Comparing On-Demand Video (VoD) Platforms For Business Use Cases

Going back about 20 years ago, providing on-demand video to employees or customers over the internet was not something a common business owner could imagine. The process was complex, where you would need to upload the video on a network or site (for eg., FTP site), and share the link with your audience.

Things changed when YouTube was founded in 2005, and over time delivering video over the internet became much easier. Simply upload your video on YouTube and share it ahead.

However, YouTube is only good when it comes to streaming video to potential customers; streaming an advertisement for example. It's not the best when it comes to streaming internally within an organization. For instance, if you need to stream training videos internally to employees across your organizations and at the same time need to ensure that no one outside your organization is able to access them.

The bigger problem, however, is that you need to agree to YouTube’s terms of service when you upload a video, which states that you give the platform the right to “reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works” of your content.

All of this makes YouTube amongst the least suitable options to stream video for business use cases. 

To overcome challenges posed by YouTube, tech companies developed on-demand video platforms (something like a private YouTube for organizations) where organizations can securely stream video content. 

Based on research, my experience, and knowledge from industry experts, in this article, I will be discussing the various on-demand video platforms out there that businesses can use to manage and stream their video content. It is to be noted that these platforms are for business use cases and not for organizations hoping to upload and stream videos for entertainment.

Brightcove

Founded in 2004, Brightcove has been helping organizations solve video streaming challenges for over a decade now. I recently stumbled upon their platform when I went to “The Premier League’s” website. Yes! I mean The Premier League. You can go and check out a live example of video being played from their platform here.

To explore further, I went over to their website and I was able to get a free trial very easily. The application was easy to use and the playback experience was great. However, I wasn’t able to find a good way to stream video content internally (say for training or sharing a recorded Zoom meeting). 

The strengths and weaknesses of this platform can be summarized as follows:

Strengths

• The playback experience is great and if you can create something like The Premier League did, I’d give a thumbs up for aesthetics.
• It has great advertisement and monetization features.
• You can add CTAs, and add to cart option for on-demand videos, surveys and more. It’s great if you want to sell your on-demand video content.
• You have got an above-average player; multiple audio file support, closed caption support, pop-out function, etc.
• I didn’t like the keyboard shortcuts though — I had a tough time figuring out how to seek forward and backward using my keyboard.
• You have DRM Support for security and content ownership. You can generate detailed analytics.
• Brightcove is recognized by Gartner, a leading IT research firm.

Weaknesses

• It’s not the best for secure streaming of on-demand videos internally; say for training. The platform isn’t designed in a way in which you can have multiple users authenticate and then access your videos. 
• You can’t integrate with Zoom, MS Teams, or any other video conferencing solution. Now, why would you need this? Say you had a webinar and would want the recording to be made available as an on-demand video for those who couldn’t attend. You might need to share important corporate communication meetings internally.
• You haven’t got Artificial Intelligence features. Pretty old school I’d say, but it’s great if you just need to upload and stream on-demand videos. It’s a problem if you need to add closed captions and translate them. Brightcove doesn’t have AI functionalities to do that for you. 

VIDIZMO

VIDIZMO has more than two decades of experience in providing enterprise video streaming and media management systems. It’s both a platform for on-demand video (VoD) and live streaming. 

One thing I like about VIDIZMO is that you can use it for on-demand video streaming for both internal and external audiences. You can create a public-facing video portal, with marketing and advertisement videos and at the same time have internal ones for training videos, recorded meetings, etc. You can go over and have a look at their on-demand video portal here.

The strengths and weaknesses of this platform can be summarized as follows:

Strengths

• One of the best in terms of Security. I can see big names on their list of customers and even US government organizations. The platform is end-to-end encrypted using FIPS 140–2 compliant modules, includes role-based access controls, SSO integration and SCIM support, audit logs, password protection, and more. 
• It has rich content segregation options. You can create separate video portals and groups for departments, and decide for every video, who gets to see them, and what they can do once they have access (whether they can download, share, view indefinitely or for a limited time, etc.)
• It integrates with your Zoom account, MS Teams, Cisco Webex, etc. to stream recorded meetings as on-demand video. It also integrates with your LMS to help you stream learning content as on-demand videos in your LMS.
• You have AI features for automatic transcription and translation of these transcripts. You can automatically detect faces, objects, and tag topics in videos to improve search.
• The best thing is that the platform has numerous features to cover almost every requirement for on-demand video streaming. Branding, embedding, annotations, keyboard shortcuts, in-video quizzes, analytics, and even more. 
• It's available on Azure and AWS and is a good option for businesses that store data on data centers of these two cloud providers. In fact, VIDIZMO has a wide range of options available to allow customers to choose where their data is being stored.
• VIDIZMO is recognized by Gartner, a leading IT research firm.

Weaknesses

• It’s not the best for monetizing your content. As compared to Brightcove, it hasn’t got features for monetization, advertisements, paywall, CTAs, add to cart, etc.
• The platform doesn't have a lot of detailed video-creation capabilities. For instance, VIDIZMO doesn't have its own tool for screen capture and you would need to integrate with 3rd party tools to create content.
• You can’t add chapters or sections in videos, which may be needed for certain training videos.

Microsoft Stream

If you are using a Microsoft 365 Enterprise plan, then you are probably aware of Microsoft Stream. Microsoft created its video streaming application Office 365 Video in 2015, and it later became what is now known as Microsoft Stream.

However, At Ignite 2020, Microsoft announced a major change to Microsoft Stream. It is to be merged with SharePoint and OneDrive. The new change has been a step back for Microsoft Stream in terms of video streaming features and capabilities. For starters, the new Microsoft Stream doesn't support transcriptions and there are no AI capabilities to automatically generate such transcriptions. And there's much more.

The strengths and weaknesses of the new Microsoft Stream can be summarized as follows:

Strengths

• All types of files can be accessed from one application (SharePoint). Whether it's a word document, audio file, or PDF, you can have it in folders along with video files. This is actually beneficial from a business perspective as video files do not operate in isolation and you need to have supporting material along with it.
• It's a great application for internal video use. You can create separate teams to segregate access. You can define access for each video file - who gets to see them? what can they do? etc.
• It automatically ingests recorded meetings from Microsoft Teams. You can organize these meetings in folders and share them ahead; inside or outside the organization. It's a great tool to use along with Microsoft Teams.
• Microsoft Stream is recognized by Gartner, a leading IT research firm.

Weaknesses

• There's no option to embed videos on an external website. In fact, you can't create a public-facing on-demand video portal. This is not an issue if you need to stream video content internally. However, it does limit you from creating something like The Premier League did; a public site for entertainment videos.
• Similar to Brightcove, we have got no AI capabilities in Microsoft Stream. Amongst many things, this means no automatic generation of transcripts or closed captions. Speaking of transcripts or closed captions, you can't upload them manually as well. This is an issue for organizations that need to fulfill accessibility requirements such as Section 508.
• A major drawback of Microsoft Stream is that in the newer version, Microsoft announced that there would be no transcoding and caching for large video files. What this means is that users will have to download large files to view them. This is because no compressed renditions of the file would be created, to enable playback from the browser.

Kaltura

Founded in 2006, the company developed its video platform over time and it now specializes in over-the-top television (OTT). That does not mean, it's no good for enterprises.

Kaltura provides a platform for on-demand video streaming to both external and internal audiences. It offers both on-demand and live streaming.

The strengths and weaknesses of Kaltura can be summarized as follows:

Strengths

• Kaltura offers a range of OTT-focused services and monetization features. This means that it provides easy integration with different OTT systems. It also offers capabilities to allows businesses to run ads and monetize their video content.
• Similar to Microsoft Stream and VIDIZMO, you can create separate channels to segregate access. You can define access for each video file - who or what department gets to see them? but you cannot restrict them once they have access (say you want to restrict people from downloading the video).
• Similar to VIDIZMO, it integrates with your Zoom account, MS Teams etc. to stream recorded meetings as on-demand video. It also integrates with your LMS to help you stream learning content as on-demand videos in your LMS.
• It has artificial intelligence features to automatically transcribe videos and translate the transcriptions. You can search inside videos for faces and objects through AI.
• Kaltura is recognized by Gartner, a leading IT research firm.

Weaknesses

• Not the best for organizational security. Though content is encrypted and protected, organizations have less control over video content policies. For instance, if I want people in my organization to not be able to share videos externally at all. You can't do this in Kaltura.
• Speaking of security, there's no password protection feature for videos.
• There are no audit trails available within the application to keep track of who viewed your content. This may be required for certain compliances such as GDPR and HIPAA.

Vimeo

If you have a simple business use case for on-demand video streaming, then why opt for a complex and more expensive solution? You've got Vimeo, an economic alternative, and it's the best for smaller businesses.

Vimeo offers an initial plan starting at $7/month, where you can upload videos and stream them to public audiences. You can create what is called a "showcase" site and share the link with your intended audiences for them to watch your videos.

However, I went over to Trustpilot and I was surprised. Vimeo has around 86% 1-star reviews (out of 318 total)! You can go and have a look here yourself. I went through reviews and based on my analysis, two things stood out; a slow application and bad customer service.

The strengths and weaknesses of Vimeo can be summarized as follows:

Strengths

• It's great for simple video use cases such as uploading a video and embedding it on your site. Something you would do with YouTube. But unlike YouTube, you retain ownership of your content in Vimeo (When you upload videos on YouTube, you agree to give YouTube the rights to make unlimited copies and distribute your content).
• It's good for sharing as you can embed your video in an email or send out a link. You can even replace the video after sending out your email or link, such that your recipients have the newer version (This is useful if you send the wrong file by mistake).
• Vimeo is less costly than other on-demand video platforms.

Weaknesses

• Vimeo is only good for streaming videos with anonymous access. For videos that are confidential or contain sensitive information, you can't have users authenticate and watch them. You also can't define who can watch a video and who can't, because anyone with access to the link can watch it. Simply put, it's not the best for streaming on-demand videos to audiences inside your organization.
• You don't have AI capabilities to automatically generate closed captions for your videos or improve search.
• Speaking of closed captions, the accessibility of the player is poor. For instance, there are no keyboard shortcuts. This makes Vimeo not suitable for streaming on-demand videos to people with disabilities.

These were 5 on-demand video streaming platforms that businesses can use as an alternative to YouTube. Each has its pros and cons, and depending on the business use case scenario, organizations can pick the ones that are best for them.

All of these platforms provide a free trial, and I would recommend getting one. Upload and stream a few videos and see if the platform fulfills your business objectives.

On a closing note, I'd like to say that business objectives aren't the only thing. I would highly recommend not compromising on security, privacy, and compliance features. Given the rise in recent cyberattacks, this is not optional. Read thoroughly and evaluate the platform on these features carefully, before putting it to full-fledged business use.