Video Hosting Dilemma: Free Service or Online Video Platform?

Should your company go with a free service or an online video platform -- or both?

"Freemium" services like YouTube and Vimeo are popular with businesses, but are they the best options. In his presentation at the recent Streaming Media East conference in New York City, Robert Reinhardt, founder of VideoRx, explained why hosting videos with an OVP is important.

"That's why OVPs have grown up over the last decade -- to help people who really don't want to be in the business of building the experience for their videos; they just want to focus on content and get their content to market," Reinhardt said. "The freemium services might make more sense, but for the type of clients that we represent and help at VideoRx, they want to build something that is going to make them be able to sell their company, and if you're putting all your content on YouTube you're probably not going to be approached by a Yahoo to be bought."

The freemium video hosting market is dominated by two companies -- the video giant and the artsy competitor.

"'Freemium is the combination of free and premium, and it's really just a way to lure you into a platform. YouTube essentially and Vimeo to a certain extent are the freemium services that I'm referring to," Reinhardt said. "I'm not saying there aren't others, but they're probably the two biggest players in that freemium market."

For more on choosing an OVP, watch the full presentation below and download Reinhardt's slides.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net