Twitch, making it one of the best networks to stream games.

You can view all Twitch streams and videos ad-free if you have a Twitch Turbo account. Even so, becoming a Partner at Twitch is not an easy feat. To become a Twitch Partner, you need to stream at least 25 hours in the last 30 days (and you should have streamed 12 times in the last 30 days with an average viewership of 75 viewers). But if gaming is your niche, it might be worth the time investment.

What Are the Benefits of Video Sharing Platforms?

Now that you know what a few video-sharing platforms are, you might wonder how video sharing can benefit you (besides sending silly videos to your friends for a laugh).

1- They Help You Engage More People

Sharing videos across social media platforms is a great way to boost engagement – AKA more likes, comments, and shares. Oh, and this doesn't just apply to social media. According to 83% of marketers, video increases the amount of time spent on their website when you embed a video.

2- They’re Ideal for Creating Marketing Content

Do you have a new product or course coming out? Simply telling your audience about it is BO-RING. Showing off your new products or promotions is a good way to engage your audience. How do you guarantee the best results? Working with a production company with an experienced team will produce high-quality videos. They'll be sure to nail down your script and engaging aspects of your video to both reflect your brand and keep it engaging.

3- Your Values Can Be Expressed Through Them

Videos can connect on a much deeper level than photos, texts, gifs, or memes. If you think about it, videos come with animation, sounds, music - they are an ideal medium to convey the values of your business and generate recognition.

To sum it up, sharing videos is an effective and powerful way to build your social network, and choosing the right video-sharing platform is important.

For more information on creating and sharing a professional video for your business, contact us today. We’d love to hear from you.