Where should I host video? A brief case study in Tube Mogul, YouTube, Viddler, et al.

This is a guest post by Josh Turner, who is producer/host of CampingGearTV.com, a new video blog featuring camping gear and accessory reviews. Contact me if you are interested to guest post on this blog.

When my buddy and I started our video blog in late November, we spent a good deal of time deciding on which video hosting service to use. Most of our focus was on YouTube, Viddler and Vimeo. YouTube quickly became unattractive due to their 10 minute limit. Seriously, you can’t upload anything bigger than 10 minutes unless you are the chairman of Warner Brothers Music Group.

Vimeo seemed cool, and used by a lot of hip producers and shows, but their rules seemed to be pretty strict. We didn’t want to get into a position where we started with Vimeo only to have them cut us off for any number of reasons, as they have become known for. So we decided on Viddler. Viddler doesn’t have a limit on file size or duration, they have a cool player and user interface, and we liked that we could add our logo to our videos through their service.

However, while Viddler was dubbed as our main hosting service and interface for our site, we simultaneously signed up for TubeMogul and registered for accounts at YouTube, DailyMotion, Yahoo, Metacafe, Revver, Vimeo, Sevenload, and VideoJug. TubeMogul is essentially a mass-posting or syndication service. By uploading a video once to TubeMogul, it then does the leg work of uploading the content to the other sites that you choose. Pretty cool.

We quickly found out that some services don’t play nice with TubeMogul. Vimeo requires a premium account to allow TubeMogul uploads, and we couldn’t get the uploads to sync with Revver and Sevenload. But with very little effort, not only are our videos running through Viddler and our site, but also hanging out at DailyMotion, YouTube, Metacafe, Yahoo, and VideoJug. (note: Uploads to YouTube through TubeMogul only work when the video is under 10 minutes)

From our perspective, this is a no-brainer. Although our site is new and receiving low traffic, you can see the benefit in percentage terms. As compared to our site traffic (Viddler), we’ve seen the following percentage of traffic at the other “syndicated” services:

YouTube 32.3%
DailyMotion 5.5%
Yahoo 1.8%
VideoJug 4.3%

The main thing to note here is that with almost no additional effort, we’re getting some extra viewers that would have probably never seen us otherwise. Our main home where we drive traffic is our own domain, campinggeartv.com. But by utilizing TubeMogul, our content is being placed with a number of services, each one pointing to our domain in a meaningful manner. Also to be noted is the smack down that Youtube puts on all other services. YouTube’s dominance is something that we didn’t want to pass up, and even though we like Viddler better, we’re very happy we can be in both places.

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19 comments

MMA Pound for Pound January 30, 2010 - 1:57 pm
Well you is best and more reliable than other one, I know we can trust on yahoo too but there visitors are less than youtube .-= MMA Pound for Pound´s last blog ..Earn cents through Earn Money Space =-.
Josh Turner February 1, 2010 - 2:47 pm
Yep, YouTube is definitely the juggernaut. I think it really comes down to your goals. If you are looking for maximum eyeballs, youtube is a must. But if you are super concerned about keeping your content under your control, youtube's not the way to go. .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
Nimit Kashyap January 31, 2010 - 6:33 am
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Josh Turner February 1, 2010 - 2:48 pm
Thanks! .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
Quick Sale February 1, 2010 - 3:41 am
I am so surprising with the stats you presented her that shows more traffic is from viddler than worldwide popular you tube. great people have to think over this.
Josh Turner February 1, 2010 - 2:50 pm
It's important to note that viddler is the host I use to embed on my site, campinggeartv.com. So all of the viddler views are, for the most part, driven by the views on my site. .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
Mid Mo Mortgage February 1, 2010 - 3:44 pm
With a more popular video host like Youtube, you also have more competition. So really it isn't that surprising :) .-= Mid Mo Mortgage´s last blog ..Jan 29 – Market Growth Surging As GDP Reports Forthcoming =-.
Web Design Services February 1, 2010 - 5:13 am
Great post and good comparison!!!!!! IMO You tube is the best because it is so popular and it drives a large amount of visitors......
Josh Turner February 1, 2010 - 2:51 pm
Thanks very much! I agree. For our site, being very new and trying to get as many viewers as possible, syndicating our content on Youtube is a no-brainer. .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
Ruben@AutoShipping February 2, 2010 - 1:28 am
I always stayed away from uploading videos just because I'm new to the territory but seeing this I might give it a go
Josh Turner February 2, 2010 - 7:46 am
I don't think it can do anything but help. Just one more way to get exposure. .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
reverse phone lookup February 2, 2010 - 2:36 am
It means that Viddler is more popular than YouTube. .-= reverse phone lookup´s last blog ..How to Trace Mobile Phone number in USA =-.
Josh Turner February 2, 2010 - 7:47 am
I think Viddler has certainly been gaining momentum, especially among the "video blog" community. But YouTube is still, by leaps and bounds, the most popular video site. .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
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Rocreh February 2, 2010 - 9:45 pm
I always stayed away from uploading videos just because I’m new to the territory but seeing this I might give it a go . Yup just venture to another thoughts that will burn the boredom .-= Rocreh´s last blog ..Come on Sikat ang Pinoy! =-.
Josh Turner February 2, 2010 - 9:51 pm
Jump in! .-= Josh Turner´s last blog ..Episode 17 – Go Girl Female Urination Device =-.
Davits February 5, 2010 - 1:27 am
Tubemogul is really good source of video uploading and tracking.
applemedic February 5, 2010 - 5:32 pm
Youtube is awesome, it has page rank 9 for a reason.
Alex April 29, 2010 - 6:06 pm
Yeh, I love YouTube, thank you for this post..

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