1. DRM vulnerabilities in past 1 year
2. Extracting video urls to play outside website/app or app clones
3. Illegal password sharing leading over-usage
4. Screen Capture in some platforms
5. Telegram promoting large scale piracy – Hacker friendly policies
6. Coordination between international hackers through anonymous forums

Problem 1 – DRM vulnerabilities in past 1 year

Widevine DRM has 2 security levels – L1 and L3. L1 is hardware based key exchange security , while L3 is software based key exchange security. While L1 based devices have been always full secure, L3 based devices on android and windows can face on and off vulnerabilities. The hacks which came out earlier were quite sophisticated and not many hackers were actually able to technically implement it. Over the time the hacks have improved, and though they still are technical, but with helps from international hacker communities, now each country has several groups of hackers who can implement these hacks to download DRM content.

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –
VdoCipher has launched a piracy tracker and hacker identification tool to auto-block advanced piracy tracking attempts including DRM breakage. Our years of experience has led us to know the common technical tools, patterns and device vulnerabilities which hackers tend to exploit, and we autoblock them. In addition to auto-blocking these attempts, we also provide a list of users who attempted these, so that if required further action can be taken against them. All this information is provided in the dashboard. Please contact us to implement this in your platform.

Results in past 6 months for our customers:

57,000 sessions blocked for potential piracy attempts
9,000 unique devices/IPs blocked for potential piracy attempts
780 users detected who misused their accounts sharing login/password with multiple users
590 customer websites/apps where these attempts were detected & auto-blocked
290 users’ accounts have been proactively blocked by our customers based on above data
7 users against which the customers have also initiated legal actions

More details on piracy tracker tool

Problem 2- Extracting video urls to play outside website/app or app clones

While DRM encryption can attempt to prevent illegal video downloads, but still if video urls can be fetched outside the platform site or app, and played outside by unauthorized users; then encryption is of no use. Sometimes, hackers can even make clone piracy apps of the main apps. 

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –
VdoCipher provides backend authenticated dynamic playback urls which are authorized to only play in the particular website or app where it is intended; any attempt to extract and play these urls outside the app/url is automatically blocked. Our API embeds also have other parameters to control access like number of days for access of offline downloads, time expiry for playback urls etc.

More details on API authentication at backend

Problem 3 – Illegal password sharing leading over-usage

Suppose there is prevention from illegal downloads, screen capture and url sharing, but still if someone shares access to login and password; then multiple users can enjoy the same subscription and cause revenue loss to the content creator.

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –
While there are few ways to do this at website/app login level, which can be done directly by the platform owners; if you integrate our apis, we provide a watchtime based calculation for per user per folder/per course so that you can see which users’ are over using. We also provide unique device/browser count for users and total watchtime across all videos per user. This information is provided in the dashboard.

Problem 4 – Screen Capture in some platforms

A lot of misinformation is spread by some video hosting or DRM companies who claim full screen capture protection in all browsers including Chrome, Firefox. It is technically not possible to prevent 100% screen capture in browsers like chrome, firefox in desktop and android. Other platforms claiming it are factually incorrect. Netflix and other major platforms are also unable to prevent screen capture in many cases in desktop.

VdoCipher Solution for this issue –
Screen capture can be prevented with 100% surety in Safari browser and mobile apps (android, ios) with help of DRM and some additional technologies. For other cases , we have a viewer specific watermark to discourage screen capture. The watermark is user specific and can be customised for color, transparency, speed of movement, frequency etc. to optimise for viewer experience and security.

More details on screen capture protection 
Demo of dynamic watermarking

Problem 5 – Telegram promoting large scale piracy with Hacker friendly policies

Any body can make a group (with anonymous identity) and directly upload videos or other content in the telegram group. The name of the group can be the name of the brand they are pirating content of, and it can be searched by people. Groups can have 20,000+ people who can get this content. Telegram has 3 core features/services which seem to have been created intentionally for these purposes. 

• Anonymity of the user is maintained regardless of any illegal activities they may be involved and the anonymity is still maintained even after being forced by govt. Authorities. Same user can create groups again and again , and keep pirating content. 
• Allowing searching groups by title, so that anyone in the world can search and join a group where illegal activities are being done (e.g Child Pornography , piracy of paid movies, courses, secretive messaging about illegal activities, child). Such things can not happen on whatsapp or most other chat apps.
• Intentionally poor response to takedown requests from copyright owners and allowing multiple groups to be made by the same person.

VdoCipher Solution for this –
Best action against piracy is pre-piracy action by implementing technical actions so that the content does not get leaked in the first place. DRM, Watermark, Piracy tracker, Backend Authentication – All these tools ensure that the content does not get downloaded in raw files and is prevented from going on telegram. Most of our customers, even the largest ones, never find their content leaked on telegram. There are various levels of security which a customer can use based on how much restriction they want to impose. But suppose, the customer decides to use fewer security features and there is some piracy which happens, VdoCipher helps in takedown of content/group from telegram.

Problem 6 – Coordination between international hackers through anonymous forums

Let us consider this situation –  A platform providing courses for finance students or medical students. Now these students do not have a coding background or enough technical knowledge to even attempt basic technical hacks. But what they do is share their access to advanced technical hackers; and surprisingly we have seen that these hackers may not even be in the same country as the students. There are telegram groups, users, online forums on various social media platforms enabling this interaction.

VdoCipher Solution for this –
Our piracy tracker solution also provides user id who attempted piracy, and our customers regularly take action against such users. When students come to know that they are being tracked and are reprimanded with legal notice, they fear in attempting such things; and also overall student community understands that their illegal actions can have consequences.

Please feel free to contact support@vdocipher.com for implementing these video security features with VdoCipher video player on your app and website.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Why is DRM not enough to protect video piracy? What additional measures are required? appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

A platform that allows users to access video content with their time preferences. Without any schedule, you can watch content anywhere from any device. Users will have complete control to pause, fast forward content.
Example: Netflix, Disney+ are a few of the top VOD platforms.

Video on demand (VoD) services is ushering in an era of convenience for the digital consumer. These are newer, sometimes much more affordable, alternatives to cable entertainment. Connectivity allows consumers to shift to VOD platforms, without sacrificing quality content.

Now, all eyes are on Asia as it’s predicted to be the main driver of growth in the VOD industry. Here’s a list of the best VoD platforms used among Asians.

Analysis of VOD Platform Market Trends

The Video-on-Demand (VOD) platform market in Asia is characterized by rapid growth and diversity. Key factors driving this growth include:

1. High Internet Penetration and Mobile Usage – Asia’s large and growing internet user base, coupled with high mobile device penetration, provides a fertile ground for VOD services.
2. Diverse Consumer Preferences – Asian audiences have varied content preferences, leading to a demand for a wide range of genres and languages. This diversity encourages VOD platforms to offer a mix of international, regional, and local content.
3. Rise of Local Players – Unlike Western markets dominated by global giants like Netflix and Amazon Prime, Asia sees strong competition from local players like iQiyi in China, Hotstar in India, and Iflix in Southeast Asia, which offer content tailored to local tastes.
4. Original Content Production – Following the global trend, Asian VOD platforms are increasingly investing in original content to differentiate themselves and attract subscribers.
5. Technological Innovation – Adoption of advanced technologies such as AI for personalized content recommendation and high-quality streaming capabilities (like 4K) is becoming a standard among Asian VOD services.
6. Regulatory Environment – The regulatory landscape in Asia varies significantly across countries, affecting the operation and content strategy of VOD platforms, particularly in terms of censorship and local content quotas.
7. Monetization Models – There’s a mix of monetization strategies in the Asian VOD market, including subscription-based models, ad-supported content, and pay-per-view options, catering to the varied economic capabilities of the audience.
8. Partnerships and Collaborations – Strategic partnerships between VOD platforms and telecom providers, content creators, and other tech firms are common, aimed at expanding content libraries and improving service delivery.
9. Challenges – Key challenges include content piracy, intense competition, and infrastructural limitations in certain regions.

Successful Content Strategies of VOD platforms

1. Local Content Creation – Platforms like Hotstar in India and iQiyi in China focus heavily on local content. For example, Hotstar streams popular Indian cricket leagues and iQiyi produces Chinese dramas, aligning with regional tastes.
2. Original Programming – Netflix and Amazon Prime have set a trend in producing original content. Netflix’s investment in original content reached $17 billion in 2020, leading to hits like “Stranger Things”.
3. Data-Driven Content Development – Platforms use viewer data to inform content creation. Netflix’s recommendation algorithm, for instance, plays a crucial role in retaining viewers by suggesting highly personalized content.
4. Diverse Genre Representation – Successful platforms offer a wide range of genres, from drama to reality shows, catering to diverse preferences.
5. International Expansion with Localized Content – Netflix’s strategy includes localizing content and interface for different regions, and producing local originals like “Sacred Games” in India and “Kingdom” in South Korea.
6. Partnerships for Content Acquisition – Collaborations with local and international studios help platforms like Amazon Prime and Hulu expand their content libraries.

Top Video-on-Demand Platforms from China

1. Youku Tudou

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, PC, Smart TV

Countries: China

The most populous nation in the world occupies almost half (47%) of Asia’s video on demand (VOD) market. Yet the Chinese don’t turn to global brands such as Netflix and YouTube. They stream on local websites, one of which is Youku Tudou.

Founded in September 2005, Youku Tudou started as China’s version of YouTube. E-commerce giant Alibaba acquired the company later on in 2016. It has seen tremendous growth since then, clocking in 500 million users monthly.

The video on-demand platform allows users to view, search, and share videos through many devices. It has a vast video library—from TV dramas, music videos, interviews, and the like. Like Netflix, it also offers a subscription service for its video content.

Pros – Extensive library of local content; user-friendly interface.
Cons – Limited international content; some issues with streaming quality.
User Review – “Popular for its wide variety of Chinese content, but some users report issues with buffering.”

2. Iqiyi

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, PC, Smart TV
Countries: China

Iqiyi is also one of China’s top video-on-demand platforms. Baidu, China’s largest search engine company, launched Iqiyi in April 2010. It is currently the largest VOD platform in terms of hours spent, nearly 6 billion hours per month. The video-on-demand website also amasses 500 million active users monthly.

Iqiyi offers a hybrid freemium and subscription model. Their users can watch videos free of charge, although these are not free of ads. Premium subscribers, on the other hand, have access to ad-free video streaming, as well as exclusive releases. The streaming site also established entertainment production companies to create their video content.

Users of the VOD platform also have access to graphic novels, online games, and merchandise from the company’s intellectual property.

Pros – Large selection of Chinese dramas and movies; high-quality original content.
Cons – Subscription required for premium content; ad-heavy in free version.
User Review – “Highly praised for its original series, but ads can be intrusive.”

3. Tencent Video

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: China

Tencent Video is also leading China’s video-on-demand pack. Tencent, the makers of messaging services WeChat and QQ, created this subscription service in April 2011. The VOD platform has 62.59 million paid subscribers as of February 2018. It also reached 137 million daily active users in the fourth quarter of 2017.

VOD streaming service attributes its massive success to its commitment to delivering high-quality content. Their self-commissioned programs consist of TV drama series, movies, variety shows, and more; which contributed to users watching more hours on the website. Its comprehensive library also contained exclusive HBO content—the only one in China—so subscribers can get caught up with well-beloved shows like Game of Thrones.

Pros – Exclusive content, including popular Chinese TV shows and movies.
Cons – Some content is region-locked; occasional app glitches.
User Review – “Appreciated for its exclusive content, but some international users face access issues.”

4. LeTV

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: China

Way before Netflix delivered the video on-demand experience, LeTV was first. Released in 2004, it is now one of the largest online companies in China, currently valued at US$6.43 billion.

LeTV provides an extensive library with over 100,000 TV episodes and 5,000 film titles. It specializes in film and television drama, both from local and international productions. The video on demand (VOD) platform offers free, ad-supported content, subscription options, and pay-per-view content.

Pros – Offers both Chinese and international content; good streaming quality.
Cons – Subscription model can be confusing; occasional server downtimes.
User Review – “Good mix of content but some complaints about customer service.”

Top Video-on-Demand Platforms from Southeast Asia

5. iflix

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives

More Asian VOD platforms, particularly in Southeast Asia, are getting a hold of the emerging middle-class population. Like Iflix: it prides itself on delivering high-quality content in developing markets. This approach gained them 15 million subscribers since it started in 2015.

Iflix has a vast library of local and international entertainment available for streaming and downloading. It uses a localized model not only for content, as they adapt their payment options depending on the country. Philippine users, for example, can pay through prepaid data instead of using a credit card service. It also lets you watch videos on demand for one low monthly fee, along with 30 days of unlimited VIP access.

Pros – Strong selection of local and Hollywood content; affordable pricing.
Cons – Limited availability in regions outside Southeast Asia.
User Review – “Known for its affordability and local content, but has a smaller library compared to global giants.”

6. HOOQ

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: India, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand

Entertainment companies Sony Pictures Entertainment and WarnerMedia, and Singaporean telecom Singtel released the video on-demand service in 2016. It is the market leader in highly-populated Indonesia, amassing 20% active app users in the country.

Aside from a proportional yet vast amount of local and foreign releases, what makes HOOQ stand out is its “sachet pricing”. It will be the first to launch daily pricing options for as low as US$0.25. The VOD platform also offers a freemium, ad-free option for its subscribers. Customers can watch the first episode of all TV series for free.

Pros – Good selection of local and international shows and movies; affordable.
Cons – Discontinued service in 2020.
User Review – “Was popular in Southeast Asia for its range and price, but ceased operations.”

7. Viu

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand

With the recent global interest in Korean culture, one must surf through the K-waves: and Viu offers that. Hong Kong telecom PCCW released the service in October 2015. Since then, it has gained 16 million monthly active users as of April 2018.

The VOD platform is a treasure trove of Kdramas, as well as other original Asian content. Episodes first released on cable TV are uploaded hours after the telecast, complete with accurate subtitles. You can use the video on-demand service for free, although these are ad-supported. Premium subscribers, on the other hand, get extra features such as watching in HD.

Pros – Excellent source for Korean dramas; timely updates.
Cons – Limited content variety outside of Korean shows.
User Review – “Highly recommended for K-drama fans, though some desire more diverse content.”

8. Viki

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Android, Apple, Amazon Fire, Roku)
Countries: Worldwide (based in San Francisco, Singapore, Tokyo, and Seoul)

Viki is a video on demand website founded in Singapore in 2007. Rakuten Group of Companies acquired Viki three years after, joining big tech giants such as Viber and Lyft. Following the deal, the service garnered 35 million monthly active users.

The service differentiates itself from making the Asian experience global and communal. Although users can access it from anywhere in the world, its library is primarily Asian. Unlike most streaming services that are more for solitary binging, the VOD platform emphasizes the fan experience. Viki users can create “fan collections”, also building communities by allowing fans to interact with each other through timed comments. Plus, they have a LEARN mode that allows users to pick up the languages of the content they’re watching.

Pros – Wide variety of international content; community-subtitled shows.
Cons – Some content is region-locked; ads in free version.
User Review – “Fans enjoy the community features and content variety but dislike the ads and region restrictions.”

9. Catchplay

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Apple TV, Chromecast)
Countries: Indonesia, Singapore, Taiwan

Launched in early 2013, Catchplay is an over-the-top (OTT) streaming company based in Taiwan. Its VOD platform reached around one million subscribers, making it one of the most popular digital movie channels in Taiwan.

Users can access Catchplay through transactional and subscription videos on demand. Aside from having an unlimited-use film library that provides detailed browsing information, Catchplay has a rental service for newer movies. It also allows easy-switching of viewing devices without interruption. Users can watch for free, while premium subscribers can pay US$9.50 monthly.

Pros – Strong library of movies; user-friendly interface.
Cons – Limited selection of TV shows; mainly focused on movies.
User Review – “Movie lovers appreciate its collection, but some desire more TV series.”

10. OONA

Platforms: iOS, Android
Countries: Indonesia

OONA is an advertising-centered VOD platform created in 2017, allowing users to watch TV for free. Its recent partnership with communications giant Telkom Indonesia allows 185 million Indonesians to have subscription-less content.

OONA tags itself as the “YouTube of TV”. It’s free, with no subscription nor data needed. Viewers can watch their favorite show when they want, how they want, without commitments. One of its unique selling points is a virtual currency called coins, which can be redeemed for Telcom Indonesian products and other goods.

Pros – Free to use; includes a unique virtual currency system.
Cons – Limited content selection; primarily Indonesian content.
User Review – “Appreciated for being free, but with a limited and niche content library.”

Top Video-on-Demand Platforms from India

11. Hotstar

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Apple TV)
Countries: India

A significant chunk of the Asian video on demand market in India, in which streaming users ballooned to 49.8 million in 2018. One of the huge players in the Indian VOD scene is Hotstar. Their humongous success is evident in the first 40 days of its launch, as they have amassed 10 million app downloads.
Hotstar is a VOD platform that offers live video streaming, hence the record-breaking number of users in the app. This allows the users to watch live sports such as cricket, the Premier League, and Formula 1 with ease.

It also provides Bollywood content, alongside American shows and blockbusters. Users have the option to browse a huge amount of ad-supported content for free or choose premium membership plans which are monthly recurring.

Pros – Extensive range of Indian content; includes live sports streaming.
Cons – Streaming quality can vary; geo-restrictions outside India.
User Review – “Highly popular in India, especially for cricket streaming, but users outside India face access issues”

12. Eros Now

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Apple TV, Android TV, Roku, Google Chromecast)
Countries: Worldwide (based in India)

Probably one of the oldest in this list, Eros Now is India’s go-to VOD platform ever since August 2004. It prides itself in having the widest range of music and movies in several Indian languages. Currently, they have 100 million registered users and 7.9 million paying subscribers.

While local competitor Hotstar specializes in sports, Eros Now is a gold mine for music videos. Alongside these MVs was the vast content of Bollywood movies (over 10,000!), letting anyone from the world access Indian entertainment. The service has the basic option which allows you to watch unlimited music videos, music, movie trailers, and shorts for free. Premium users, on the other hand, have the access to unlimited movies and TV shows and more video on demand.

Pros – Vast Bollywood content library; includes music videos.
Cons – Occasional streaming issues; user interface can be improved.
User Review – “Bollywood fans love the content selection, though some report technical glitches.”

13. Voot

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: India

Voot is the video on demand arm of Indian channel Viacom 18. Coming from one of India’s largest growing media networks, it aims to deliver fresh content. It has 32 million active monthly users, spending an average of 50 minutes per day.

Users can search from Voot’s library containing 45,000 hours, which includes TV shows, films, cartoons, and originals from MTV, Nickelodeon, and more. The best part of this VOD platform? It’s free.

Pros – Wide range of Indian content; includes shows from Viacom 18.
Cons – Ad-supported; some content only available in India.
User Review – “Popular for Indian TV shows and movies, but ads can be a downside.”

Top Video-on-Demand Platforms from South Korea

14. Watcha Play

Platforms: Web
Countries: South Korea

Watcha Play is a subscription VOD platform that rolled out last January 2016. It has been gaining traction in the Korean video on demand market, having 640,000 subscribers so far.

Dubbed as the “Korean Netflix”, Watcha Play’s fee is cheaper than Netflix’s charge, despite giving the same amount of local and foreign content. The movies are collated from Watcha, a “machine-learning-driven personalized content recommendation service”. This allows their users to get the best recommendations on what they’ll watch.

Pros – Curated content; personalized recommendations.
Cons – Focused mainly on Korean content; limited international titles.
User Review – “Praised for its curated Korean content, but those looking for more international variety might be disappointed.”

15. Tving

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android
Countries: South Korea

One of Korea’s video on demand pioneers, Tving continues to provide high-quality streaming services. CJ E&M, a Korean entertainment company, acquired it in 2016. Since then, it has had 7 million subscribers and 8 million app downloaders.

Tving offers not only CJ E&M content, but they’re also expanding to providing clips from other networks. The VOD platform is aiming to give unlimited movie screenings and live professional baseball games in the future. Recently it launched its global counterpart, Global Tving, where people all over the world can watch content in real-time.

Pros – Diverse range of Korean content; offers live TV streaming.
Cons – Primarily focused on Korean audience; limited international reach.
User Review – “Appreciated for its comprehensive Korean content but less known globally.”

16. Pooq

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Google TV, Samsung TV, LG Smart TV, Chromecast)
Countries: South Korea

Pooq is a Korean VOD platform established in 2012. It is the joint venture of KBS, MBC, and SBS, three of Korea’s biggest broadcasting companies. As of October 2017, it has 3 million registered users, making it Korea’s #1 OTT online video player.

Pooq delivers real-time streaming from 64 different channels. It also has a library of 6,000 movies and TV series, including content from BBC and Cartoon Network.

Pros – Offers content from major Korean broadcasters; live streaming options.
Cons – Limited to Korean content; may require a Korean IP for access.
User Review – “Valued for local content and live TV, but accessibility is an issue for international users.”

Other Video-on-Demand Platforms

17. dTV

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV
Countries: Japan

Although Japan’s video on demand market is relatively new, forecasts say that it will grow to US$2.4 billion in 2022. dTV is Japan’s market leader, occupying a 20.3% share among other VOD sites. It is a joint venture with entertainment company Avex Broadcasting and Communications, and mobile operator NTT Docomo. Estimates say the ott broadcasting iservice has more than 4.51 million subscribers.

dTv delivers 120,000 titles from different genres, from 13 channels. Subscription and movie rental services are offered, and these are charged by title and format.

Pros – Wide range of Japanese content; affordable subscription.
Cons – Content mostly in Japanese; limited global availability.
User Review – “Popular in Japan for local content, less known outside.”

18. Crunchyroll

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TV (Chromecast, Apple TV), Windows 10, and game consoles
Countries: Worldwide (based on the USA)

Crunchyroll is the largest streaming service focused on Japanese animation (anime) and East Asian content. Starting in May 2006, it grew into 35 million community members worldwide.

The VOD platform provides over 900 anime shows and 200 dramas, including fan favorites such as Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist. Free users can access a small library of content, along with the advertisements. A 14-day free trial is also an option for new users.

Pros – Extensive library of anime; available globally.
Cons – Ads in the free version; some region-locked content.
User Review – “Highly popular among anime fans worldwide, though some complain about the ad-supported model.”

19. Amazon Prime Video

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TVs, Windows 10, set-top boxes, and game consoles
Countries: Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam

Of course, the mainstream Western services will eventually find their way into Asia. Amazon Prime Video launched its VOD platform in 11 Asian countries last 2016. It is the streaming platform of the biggest e-commerce website in the world, containing critically-acclaimed shows like Transparent, and Mozart in the Jungle.

Customers can try out free for seven days, as well as sign up for the service at US$2.99 for the first six months. Subscribers are also given a Twitch Prime membership, granting them exclusive content on the said gaming platform.

Pros – Diverse content library; includes Amazon Originals.
Cons – Some content is region-specific; interface could be more user-friendly.
User Review – “Praised for original content and movie selection, but some find the interface less intuitive.”

20. Netflix

Platforms: Web, iOS, Android, Smart TVs, Windows 10, set-top boxes, and game consoles
Countries: Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam

Netflix is one of the most popular and the best video on-demand apps. Netflix changed the face of video on demand by providing binge-able original content. Its global expansion in 2016 cemented itself as an entertainment powerhouse.

The quality didn’t change, as Asians can chill to shows such as Stranger Things, Westworld, and Narcos, among many others. Premium users can create different profiles for every person using Netflix, allowing it to give recommended content for each.

Interested to learn more about how Netflix got started? Here’s a blog covering history of Netflix to help you know how the company got founded and challenges it had to go through before becoming one of the streaming giants.

Pros – Large, diverse content library; strong original programming.
Cons – Subscription cost; content varies by region.
User Review – “Widely popular for its range and originals, though some users are concerned about rising costs.”

How To Build Your Own Video On Demand Platform?

The video on demand industry is projected to grow at a rate of 3.6% by 2024. It is a good opportunity for content creators to create content and build their video on demand websites. 

Content: To get started, plan your type of content for the audience. Content can be of any industry like entertainment, sports, education, etc.

Video Monetization: You can explore various monetization platforms. In advertisements, you can show other companies ads on your platform. With a subscription model similar to Netflix you can charge on a monthly basis for content access. In the Pay-Per-View model, charges are applied on watching a specific video like conferences, events, or shows. Choosing the absolute right monetization model based on your audience, type of content and revenue goals is must for creating a successful video monetization platform.

VOD Streaming Requirements: 

• Make sure to have a good internet connection to stream high-quality videos. 
• Select a good hosting solution and CDN that offers quick video access. 
• A Video streaming service should have robust security for authorized content access. Security features like DRM, Watermark, Restricted Domains can safeguard your content. 

Vdocipher offers a content management system to host your video content with advanced features like DRM encryption, Unlimited Video Storage, Video Analytics, Smart HTML5 Player.

VOD Platform

Despite hundreds of VOD streaming platforms at their disposal, most Asians prefer to copy pirated content.You can also check out our top vod streaming services for Video Hosting. If you are looking to launch a VOD platform with the highest video piracy protection, have a 30 day free trial at VdoCipher. 

FAQs

What are the best Indian VOD platforms?

Some of the best Indian VOD platforms include Hotstar, Voot, and Eros Now.

What are the Key Features to Look for in a VOD Platform?

There are several features to consider in VOD such as a well-built Video Content Management System, Customizable, Device Compatibility, Video monetization, and Security.

Why is Video on demand Important?

Video has become the most sought-after way of consuming content. VOD gives the users flexibility and functionality to watch content at their own pace where users can pause, rewind and fast forward the content. For content creators, the platform provides a great opportunity to showcase their talent.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Top 20 Online Video-On-Demand (VOD) Platforms in Asia [2023] 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.

The ones being successful the most are the ones focusing on their audience. Be it good content or even a good user experience. After all great content won’t amount to anything if the user can’t access the content seamlessly. This is why several video platforms opt for third-party solutions to take care of their video infrastructure. So that they can do what they are best at, creating and monetising content! Just because you don’t have a dedicated tech team, doesn’t mean that you should lag behind your bigger competitor.

But choosing the right online video platform that caters to your needs can be quite confusing. This is why in this blog I’d be exploring online video platforms in much detail.

• I’ll go on to explore what exactly an online video platform is and what problem it really solves.
• What features should you look for in online video platforms?
• And then lastly I’ll go over all the major platforms you should look out for.
• And what are the pros and cons of using that platform? 

So, let’s start by answering a simple question!

What Is An Online Video Platform?

Online video platforms are basically a platform that allows you to upload and share your content online with your audience. It takes care of all the infrastructure that is required to stream your videos online. This infrastructure includes stuff like video hosting,  video player, Embedding in your website and apps,  and other features such as CDN for smooth content delivery, APIs for managing your videos  and in some cases video protection.

These platforms make your life easier, by allowing you to focus on content, while they work on the technical aspect of video playback. If you are a small to medium business, chances are that you wouldn’t have a team dedicated to developing your own infrastructure. A lot of time and effort goes into building one from scratch, and even more, the effort is required to maintain one to work smoothly. 

Online video platforms enable you to easily manage your videos. You can upload several videos through the APIs. The platforms take care of transcoding your videos to all the relevant formats in accordance with the different browsers, also the different quality of videos, so that users get seamless access to the content regardless of their network. Also, with a customizable player, you can change it to look however you want. 

How using a free platform like youtube can be hurting your business?

Everybody knows about YouTube, this is the first go-to platform when it comes to consuming video content. A lot of YouTubers end up generating enough revenue from it. At times several businesses also use it for hosting your videos. 

But, If you’re looking to generate revenue from your videos. It might be not the best platform for you. I’ll cover this in detail:

Video Security is not that great

Videos hosted on YouTube aren’t exactly secure. Even if you kept them private they can easily be downloaded by using a tool.

Youtube brand is always on the  Player

The HTML5 video player that YouTube provides isn’t exactly customizable. You’d have to compromise your branding part with it. 

Ads and Suggestions Might Distract Users. 

Youtube videos tend to have ads, and this can be really distracting as a user. Especially when you’ve paid for premium content.

At the end of a video, the player often shows different suggestions for videos. Users often tend to click it. Next thing you know that your user has left your video/website altogether. 

Why would you need a professional online video platform?

Now, coming on to the real question, why would you need a professional video platform over a free one. In the previous section, I’ve already mentioned how using a platform like Youtube can hurt you. Here I’ll further explain how private video hosting can solve the problems

There are several reasons, why opting for an online video platform, can boost user experience and restrict any unauthorized use of your videos. These are:

• Much better DRM based video protection to secure your content
• Improved Customization of video players and all the related features.
• With user insights, you can track every user and see how they consume content.
• You can choose a monetization model based on your requirements. Be it SVOD, TVOD, AVOD
• Better Website/App engagement as your users won’t be distracted by any ads or suggestions.
• Can help you boost your revenue, by protecting piracy, using CTA to drive user actions.

Now that we’ve covered all the basics, let’s move on to our main agenda. At present, there are several blogs that’ll come up when you google ‘online video platform’. 

“With so many blogs, pitching something different, it can get quite confusing what to choose. This is why I signed up to all these platforms, used them for about a week or so. I have explored all these platforms myself extensively, to figure out what their major features are. Also, what are the pros and cons of using these platforms? “

Top Online Video Platform Comparison based on Trials

Here are some of the best online video platforms available right now. Disclaimer – The analyses of all platforms are based on free trial, the available public documentation, and the feature list. 

1. VdoCipher
2. Wistia
3. Panopto
4. Brightcove
5. Vimeo
6. Dailymotion

VdoCipher

VdoCipher helps e-learning and media platforms to play videos on their website/app in the most secure and smooth manner. VdoCipher video platform has a focus on the protection of revenues against video piracy. A combination of Hollywood standard DRM encryption (Digital Rights Management), screen capture blocking in mobile apps, viewer-specific dynamic watermarking and domain restriction feature ensures that videos can’t be downloaded or shared illegally from their video platform.

Platform owners can use VdoCipher on their own website or app by embedding VdoCipher hosted videos. The complete packaged offering includes Global CDN server hosting,  Smart video player, Analytics, Dashboard, and APIs to manage videos.

Uploading & Embedding

1. Upload from computer. Import from Drive/Dropbox/Server/FTP/Video URL/Vimeo.
2. Embed module showing various integration options. (Iframe, WordPress/Moodle Plugin, API, SDK). Docs & Tutorials included for each method
3. Folder & tags for bulk video management.
4. Change video thumbnail, add multi-lingual subtitles, check video formats & sizes.
5. Multi-user access to dashboard with restrictions.

Video Security/Video DRM
This is the unique differentiator of VdoCipher.
1. They have Google Widevine DRM integration for desktop/laptops and android, and optional Fairplay DRM integration for paid accounts. These are same DRM encryption technologies that are used by large Video platforms like Netflix, Hotstar etc.
2. They have user-based dynamic watermark to discourage screen capture in website and option to totally block screen capture in mobile apps.
3. Other key security features include domain restriction, geo-restriction (based on country) and API authentication.

Video Player

1. Html5 adaptive multi-quality playback (switches quality as per internet speed of viewer, user can also choose). Responsive in size.
2. Speed change, Forward/rewind 15 sec, Multi-lingual subtitles.
3. Option to remove any controls from player (e.g no speed change).
4. Option to add buttons/forms/quizzes/CTAs with player APIs.  (but not directly via drag and drop on dashboard)
5. Offline player option for android app integration.
More on VdoCipher player

Video Analytics

VdoCipher provide basic video analytics comprising –
1. Bandwidth, Storage consumed on daily basis. Bandwidth/Storage per video data.
2. No. of views, watch % of any video or cumulative of all videos across any date range.
3. Popular browser/device/countries distribution.
Thus, the analytics provides all the main required functionalities but is not as detailed as someone like Wistia who specializes in Analytics features.

(Image from VdoCipher analytics dashboard for a sample client)

Wistia 

Wistia has a focus on video marketing. Their online video platform makes it easy to engage with their audience. It is a popular platform, widely used by brands to promote and host their marketing videos. 

You can use their platform to deliver high-quality video playback. Their player is pretty customizable. You can upload your logo, customize controls and change the overall look of your player to match your brand. On top of it you get access to their interactive video tool, which you can use to drive customer engagement, using CTA, quizzes etc.

Uploading and Embedding:

The process from signing up to uploading the video is pretty smooth and intuitive. All you need to do is click on the create button and it takes you to the project where you can easily upload the video. 

The embedding process is pretty simple too. It automatically generates an embed code, which you can just copy and paste easily on your page and your video should be good to go. In terms of options, you get to adjust the video size, you can even make it responsive if your users are on different devices. You can also choose the embed type, by default it is Javascript embed code but you can even choose iframe embed code as well.

You also get to embed your video in a different way, one is inline which is when a video plays in it’s container. With popup, the video comes out. You can even generate email campaign links which you can add on email. Plus you can publish it to social and create a share link as well.

Video Privacy/Security:

In terms of the privacy setting, you can make the video private and choose to select which users to give access to and what amount of access you want to give. But Wistia doesn’t have any encryption, dynamic authentication, and watermarking feature; making it prone to video download piracy. thus Wistia videos are easily downloadable.

Video Player:

You also get the option to customize your video player. You can change the appearance of the player. You can choose to make the player according to the theme. You also get basic features like adding a thumbnail, adding transcripts. Control how the video plays, as in you can choose if it autoplay or you want to put it in a loop. You can also add CTA in order to drive a customer action or even add annotation links.

Video Analytics

In terms of video analytics, it gives you data on what is the average engagement rate, total playtime, and also it gives you a heatmap for the video. Wistia is a good platform considering detailed analytics and is a recommended choice for marketers. 

Panopto

Panopto is an online video platform with a focus on elearning businesses and universities. Their platform is being widely used by businesses to share internal videos with their team to capture demos, training, and presentation. Universities use Panopto for capturing lectures and managing their videos. 

Video Uploading and Embedding: 

The effort to upload your first video was minimal. You can easily upload the video and create embed for videos. One downside in embedding videos was that it only gave the option of an iframe embed. The iframe is not widely supported in all browsers and is not exactly SEO-friendly. 

Video Player: 

I didn’t find many options to customize the player. All you can do while embedding a video is to change the aspect ratio and change it’s width.

Other features:

You can cut the video online on their platform in order to make some last-minute changes. A couple of cool features that you can add are adding slides and quizzes. Which can be pretty great for an online learning platform. As it’ll give them more ways to interact with the audience and keep them engaged.

Analytics:

You also get access to analytics, where you can view data such as views and downloads and engagement with the user. Also, for a video you can see how many minutes of video has been delivered, percentage of video completed for every single viewer. 

Security:

Security features were not clear during the trial, but I explored the documentation and website pages; I did not find option for DRM (Google Widevine DRM encryption and Apple Fairplay DRM encryption). 

Brightcove

Brightcove is an online video platform with its major audience being large enterprises. Their video cloud allows them to create and monetize their user’s experience. 

Video Uploading and Embedding:

While uploading your videos on the platform you get the option of choosing the number of renditions of video. Usually, every platform has to do this, as different browser engines support different video formats with the option to create 6-8 different renditions. 

For embedding the video, you get three options-publish videos to the web, email landing page, and social media. You can get the embed code both in the form of an iframe as well as javascript embed code. 

Video Player customization in the trial: 

In terms of online video player customization, you don’t get many options. You can just play around with the aspect ratio and the width and height of the player. Brightcove also gives an option to create your own player.

Live Streaming:

You can stream live events using Brightcove.  Brightcove Live offers a simple, intuitive user interface to help optimize your live stream workflow with the ability to clip live streams to on-demand assets, publish clips to social channels, and use server-side ad insertion, static entry points, encoder flexibility.

Video Analytics:

Brightcove also provides analytics. You can track who is viewing your content, what devices, browser and OS is your video being viewed. Also how long a video is being viewed and the source of users. 

You can analyze player loads, views, viewed minutes, percent of content viewed, new viewers, unique viewers, attention span, top domains, geography, traffic sources, search terms,

Security:

Brightcove offers DRM encryption via partners and is not a default part of the product. Also, it doesn’t seem to provide the user-based watermarking feature. 

Vimeo 

Vimeo is one of the most popular video hosting solutions with a focus on professionals. Vimeo is widely used by organizations for video marketing, sharing videos internally, and also to monetize video content.

Video Upload and Embedding:

Video uploading is very simple and the transcoding doesn’t take too much time. For embedding you only get the iframe bases embed code, with two options in it being to whether make it responsive or fixed. 

Player customization: 

Vimeo allows you to customize your player only when you opt for Vimeo Plus. You can choose which controls you want to keep in the player. Also, you get the option to remove the Vimeo logo and instead use any custom logo of your choice. You can also change the thumbnail for every video and add options such as watch later, like and share to engage with your audience. 

Live Streaming:

You can also live streaming using Vimeo.You can easily set up events by customizing visuals, including logo design, audio in the backend to make sure you are all set.You also get the option to preview the screen, to test one last time before you go live. 

Analytics:

Vimeo gives you the ability to understand your audience better with their analytics feature. You can know how your videos are doing on Vimeo, social media, and anywhere they’re embedded from one central dashboard. You can go beyond just view count by learning how people are watching your videos and when they’re dropping off.

Dailymotion

Dailymotion is the second-largest video platform in the world. Dailymotion offers free and paid accounts, as well as a partner program offering ad revenue and increased exposure.

Dailymotion limits daily video upload to 2 hours with a maximum of 96 video upload allowances for a day.

Video upload and Embedding

Uploading the video is kinda tricky, as the option to upload is not that intuitive and you have to kinda dig in the settings to find the option to upload the video. Video encoding doesn’t seem to take much time as the video gets uploaded pretty fast. Also, when you’ve ultimately uploaded the video, you do get the option to generate an iframe embed code for your website. 

Lack Of Features

With Dailymotion, you don’t get many features for your website. As the players are not customisable and doesn’t allow any branding

Also, you don’t get video analytics in order to keep a tab on your Users. 

You can only use this platform to host free content. But even then you can’t drive any customer action, since there’s a lack of CTA.

Security 

Dailymotion does not have DRM encryption and user-based watermark available. 

Hope the comparison was helpful in understanding the basic difference in features and industries targetted by various video platforms. Let us know which of these platforms you have tried or will like to try !

Rahul Rana

Head of Digital Marketing at Vdocipher. I love the art of connecting the right product to their users. When i’m not doing that i love getting lost in books.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Online Video Platform Comparison: I Tried & Reviewed Top 6 Platforms appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Video content creation and distribution has been the in-thing, and a lot of content creators, businesses, and online marketers are exploiting it grandly.

Yet, even after creating tons of videos, they still face the problems of self-hosting and monetizing them or even finding the right online video hosting services.

So, in this article, we’d explore ways for video monetization of your original content and how choosing the right video hosting platform can help you in this process.

What is Video Monetization?

Video monetization is generating revenue through original videos you’ve created, published, and have distributed online via any platform. Subscriptions, advertisements, and direct transactions are the most common ways to monetize your video.

At this point, it would be nice to mention that this doesn’t include getting paid to create your videos. You can imagine that you’d pay for a chance to watch a blockbuster movie at the cinema but not for the producer to make the blockbuster.

So, you generate income when people watch your videos, subscribe, or advertise to your audience.

Ideally, video monetization is getting paid for all sorts of engagement with videos you’ve shared. The higher these engagements, the higher income it generates.  

How to Monetize your Video Content 

Typically, video monetization hinges around leveraging access. Every engagement with your video always comes around to this. 

Consequently, without access, advertisers can’t get to your audience, and your audience can’t view your videos or gain entry to your platform.  

Let’s see ways you can start monetizing your original video content.

Access to your Platform

In more direct terms, here we mean the audience subscribing to be able to access your video library. 

So, you can set a subscription fee that your audience pays to view or download videos from your library. You would have seen this method actively taken advantage of on a platform like Netflix. 

While this may not be the only way to monetize your video, it generates a lot of revenue.

Access to your Video

This method differs from the first such that your audience already has access to your library. However, to view or download a video from your library, they’d have to pay.

Bear in mind that the payment could be according to the amount of video watched. So, your audience can pay on a per-view or per-series basis.

Similarly, you could grant viewers access to free video content, but require them to pay for access to more premium content.

You’d have experienced this transactional method if you’ve used an e-learning platform like Udemy.

Access to your Audience

Giving advertisers access to your established audience is another way to generate income from your published videos. 

Quite similar to blog monetization, where you get paid to mention a brand, its product, or service in your blog posts, here you get paid to feature a brand in your video.

While this method brings income, it’s most suited to creators with a large number of viewers or subscribers. So you see, the more the clicks, the more the revenue generated.

Those are the three ways you can monetize your video content. Yet, you can only make this possible with a reliable online video hosting service like VdoCipher. 

How to Increase Video Monetization

There is no surefire answer when it comes to increasing video monetization. However, here are five general tips:

• Improve video quality – The video quality affects the overall look and feel of your video. A low-quality video may sound muffled and distorted. Poor quality videos look unprofessional and may turn the users away.
• Increase the frequency of your videos – When there is a significant gap between video uploads, YouTube traffic decreases. It suggests that the YouTube algorithm takes upload consistency also into account when it comes to deciding which videos to recommend. Regularly posting videos on your channel keeps you connected with the audience and boosts the chances of your content outranking others.
• Increase/Decrease the length of your videos – People on social media often have short attention spans. The video has to grab the viewers’ attention in a few seconds. Now the question is, what is the optimal video length? The answer depends on the types of video content and the platform on which it is uploaded. Educational videos are comparatively long than entertainment videos. Linkedin has noted a 200% lift in video completion rates under 30 seconds.
• Increase the number of views your videos gets through social media and other online channels – Distributing your videos on multiple platforms increases the chances of reaching bigger audiences. To reach more people, you can create customer referral program to encourage customers to share your content and monetize your videos. Some video-sharing platforms are Pinterest, LinkedIn, Quora, Medium, Personal blogs or Niche Forums.
• Increase the number of subscribers you have – There are multiple ways to increase the subscriber count. Ask your viewers to subscribe, build a community, channel branding, giveaways, and exclusive bonuses.
• Paid advertising – Most platforms and websites offer paid video distribution. Through paid advertising, there are chances of reaching the right demographic audience. It becomes more valuable when you have a narrow product and a limited target audience.
• Review video analytics to trim unnecessary sections – When you go through the analytics of your videos, you will eventually find spots where users will skip through content. You can trim these parts to enable continuous viewership and engagement.

What is Video Hosting?

Video hosting is a process that involves uploading your video content to a platform that takes the responsibility of distributing your video to all the places your audience is. Typically, an example of such platforms would be the popular YouTube.

Yet, there are numerous video hosting platforms providing different services. You can easily find one that works for you, depending on your needs. 

Nonetheless, you may wonder, “why can’t I just self-host my videos?”. 

Imagine you have just started a business or have started your LLC with customers spread across different countries. It might not be very convenient handling your delivery personally, right? 

Yet you can always outsource to delivery service companies that have the resources and technology to deliver your product to all your customers, wherever they may be. 

Video hosting services are like the delivery service companies for your videos. So, with video hosting services, you can upload your videos, and your audience can access them without hassle.

The 70% average increase in revenue, reported by VdoCipher customers has shown that to optimally monetize your video content, you need to understand the concept of video hosting and how you can harness it.

How Video Hosting Works

Recall, we likened video hosting to delivery service in e-commerce earlier.   

When you upload your video content to a video host that has the technology and means, they deliver the video to your audience wherever they are through Content Distribution Networks (CDN). 

Directly put, the video host uploads your videos to groups of servers geographically dispersed to ensure fast and seamless delivery of your video content to your viewers according to their locations.

Benefits of Video Hosting Service

Does monetizing your content with video hosting platforms hold any benefits? Let’s find out.

Availability

Your video is readily available to your audience whenever and wherever they may be. Video hosts ensure this by replicating your video content on different CDN servers.

Great viewer experience

Video hosting services feature stable video players with controls for fresher viewing that give your viewers the best experience.

Content Backup

With safe and regular backup, your video content is always available online, no matter what happens.

Ease of goal attainment 

Tweak-able features help you set up yourself and your team for success based on your needs.

Time-saving

Video hosting services can make the whole process of putting out your video hassle-free by automatically uploading, compressing, encoding, and distributing your videos. So, you can focus on creating the right videos for your audience.

Seamless integration

The ability of your video host to integrate with other relevant services and tools gives more traction and ease.

Improves video marketing

Having your videos organised in one place puts you in more control and a position with a higher chance of monetising them. Not only that, the right hosting platform can create steps for growing your business and improving video marketing

Piracy Protection

With a video hosting platform that offers anti-piracy services, you can have your original video content protected and also available to people who have gained access to them.

How to choose the right Video Hosting Platform

This stage of your journey is the point to determine what matters most. 

Now, you could begin by defining what your video hosting goals are, what you’d do to achieve them, and what you need from a video hosting platform.

So, to set things more in perspective, let’s get started with the following questions.

Are integrations supported?

Consider as necessary whether or not a video hosting platform supports integration with other services and tools. 

Also, verify that the ones you’d need are supported. Start by making a list of tools you’d need and the ones that are not necessities, yet would be okay to have.

What format is your video content?

You could consider formats that would give your audience the best viewing experience. Still, ensure that the video hosting service supports other formats you may want to explore in the future, for better traction.

Are you concerned about piracy?

While not a lot of video hosting services offer this, VdoCipher ensures that there is no piracy of your videos.

How easy-to-use is it?

Well, unless you are very tech-savvy, your video hosting service should be very easy to use. It would save you time and trouble.

Do you have a budget?

Just being cheesy, you know that.

Surely, you do have a budget. The question instead should be, “what’s your budget?”

Weigh the pricing alongside the features of the hosting service and your budget. 

How much video content would you host?

A six month to one-year video content plan can help put this in perspective for you. You can easily choose what plan and pricing would work for your data and frequency.

Are you interested in discovery and customization?

Decide early enough, which is important to your process and choose from video hosting platforms with the right features.

Are there limitations with bandwidth and storage?

Watch out for this. Just remember that the more video you plan to share, the more storage and bandwidth you’d require. 

Where are your viewers viewing?

Are they viewing on mobile or the web? Most services provide a mobile app, while some others feature responsive web-based players. Whatever the case, ensure it suits your viewers.

How fast does the player load videos?

This factor would contribute to the satisfaction and overall viewing experience of your audience. Different video players have different features and capacities, so consider this strongly.

Are there additional features?

Extra features and functionalities could be nice perks to consider for a video hosting service. Such features would include interactivity, on-screen call-to-action and form, pop-ups, and so on.

Would you need a lot of support?

Yeah, during the onboarding stage, you’d need a lot of support. Bear that in mind, and ensure they can give it.

Do you need analytics and insights?

If you are looking to monitor your videos’ performance, with insights, you can keep track of how many viewers viewed, when, and what parts of your video content they viewed. 

Also, it’d help improve your marketing, with the integration of customer relationship management (CRM Software)  and marketing automation platforms (MAP).

Still wondering what video hosting services would be good for you? You can read our previous article on top 7 video hosting sites to find the perfect video hosting services for you. 

Features and Functionality to Consider when Choosing your Video Hosting Service

Your choice of a video hosting platform should be able to provide basic functionality, meet your requirements, and not surpass your budget. 

With that out of the way, you should consider these features and functionalities when deciding. 

Video hosting

Most video hosting platforms sell other components, aside from the actual service of hosting your videos. 

That means there’d be charges for several other offerings like storage and bandwidth, so be sure to get the best deal out of it. 

Video creation

You should know, not all video hosting platforms offer tools for video creation. 

So, you can either create your videos with a different tool and upload it to the hosting platform; or you can do it all on the platform.

Video streaming and Encryption

Will it stream videos securely? 

Results of a survey show that customers record a 70% average revenue increase with VdoCipher.

VdoCipher offers encrypted video streaming, with Hollywood certified DRM (Digital Rights Management).

In simpler terms, it prevents the downloading or sharing of your videos without duly acquired access when you stream them. 

Discovery

By agreement, video hosting services that offer this feature push your videos to a network of audiences while promoting ads before your videos.

Personalization and Customization

Would the platform let you personalize videos according to the viewing audience?

Also, customization matters a lot in video hosting for video content monetization. 

VdoCipher offers active watermarking with your brand elements (catchy logo and so on), text overlay, and contact information while featuring a fully customizable online video player. There is an option for your viewers to download your video for offline viewing on an android app securely. View a demo for online watermark video here.

Video organization

The ease you and your audience would have at finding your videos would greatly depend on video organization. 

So, ensure that the video hosting platform would let you organize your videos with tags, groups, and categories.

Analytics 

You should outline the metrics you need to monitor your growth and up your marketing, find out which ones the platform can track, and finally, the kind of reports you expect.

Emailing

Can you integrate your emailing service to your video hosting platform? 

When developing emails, will you manually generate a GIF thumbnail of your video, or will it be automatically generated by your video hosting platform? 

User permission

If you are a team or an organization, will your hosting service let you grant different levels of permission to different users on a role basis? This feature amplifies team collaboration.

Now that you know the ways you can do video monetization with reliable video hosting, you can explore VdoCipher video hosting in a free 30-day trial. 

Video Hosting Monetization securely via VdoCipher

The experience of watching videos over the internet is on the rise worldwide, and people are consuming some or the other video content. A recent study says nearly 85% of the United States internet users watch online videos on smartphones, tablets, and any of their devices. Once you have worked with your video, the next question is how to secure your video content to reach people’s devices. Even when you host all your videos on your website, there can be chances of lower site speed, loading time, and bandwidth consumption. Before video monetization, there needs to be a platform or service to host your videos, encode, compress them, and make them adaptable for screen sizes. Simply saying, you will need a complete video hosting platform to easily host and share your video content online with an added security layer.

VdoCipher, a secure video hosting provider with Hollywood Grade DRM Encryption, helps secure your videos from video piracy and illegal downloads. We offer various methods of video embedding (API, iFrame, and Script) on a website where you can monetize your video content. VdoCipher WordPress Plugin eases the video embedding process and works with the most popular WordPress LMS. Apart from embedding video, there are other key features to look for while selecting a video hosting platform to monetize your videos.

Video DRM Encryption – Video Encryption encrypts the video files to be accessible only by the decryption key. Popular video encryption streaming protocols use HLS Encryption with AES-128 encrypted streaming. The flaw lies in the open key exchange mechanism, which can be hacked using some tools. DRM, on the other hand, protects the encryption key behind a BlackBox or CDM. Videos streamed via VdoCipher can be illegally downloaded or hacked using software or internet plugins.

Dynamic Watermarking – We offer dynamic watermarking to place non-removable watermarks on your videos to discourage anyone on the web from claiming your content. The dynamic watermark is customizable for movement, size, colour, and transparency.

Features:

• Plugins for WordPress and Moodle
• APIs and SDKs for easy integration, upload, and embed
• Secure offline downloads on Android
• IP and Geo-based restrictions
• Backend licensing and authentication
• Smart HTML5 video player with Adaptive Bitrate Streaming and multi-lingual support

FAQs

How to check monetization on YouTube on mobile?

Sign in to YouTube Studio and navigate to the Status and features section of the channel. Under the left menu, click $ to view the monetization status.

How many YouTube subscribers are required for video monetization?

The channel must have at least 1000 subscribers and 4000 valid public watch hours in the last 12 months.

What are the different ways to monetize videos on social media?

The common video monetization strategies are video sponsorship, affiliate promotions, creator funds, brand collaborations, and more.

What are the benefits of monetizing my videos?

The most obvious benefit is that it can generate revenue for you. Additionally, video monetization helps to build your brand and increase your visibility online.

Rahul Rana

Head of Digital Marketing at Vdocipher. I love the art of connecting the right product to their users. When i’m not doing that i love getting lost in books.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Video Hosting Secrets: How to Monetize Your Videos appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

AVCHi-Mobile (H.264 High Profile) and VP9 Codecs

Essentially the difference between baseline, main and high profiles of H.264 encoding is increasing compression efficiency, with the requirement of greater decoding capability. This means that compression in high profile reduces video bitrate for a given stream quality more efficiently, but decoding it requires greater processor power.

OTT Video Platforms such as Netflix encode their streams for delivery across multiple devices. There are multiple considerations when encoding for multiple-device streaming delivery:

• User internet bandwidth – The stream should be supported across the widest network bandwidth available. Encoding for low bitrate streaming is critical for users on low bandwidth internet connections, for example users who might be streaming on mobile internet connections.
• Processor capability – Devices such as OTT Television and Desktops have much more processing power than mobiles. Mobiles have much lower decode capabilities, because of battery considerations and because low-screen size means that streaming is already optimized for low resolution for mobile. However increasingly decode capabilities are increasing in mobile devices, and increasing demand on low-bandwidth connections requires this increased decode capability for more effective video encoding.
• Cost considerations – Streaming at high bitrates naturally entails higher costs for video content broadcasters. There is a trade-off there between video quality and cost. Video delivery providers therefore provide the optimal resolution for a comfortable experience.

Netflix’s latest update prioritizes video quality for low bandwidth internet connections. Prior to the update Netflix used AVCMain (H.264/AVC) profile for almost all video, and HEVC for videos in Ultra HD resolution. You can read more about SD vs HD in this blog. The two new compression formats that have been introduced are: AVCHi – Mobile and VP9-Mobile.

Optimizations

In terms of optimizing video encoding, Netflix have made the following changes:

• Increasing time period between random access points – This makes encoding more efficient, while increasing the time between I-frames, making seeking videos more granular.
• Allowing more B-frames, and better motion prediction, to reduce the number of heavy I-frames

Per-chunk Optimization

The feature of per-chunk video optimization allows encoding at different average bandwidths for different chunks of video. This is in place of an average bitrate for the entire video. This feature ensures that motion-heavy chunks are encoded at high bitrate as compared to low-motion chunks, ensuring smooth quality of video throughout the streaming process.

Conclusion

Netflix have updated to H.264 High Profile and VP9 codecs largely to maximize their reach to more number of users for reliable streaming. This update has come shortly after announcement of download feature for their mobile app. Additional optimization related to placement of I-frames and optimization of motion signify that the company is leveraging improving decoder capabilities for more efficient encoding. The resulting encoding efficiency improvements signify that AVCHi-Mobile encodes at 15-19% lower bitrates than similar quality AVCMain, while VP9 offers the same quality at 35% lower bitrate. The resulting improved quality for lower bitrate means a better experience for Netflix users.

Do give a read on history of Netflix to know all about how the company was founded and all the challenges it had to go through before becoming one of the streaming giants. If you want to know more about, what is transcoding, you can visit the blog linked.

Here are some other interesting blog related to Netflix:

• Netflix DRM
• Netflix Business Model
• Netflix Password Sharing Crackdown

For a free trial of premium secure video hosting similar to Netflix, check out VdoCipher.

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Tech Update: Netflix Updates Codecs Use for Efficient Encoding 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.

The Washington Post since 2013 has started to aims towards expanding readership and subscription to their digital content. This is expected to offset loss of revenues from declining print subscriptions and advertising revenues. At the moment they are experimenting with various content strategies. The target is to attract newer viewers from across the globe, while retaining the quality of their journalism that have seen their staff win 47 Pulitzer Prizes. A key aspect of surviving in the digital landscape is to maintain focus on video as a central tool for journalistic coverage. In this blog I explore how video is emerging as a key component of the Washington Post’s content strategy.

Video in Content Marketing Strategy

Currently, Washington Post’s mix of video content stands at 40% original content and 60% aggregated content. The company’s near term target is to flip this statistic to 65% of their own original content to 35% sourced from other agencies.

The company currently has 40 people on their video staff, of which 32 are regularly involved in shooting and producing content. To expand their video offering, the company posted 30 new jobs to their video department. The objective of their video strategy is two-fold:

• To chalk out videos that are complementary to their content strategy
• To create videos that gain prominence on social media channels.

To get a glimpse of how Washington Post is rolling out its video strategy, I checked out the page of their video section. The main video on the page was a video report of the Oroville dam spillway, which at the time was in the risk of a massive collapse. A visual report in such a scenario adds considerable more value to the message, unlike the case of press briefings for which value addition by video over text is much less important.

This current video strategy of Washington Post is to:

1. Complement News Story – Roll out video content that complements the news story, increasing site engagement of visitors
2. To gain new viewers – Video has the potential to engage newer viewers much more easily. Increasing the number of casual visitors directly leads to an increase in their potential subscription figures.
3. Emerge as a Video destination – WaPo’s investment in video means that they no longer wish to be considered just a newspaper with a video section, but rather a video destination in their own right. Making video a central part of their content strategy requires that they leverage various forms of video delivery solutions – this includes social media and Over the Top video.

Leveraging different media – Facebook, YouTube and OTT

WaPo recognize that it is much easier to monetize videos that are on their own website. However, in order to attract new viewers they need to position themselves on social media, mainly Facebook, and video aggregator YouTube.

Facebook is emerging as an important player in the video segment. WaPo’s strategy for promoting video for Content Marketing for Facebook and YouTube is different, because of the different nature of the two technology platforms. Facebook users are much more passive, and are on that site for diverse and an unspecified range of content. For this reason content on Facebook has to be designed to be inherently able to appeal to new users, and to be inherently able to become viral. Besides content on Facebook should make minimal requirements on the viewer’s attention span. On the other hand users are on YouTube exclusively to watch video, which affords the company an opportunity to show longer videos that require greater attention span, and a greater engagement with their content. In the meantime, you can focus on other promotional strategies such as hiring an eCommerce PPC agency or using the help of a branding company.

Washington Post’s Over The Top (OTT) strategy is to promote themselves as a video destination on OTT services such as Apple TV, Roku and Fire TV. For OTT content the newspaper has hired video personalities, who will be producing longer and more scripted videos with studio quality production values.

Long Term Strategy at Washington Post – Jeff Bezos era

Jeff Bezos has a brought a long-term planning outlook at Washington Post. The desired result is to make WaPo bigger and more profitable, at the same time. Before his acquisition the newspaper had remained profitable amid declining subscriptions and revenue only by decreasing the size of their newsroom. Bezos has given the company considerable leeway to experiment with different strategies in the hope of coming up finally with a winning strategy, to emerge as a key destination in the digital landscape.

Preliminary metrics look promising. The Post beat New York Times in unique visitors in October 2015 – their 66.9 million unique visitors beating the 65.8 million for The Times. They also beat the popular content aggregator Buzzfeed in February 2016 in number of page views – their 890.1 million page views beating both the Times(721.3 million) and Buzzfeed (884 million). To monetize their content the company is offering discounted subscriptions to Amazon Prime subscribers. Their digital subscription membership is also considerably cheaper as compared to The New York Times, reflecting a strategy to gain a lot of subscribers at lower per person subscription prices, with volume making up for lower per unit price. This is just one of the many experiments that the company is carrying out at the moment.

References:

Jan Ozer, The Washington Post is focused on video. Here’s Why, Digital Content Next

Brian Stelter, Washington Post launches major expansion of video team, CNNMoney

Shan Wang, In Revamping its Video Strategy, The Washington Post steers clear of imitating TV, NiemanLab

Dan Kennedy, The Bezos Effect, Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post Washington Post – Video in Content Marketing appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.

Amazon AWS on RTMP Stream

Amazon’s Cloudfront can be used to serve both the media filed and the media player. This is done through two distributions – a web distribution for the media player, and an RTMP distribution for the media files. Essentially media player files are loaded over HTTP, and once the media player is stored locally, it calls the Amazon S3 streaming bucket for media files over RTMP protocol. Cloudfront accepts RTMP requests over port 1935 and port 80.

Highwind CDN

Highwind transitioned from RTMP stream to HTTP in 2012, in the belief that the future of CDN-delivered video is cacheable HTTP Streaming. Because it allows cacheable streaming, HTTP offers considerably greater efficiencies on the server infrastructure side. Highwind also believes that the innovation in HTTP streaming protocols has accelerated, in particular in DASH (Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP), whereas RTMP has largely stagnated.

Comcast CDN

Comcast had been using their own CDN for 10 years before launching their CDN for video providers in August 2015. Comcast does not support RTMP streams, and only provides support for HTTP based streaming.

Fastly

Fastly only supports streaming over HTTP over a Transport Layer Security, which is more advanced and secure than SSL security. For more secure video hosting, Fastly has added features for content targetting and Edge Authorization – authorization at the localized CDN level, and not at the point of media origin. This makes the process of authentication faster.

HolaCDN

HolaCDN is developed specifically for video delivery, and is designed as an overlay over an existing CDN. HolaCDN offloads video traffic from existing CDN, allowing the existing CDN to be used for non-streaming uses, and as fallback for video streaming. HolaCDN has optimized its CDN for efficient video delivery, claiming to provide faster and cheaper video delivery because of its video-only focus. HolaCDN only supports HTTP based streaming protocols.

Level3

Level 3 supports RTMP stream as an Input protocol for media files from server to CDN, but only supports HTTP based streaming protocols for video output.

KeyCDN – HLS Streaming

KeyCDN does not use RTMP streaming for video delivery to end users. They rely on HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) for their video streaming. Their reason for not supporting RTMP is that iOS does not support Flash Player (which RTMP uses). If the streaming protocol for Live Streaming used by the streaming software is RTMP, you would need to convert the RTMP stream into an HLS stream. The workflow for playing RTMP encoded videos through KeyCDN is as follows:

RTMP Encoder -> Encoding from RTMP to HLS -> Pull Zone (HLS Feature Enabled)

Verizon Digital Media

Verizon Digital Media CDN uses both HTTP and RTMP streaming, although it clearly expects HTTP to continue to be the dominant streaming technology. Verizon will stop support for RTMP in June 2017

Siddhant Jain

CEO, VdoCipher. Writes about video tech, ed tech and media tech.

www.vdocipher.com/

The post CDN player Support for RTMP Streaming Declining appeared first on VdoCipher Blog.