An online video platform, or OVP, is exactly how it sounds—a hub that hosts your video content on the internet. But the purpose and capabilities of OVPs vary, and certain platforms may be a better fit for your web content than others.
For many people browsing the internet, video content is preferred over written content, which is why so many publishers are including videos in their content strategies. Videos are generally more engaging and can help to improve a publisher’s bounce rate and dwell time. Video content is also the medium preferred by advertisers, as it helps drive a number of brand-related KPIs such as brand awareness, brand recall, loyalty, and purchasing intent.
Here at EX.CO, our online video platform is specifically designed for publishers to drive the most value. Scalable and effective content management of video, monetization capabilities with an AI-driven yield engine, a content marketplace with access to high-quality, long-form video content from a larger number of top sites, and more features are available and easily accessible; all the control is in your hands.
But before we dive into what an OVP means to us, let’s discuss the history of the platform’s technology and where we are today.
Origins of the OVP
Can you remember a time when the internet didn’t have video? It’s hard to imagine. Videos currently dominate practically all other forms of content on the internet. According to medium.com, online video platforms have been around since 1995, but it wasn’t until 2005 that the OVP first started making waves. YouTube was obviously a prominent game changer in the success of videos.
Existing platforms like MySpace and Facebook didn’t even have video technology until 2006 and 2007 respectively, and much of that was largely inspired by YouTube.
Over the years, video sharing evolved beyond just simple animation, music videos, or funny videos between friends. Eventually, people started to recognize the potential of online video and how monetization could work similarly to linear TV spots, as well as aid in news, sports, education, and more. Soon, people began to recognize new ways for online video to boost brands and websites.
Let’s face it, in this day and age, we all gravitate towards video content over written content. Watching a video requires less brain power than reading an article, and the medium is significantly more engaging than written text.
How many times this month have you watched a YouTube video? Even our parents are watching videos to learn how to improve their golf swings or cook the latest food trend. It’s clear that video is here to stay and only growing.
What can an OVP do?
That’s the big question, isn’t it? Truth be told, there are all sorts of OVPs with different capabilities and functions. The trick is figuring out which type of OVP is best for you.
Video Hosting and Management
Having a platform to store, upload, manage, and share high-quality video content with your audience–without any lag or crashing of your site–is an integral part of an OVP.
Other aspects include:
- Brand customization
- Integrations (MRSS, YouTube) and developer APIs
- Secure and public video hosting options
- Consistent and rich playback options
- Unlimited video storage
- Automated video processing
- Cloud deployment
- Viewer permissions management
- Network-friendly efficient streaming
- Video analytics
Video Creation
Creating premium video content for your audience is at the center of any reputable OVP. Many OVP providers offer live streaming or the ability to upload pre-recorded videos to broadcast them live —think Facebook, Twitch, TikTok, and YouTube, and others like Vimeo, JW Player, and Flowplayer. With these types of OVPs, people are able to view your content in real-time, which often means they’re able to communicate/interact with you while you’re streaming.
Other aspects include:
- Live streaming, webcasting, and broadcasting
- Dynamic playlists
- Content marketplace
- Screen capture and slide recording
- Meeting capture and recording
- Single or multi-camera recording
- Automated recording and scheduling
- Video embedding, deleting, and editing
Monetization
For most publishers, monetization is a key value because they thrive on revenue, however, many–if not most– legacy OVPs fail to offer a monetization component. This is something that publishers should evaluate when choosing an OVP that best fits their needs. If done well, monetization creates a virtuous cycle where publishers can fund more–and better–content.
Other aspects include:
- Agnostic demand auctions
- Powerful yield engine
- Real-time, machine-learning optimization
- Cookieless identity stack
- Header bidding
- Built-in ad server
- Transparent reporting
Viewing and Productivity
Customizing the viewing of your videos plays a key role in creating a seamless experience for your audience and will keep them coming back for more, thus improving your overall scalability.
Other aspects include:
- Customizable video players
- Contextual recommendations
- Subscriptions
- Video tagging
- In-video navigation tools
- Interactive, multi-source HD video players
- Timestamped notes, discussions, and bookmarks
- Lead capture tools
- Variable-speed playback
- Native mobile apps
We’ve only scratched the surface of what an OVP can truly do for you. Want to learn more? Drop your details below.