The global mobile learning market is expected to witness significant growth, with a forecast reaching around $156 billion by 2026, demonstrating a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 30.12% during 2022-2026. This growth underscores the increasing demand for digital education and the role of mobile devices in facilitating learning.

An online learning platform brings numerous benefits, such as :

• Cost-efficient learning
• Easy and round-the-clock accessibility
• Flexibility of education
• Options for every learning preference – one-to-one online classes, group-based.
• Seamless use on the smaller screen- a factor that has significantly contributed to the growth in the eLearning market.
• A diverse range of subjects
• Interactive learning experience

What are online learning platforms?

Online learning platforms are websites or applications that provide educational content of all sorts, be it tutorials, courses, training, or study materials. Individuals can learn and acquire new skills and opt for free or paid learning platforms. Each platform comes with its own features, some are generic learning platforms while some are dedicated to a single learning stream. For example, a learning platform may be solely dedicated to train K-12 students and others may cater to courses for learning foreign languages.

Compared to traditional classroom learning, online learning platforms are more flexible, scalable, and cost-effective and are today’s tool for learning and acquiring knowledge. There is a range of subjects to choose from, nearly everything is available on a learning platform, and benefits like accessibility, interactive learning, self-paced learning, and even certifications to improve career growth.

Types of online learning platforms

Learning Destination Sites – On these sites, a number of course creators offer various sorts of learning materials. Based on your course preference, you choose a topic and instructor. One such popular platform is Udemy which has over 210K video-based lessons.

LMS – Learning Management Systems or LMS is a software application to manage and deliver educational courses and training programs. The key features include course content management, mobile access, collaboration, assessments, student tracking, reporting, and grading.

Massive Open Online Course – MOOCs are online free courses at reasonably cheaper pricing that are open to anyone, irrespective of their location or background. MOOCs accommodate a number of learners and usually, students learn diverse skills for career upliftment.

Custom-built learning platform – These platforms are designed specifically for an organization or institute like Harvard. The platform is suited to the needs and particular requirements within the organization. They have tailored features and restricted access to the students or team employees.

“Among learners, 95% stated that they are able to retain information better with the help of video-based educational materials. This points towards the effectiveness of multimedia in enhancing learning experiences.”

How to create an online learning platform?

The various steps involved in creating an online learning platform are as follows

• Set your goals and target audience.
• Choose a platform to like an LMS, CMS, or custom-built online learning platform. You can create your own website for your audience.
• Design an intuitive and user-friendly website with a good layout, navigation, and search.
• Create courses. The format may include pre-recorded and live videos, written material, and quizzes.
• Choose a video hosting platform like VdoCipher where your videos are protected from piracy using Hollywood-Grade DRM encryption and other interesting features
• Test before launching and market your online platform through social media, email marketing or advertisements

But, when planning to launch your online course, you might wonder which online learning platform will help you create and sell video courses with ease.

Best online learning platforms in India and Worldwide

Teachable

Teachable is one of the best online learning platforms for marketing your course. The platform offers options to customize the look and feel of your online course. To do so, you can
1. build a website to reflect your brand,
2. create a sales page for launching your course,
3. or use the Power Editor to tweak the underlying code.

Teachable’s course builder accepts documents from Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, and so on. You can choose to sell them as a standalone product or in bundles. You can also choose how you want to get paid- establish a payment plan, charge a one-time fee, or allow your audience to subscribe to the course.

Before launching the course, you can use coupon codes to accelerate sales. Teachable also offers multi-language support, which is a plus when you want to cater to a global audience. The platform also provides solutions such as international payments, affiliate programs, email marketing, and more to maximize your outreach.

Teachable is priced from $39 a month to $499 a month.

VdoCipher DRM encrypted video streaming & watermarking security integration is possible with the Teachable and similar portals and is explained here in another blog.

Podia

Podia allows you to create an online store for your digital content. You can create and sell video courses, digital downloads, and membership sites using this online learning platform. All storefronts built on Podia have a similar template. Each store’s landing page includes details such as an overview, a ‘what’s included’ section, a content section, FAQs, and creator bio.  

All courses, digital downloads, and memberships created using Podia have their separate landing pages. When you create an online video course, Podia lets you publish it immediately or pre-launch it to collect email addresses. 

The platforms also allow you to bundle assets such as videos, audios, texts, checklists along with the course. Podia is priced starting at $33 a month for the Mover plan, which includes online courses, digital downloads, email marketing, and no transactional fees.

Thinkific

If you are still in doubt regarding the structure and content of your online course, this online learning platform lets you create and sell a video course from scratch. It can be daunting for a first-time video course creator to chalk out a plan and a strategy to develop and sell the course.

Thinkific makes it a bit easier for you. Use the simple and readymade templates to create and launch your video course in two parts: creating the course material, and building the landing page. 

Users get to choose from a template such as a flagship course, mini-course, membership bundle, digital download, and webinar replay. Thinkific is free for unlimited courses and students, payment gateway integration, course upsells, and so on with a 10% transaction fee. The online learning platform starts at $36 a month for other features such as course bundles, marketing, email integrations, coupons, and promotions.

Teachery

Teachery is a popular online learning platform for having no transaction fees at all whatsoever. At first glance, it seems other platforms offer good-enough features at no cost. However, experienced course creators realize that sooner or later, they have to upgrade and buy a premium version to access the more advanced tools and functions.

Teachery is an ideal platform for experienced online tutors who are tired of upgrades and commissions.

Teachery lets you access a wide array of functions. It also offers a dedicated team to support your journey. Teachery is priced at $49 a month or $470 per annum.

Learnworlds

This online learning platform facilitates you to set up a school of your own with multiple websites, teachers, and a course catalog. You can add instructors and select the courses you want them to teach.

When you add an instructor, they can author course,s but not publish a new course or change general settings. As the school admin, you are free to offer as many courses for a fee you deem fit.

Learnworlds starting price is $24 per month for the Starter plan for unlimited paid courses, custom domain, coupons, and payment gateway.
VdoCipher DRM encrypted video streaming & watermarking security integration is possible with Learnworlds and similar portals and is explained here in another blog.

Ruzuku

Ruzuku is another feature-rich online learning platform. To start and sell video courses on Ruzuku is fast and seamless and you can upload just about any media file to sell your course. Ruzuku encourages you to prompt students to collaborate and communicate with their peers and allows you to track their achievements throughout.

When integrated with MailChimp, Ruzuku can automate emails to go out to notify people of upcoming courses. Besides these, Ruzuku has functions such as teleconferencing, support options, daily backups, and so on.

Ruzuku might be an ideal solution for those with limited knowledge of technology which only wants their course up and running in no time. Ruzuku is priced between $99 a month to $199 a month.

VdoCipher DRM encrypted video streaming & watermarking security integration is possible with the Teachable and similar portals and is explained here in another blog.

WizIQ

This online learning platform helps you sell video courses and mock tests, but its flagship feature is to hold live classes. A virtual classroom on the platform can accommodate over 200 students. Features such as multiple whiteboards, circuit diagrams, maps, and shapes and graphs facilitate learning on the platform. The tutor is also free to share resources such as files, videos, and presentations from their library.

WizIQ LMS pricing starts from $1/user/month while Virtual Classroom pricing starts from $18/teacher/month.

TREEHOUSE

Treehouse is an online platform that offers a broad range of development courses covering topics such as HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and Python. It provides learners with access to a vast library of content, including workshops, bonus content, and conferences. Treehouse aims to help students learn coding skills to land their dream jobs, offering a 7-day free trial for new students to explore thousands of hours of learning content​.

Engoo Tutor

Engoo is a platform offering private online English lessons, accessible anytime and anywhere. It features 1-on-1 sessions lasting 25 minutes each, with a pool of 9,319 tutors from 116 countries. Engoo caters to various learning needs with over 11,000 lesson materials, including daily news to keep learners informed. The platform makes learning convenient with no downloads required and starts at $42.70/month

Udemy

Udemy is an online learning platform emphasizing 130,000+ video courses taught by expert teachers. Students can take courses in anything from programming languages like Python, and Java to personal advancement classes like design, drawing, writing, and yoga. Tutors can use this platform for free. However, Udemy makes big money by taking 50% per transaction of your course. Udemy has more than 12 million students.

Proctur (Indian)

Proctur is an online learning platform that provides end to end digitization solutions to enable tutors and coaching institutes to sell courses online, teach live online, conduct exams online, and manage the coaching institutes. They offer important features like inquiry management, fees management, admission management, tools to conduct online tests, etc.

ProProfs Training Maker

ProProfs Training Maker is an online learning platform. The tool makes it easy to create, design, share and track online courses, lessons, and tests. Being cloud-based, it enables users to deliver anytime, anywhere learning to anyone, on any device. The LMS system provides a premium library of 100+ professionally designed and ready-to-courses and default templates. These resources are fully editable with a logo, theme, colours, and branding.

To help you get online learning up and running in no time, the learning management system (LMS) provides a premium library of 100+ professionally designed and ready-to-courses and default templates. These resources are fully editable with a logo, theme, colours, and branding.

ProProfs starts at $2/learner/month. No per-user fee. No hidden cost. There is also a 15-day free trial on all plans.

Fatbit Online Learning MarketPlace

Fatbit Online Learning MarketPlace (formely Yo!Coach), offered by FATbit Technologies, is a customizable online tutoring and consultation marketplace platform. It’s designed for entrepreneurs and trainers aiming to launch businesses centered around online learning and coaching. Yo!Coach facilitates the creation of an online learning platform, offering features like live video interaction, pre-recorded courses, multi-language support, and more, making it a versatile solution for different online learning business models. For more details, you can explore the platform here:

TalentLMS

TalentLMS is an online learning platform where you can build courses by re-using presentations or videos you already have or by consuming content from web-sources. They provide support for multiple types of questions and a variety of test types. You can also collect and analyze survey responses.

BrightSpace

BrightSpace is an online learning platform that creates personalized learning paths for each student that is neatly presented on a Progress Dashboard. Teachers can map, foretell, even reroute individual student learning outcomes as well as create rubrics to evaluate quizzes, assignments, discussions, and more. Brightspace is loaded with an arsenal of tools that educators can use to fine-tune their teaching styles

Uteach

Uteach is a different path to the online teaching system. This isn’t just an online learning platform where you may upload your online courses. Uteach presents a chance to create your own portal-website that becomes your personal brand with your imagined domain name and design. Once you registered to the platform, you can include your video courses of quality knowledge.

TutorHub

This online learning platform is easy to use. Tutor Hub is a secure website, which is useful for students and teachers. It is comfortable for teachers to arrange lessons and use an online tutoring classroom. Students also like Tutor Hub because they instantly find a teacher online and start training. This platform is right for learners both inside and outside formal education.

Educadium

Educadium is the complete online learning platform for nonprofits, educators, and trainers. With Educadium, you can set up your online school and create an online course that looks professional, and that meets the most poignant learning fundamentals. It’s safer and more convenient than free dilemmas.

Complete package platforms-

Kajabi

Kajabi is the best course creation software for automating the marketing of an online video course. Busy course creators get marketing automation from Kajabi. It helps you connect landing pages for exclusive offers, course launches, and more to checkout pages within a few clicks.

For instance, the promotional offer pipeline comprises of three steps- first, you collect email addresses of attendees by offering them an ebook or cheatsheet. When a visitor enters their email address, they are directed to a sales page where they are offered a discount on a product.

You choose what you want to do with the email addresses collected- send them a thank you, upsell them, or follow up on their purchase.

Kajabi is priced from $129 per month for the Basic plan, which contains one site, five products, 25 pipelines, and 25,000 marketing emails.
VdoCipher DRM encrypted video streaming & watermarking security integration is possible with Kajabi and similar portals and is explained here in another blog.

Academy of Mine

This could quickly become one of your preferred online learning platforms to sell video courses online. Academy of Mine offers a full website for you to launch your online course. You get to choose from a fully hosted template that offers galleries, landing pages, and course offering pages.

Academy of Mine is a perfect choice for its holistic course creation and management functions. Generate chapters or units in your course, give out certificates, carry out timed quizzes, assignments, and badges.

Academy of Mine begins at $499 a month.

Video Plugin compatible with multiple Platforms-

VdoCipher

VdoCipher is targetted for the course creators who are hell concerned about security from piracy of videos. VdoCipher provides Hollywood Grade DRM encryption & dynamic viewer specific watermarking to prevent download and screen capture.

This product integrates well with WordPress, moodle, and multiple LMS platforms. You can choose any of the platforms and use this plugin to provide your videos with the highest possible security.

VdoCipher pricing starts from $129 and the pricing model is based on bandwidth and storage.

WordPress Plugins-

AccessAlly

AccessAlly isn’t just a WordPress plugin – it also handles payments, membership management, and integration with your email marketing CRM. That means you don’t need to cobble together a bunch of different tools or custom code to have a first-class LMS system on WordPress.

Each member or student has their own login on your membership site, and from there you can design courses that include everything from quizzes, video, and audio, downloads, and so much more.

This platform has features like drag-and-drop course builder, progress tracking, video and audio bookmark, different types of quizzes, and auto-generated certificates.

Course Cats

Course Cats help you to build a website, grow your email list, and sell your courses online. They also you in dealing with tech stuff like how to point your domain to your WebHost. If you need they will help you in installing the WordPress plugin and selecting the themes as well.

With Course Cats, you’ll have just the right amount of options to customize the look and feel of your site without getting into that overwhelming, way-too-many-options mess. Regardless if you’re ready to sell your courses now or if you’re still working on the content – with Course Cats, you can build a blog, grow your email list with our gorgeous landing pages, and when you’re ready, sell your online courses.

Course Cats starting prices are $59/month or $497/year.

LifterLMS

LifterLMS is a powerful WordPress plugin that makes it easy to create, sell, and protect engaging online courses and training based membership websites. LifterLMS helps you build online courses from one screen with the intuitive multi-tier drag and drop course builder. You can also create dynamic multimedia quizzes to reinforce learning.

It strikes a beautiful balance in being an all-in-one solution while also integrating with other best of breed technologies relevant to course creators and membership site owners. LifterLMS has a flourishing well supported user community through, active listening, and strong documentation.

Besides trial for 30 days in $1, the starting price for LifterLMS is $99 for one year.

Content Marketplace cum Course Platforms-

OpenSesame

OpenSesame provides an online marketplace for buying and selling e-learning courses.

OpenSesame doesn’t only work as an online course selling platform but also works as course vendors who curate the right courses for your training program as well as guide you through improving e-learning utilization and employee engagement. If your Learning Management System works with SCORM or AICC compliant courses, then working with OpenSesame courses will be simple for your LMS administrator.  Its platform allows companies to buy courses created by industry experts instead of having to create their own.

Skillshare

Skillshare is an American online learning community for people who want to learn from educational videos. Skillshare operates on a membership model, so your class will have a built-in audience from the start. They also help you to grow your community and promote your classes. Skillshare classes include a combination of video lessons and a class project. They also provide resources like teachers’ handbooks. They also help you improve your classes with features like ‘Teach Challenge’.

Skillshare operates under a subscription model, which means that students pay a monthly or annual fee for a premium membership. They pay teachers for every minute watched by premium students in their classes. Also, they compensate teachers for every student they bring to Skillshare through their referral link.

Moodle Plugins-

CourseMerchant

If Moodle is your choice for your online learning platform then you should try CourseMerchent. CourseMerchent provides you a complete package from course creation to selling and even how to market your course. Some of their features are instant student enrollment into the LMS with single sign-on and sell multiple seats and allow purchasers to allocate seats to users with ‘Manage Licenses’ admin capability.

You can integrate CourseMerchant with Brightspace, Totara, Kallidus LMS, etc.

LMS Checkout

LMS checkout fits perfectly with your moodle course. All you have to do is create an account on the LMS Checheckout website and download the plugin to install it into your Moodle account. You can connect it with payment gateways like Paypal and authorize.net. If you want some other gateway they are open to your request as well.

FAQs

How do I choose the right online learning platform?

Selecting the right online learning platform involves considering factors such as the variety and quality of courses offered, the credentials of the instructors, the platform’s interface and user experience, the cost, and any additional features like certifications or interactive tools. It’s also important to think about your learning goals, preferred learning style, and the specific skills you wish to develop.

Are there free online learning platforms?

Yes, there are numerous online learning platforms that offer free courses or have a freemium model where basic content is free, and advanced features or courses require payment. Free platforms often provide a wide range of courses but may limit access to certifications or personalized feedback.

Are online courses as effective as in-person classes?

Online courses can be just as effective as in-person classes, depending on the course’s quality, the learner’s motivation, and the presence of interactive and engaging materials. Many platforms incorporate various teaching methods, including videos, quizzes, and peer interactions, to enhance learning outcomes.

What technical requirements do I need to fulfill to learn online?

To learn online effectively, you’ll need a reliable internet connection, a computer or mobile device capable of running the platform’s software, and any necessary software or tools specified by the course (e.g., programming environments for coding courses). It’s also helpful to have a quiet, comfortable space dedicated to learning.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post 31 Online Learning Platforms in India & Worldwide (2024) appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In this post, we are going to tell you the features of the Vdocipher DRM plugin and how to add a Vdocipher player to your WordPress website by using our WordPress plugin. Vdocipher provides a highly secure and customizable online video player plugin that helps you protect against video piracy. Along with DRM encryption and dynamic watermark security for discouraging screen capture, we also provide you with a brand-friendly customizable player with other loaded features.  

How will the DRM work technically with WordPress?

Digital Rights Management (DRM) encryption for video content with WordPress environments, involves a series of technical steps designed to securely encrypt, transmit, and decrypt video content. This ensures that only authorized users can view the content. Here’s a more detailed look at how the DRM encryption process typically works:

1. Video Encryption

• Initial Encryption: When a video is uploaded to the service, it is encrypted using a strong encryption algorithm, typically Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) with a 128-bit or 256-bit key length. This encryption process scrambles the content, making it unreadable without the correct decryption key.
• Key Storage: The encryption key used to encrypt the video is securely stored on a license server. This server is responsible for distributing the key to authorized users in a controlled manner.

2. DRM Packaging

• Content Packaging: Along with encryption, the video content is packaged in a format compatible with DRM systems. This involves embedding metadata and licenses that dictate the terms of use, such as playback restrictions.
• DRM Systems: The packaged content is made compatible with various DRM systems like Google’s Widevine, Apple’s FairPlay, and Microsoft’s PlayReady. Each system has its own method of managing and enforcing digital rights, ensuring broad compatibility across different devices and platforms.

3. Secure License Delivery

• License Request: When an authorized user attempts to play the DRM-protected video, the player software on their device sends a license request to the DRM license server. This request includes device and user authentication information.
• Authentication and Authorization: The license server authenticates the request based on the service’s security policies, such as user credentials, subscription status, or geographical location.
• Key Distribution: Once authenticated and authorized, the server sends the encryption key to the user’s device in a secure manner. The key is encrypted during transit and is only accessible to the DRM-compliant player.

4. Decryption and Playback

• Decryption: The DRM-compliant video player on the user’s device uses the received encryption key to decrypt the video content on the fly during playback. This process is securely handled within the player and is transparent to the user.
• Playback Controls: The DRM system enforces any playback restrictions specified by the content provider, such as limiting the number of times a video can be played or preventing screen recording.

5. Security Measures

• Secure Communication: All communication between the video player, license server, and content server is encrypted using protocols like TLS (Transport Layer Security) to prevent interception and unauthorized access to video content and encryption keys.
• Tamper Detection: DRM systems include mechanisms to detect and respond to tampering or hacking attempts, ensuring that the content remains secure even in the face of attacks.

By leveraging DRM encryption, content providers can securely distribute video content to authorized users while preventing piracy and unauthorized sharing. The technical implementation of DRM involves a combination of encryption technologies, secure key management, and compliance with DRM standards to provide a robust solution for content protection.

Is WordPress Self-Secure for Video Streaming?

When you’re hosting video content on WordPress, you have the choice of self-hosting (hosting on the same server as that of your website) or using a third-party plugin that takes complete care of video streaming. Both options have their advantages and drawbacks.

Self-Hosting:

• You have full control over the server, allowing you to customize and configure it according to your needs. This is particularly beneficial if you have specific requirements that most hosting providers don’t cater to.
• You get direct plug-and-play access as WordPress sets the default storage directory and other configurations. Self-hosting does not require you to configure custom storage and third-party integration with API, plugins, etc. This is more relevant especially if you don’t have the necessary technical expertise.
• The problem in this mode arises with Server management. It can be time-consuming and requires a certain level of technical expertise. If you don’t have the necessary skills, you may need to hire someone who does, or else your cost and downtime will increase rapidly.

Secure Streaming (Third Party):

• Advanced features like DRM encryption, Dynamic watermarking, custom video player, customization options, etc are usually part of a third-party video streaming package.
• A third-party video streaming provider handles server management and maintenance, including security, freeing up your time and resources.
• Most streaming providers offer 24/7 support, which can be invaluable if you encounter any issues.
• Third-party WordPress streaming providers typically offer scalable solutions, allowing you to easily upgrade your plan as your site grows.
• Third-party streaming can be more cost-friendly and convenient as you get the benefit of large-scale costing benefits passed to you by your hosting provider.

In the context of security, a reputable third-party video streaming provider will likely have robust security measures in place and the expertise to manage them. This can include regular updates, firewalls, DDoS protection, CDN delivery, SSL certificates, and other device-based benefits. However, if you choose to self-host and have the necessary technical skills, you have the potential to implement even more rigorous security measures, tailored specifically to your website.

What processes are handled via WordPress DRM Plugin

1. Video Upload and Encryption: When you upload a video to your WordPress site using VdoCipher’s plugin, the video is first encrypted on the server side.
2. Secure Video Hosting: After encryption, the video is hosted on AWS servers. VdoCipher provides a secure, optimized hosting environment specifically designed for video content.
3. DRM Licensing: DRM systems work by requiring a license to decrypt and play the video content. When an authorized user attempts to play a video on your WordPress site, VdoCipher’s plugin communicates with a DRM license server to obtain a decryption key. This process is managed securely to ensure that only authorized devices and users can obtain the decryption key.
4. Video Player Integration: VdoCipher’s plugin includes a secure video player that is integrated into your WordPress site. This player is designed to handle the DRM-protected content securely. It communicates with the DRM license server to obtain decryption keys and plays the video content within the browser or app in a secure environment.
5. Device and Browser Compatibility: The plugin and player are designed to be compatible with a wide range of devices and browsers, supporting various DRM systems like Google’s Widevine and Apple’s FairPlay. This ensures that your content is securely playable across different platforms.
6. Content Access Controls: Through the VdoCipher plugin, you can set up various access controls for your video content, such as user authentication, time-based access, geographical restrictions, and more. These controls work alongside the DRM system to provide an additional layer of security and content management.
7. Analytics and Monitoring: VdoCipher’s platform typically includes tools for monitoring video playback, user engagement, and potential security breaches. This data helps you understand how your content is being consumed and can alert you to any unauthorized access attempts.

WordPress DRM easy implementation via VdoCipher plugin

After you have understood the importance of security when dealing with video content, it is important to make the best choice. Look no further than the official Google Widevine DRM partner VdoCipher. VdoCipher employs Digital Rights Management (DRM) to secure your videos against piracy, ensuring your work remains solely yours. As a complete solution, you get protection through Google Widevine and Apple FairPlay DRM making your video protection unbreakable.

Seamlessly integrating VdoCipher into your WordPress site is easy, thanks to the dedicated VdoCipher plugin and APIs for additional automated customization. Here’s how to set the gears in motion:

Install the VdoCipher Plugin for WordPress:

• In your WordPress admin area, go to “Plugins” > “Add New”.
• Search for “VdoCipher” to install the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory.
• Click “Install Now” next to the VdoCipher plugin, and then “Activate”.

Get Your VdoCipher API Key:

• Sign up for a VdoCipher account if you don’t already have one.
• Once you’re logged in, go to the “Security & Config” > “API Keys” section.
• Copy your API secret key.

Configure the VdoCipher WordPress Plugin:

• Back in your WordPress admin area, go to “Plugins”> “VdoCipher” > “Settings”.
• Paste your VdoCipher API secret key into the “API Secret Key” field.
• Click “Save Changes”.

Upload Videos to VdoCipher:

• Go to your VdoCipher dashboard.
• Click “Upload Video” and choose the video file you want to upload.
• Once the video has finished processing, it will be assigned a unique video ID.

Embed Videos in WordPress:

• You can embed a video in a WordPress post or page by using the VdoCipher shortcode, which looks like this:
  VdoCipher Error: Video ID not found
  . Replace “your-video-id” with the unique ID of the video you uploaded.
• Alternatively, you can directly embed the video iframe by getting the code from the quick embed section of your video in VdoCipher’s dashboard. Just paste this code into the text editor of your WordPress page or post and that’s it.

Your video is now protected by VdoCipher’s DRM technology. If you encounter any issues, consult the VdoCipher documentation or contact their support team.

Essential Security & Player Features for WordPress Video Hosting

VdoCipher provides you with a complete solution for video hosting in WordPress whether it’s an eLearning company or a media and marketing business. These are some of the key features of the Vdocipher player-

1. DRM-encrypted video hosting

Vdocipher provides you DRM encrypted video hosting for WordPress which restricts any external downloader or plugin from downloading your content. We provide you with the highest security to restrict video piracy. We use Google Widevine and Apple Fairplay DRM, the same technology used by Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon. Now, all of you WordPress users can create a membership-based website and can hide all of your valuable content behind a paywall and VdoCipher will help you in securing your content.

2. WordPress plugin for easiest integration of video hosting-

Vdocipher provides you with a plugin for video hosting in WordPress which hardly takes 10 minutes and is very easy to integrate. These are the steps you need to follow to install the VdoCipher’s WordPress video hosting plugin-

1-  First of all you need to login to the VdoCipher dashboard. After signing up, you need to go to the configuration section where you will find the client’s secret key. You will need this key to authorize the plugin so that you can play your videos from your VdoCipher account.

2- Go to your WordPress dashboard. In the add plugin search for the VdoCipher plugin and install it.

3- Click on the link “Activate”. On the top of this page, you will see a message. “Click here to configure VdoCipher”.

4- Now enter the client secret key on the next page and for the ready status.

5- Now you can start adding the videos to your VdoCipher dashboard. Once the video is ready, you will find a video id as part of the video information.

Once you have configured the VdoCipher plugin with the Client Secret key, you are ready to start streaming your premium videos through your WordPress website.

3. Custom player for video hosting for WordPress

Player Themes– Everyone has his own requirement for player themes so that they can match the color of their website. All you have to do is go to the player theme page and select the theme you want. Also if you have any other theme requirements you can share your requirement with us and we will try to make that available for you.

If you want your every video to have a different theme then that is also possible. Now you can make each and every video different via shortcode by adding the vdo_theme attribute ( Read More)

Height and width- Other than themes you can also manage the height and width of the video player. You can do so by adding height and width attributes inside the shortcode. Here is an example of that-

Video Player- You can also choose between Flash and html5 player. Though we provide support for the Flash player, we suggest you use html5 video player because it has better compatibility and a better streaming experience across browsers.

4. Dynamic Watermark for WordPress-hosted videos

Our watermarking feature allows you to add text and images to your videos. We provide you the options of moving and static watermarking both. As we know that piracy is a serious problem and even after the downloading is prevented but screen capturing can be done so dynamic watermarking can be strong dissuasion to people who are sharing the recorded videos. You can add important details like user name, IP, email, etc which will help you as a security layer on your valuable content and in keeping your revenue safe.

To add a watermark on your videos you need to pass a JSON string as annotation code which will contain all the important information about the watermark.

This is a sample code for dynamic watermarking-

We also provide you with the feature to skip the watermark between two overlays. Here is a sample code for that-

If you don’t want to add a moving text you can also add a static watermark. We have a detailed blog about it. ( Read more on WordPress watermark sample and settings)

5. AWS server CDN video hosting included

We use Amazon AWS s3 for data storage for video hosting which is one of the world’s best service providers in this field. All the encryption process is done by Vdocipher. Raw files and encrypted files are kept separately and only encrypted data can be fetched by the URLs and used for online streaming. So whether you have one video or 100 videos VdoCipher takes care of all of them at the same time.

To stream your content online you need a content delivery network. We use Amazon Cloudfront as CDN which has its presence in the form of 100+ CDN server pops all over the world. We have an auto-scalable and an extensive setup with AWS, so any load is taken care of automatically. So finally the secure content is delivered via the CDN which is also secure by the authentication. So with the help of Amazon S3, Amazon’s CPU for transcoding, and CloudFront, we ensure that you can play your video in any region or device with the highest security. (Read More)

6. Dashboard to manage all videos on VdoCipher + WordPress- 

Vdocipher provides you with a very intuitive dashboard for video hosting for WordPress. There are so many features which are very useful for you.

• Folder management option to manage all your videos. You can create folders and subfolders to manage your videos on the VdoCipher dashboard.
• Through the VdoCipher dashboard, you can manage two different websites or projects.
• You can add multiple account managers and give them separate permission to manage your videos.
• We provide you with a detailed analytics section where you can check the number of views and other important analytics.
• Through the dashboard, you can add multi-lingual subtitles to your videos.
• You can also fetch your important data like video title, id, time, etc in CSV format through your dashboard.

So with all these easy-to-use and well-managed features, Vdocipher provides you with the best secure online video player for WordPress. Now you can easily set up an E-learning or Media or any other video platform and start selling your content online and we will make sure that your content is safe from piracy.

7. Secure offline SDK downloads

With VdoCipher Android SDK, you can securely download videos to your device’s local storage for offline playback. It includes APIs to download media files to local storage, fetch available downloads, and monitor download progress in your dashboard.

8. Multiple file format support

The file format of a video varies with the device and browser type. A video may perform at low quality on one device and at the same time, perform comparatively better on another device. To ensure the best possible video resolution on every device, the video file is converted into various formats.

9. OTP-based authentication

VdoCipher uses unique embed code on the basis of a short-lived access token, OTP to play videos. For every session, it ensures video authentication so that only authorized users access the premium content.

10. Geo-restrictions

Users can easily configure the IP and country restrictions via our API guide. There are times when we need to restrict content for some countries or regions for reasons like compliance or varying pricing models. You may even require to blacklist or whitelist specific countries.

11. Multi-level user access

Multi-level access is especially useful when there are different access levels based on the role within an organization. For instance, an administrator may have full control of the features while a contributor may only have access to video upload. VdoCipher has four levels of user access, viewer, uploader, editor, and OTP creator.

FAQs

What is WordPress secure video streaming?

Secure video streaming on WordPress refers to the process of safely delivering video content to your audience via your WordPress site, ensuring that the videos cannot be easily downloaded or pirated. This involves using various technologies and practices to encrypt the video content and securely transmit it over the internet.

Can I prevent video downloads and sharing with WordPress video streaming?

Yes, by employing secure video streaming solutions that include encryption and DRM (Digital Rights Management), you can significantly reduce unauthorized downloads and sharing with your WordPress video plugin. While no method is foolproof, these measures make it much harder for content to be pirated.

What is a DRM plugin?

A DRM plugin is a software add-on for a website or application that enables digital rights management capabilities. With added video hosting capabilities it can enable you to embed videos on wordpress. It helps in protecting digital content, such as videos, by encrypting the content and managing access through licensing.

How can I add DRM protection to my WordPress videos?

To add DRM protection, you can use a DRM service provider that integrates with WordPress, either through a plugin or an external video hosting platform like VdoCipher that supports DRM. These services will manage the encryption and license key distribution to ensure only authorized users can view the content.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post WordPress DRM Plugin for Secure Video Streaming appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

A few decades ago, plugging into a handheld device for unlimited access to entertainment was unimaginable. Yet, thanks to technological advancements, we have successfully embraced this as reality. Even in the old days, videos were the most enticing form of content when television was the only medium.

Now, with most people having unlimited access to information and entertainment in the form of videos, there is no looking back. Not only are videos a means to spend leisure time, but they’re also a great source of monetization for businesses in the current digital age.

Every good business wants to offer as much value as possible to its audience. Rightfully so, OTT has emerged as the best and the most convenient form of consuming content. With audiences being able to narrow down their genre choices and opt for flexible packages, multiple attributes have further increased the popularity of OTT frameworks.

In this blog apart from listing all these platforms, I’ll also list what content you get in these platforms and the subscription costs as well.

What is an OTT Platform?

An OTT platform or Over The Top platform is a media distribution method in which they deliver content through the internet. Viewers can access the movies, TV series, and other content of their choice on the respective website or application.

There also available on gaming consoles, tablets, and smart TVs in addition to smartphones, laptops, and computers. As long as viewers are paying for their subscription, they have access to plenty of video content categories of their choice.

Types of OTT platforms

Video streaming platforms – These platforms deliver video content over the internet without the need of satellite TV subscriptions or cable connections. Users access a variety of video content such as TV shows, movies, documentaries, and other popular video-on-demand content usually through subscription-based models. Examples include Disney+, Hulu, and Netflix.

Music streaming platforms – OTT music streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube Music allow users to stream songs, playlists, podcasts and other music content over the internet. It eliminates the need for digital downloads or traditional cassettes or CDs. Users listen to their favorite music with personalized playlists and recommendations.

Live TV streaming platforms – On live streaming OTT platforms, users watch live events as they happen. Examples include live news broadcasts, live football matches, entertainment events and more.

Gaming OTT platforms – There has been a significant increase in the number of social games and many OTT platforms have started embedding games on their platforms. Apart from entertainment content, users also get gaming fun at the same place. Netflix in 2021 introduced Netflix games for mobile viewers.

Top 26 Popular OTT Platforms In India

Hotstar 

Hotstar is one of the most famous Indian OTT Platforms. It is a combination of free, VIP, and premium membership. It provides you the access to all the channels owned by Star such as HBO, Star World, Star Plus, etc. Its recent partnership with Disny+ has increased its viewership. It has the largest library available with a lot of Indian TV shows, Movies, Web series, and Hotstar originals.

Subscription starts at-₹299/month

Zee5 

Zee5 is a video streaming platform for all the regions of India. This Indian OTT platform has content available in Hindi, Bengali, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu. It is specially designed for all the Indian audience. Zee5 provides you with movies, web series, and Tv shows, etc. It also has an offline downloading feature available in its app.

Subscription starts at- Rs 99 per month

Mx Player

Subscription starts at- Free

Voot

To compete with cable entertainment companies turned streaming services like Hotstar, Viacom 18 has introduced Voot to take the Indian OTT platform market head-on. When it comes to regional TV entertainment, Voot takes home the prize with Colors and all of its regional versions, along with other popular channels like MTV, Comedy Central, and even Nickelodeon for the little ones.

Subscription starts at- Rs 99 per month

Sonyliv 

Unlike the other OTT broadcasting platforms, SonyLIV operates independently as a combination of free and premium video streaming services. From offering unlimited access to movies, TV shows, special short films, kids-friendly content and so much more. It also has a special focus on live cricket streaming which is exclusively licensed to SonyLIV only for certain major series. It provides you with the top shows from the Sony Entertainment Network,. Although the service is free, but, if you want an ad-free Indian OTT platform experience then there is very reasonable amount you can pay and get the premium experience.

Subscription starts at-  Rs. 499. 2/year

Eros Now

Eros Now is a well-known Indian OTT platform in the Bollywood industry. Now it has started its own video streaming services with the same name. It has a large collection of Bollywood movies. It also has a very small collection of international movies but nothing worth mention of.

Subscription starts at-  ₹49/month

BigFlix

BigFlix is a Reliance initiative in the Indian OTT Platform. They wanted to be the Netflix of India but it didn’t turn out that way. Now with some changes, they are back in the industry with some great content. It has a unique feature available in its app. If you want to watch a movie for free you can collect bigflix coins by watching some clips and use it to watch the content you like on their html5 video player.

Subscription starts at-₹50/month

Alt Balaji 

ALTBalaji, a subsidiary of Balaji Telefilms, has one of the biggest variety of original content available. While other Indian ott platforms are focused on streaming famous content, AltBalaji a like a fresh breeze which is providing unconventional and fresh content. Some of its content is critically acclaimed as well. if you want to watch something new in your own language and that too at a very reasonable price, you should definitely subscribe AltBalaji.

Subscription starts at- Rs 43/month

Jio Tv

Jio video streaming services are very different from other broadband+entertainment providers. It doesn’t discriminate its users. It’s freely available for all the jio users. Here you will get a great combination of movies and shows and for this, you don’t have to pay anything extra. It is one of the best free Indian OTT Platforms

.Subscription starts at- Free for all Jio users

ShemarooMe

Shemaroo Entertainment has its own video streaming services, ShemarooMe, the Indian OTT platform. It can be accessed on the web and mobile devices both. With premium Bollywood content, they also have regional content like Gujarati, Marathi, and Punjabi, etc. If you want to enjoy some really classic Bollywood content then this is you stop.

Subscription starts at-129/month

Viu

Viu is a Hong Kong-based OTT platform. It is a mix of free and premium content. You can download or stream all the free content and view it any time without a subscription. It has a combination of Indian content and international content available for its viewers.

Subscription starts at- 129/month

Sun Nxt

Sun Nxt is regional video streaming service. It offers over 50,000 hours of live TV content, movies, originals, kid’s Content, music across 4 South Indian languages- Tamil, Telugu, Kannada & Malayalam.

Subscription starts at- Rs. 419.49/month

Vodafone Play

If you are looking for a one-stop solution with broadband and entertainment services then Vodafone play is what you need. With Vodafone Play You can watch around 400 Live TV channels, Bollywood, Hollywood, regional & international originals, movies, TV shows, web series, etc. It gives access to content from SonyLIV, ZEE5, ALT Balaji, Shemaroo Me, Sun NXT, Eros Now, Hungama & more.

Subscription starts at- Rs. 179(For Vodafone users)

Airtel Xstream

Another in this list Airtel Xstream. If you have airtel postpaid or V-Fiber broadband you can have access to unlimited Bollywood, Hollywood, and regional content. It’s a great combination of broadband connection and video streaming services.

Subscription starts at- Rs. 999 / year(For Airtel users)

Ullu

Ullu is one of the OTT Platforms that provides you a wide variety of Web Series and EXCLUSIVE Ullu Shows. It has a large variety of genres like drama, horror, comedy, etc.

Subscription starts at- Rs. 144/year

Arre

Arre is one of the OTT platforms in India that produces and publishes videos, audio series, web series, documentaries, text and doodles through its online channel. It was founded by former Network 18 and TV 18 executives B and has original content available.

Spull

If you are a fan of Punjabi content then you must try Spull. It has a rent based system for watching content. It’s specially designed for Bollywood lovers and has a great movie library for them. It also has an offline download feature so that you can watch the content on the go.

Subscription starts at- Rs 99/month

The Viral fever

TVFPlay is very different from other OTT platforms. If you want to watch something unconventional and want to have a premium experience then TVFPlay is your destination. TVF shows its original content and the content around the world they think people can be interested in. It’s a video streaming service that is specially designed for the young generation. The best part is this OTT platform is completely free.

Subscription starts at-  Free

Mubi

Mubi video streaming services, founded in 2007, provide you a unique and ever-rotating collection of movies. It is an online movie theatre that has a collection of some very exclusive handpicked movies. This platform can be accessed on the web, android devices, or ios devices.

Subscription starts at-  $10.99/month

Discovery+

If you have an interest in documentaries and animal world then you require the video streaming services of Discovery+. Discovery+ is one of those ott platforms that features TV shows, documentaries, and short videos. This platform also includes shows from popular TV channels such as Animal Planet, TLC, Discovery Science, and Discovery Turbo. If you have an interest in documentaries and animal world this is a place for you.

Subscription starts at- Rs. 299 /year

Winter Sun Tv

A product of Wintersun Studios Private Limited, WinterSunTV is an online video streaming OTT platform for short films, web series, documentaries, and music videos. It is not only a video streaming platform but also a film production, post-production, and distribution company.

YuppTV

If you want to watch your regional content even outside India then YuppTV is something you need. It provides content in Marathi, Malayalam, etc. Most of the video streaming services don’t cover the news channels which is the upside of YuppTV. YuppTV includes the collection of many TV channels, regional shows, and original YuppTV contents.

Subscription starts at-$10 /Month

Zenga TV

If you are looking to watch premium foreign content for free, then Zenga TV is something you are looking for. It has around 100 channels from all genres but the fallback is if you are looking for quality content that may not be available.

Subscription starts at- Free

Lyca Tv

LycaTv comes as a set-top box which is very easy to install. Just connect with your internet and its ready to use. It comes with pre-installed apps and Dolby audio. It also provides you with the may regional television networks like Star Vijay.

Subscription starts at- $6.99/month

Adda Times

Addatimes is one of those ott platforms which supports regional languages. It’s a very nice initiative to promote Bengali Cinema worldwide. It has its original content like web series and movies.

Subscription starts at- ₹299/Year

Most Popular OTT Platforms Globally

Top 25 Popular OTT Platforms in USA 

Netflix

Netflix is one of the most popular ott platforms. It has over 182 million subscribers from all over the world. Netflix is not only a distributor of the content but also created some of its very famous originals like BloodlineBojack, Horseman, Daredevil, Fuller House, etc. Netflix is very famous because of its high-quality streaming. It also provides offline downloads inside its app. One thing you’d have to note that how platforms like Netflix has come ahead in terms of securing their content from video piracy.

Subscription starts at- $8.99/month

HBO 

HBO NOW is a WarnerMedia product. They wanted to provide their customer with video streaming services that don’t require any television subscription. HBO NOW provides you with all the original content, movies, or series, HBO has ever made or making. Some of its very famous originals are Game of Thrones and Silicon Valley

Subscription starts at-  $14.99/month

YouTube Tv

YouTube Tv, one of the most popular OTT platforms, is Google product. It can be accessed on smart TVs, streaming boxes, computers, and mobile devices. It not only provides you over 70 television networks but also the original content produced by YouTube Red. YouTube TV’s more popular channels include AMC, Bravo, FX, and the USA.

Subscription starts at-  $11.99/month

Hulu

Hulu is very different from the other OTT platforms like Amazon and Netflix. If you want early access to the content which is going to be on air on the television network, Hulu is something you need. Hulu has over 30 million subscribers. Hulu provides basic services at a very reasonable cost and with the ad-supported model you can watch all the content Hulu provides.

Subscription starts at-  $11.99/month

Amazon Prime Video

Amazon Prime is one of those OTT platforms which were introduced as a direct competition to Netflix. We all can say it is one of our favorite video streaming services. Amazon has over 150 million subscribers. Amazon has tons of international content available. It provides you with so many amazing amazon original contents like The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Homecoming, Forever, etc.

Subscription starts at-  $12.99/month

Disney+

If you are a fan of beautiful animations, superheroes, fairytales, this is the platform you are gonna need. Unlike other OTT platforms, Disney+ provides you the content produced by Disney, Pixar, Star Wars, and Marvel. It also provides you the content produced by National geographic and 20th Century Fox. Its content is available in resolutions up to 4K Ultra HD in Dolby Vision and HDR10, with Dolby Atmos sound on supported devices. It also provides language support and subtitles in English, Spanish, French, and Dutch.

Subscription starts at-  $6.99/month

AppleTv+

Apple TV+  is a Video streaming services provider that is not only for video streaming but also can be used for listening to music, playing games, and using other apps on your Tv. As apple has everything unique, this product is also quite amazing for its users as it provides a one-stop solution for sign up and watch premium TV streaming services inside just one app, without having to switch from app to app on your device.

Subscription starts at-  $4.99/month

Crackle

If you don’t want to pay for video streaming services then Crackle is your thing. It works on an ad-supported model. Crackle has its original web series, movies which you can watch for free but you have to watch the ads while it playing. Owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment Company, Crackle provides you the new content every month. I say its almost impossible to complain about ads when you are getting for free.

Subscription starts at Free but contains ads

Sling

Sling is one of those OTT platforms which has something for everyone. This platform has both video streaming services- free and paid. It has more than 85000 movies and shows and costs you almost half the cost of the cable networks. With Sling, you have access to more than 50 live channels which includes CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News

Subscription starts at-  $30/month

ESPN

ESPN+ is a complement to existing ESPN content and very different from other OTT platforms. If you are a sports enthusiast then this is the place for you. It brings you the live programming from the ESPN television network that you can access on your mobile devices, desktop tablet, Xbox 360, Xbox One.

Subscription starts at-   $4.99/month

Starz

Previously been available in Amazon Prime Channels and Apple TV now has its own video streaming services named Starz. Its parent company Lionsgate is very exclusive about the content and only goes with a new show if they think it’s unique and a good fit. Starz also has offline downloads that help you watch the content anytime, anywhere.

Subscription starts at-  $8.99/month

Fubo

XUMO

Xumo is a free, video streaming service that primarily offers a selection of programming content through digital linear channels designed to emulate the experience of traditional television programming, and supported by revenue generated from video advertisements inserted into the service’s programming streams in designated conventional television-styled commercial breaks.

Subscription starts at-   Free

SHOWTIME

SHOWTIME streaming services are a subscription service that gives you commercial-free, on-demand access to SHOWTIME programming, as well as the live broadcast of the east and west coast, feeds of SHOWTIME.  The SHOWTIME streaming service is only accessible in the United States and its territories and possessions.

Subscription starts at-   $10.99/month

CBS

CBS All Access, American video streaming services owned and operated by CBS Interactive, a subsidiary of ViacomCBS. It offers original content, content newly aired on CBS’s broadcast properties, and content from CBS’s library. CBS was one of the earliest entrants in the streaming wars. The company launched All Access in October 2014 — way before than other ott platforms. The company’s streaming services have more than 11 million domestic subscribers.

Subscription starts at-   $4.99/month

MLB.Tv

MLB.TV is a standalone video streaming service different than other ott platforms, that lets you watch up to 80 out-of-market Major League Baseball games each week. This means you get to keep up with live games that you have no other way of accessing because they aren’t available in your local market or broadcast on national TV. But note that blackout restrictions apply, so you won’t have live access to nationally-broadcast or locally-broadcast games.

Subscription starts at-  $24.99/month

Crunchyroll

Crunchyroll is one of the most complete video streaming services. It has over 1,200 contents in its library. Unlike other ott platforms, it supports HD streams for both free and paid accounts, but you will need to opt for the premium tier to get rid of ads. The service does not support offline downloads, which is a major limitation.

Subscription starts at-  $7.99/month

PHILO

Philo is one of the affordable video streaming services that offer a good mix of live and on-demand content. For just $20 per month, you get 58 channels, including AMC, Animal Planet, BBC America, BET, Cooking Chanel, Comedy Central, Discovery Channel, Food Network, HGTV, SCI, and the Travel Channel. Philo focuses on entertainment and lifestyle content, so consumers who primarily want to watch news and sports should look elsewhere.

Subscription starts at-  $20/month

Charter 

When it is about entertainment, we all have different choices and preferences. Even family members living in the same house prefer different channels and entertainment material.  Crackle video streaming services provide customized entertainment package by subscribing to any package. You can watch the content on Charter TV Streaming app too with this package. You will like this plan, as it is quite flexible giving you the option to choose what you wan

Subscription starts at-   $4.99/month

Acorn

Acorn TV is different than other ott platforms that offer full episodes of the best British mystery, drama, comedy, and documentary TV shows. It is geo-blocked outside the US and Canada. If you want something different from the regular ott platforms, this is it.

Subscription starts at-  $1/month

Hallmark Movies Now

Hallmark Movies Now video streaming services offer family-friendly movies, documentaries, and short films. It is a subscription-based service that offers unlimited, commercial-free streaming of beloved Hallmark Hall of Fame movies, original movies, series & specials from Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and handpicked Hollywood favorites.

Subscription starts at-  $5.99/month

BritBox

If your priority is to watch BBC and ITV shows, then you should consider BritBox video streaming services, as it is a joint venture between those two companies. Popular shows on the service include Agatha Christie’s Poirot, Classic Doctor Who, Midsomer Murders, and Vera. Drama fans get Jonathan Creek, Prime Suspect, Shetland, and Wallander. BritBox also has comedies such as 8 out of 10 Cats, Rev., and The Office.

Subscription starts at-  $6.99/month

Funimation

Funimation is the best anime streaming service for fans of dubs. Funimation’s web site and mobile apps impressed us from a design standpoint. The service also supports offline downloads and allows you to customize closed captions. Funimation’s base plan supports two simultaneous streams, but higher tiers bump that limit up to five.

Subscription starts at-  $5.99/month

DirecTv Now

Ditching your cable provider is easier than ever thanks to the growing number of video streaming services that focus on live tvs, such as DirecTv Now. This cable-replacement service performs well and offers a ton of channel options, but its packages seem arbitrarily fragmented and are expensive relative to what you get.

Subscription starts at-  $40/month

PopcornFlix

Popcornflix is a free on-demand video platform that offers movies and TV episodes without the hassle of a monthly subscription. In exchange for the free content, Popcornflix inserts advertisements into the viewing experience. You do not have to sign up for an account with Popcornflix in order to enjoy the free content. That means there is no need to share personal information like a home address or a credit card number. However, Popcornflix does offer the ability to create a personalized account on their platform. On the phone app, you may be prompted to sign up for an account, but the option to skip the process is located in the top right corner of your screen.

Subscription starts at-   Free

How To Start Your Own OTT Streaming Services

The best way to capitalize on prospects and opportunities is to start your own OTT streaming services. But the task is easier said than done. So, grab the golden chance to pull more potential customers to your platform and reward yourself with generous ROI. Let’s take a look at how you can start your own OTT streaming services.

1. Choosing your Niche

With plenty of niches in the OTT business, they are almost always in demand. While it’s best to pick an evergreen niche, anything that you can provide value on is a brilliant choice. Some common examples include entertainment, fitness, sports, lifestyle, and e-learning.

But it’s important to keep in mind that before choosing your niche it’s important to conduct research for parameters like key market players, demand, supply, growth factors, and so on. Conducting a detailed competitor analysis will also help you understand the video streaming market and OTT business in depth.

If your business has a USP, that’s another plus point! It is also advisable to check out various subscription plans, pricing, and business models of your competitors. That will give you detailed insights into how you can set your own.

2. Building Content 

Even though it has become such a cliche, but content was, is, and will always remain the king. Every business owner who plans on having OTT streaming services of their own should make content a top priority. It should match user expectations and be relevant to what your niche promises.

If you start creating exclusive content available on your OTT platform, it will increase your user retention. Besides creating highly valuable content, your OTT streaming services should always show personalized content according to user preferences. If you just get relevant suggestions based on their likings and what kind of content they usually prefer to consume, they’re most likely to get hooked to your platform. You can also create regional content for better and localized targetting. The rule of thumb is that your content should always have high quality and should be interactive and engaging.

3. Narrow Down Your Target Audience

Once you are done with your content creation strategy, it’s time to target who can benefit from your videos. The ultimate goal of every business relying on an OTT streaming service is to offer a quality experience to users that serve the purpose they want to fulfill. For example, if it’s a mystery TV show, the target audience is going to be mystery lovers that have watched similar shows. If it’s fitness, sports fanatics, gym freaks, and yoga lovers would be your right target audience.

4. Know The Necessary OTT Streaming Functionalities and Attributes

If you trying to formulate a successful OTT business plan, here are the functionality and features both advance and basic you must consider.

• User Profile

Users should easily be able to create multiple profiles and easily manage segregating content according to their preferences. Virtual dashboards make obtaining key insights and having smooth navigation possible.

• Registration and Sign In

Users should easily be able to create verified accounts using their email, phone number, etc to access the content.

• Search

Very often, users just have something in their mind and they want to search for its availability. That’s where the search bar comes into the picture. It should also have a drop-down menu of multiple genres to further categorize the content.

• User Interface and User Experience

Two of the most crucial aspects of smooth streaming include UX and UI. That’s why all OTT platform owners should focus on delivery in the finest viewing experience to their target audience. Personalization is a cherry on the icing!

• Screen Mirroring

Screen mirroring is an important feature that enables users to access the video content of their choice on different screens and devices. Incorporating this will help expand your business by removing restrictions.

• Watch Lists

If someone isn’t able to watch a particular piece of content instantly, they can add it to the watch list and finish it later with the help of this feature.

• Video player, Creating and Managing Videos

Integrate reporting and analytics feature into the video player for better insights. There should be a clear video library and easy content management for glitch-free access for viewers and easy uploading and organization of content for creators. Robust analytics tools can help keep track of performance and engagement.

5. Creation of The OTT App and Website

Your app or website will handle support tickets and queries along with collecting payments. Having a website automatically increases customer trust to a manifold no matter what business it is. The same thing applies to OTT streaming services as well. Always remember that your website design should be responsive to maintaining a seamless user experience and cross-device uniformity. The same thing goes for an application. However, you might have to do some extra research to discover what kind of devices your audiences are using to access your application.

6. Finding the Right Secure Video Hosting Service

Finding the appropriate and secure video hosting solution is a crucial component of starting your own OTT platform. Professional video hosting enables OTT platforms to measure their success by tracking engagement and views. It also helps businesses with the effective and efficient delivery of video content.

A professional video hosting platform is always better than mainly uploading videos on blogs and websites since they’re specifically designed for streaming and hosting videos. In other words, they offer video editing options and features available exclusively with video hosting platform. Benefits include better search engine optimization, improved engagement, enhanced branding, higher control, and a rocketing ROI.

Some other striking benefits include:

• Variety of customizable options
• Integration with the social media networks of your choice
• Video CMS for a hassle-free organization and management of video content
• AES encryption
• Password protection
• Dynamic watermarking
• DRM

If you want all these features and a lot more under a single umbrella, take the no-strings-attached trial version of VdoCipher. 

6. Choose Your Business Model 

Using the right business model is crucial for streamlining the monetization of your videos. Let us take a look at the different business models for OTT platforms that will help you make an informed decision based on your business needs.

• Subscription Model

As long as users are paying a fixed amount for a set duration in the form of a subscription fee, they can access the offered content. Amazon Prime Videos, Hulu, Netflix, and other OTT giants work on this very business model.

• Transactional Model

The transactional model usually offers free sign-up but charges to allow access to content similar to pay per view. This model helps maximize short-term profits by holding a one-time payment and allowing users to download or own content.

• Advertisement Model

It’s a proven fact that advertisements are one of the most profitable income sources across the globe. Especially if you have a wide audience base, an advertisement business model can work well when your target audiences don’t really prefer to regularly pay for content.

• Hybrid Business Model

The Hybrid doesn’t model is a combination of subscription, advertisement, and transactional models. All-in-all, it caters to the interest of your potential customers and helps businesses increase their ROI.

Features to look for in a OTT platform

Content Library – An OTT platform’s value and viewership is primarily decided by the content library. It is the collection of varied content range, originals, licensed content, curated on the basis of genre, languages and preference. The more diverse the content library, the higher are the chances of viewer retention and coming back for fresh content.

User interface – The user experience directly impacts the viewership and viewing experience. It is pretty frustrating to navigate a poorly designed UI. A well-designed interface makes the platform more engaging and user-friendly. Some features to work on include easy navigation, consistency across devices, easy customizations, and accessibility.

Personalization – A user is highly satisfied with an ott platform where the content is relevant and interesting as per preference. Personalization involves algorithms that recommend content as per user’s viewing history, choices and other factors. The more personalized content is, higher are the chances of user retention.

Downloads for offline viewing – Offline downloads allow downloading content to watch later without an internet connection. It’s a useful feature for those having limited access to the internet or while traveling such as flight and long commutes.

Parental controls – Many OTT platforms offer mature content and parents want to restrict access to certain content for their children. Parental controls restricts children from viewing certain content and allows parents or guardians to monitor their children’s viewing habits.

Audio quality – A good audio quality makes the content immersive and improves the viewing experience. Even good quality video content with poor audio makes it distracting and forces the viewers to watch some other content. Also those having hearing impairments require high-quality audio support.

Social media integrations – Easy social media integrations help promote the platform as users turn to social media to engage, share their experience and discover new content. Social media integrations have several advantages such as increased engagement, increased chances of getting user-generated content, better discoverability, brand presence and enhanced reach and marketing.

Conclusion

The rise of OTT platforms is relatively new and by now it’s clear that the trend is not going to go away anytime soon. In fact, it might be one of those evergreen trends that last till the end of times. Due to their evolutionary nature, its important to keep updated with the necessary prerequisites of OTT platforms.

It’s no secret that businesses today don’t have a hard time branding if they know the do’s and don’ts. OTT platforms have emerged as one of the best ways to spread a message across whether it’s information, entertainment, or literally anything else. If you still haven’t tested the waters of this powerful way to increase brand recognition, gain new customers, and retain the loyal ones, what are you waiting for? Tick all the items on the checklist based on the above info and get started!

I hope you enjoyed this list of top OTT platforms in India and US. Let me know what’s your take on this list and what platforms do you use the most in the comment section down below. Feel free to share this list with your friends as well.

FAQs

What are the benefits of using an OTT platform?

Access to a wider range of content: OTT platforms offer a wider range of content than traditional television providers. This includes a greater selection of movies, TV shows, and other video content.

Flexibility: OTT platforms do not require a long-term commitment like traditional television providers. This means that you can cancel your subscription at any time without penalty.

Lower cost: OTT platforms typically cost less than traditional television providers. This is because there are no installation or equipment fees.

What are some of the most popular 18+ OTT platform in India?

Some of the most popular OTT platforms in India include Amazon Prime Video, Hotstar and Netflix.

How is the Market growth of OTT platforms in India?

In India, the OTT service economy market growth is expected at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 22.6% during the forecast period of 2020–2025. This growth is driven by factors like increased penetration of broadband and mobile Internet, the growing need for smartphones, and the availability of affordable data plans.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post 51+ Top OTT Platforms in India & USA (UPDATED 2024) appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

How to upload/import a video-

Once you have created your account on Vdocipher first thing you do is add a file on the Vdocipher dashboard. There are two methods of adding a file to the dashboard

1- Upload

Once you have logged in to the Vdocipher dashboard you will be able to see the upload tab. When you will click on the tab you will be able to choose a file from your desktop and upload it to the dashboard.

2- Import–

If you do not have videos on your desktop you can import the videos to the Vdocipher Dashboard. There are multiple options to import a video-

Import from Google Drive

Right next to the upload option there is an option of import. Once you click on the import you will be able to various options. From there you can choose the option of import from google drive. Once you will click on the option you will be redirected to your drive and can choose your video from there.

Import From Vimeo Pro or Higher Account

If you were a previous customer of Vimeo pro or higher account (business, premium), and you want to import your Vimeo account videos to VdoCipher videos; you can click on Import from Vimeo option. Once you will click on the option it will redirect you to our legacy dashboard. In the legacy dashboard, you will be able to see the import option. Once you click on it you will be able to see various options in the dropdown menu from where you can choose import from Vimeo option. It will redirect you to your Vimeo account from where you can directly import the files you want to add to the Vdocipher dashboard.
Please note that kindly do not use this legacy dashboard for any other purposes than import/upload. Embedding, video settings, API docs are to be accessed from the main VdoCipher dashboard.

Import from Dropbox

If you want to import a video from dropbox you can also do that. All you have to do is click on the import option and select import from the dropbox option. You will be redirected to your dropbox account. All you have to do is fill the details of your dropbox account and select the video you want to import from there.

Import from Video Url or Server

If you want to import a video from a  video URL or some server like amazon AWS server you can also do that. This process is similar to the process of importing a video from Vimeo. You need to click on the import option then select the option of import from Vimeo/Wistia/S3. Once you will click on this option a tab will pop up and it will redirect you to our old dashboard. Here you can see the option of “import from”, once you will click on it you will see a dropdown menu where you will see the option of import from S3. Once you will select this option it will take you to the S3 tool bucket where you have to fill the details and you can select the video you want to import from your server. 

How to edit  video settings

Once you have uploaded the video to the Vdocipher dashboard you can edit it according to your requirement. These are some options we provide you in Vdocipher dashboard-

1- Basic Settings

Once you have uploaded the video you will be able to see the edit option on the right corner of the video. Once you will click on it, it will redirect you to the basic editing options named settings. From here you can add video description, tags, change the poster image of the video.

2- Subtitles–

Right next to the settings options you will be able to see the subtitles option. Once you click on it you will be able to see the upload subtitles option. From here you can choose your language and upload your subtitles file. We support multiple language subtitles.

3- Replace a video

If you want to replace an old video with a new video you can use this feature. All you have to do is upload a new video then copy the video id of that video and click on the edit option of the video you want it to replace with this video. Then go to the swap ids option and paste the video id of the new video. This way without disturbing you embedding you can replace a new video with an old video.

4- Video File details

If you want to know all the details of the video like quality, storage, etc, all you need to do is go the edit option and then click on the files option. You will be able to see the complete details of the video.

5- Delete a video

If you want to delete a video then you have to click on the edit option of the video then scroll down to the page. There you will be able to see the delete option. You need to click on that option and then confirm your action and you will be able to delete the video.

How to embed a video

Video embedding is the most important process you do with the Vdocipher dashboard. There are various embedding options available according to your requirement. These are the methods you can use for video embedding-

1- Quick Embed

If you are using a third party LMS and want to embed your videos on that portal then this is the method you should use for embedding. You need to click on the embedding option given next to the video and then select the quick embed option. After that, you need to click on the generate code and then copy the iframe. You can embed this iframe with your LMS and your videos will be available on your portal.

2- Embedding with WordPress

Similarly for WordPress, you need to go the embed option and select the WordPress option. From here you can download the Vdocipher plugin for your WordPress website. In this section, you will also find all the WordPress embedding related details.

3- Embedding via API 

If you have a custom website and you want to integrate Vdocipher with your backend you can also do that. All you have to do is go the embed option and select the custom backend option. Here you will find all the details you will need regarding the integration.

4- Embedding with Android/iOS

If you want to integrate with your android app or iOS app you can also do that. Go to the embed option and the select android/iOS apps option. Here you will all the documentation regarding the app integration.

5- Embedding with Moodle 

If you want to integrate Vdocipher with your moodle website then a moodle filter plugin to add download-protected videos from Vdocipher inside any moodle content. This replaces shortcodes with the embedded video player. You shall get an API key and ids for each video from your Vdocipher dashboard. This can be used to embed your videos inside any moodle content such as a page or an activity.

How to manage Vdocipher Account

As an admin you need to know how to manage your account, what are the things you should be aware of and what are the precautions you should take. Here are some important account configurations you should know-

1- API Key Generation– 

To use Vdocipher on with your website or app, your server program needs to communicate with the Vdocipher server to allow a video to playback or upload video or get a list of videos matching a search. Your API keys are as important as your password.

To generate an API key you need to go the configuration section and there you will see the option generate an API key.

2- Multiple Users addition–

As you can not manage everything and you need to add other members on different roles you can also do that. These are some roles on which you can add your subordinates-

• OTP Creator is specially made to be used on your server where you will generate temporary tokens so that your logged-in users can watch their videos.
• Uploader permission allows uploading videos to your Vdocipher account.
• Editor is the highest permission and allows all video management and configuration changes other than adding or removing team members.

To add them you need to go to the configuration section and then from the top, you need to select the option of users. Here you can add the email ids and names of the users you want to add to the Vdocipher dashboard.

3- Webhook Creation

Webhooks typically are used to connect two different applications. When an event happens on the trigger application, it serializes data about that event and sends it to a webhook URL from the action application—the one you want to do something based on the data from the first application. To create a webhook in the Vdocipher dashboard you need to configuration option then select the webhook option from the top. Now you can paste the URL you want to add and create the webhook.

4- Account level URL restriction and Country restriction

If you want to add the countries, Ips, URLs you want to whitelist you can add them here. All you need to do is go to the configuration section and select the settings option from the top. Here you can add these details. You will also find the format you need to use to add these details here.

How to check the analytics

Earlier I have told you how to check the storage of a particular video. Here you can check the bandwidth consumed by your users. These are the two options to check your bandwidth-

1- Daily bandwidth Usage

In this option, you can check the consumed bandwidth of the last 20 days. To go to this option you need to select the analytics option from the left and you will be able to see the bandwidth report. 

2- Custom bandwidth Report

If you want to check the bandwidth from a particular date or between a particular time period you can also do that. Go to the analytics section then select the video usage option from the top. Now you can enter the dates and export the bandwidth data in the CSV format.

How to upgrade your account? 

1- Buy a plan

If you want to purchase a plan from the Vdocipher dashboard you can also do that. You need to go to the account section and you will be able to see different plans. You can choose a plan from there and can make the payment. As we do not save any card details so you need not worry about any automated payments.

2- Buy extra storage or bandwidth

 If you already have a plan and you want to purchase extra bandwidth or storage you can also do that. All you need to do is go to the account section and select the amount of bandwidth and storage you want to purchase and you can make the payment.

How to manage your videos( Folder management)

You can create folders in the  Vdocipher dashboard to manage your videos. You can also create subfolders inside the folders which will help you to manage your content. Folders are only to manage your files on the Vdocipher dashboard. They will not be visible on your website or app in the same format. Also once you delete a folder without deleting its files first, then the files will be available in the root folders. If you want to delete files and the folder both then you have to delete the files first then you can delete the folder.

These are all the important features of the Vdocipher dashboard. You will also find support tutorials, API overview, pricing page, and FAQs in the sidebar so if you need any help you can use them as well.

This was the complete guide for the Vdocipher dashboard. If you need any other information then you can always reach us at support@vdocipher.com.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post Navigate your way on VdoCipher dashboard appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Unforeseen disasters can sometimes unleash unthinkable situations. Today businesses, economies, nations, and human lives are reeling under coronavirus’ impact.  This pandemic has affected almost 300 million students around the globe. Shutdowns of educational institutions and schools have largely disturbed the education system. Most of the schools and colleges are carrying out online teaching in the time of lockdown. Online education businesses are registering a spike worldwide. It’s the new-age-education in the time of Corona. Nearly 600,000 students worldwide travel overseas for their higher education every year. With COVID 19 the prospect of that happening anytime soon is flat. Online teaching is their savior at this critical time.

Example – Most of the rural Indian households have no access to the internet and live streaming facilities. Lakhs of students across the country are totally off education suddenly due to the coronavirus lockdown. The traditional education system already faces a lack of faculty and online learning adaptation is not easy. India has about 3.5 million students in higher education and around 900 universities. Basic and secondary education also comprises a huge number of students. There has been no preparedness for an online system of education leading to a lot of communication gaps and confusion.

The need for Online Teaching

The orders of ‘Stay Home’ and social distancing has spared no one. Students can not go out because of this shutdown. India has the largest population in the world which presents huge prospects in the education sector. Schools, coaching, and institutions are using online teaching as their primary mode of classes. The teachers and instructors are gradually organizing online webinars and meetings. 

The demand for online teaching and learning has seen a sudden wave since the lockdown. This indicates the huge demand that is rising for online learning. Many countries have adopted online teaching as their primary mode of education. The online teaching method requires only a good internet connection and a computer or mobile as essentials. Also, students don’t need to travel from one place to another so the traveling time is zero. The retention power is also increased, as the students don’t feel tired due to traveling. Learning from home also provides a comfortable ambiance to focus as students can choose the right environment for themselves. Moreover, the importance of virtual learning is increasing as the academic year has been drastically interrupted due to Covid-19. 

Online teaching is bringing a lot on the learning table for all the students whether they are from preschool or from the graduate level. Several Online tech companies like Google Classroom, Blackboard, Zoom, and Microsoft Teams have played a very important role in the transformation. 

Indian e-learning story in Covid-19 times

Online teaching could be a logical solution to support this problem. The government of India has finally given a green signal to the Indian universities to conduct online examinations which previously was limited to foreign universities. Initially, the limit was 20% but now they can provide 100% course online. Educational universities and institutions like Amity International Group, DIT University, Dehradun, and many others have conducted their examination online and have embraced the scenario. The institutions are promoting the concept of online classrooms and providing the resources to all the students digitally. Many schools and colleges have shifted to online learning systems so that the study is not affected by this pandemic. 

Global e-learning 

Countries that are heavily affected by Covid-19 – USA, Brazil, Italy, other parts of Europe, South Asia have also seen massive adoption of online teaching methods. From Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google meets for live streaming to likes of
VdoCipher & Vimeo for recorded videos, all have seen a major boost.

Indian ed-tech startups on the rise

While many sectors are affected by pandemic but the online education industry is one of those few industries which are on its peak. A lot of innovations have been examined within the Indian EdTech industry to balance the dynamics of teachers and students from a conventional classroom to a virtual one. While these trends and innovations saw lower adoption in the pre-COVID-19 world, many existing off-the-shelf technology and innovation saw wide adoption in educational institutes recently, to ensure that the academic flow is not hindered. In classrooms the relation between a teacher and student was more in control of the teacher, virtual classrooms have turned the scenario now.  Smart classrooms are making teaching more transparent and equal for every student in a close to the real classroom-like experience.

All the competitive exams are on hold and students are utilizing this time to prepare for them. This has directly affected the education industry. Teachers can not teach in classes as coachings and schools are closed. Students have no option other than turning to their laptops and mobile phones. Ed-tech companies have seen exponential growth in the pandemic. Byju’s has started offering free content in pandemic and gained 7.5 million new users on its platform. Other companies like Unacademy, Vedantu, Toppr, etc have seen 3x growth at this time. Although this growth is not surprising, Afterall India has more than 1.5 billion students and they have nowhere to go at this time.

How Vdocipher is helping online teaching across Globe

We know that online teaching is going to be the new normal. Teachers nowadays are already trying to get a hold of the technology but that is not the only problem. Piracy is also one of the biggest problems teachers are facing nowadays. Vdocipher is providing with a video player that provides complete protection against downloading and secure your content. Vdocipher player can be easily integrated with any website or app or any third-party LMS. We not only concentrate on video protection but it’s also very important for us that your viewers have a great experience. We know that teachers are not as tech-savvy and they already are in the transition from Physical classrooms to the virtual classroom so we try to provide them as much support as we can.

Vdocipher is providing features like dynamic watermarking, download protection, screen recording prevention, etc.  Also, the dashboard is very user friendly and users can manage the content easily. You also, need not worry about all the hassle you will face while choosing the video host as vdocipher takes care of it as well. Once you have set up your website all you need to think about is online teaching and Vdocipher will take care of the security. We are now serving customers from 40+ countries with our product.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post Revolution of Online Teaching in Covid-19: A Pandemic Effect appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

In this article, we will discuss different types of video hosting servers and their advantages.

What is Video Server Hosting?

Online video server hosting is a platform that allows users to upload, share videos, or live stream their video to the Internet. These can either be for the general public to watch or particular users on a shared network.

Video server hosting is perhaps the most extravagant technological innovation of the 21st century. This is because it has seen the fastest adoption into the mainstream than any other technology in the domain.

This adoption has been fueled mainly by the ever-increasing number of smartphones and mobile devices that can access the internet. This is not just for organizations and businesses; it’s also useful for the average person as well.

Let’s have a look at the best video hosting server providers-

1. Amazon Web Services

AWS is one of the best platforms for a video server hosting to generate new revenue with the most efficiency and reduced business risk. Almost one million people including enterprises like Goldman Sachs, Coca-Cola, Johnson & Johnson, etc are using AWS as their cloud platform for data and video hosting.

AWS provides AWS DRM security & helps enterprises to become resourceful, innovative, and dynamic. AWS provides them with the fastest pace of innovation, a secure environment, and the best operational expertise.

If you’re thinking of launching a new website, you should be considering whether to build it yourself or to choose a ready-to-use, hosted service from a company like Vdocipher that utilizes AWS services. AWS Video on demand helps the users to consume media ( streaming, both live and on-demand) it also allows you to watch video content either by streaming or downloading.

AWS Video-on-demand (VOD) is a way of streaming videos to people delivering media to a variety of devices. Video on Demand on AWS offers the following solutions.

• It involves ingesting media files, which includes (pre-and post-processing), and helps in publishing stages of the workflow.
• With the help of Amazon CloudFront AWS VOD solution delivers video content compatible for playback on multiple devices
• AWS Video on Demand reduces storage costs by automatically archiving video inputs
• AWS VOD (Video on Demand) helps you to secure your video content.

AWS Video Streaming Pricing

For new customers, AWS offers a certain amount of free resources with one-year duration. Below resources are available limited to a maximum of:

• 5GB of free S3 storage in the Standard tier
• 2,000 PUT, POST, LIST, or COPY requests
• 20,000 GET requests
• 15GB of data transfer outside S3

Amazon S3’s video streaming price for a gigabyte of storage space in its US-East region is currently about $0.021-$0.023. For more information on AWS video streaming pricing please refer to the pricing page.

Let’s have a look at the services provided by AWS-

• Amazon Storage (Simple Storage Service or S3)

AWS service allows you to host videos on amazon s3 and create an on-demand (YouTube-like) library with videos stored on an AWS video storage. Amazon Simple Storage Service (Amazon S3) offers reliable, affordable, and fast data storage.

It facilitates an excellent AWS video storage facility for your video content. Amazon s3 video hosting comes with an infinitely scalable option, has built-in redundancy, and is available to you on a pay-as-you-go basis.

AWS offers a complete range of cloud storage services to support both application and archival compliance requirements. Select from the object, file, and block storage services as well as cloud data migration options to start designing the foundation of your cloud IT environment that is why companies like NetFlix, Dropcom, Kingcountry are using Amazon cloud storage services for video hosting.

• Amazon Elastic Transcoder (EC2)

Amazon Elastic Transcoder is a media transcoding in the cloud. It is designed to be a highly scalable, easy to use, and cost-effective way for developers and businesses to convert media files from their source format into versions that will playback on devices like smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Amazon elastic transcoder is very easy to use and provides seamless delivery and is very cost-effective.

• Amazon CloudFront CDN

If you want a fast content delivery network(CDN) that will securely deliver your data which can be videos, applications, and APIs to your customers all over the world with low abeyance, Amazon CloudFront will be the best choice for you. It has a very fast transfer speed and the environment is very developer-friendly. You can make your software available right at the edge where your users are, via the content delivery network with the highest security. Amazon CloudFront offers multiple options for streaming your media – both recorded files and live events. Amazon CloudFront is highly secure and programmable and has deep integration with AWS.

AWS Case Study with Netflix:

Amazon web services help online content provider Netflix to support seamless global service. This video hosting server enables Netflix to quickly deploy thousands of servers and terabytes of storage within minutes. Users can stream Netflix shows and movies from anywhere in the world, including on the web, on tablets, or mobile devices such as iPhones or android. With the support of the AWS video hosting server Netflix delivers billion of hours of content globally.

Key Advantages of AWS Hosting:

Here, are significant advantages of adopting AWS cloud services:

• Compute Cloud allows you to increase or decrease storage according to the need of your organization
• AWS enables you to select an operating system, programming language, the database of your choice.
• Broad & deep service offerings
• Robust partner ecosystem
• Trusted by high-profile customers
• High Transfer Stability
• Minimal information is lost during video hosting server and storage transfer
• Offers more data centers for availability and low latency
• Stronger support for Bl and analytics and DevOps
• Simpler licensing method

2. Microsoft Azure Cloud

Azure is an ever-expanding set of cloud computing services to help your organization meet its business challenges which give you the freedom to build, manage and deploy applications on a massive, global network using your preferred tools and frameworks.

As a cloud-based solution, Azure video hosting is flexible – you can back up your data in almost any language, on any OS, and from any location.

If you’re trying to find a platform for hosting, developing, or managing a web or mobile app, Azure provides the option of making apps autonomous and adaptive with features like AutoScale, patch management, and integration for on-premise apps.

Let’s have a look at the services provided by Microsoft Azure-

• Azure Content Delivery Network

This Content Delivery Network lets you reduce load times, save bandwidth, and speed responsiveness—whether you are developing or managing websites or mobile apps or encoding and distributing streaming media, gaming software, firmware updates, or IoT endpoints. 

• Azure Blob Storage

Azure blob storage is a very scalable, cost-effective cloud storage for your unstructured data. You can choose what you want to use and can only pay for those services. They have four storage tiers and you can select one of them depending upon how frequently you use your data.

Azure Case Study with Zone. tv: 

Zone. tv partnered with Microsoft for simplifying development with the machine learning power of Azure media services and video indexer. Zone. tv has the mission to make revolutionary changes in the distribution of personalized video content. With the help of Azure machine learning and video hosting server zone·tv customers now enjoy personalized video content that is engaging and reflective of their unique preferences.

Key Advantages of Azure:

Here, are some major advantages of using Azure cloud services:

• Capability for developers and users to create, maintain and deploy applications
• Fully scalable cloud computing platform offers open access across multiple languages, frameworks, and tools
• Total support for Microsoft legacy apps
• Greater awareness of enterprise needs
• Easy one-click migrations in many cases
• Conversion of on-prem licenses to the cloud
• Support for mixed Linux/Windows environments
• Offers inbuilt tool like Azure stack to help the organization deliver Azure service from its own data center
• It provides built-in security solutions that protect your data
  Azure cloud services are one of the cost-effective cloud platform options

3. Google Cloud

What is Google Cloud Platform?

Google Cloud is a highly reliable scalable cloud computing service that computes and stores data and helps developers build, test, and deploy apps.

Google Cloud’s security model, world-scale infrastructure, and unique capability to innovate will help keep your organization secure and compliant. Google launched the Google Cloud Platform in 2011. This cloud computing platform helps a business to grow and thrive. It also helps you to take advantage of Google’s infrastructure and provide them with services that are intelligent, secure, and highly flexible.

Statistics from market analytics firm Statista for the fourth quarter of 2020 show Google Cloud’s share of worldwide cloud-related revenue, among the eight leading cloud service providers.

Google Cloud also offers different options for networking, such as virtual private cloud, cloud CDN, cloud DNS, and other optional features, and also offers management of big data and the Internet of things (IoT) workloads. Cloud machine learning engine, cloud video intelligence, cloud speech API, Cloud Vision API, and others also utilize machine learning in Google cloud. Suffice to say there are numerous options inside Google Cloud, which is most often used by developers, as opposed to line-of-business company employees.

Advantages of Google Cloud Platform:

• Offers higher productivity gained through Quick Access to innovation
• Employees can work from Anywhere
• Future-Proof infrastructure
• It provides a serverless environment that allows you to connect cloud services with a large focus mainly on the microservices architecture.
• Offers Powerful Data Analytics
• Cost-efficiency due to long-term discounts
• Big Data and Machine Learning products
• Offers Instance and payment configuration

Case Study of Google Cloud with 17 Media:

Asia is one of the fastest-growing markets for live streaming. In Taiwan, 17 Media is at the spearhead of monetizing streaming and content sharing in the region through its application and social networking platform. The business invites users such as experts, celebrities, and artists to stream videos that viewers can share, access, and interact with in real time. Cloud video hosting server enables 17 Media to cache load-balanced content close to its users via Google’s edge points of presence, keeping content serving costs and delivery times low. 17 Media is a very popular application in Asia, particularly in Taiwan, Japan, and Hong Kong.

4. Akamai

What is Akamai hosting?

Akamai is a SaaS-based CDN hosting solution that permits operators to optimize their network for content delivery and launch their video streaming services with a CDN that is dedicated to their network.

Content providers will get a world-class streaming video hosting solution that can be implemented quickly with less up-front cost, enabling opportunities for revenue growth.

Akamai is one of the oldest CDNs and is generally considered to be the largest global CDN. They have video hosting servers everywhere’ and a wide range of products and services.

Though if you want to use Akamai hosting you can’t just sign up and start using it. You need to get in touch with a representative to set up your account. While you are unable to start using Akamai instantly, the process of signing up for the services that they provide is relatively straightforward and should be hassle-free.

Case Study of Akamai  with AfterBuzz TV: 

AfterBuzz TV is one of the world’s largest digital broadcast networks, dedicated to producing postgame “after-shows” for favorite TV shows. When fans finish watching episodes from their favorite series, they can tune into AfterBuzz TV to see and hear expert hosts break down that episode, engage fellow fans, and interview cast and crew from the series. The network produces up to 200 hours of weekly programming in both video and audio form, broadcasts in over 120 countries. Akamai video hosting server helps them deliver this content globally.

Advantages of using Akamai Hosting:

• A leader in the CDN market, which means that they typically offer the best performance
• Adaptive media delivery and download delivery
• Provides media acceleration products
• Video hosting server in well over 100 countries
• Media services and media analytics
• Advanced security features
• Cloud-based DNS
• Provide a better online experience by providing video libraries, streaming video to any device.
• With the availability of adaptive media delivery, you can easily scale your service to serve a wide audience
• It offers excellent video playback quality

Market Share between AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and Akamai

In many cases, there are video hosting providers like vdocipher.com who pre-package cloud servers and provide a ready-to-use dashboard, video player offering to make it easier for customers to use the services. 

FAQs

1. What are the advantages of video hosting services?

A video hosting service eases the process of hosting and eliminates the storage and bandwidth costs associated with self-hosting. Without much technical skills, you can just upload your video and copy the link or embed the code provided. Users will get Enhanced Video security to protect data and video analytics to track video performance and understand your audience better.

2. Why does video streaming requires a special type of hosting?

In order to stream your videos it requires more data storage and network bandwidth than a simple webpage with texts. With the number of more concurrent users, the server’s storage-access speed and network interface should be able to keep up with a steady flow.

A shared-server hosting plan or even on a virtual public server is not recommended. If you have a large amount of data to store, a dedicated server is recommended.
A hosting plan with large storage and bandwidth will help you to host your video.

Increased consumption of online video requires sophisticated technology to maintain. Video hosting solutions provide options to manage your video files in the cloud, easily organize the content.

Smita Singh

Digital Marketing | Writing

I read therefore I write.

The post Top 4 Video Hosting Servers: AWS, Google, Akamai, Azure Explained appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.