In the early days of the internet we didn’t have just great streaming service as YouTube and Vimeo. The early days were more about flash files that were embedded into your website. This meant that your viewers had to wait until the video had loaded almost in its entirety before they could start playing it. Then of course if your viewers didn’t have flash player installed on their internet browser they could not even play your video.

We seem to take for granted these days that we can simply watch any of the 300 hours of video that are uploaded to YouTube every minute. But it’s no small feat that the top video streaming services out there have worked very hard over a number of years to continually perfect the way videos can be seen online. Today watching videos on all devices with almost no load time is just accepted as the norm.

Let’s start with the biggest player, YouTube.
If you are planning to show your content to an audience you may not want to have advertisements pop up before, during and after your video delivers it’s carefully crafted message. If you choose to enable monetisation on your YouTube channel then advertisements will pop up throughout your videos duration. For this reason the YouTube platform, in general, can come across as a bit amateur-looking. Saying that it is a great way to have your brand seen by the world as it is a massive search engine only second in line to its parent company Google. Almost 5 billion videos are watched on YoutTube every single day.

YouTube also has its Premium service. YouTube Premium is a paid membership that gives you an enhanced, uninterrupted experience across YouTube, YouTube Music and YouTube Gaming.
YouTube Red benefits:

• Ad-free videos: Watch videos without interruptions
• Download: Save videos and songs on your mobile device to watch offline
• Background play: Keep videos or music playing when using other apps or when your screen’s off
• Audio mode: Listen to audio only on the YouTube Music app
• Google Play Music subscription: Included at no additional cost.

What’s included with YouTube Premium?

YouTube•

Ad-free videos: Watch millions of videos uninterrupted by ads. Learn more•
Download videos to watch offline: Save videos and playlists on mobile devices and play them offline• Play in the background: Keep videos playing when using other apps or when your screen is off

YouTube Music•

Easily explore the world of music with the new and improved YouTube Music app• Ad-free music: Listen to millions of songs uninterrupted by ads• Download music to listen offline: Save music and playlists in the YouTube Music app and listen offline• Play in the background: Keep music playing when using other apps or when your screen is off

YouTube Kids•

Ad-free and offline play in the YouTube Kids app

Google Play Music•

Included at no additional cost for selected countries. Click here to see whether Google Play Music is available in your country.

Source: YouTube

If live streaming is what you’re after then YouTube does offer a live streaming service.

Some of the benefits of YouTube Live streaming are;

• Live chat
• Monetisation through the Superchat function

*minimum subscriber counts apply to enable superchat.

YouTube also offers channel memberships.

Channel memberships allow viewers to join your channel through monthly payments and get members-only perks like badges, emoji, and other goods. If you’re eligible, these are the policies and guidelines will help steer you out of trouble.

Channel memberships do have minimum requirements.

• Your channel must have more than 30,000 subscribers
  • Gaming channels must have more than 1,000 subscribers
• Your channel is in the YouTube Partner Program
• You’re over 18 years old
• You’re located in one of the available locations
• Your channel is not set as made for kids
• Your channel does not have a significant number of ineligible videos
  • Videos set as made for kids, or videos with music claims are considered ineligible
• You (and your MCN) have agreed to and are complying with YouTube’s terms and policies (including the relevant Commerce Product Addendum)

Source: Google.

Coming in at a close 2nd in popularity behind YouTube is Vimeo. Vimeo is a great channel for streaming your video content.

Vimeo sets itself apart from YouTube by offering different plans to suit different creators and business models. Below are the Vimeo plans as of the time of writing this blog. their plans range in price from free up to $55 AUD per month

Vimeo also offers a subscription service. Vimeo OTT

This model is mostly commonly referred to as “The Netflix Model”.

Vimeo boasts the following features in it’s OTT service;

Subscription services are a great way for you to secure your income. See our article on building a subscription income here. But be warned, if you offer a video subscription service you must be uploading regular content that offers value to your viewers. If there is no value in your content for the viewer they will disable their subscriptions very quickly.

Vimeo offers a live streaming option as part of their premium plan.

This service has some impressive features like;

• Unlimited live events
• Live stream to multiple destinations
• Live Q&A, graphics and polls
• Audience chat
• Customizable video templates
• Unlimited bandwidth in the Vimeo player
• 4K & HDR support
• No ads before, after, or on your video
• Add custom colors and logos
• Embed anywhere
• Customize colors & components
• Add video chapters
• Publish natively to Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter & Pinterest
• Custom cards & calls-to-action in the player
• Collect email addresses in the player
• Marketing software integrations
• Analytics dashboard
• Social stats
• Custom reports
• Engagement & duration graphs
• Google Analytics integration
• Up to 1080p streaming

But…

At the time of writing this article, I could not manage to speak with the people at Vimeo in order to test the Vimeo OTT or Vimeo Live Streaming service. The closest I got to was speaking with a Vimeo Sales rep over a Skype call. The sales rep offered to take me through a demonstration session but never answered my repeated follow up emails. I have heard this lack of communication issue from many of my subscribers too.

Here’s a case study from Adriene Mishler who started offering free videos on youTube, and has since grown her fan base on YouTube to over two million subscribers. After finding success with selling a Yoga With Adriene video series, she and her team launched a subscription service under her motto, “Find What Feels Good.” Learn how this small yoga business went from YouTube channel to successful subscription business.

Wistia is another great video streaming service. Wistia is more aimed at the educational market.

Wistia offers competitive pricing ranging from free up to a customised price made to order.

Wistia also offers their Soapbox product. Soapbox is a video recording service that allows to to record your computer screen and record your face from your webcam at the same time. Its a Google Chrome browser extension and is a great tool for someone who doesn’t want to invest in a traditional 3 point lighting, video camera and microphone set up.