Who Are The Best Online Video Platform Providers in 2020?

In 2020, which online video platform providers are the best? Of course, the answer to that question depends on your specific needs. Furthermore, there are a lot of online video platforms on the market today. And to further complicate the question, each streaming solution offers a different mix of features, options, and pricing. With all that in mind, how can you answer such a broad question?

Well, the question becomes more manageable when we break things down by industry. In fact, that’s the purpose of this article!

Best Online Video Platform Providers by Industry

In this post, we’ll review three major market segments that use online video platform providers.

1. Media and Entertainment + OTT
2. Education
3. Business and Marketing

Within each category, we’ll provide information about which online video platform providers stand out, and why. Whenever possible, we’ll use external sources to justify why we’re picking these platforms.

Note: one of our main sources will be Streaming Media, the leading online video industry publication. Every year, Streaming Media holds a Reader’s Choice awards competition. Last year, there were more than 281 nominees and 25,000 votes Dacast. This can provide a valuable resource for comparing which platforms streaming industry professionals consider as the best options.

Now, let’s dive right into the first industry category and start looking at the best video platforms.

Online Video Platform Providers for Media, Entertainment & OTT

Every area of home entertainment spending has declined over the past five years—except online video. That’s why OTT is exploding in popularity, both among customers and businesses.

Businesses in the media and entertainment industry and in OTT have specific needs in an online video platform. Let’s take a look at the top three platforms in this space. Plus, we’ll cover how they compare when it comes to features.

Wowza

First up, one of the leading OTT video platforms is Wowza. Wowza provides a variety of video hosting and services. The Wowza streaming cloud service offers live streaming, as well.

• ✅ Live streaming and VOD support
• ✅ All-device support and adaptive video playback
• ✅ Video API for integration
• ❌ No built-in video monetization tools (can use external tools for an additional fee)
• ✅ Video CMS for organizing large libraries
• ✅ Encryption and other security features
• ✅ CDN delivery (additional charge for each GB)
• ❌ 24/7 support available only at $1,495/month and up (30 minute minimum response time)
• Cost: $49/month for basic plan, up to $2,495 and up. Bandwidth costs are extra.

Brightcove

Second up is Brightcove. Brightcove is a full-service platform with a focus on large businesses. The Brightcove business model focuses on combining video hosting with marketing and other custom services. Its OTT platform includes the following

• ✅ Live streaming and VOD support
• ✅ All-device support and adaptive video playback
• ✅ Video API for integration
• ❌ Built-in video monetization tools, but no TVOD/PPV
• ✅ Video CMS for organizing large libraries (users call the Brightcove platform “quick, easy, and robust.”)
• ✅ Encryption and other security features
• ✅ CDN delivery
• ❌ Support is available, but with a minimum 15 minute response time and for an additional cost.
• Cost: custom pricing, no public info available.

Dacast

Another good option for OTT video, media, and entertainment is Dacast. Dacast is a fully-featured online video platform. However, it has some of the most affordable pricing on the market. If you want customized support, Dacast also offers 24/7 customer support and a range of professional services.

• ✅ Live streaming and VOD support
• ✅ All-device support and adaptive video playback
• ✅ Video API for integration
• ✅ Built-in video monetization tools (AVOD, TVOD, SVOD)
• ✅ Video CMS for organizing large libraries (advanced tools for bulk upload, migration, etc.)
• ✅ Encryption and other security features
• ✅ CDN delivery (Dacast’s CDN partner Akamai won the readers’ choice award for best Content Delivery Network. This is no surprise, as Akamai is the world’s largest CDN and the pioneer in this industry).
• ✅ 24/7 live phone support on Event and Scale plans (from $63/mo)
• Pricing:
  • Starter Plan: $39/month (includes 100 GB of bandwidth & 50 GB of storage)
  • Event Plan: $63/month (includes 6 TB of bandwidth upfront and 50 GB of storage)
  • Scale Plan: $188/month* (includes 24 TB of bandwidth per year and 1 TB of storage)

Online Video Platform Providers for Education

As the research shows, video use in education can be “highly effective.” To name just one example, video lectures lead to better performance than in-person lectures. In particular, there a few critical features when it comes to using online video for education. Most importantly, quality matters. Also, support for closed captions can be a legal requirement. Finally, security features, video embedding, and ad-free streaming are essential. Here are our selections for the best online video platform providers for education.

Kaltura

First, let’s take a look at Kaltura. For educational institutions, Kaltura offers a managed and hosted video solution complete with the following features:

• ✅ Security tools
• ✅ Video API
• ❌ No integrated video monetization tools
• ✅ Chapter markers
• ✅ Multi-lingual closed captions
• ✅ Quizzes and other interactive features
• Cost: every plan comes with custom pricing, based on the size of your educational institution and other factors.

Dacast

Above, we’ve already introduced you to Dacast. Among other uses, this flexible platform can also be a great educational video platform.

• ✅ Security tools
• ✅ Video API
• ✅ Video monetization tools (AVOD, TVOD, SVOD)
• ✅ Chapter markers
• ✅ Multi-lingual closed captions
• ✅ Quizzes and other interactive features

Online Video Platform Providers for Business and Marketing

Nowadays, businesses are using video in many different ways. For example, fifty-five percent of enterprises are now using live video for their company or division-wide broadcasts. In addition, other common video uses include product launches, internal training, marketing, and video advertising. Below, let’s review two of the best online video platform providers for business and marketing uses.

Dacast

Yes, here we are again! To recap, Dacast really is a flexible, powerful online video platform. Even better, it provides a great mix of features with very competitive pricing. Among other use-cases, those features make our platform a great fit for businesses. In fact, Dacast was voted the best video platform from SMB (Small and Medium Business) in 2019.

• ✅ White label
• ✅ High-end CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• ✅ VOD and Live Streaming support
• ✅ Secure video delivery
• ✅ Robust analytics
• ✅ Affordable pricing ($39 month for the basic plan, and from $63+/month for all advanced features)
• ✅ 24/7 technical support

JW Player

Finally, the last platform we’ll highlight today is JW Player. As the name implies, JW’s main product is a video player. However, the service has since expanded its operations to include video hosting and delivery. Overall, this platform is relatively simple. However, it does offer some great advertising monetization tools.

• ✅ White label
• ✅ CDN (does not publicize which CDN they use)
• ✅ VOD and Live Streaming support
• ✅ Secure video delivery
• ✅ Robust analytics
• ✅ Affordable pricing ($5/month for basic plan w/ no live streaming, API and SDK access, etc.)
• ❌ No 24/7 technical support (email only)

Conclusion

To wrap things up, we’ve covered a lot of ground here. After reading, we hope you feel better informed as to some of the top online video platforms for your industry. There is no way we can cover every industry in this article. However, we’ve written a lot of articles on these topics before. These include the best online video platforms for enterprises, for OTT and media, for religious groups, and more. And we’ll continue to do so!

Of course, we do think that the Dacast platform is one of the best of these platforms for a variety of industries. However, you don’t have to take our word for it. Instead, we offer a 14-day free trial (no credit card required). That way, you can try out our platform for yourself! Click the button below to sign up and check it out.