Top 10 Video Distribution/Publication Websites for Content Producers
We are currently only in the beginning of the internet television revolution and new sites offering the ability for anyone to upload video clips and share them with the world are popping up left and right. If you’re a content producer and looking to get thelargest number of people to see your work, you’ll have to submit it to each site individually.
With Internet television in it’s infancy there is no large audience overlap, some people like youtube, while others prefer yahoo or google video and others are involved with vidilife or daily motion. Plan on submitting your clips individually to each of the sites listed below. Although each video distribution site offers basically the same functionality of clip sharing, they contain distinct differences in everything from audience demographic and social networking features to traffic levels and commercial options.
I’ve expanded upon each one’s unique features and major shortcomings below. They are listed in order of estimated popularity taken from Alexa Traffic Rankings on July 29, 2006
YouTube | http://www.youtube.com ( Alexa Traffic Rank #16)The largest video distribution site on the Internet. Contains the most sorting options, by group, channel, category, most viewed, best rated, worst rated, and a lot more. Largest selection of videos, profile pages, and subscription options. Public stat reporting and viewing history.
Major Shortcomings – 10 minutes video length limit on regular accounts and no ability for users to download videos.
Google Video | http://video.google.com (Alex Traffic Rank unknown, but google.com is #3) Private stat reporting, ability for users to download videos in multiple formats including putting them on their IPOD or PSP. Custom video player and upload tool. Integrated with standard Google account.
Major Shortcomings – no user’s profile page, no ability to subscribe to a certain user’s video, limited video sorting options (only top 100 and movers and shakers, and by subject). Video thumbnails taken at random from beginning of video clip.
Yahoo Video | http://video.yahoo.com(Alex Rank is unknown, but yahoo.com is #1) Integrated with standard Yahoo account and messenger service. Profile pages, subscribe able user channels. The search feature brings up results from videos hosted on yahoo video and videos on other video distribution sites. Adult and regular content.
Major Shortcomings – Can’t save videos to your local computer.
AOL Uncut Video | http://uncutvideo.aol.com(Alexa Traffic Rank is unknown, but aol.com is #35) Lots of traffic, User profile integration with AIM, giving you lots of profile options.
Major Shortcomings – 7 min length maximum for video clips. Can’t save clips to your local computer.
Ifilm | http://www.ifilm.com(Alexa Traffic Rank #863) Upload via web. Adult and regular content. Lots of contests to enter and other promotions (site is owned by MTV)
Major Shortcomings – Extremely small video descriptions of only 255 characters. Lots of commercials and ads on website and tons of junk content. Limited profile pages, no subscription options or ability to download individual clips.
Daily Motion | http://www.dailymotion.com(Alexa Traffic Rank #1,376) Has more channels then other providers and allows for regular and adult content. Public stats and no length limit on clips. Options to send videos directly from webcam, mobile phone or e-mail. Video size limit is 150 MB which is higher then most of it’s competitors. Daily motion is based in , so it’s has large audience outside of the and less overlap of videos from other sites like YouTube. Advanced user subscription options including RSS, podcast RSS, and video roll RSS. Active community features with groups and favorites.
Major Shortcomings – Can’t save videos to your local computer.
Vidilife | http://www.vidilife.com (Alexa Traffic Rank #1,583) No video length limits or size limits. Share photos and videos from the same site. Download videos and see public stats, lots of community features like messaging, friends, and blogs. Site contains lots of other features like bulletin, video mail, shoutouts, quizzes, gifts, contest and casino video games that users can play with site currency called vidi$ You can earn vidi$ by commenting on videos and doing other community and site building tasks. Sub domain custom urls for your videos youname.vidilife.com.
Major Shortcomings – There are a lot of videos on the site compared to their traffic levels, so even the most viewed videos for the week receive relatively few views compared to their competitors.
Grouper | http://www.grouper.com (Alexa Traffic Rank #2,979) Download videos to iPod, PSP or desktop, public stats, profile pages, and subscribable groups for community building. free video editing software.
Major Shortcomings – Slow flash interface that makes searching through large amounts of videos take longer. Low traffic levels compared to the huge amount of videos.
Veoh | http://www.veoh.com (Alexa Traffic Rank #3,816) Upload any size video easily via a veoh upload tool, ONLY SITE that allows users to download video in original format, so it supports high resolution videos. User’s can pick their own thumbnails for their video clips. Profile pages, friends, favorites, messages, and vlog. User subscribe-able videos. Large collections of indie films and shorts available for download in full screen resolution for DVD burning.
Major Shortcomings – Traffic levels lag behind competitors.
Revver | http://www.revver.com (Alexa Traffic Rank #5,191) Upload any length video via the revver client software. Allows users to choose their own thumbnail. You get paid for your clips performance. Revver puts ads at the end of each clip. Every time someone clicks on them after your video is over you get paid for it. Fast approval time for videos. Users can download videos and share them on P2P networks and the ad and money system still works. Contains the highest ratio of actual user created content compared to “old” regular broadcasting.
Major shortcomings, relatively few ways to sort videos, no profile pages or ability to subscribe to a particular user’s video. Low traffic.
