Why Digital Publishers Benefit From Prioritizing On-Site Video Content

October 31, 2024 - by

Over the past 15 years, the goal for publishers has largely been to go viral on social media. The website experience was often deprioritized: instead of a loyal audience typing in your URL multiple times a day, potentially millions of readers would encounter individual stories through social media links.

This wasn’t necessarily a flawed approach, and publishers who mastered the ever-changing platform algorithms saw notable wins. Still, a disproportionate share of revenue wound up going to the big platforms, strengthening their brands at the expense of publishers’. Long-term, this model wasn’t sustainable. And today, it finally seems to be shifting.

In recent years, we’ve entered the video-centric era of online publishing. Publishers recognize that video is what their audiences want, and they’re racing to meet this demand. While social virality remains a focus for many, more publishers are realizing the advantages of hosting video on their own sites—for brand safety, monetization, and so much more.

Ensuring Brand Safety

An instructive example of the importance of brand safety is the recent trajectory of X.com. Under Elon Musk’s free-speech-first strategy, the platform has opened the floodgates to all manner of hate speech, alienating advertisers in the process. No brand wants to appear alongside inflammatory or hateful rhetoric, yet on X.com, this is becoming increasingly unavoidable.

While X.com is an extreme case, brand safety concerns are not limited to that platform—every major social platform presents risks. When publishers place their content on these platforms, they sacrifice a significant level of control. Beyond the risk of appearing beside unsafe content, there’s the added possibility of harmful or offensive comments appearing near video ads, all amplified by unpredictable algorithm changes.

By hosting content on their own websites, however, publishers can eliminate these risks. A publisher’s site is their own domain, allowing full control over the user experience. If social platforms resemble rowdy public squares, then websites are more like well-kept private spaces, offering curated and safe experiences that build trust with audiences.

To support this strategy, publishers should invest in robust moderation tools and engage in intentional content creation. EX.CO offers valuable solutions here, including video management tools, curated dynamic playlists, contextual video recommendations, and more.

Maximizing Revenue Control

Monetization presents a significant challenge for publishers. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook have been taking more than their fair share of advertising revenue for years, all while offering limited control over ad types, placements, and leaving publishers vulnerable to unpredictable algorithms.

When publishers host content on their own sites, however, these issues disappear. Publishers retain 100% of ad revenue and gain the freedom to choose and manage advertising partnerships—whether through pre-roll, mid-roll, or native video ads—in alignment with their own priorities. Even better, they can implement custom monetization strategies, such as subscriptions or pay-per-view, options that are rarely supported in a meaningful way on major social platforms. This flexibility empowers publishers to experiment quickly with different revenue models.

For those considering a deeper commitment to on-site video hosting, here’s a tip: work with a reputable online video platform (OVP) that provides advanced tools, analytics, and expert support to help optimize ad performance and maximize revenue.

Building Direct Connections

Today’s audiences are fragmented not only across but also within platforms—scattered across various pockets of X.com, Instagram, and others. For publishers, building a direct connection with these audiences can feel nearly impossible, especially given platforms' prioritization of viral or clickbait content. Publishers’ content—the kind that fosters long-term loyalty and meaningful engagement—often gets sidelined in the rush for virality. Additionally, these platforms essentially operate as black boxes, providing some performance data but rarely enough to inform meaningful strategy.

Prioritizing on-site video hosting allows publishers to escape this algorithmic maze and build direct relationships with their audience. With full control over the user experience, publishers can personalize interactions and strengthen brand loyalty. Owning first-party data, in particular, enables publishers to understand and cater to their audiences more effectively, creating a deeper, more meaningful experience that, in turn, encourages subscriptions or memberships.

Tip: Use video strategically to enhance engagement. Exclusive content, interviews, and behind-the-scenes material—content that users can’t find anywhere else—are great ways to draw audiences in and keep them connected.

Driving Organic Traffic via SEO 

For all the talk of AI revolutionizing search, good old-fashioned SEO remains the cornerstone of organic traffic—and that isn’t likely to change any time soon. Videos posted on social media platforms, of course, primarily benefit the platform's SEO rather than the publisher’s. They also offer very limited control over keyword optimization and content discovery.

By contrast, hosting videos on-site allows publishers to unlock the full range of SEO benefits. Videos are particularly valuable for SEO as they naturally boost dwell time and user engagement—two critical metrics for Search Engine Results Page (SERP) rankings. Free from the limitations of major platforms, publishers can use custom metadata, keywords, and descriptions to enhance SEO, as well as build backlinks and shares that strengthen domain authority. Notably, Google places high value on rich media content, making video a powerful tool for enhancing search visibility.

A tip to remember: publishers should always optimize video titles, descriptions, and transcripts for search engines. There’s no better way to capture relevant traffic.

Harnessing In-Depth Analytics

Video content is a science: by closely tracking metrics like retention, click-through rates, and watch time, publishers can identify precisely what keeps their audiences engaged and create future content aligned with those preferences.

The challenge? When you host videos on social media, access to these crucial metrics is often limited.

Posting video content on your own site, by contrast, provides full control over your video library without relying on unpredictable social media algorithms for visibility. Publishers gain access to comprehensive analytics, enabling them to shape content and marketing strategies based on real insights. Additionally, they can freely repurpose content without the constraints often imposed by third-party platforms.

In short, publishers should make full use of their own analytics tools to monitor viewer behavior and optimize video content for maximum impact.

Owning the Viewing Experience

It is a truism of online video that how a video is presented can matter almost as much as the content of the video itself. On the big social platforms, publishers have virtually no control over the former. Layout, type of player, player features—all of these are in the hands of the platform. Meanwhile, ads and suggested content may—and quite often do—disrupt the user experience, driving them away from your content. After all, the platforms' loyalty is not to your brand, but to their own bottom-line.

Keeping videos on-site allows publishers to have complete control over the video player design and functionality, which means they can customize it to match their brand's look and feel for a more native approach. A seamless viewing experience becomes possible, enhanced by a rich array of features, including custom autoplay settings, captions, and user-friendly controls. Publishers can even add interactive elements like interactive quizzes, product links, or subscription forms to further increase engagement.

On-Site Hosting is the Answer

It’s clear that investing in video content on your own site, rather than relying solely on social platforms, benefits publishers in numerous ways. To truly maximize the value of their video content, publishers need to prioritize their own platforms.

Ready to own your video content and monetization strategies to maximize revenue? Drop us a line below.

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