Why invent something if you have YouTube?

Periodically ask friends about what I do . Just want to tell your favorite joke , but I hold back. Further, after a relatively short explanation about the video, its processing, delivery, and our products make it possible for them, they invariably ask the question - “So there is YouTube, why should I invent something on my website myself?”

In order not to get up two times, I decided to write a small post exactly in response to this frequent question - why do I need to do self-processing, storage and display of video delivered to the viewer on my website, if free services can do all this?

A few words about context. Digital amateur video in front of our eyes shaken television monopoly on the "moving pictures." Before our eyes, there is a global change of media format - the video is added to the text and photos and becomes the basis of online news. I believe that the same thing is happening to him now as with a photograph 10 years ago. The cost of the photograph fell by several orders in just a few years. Similarly with the video - it became as accessible as possible. Any smartphone can shoot video from the scene. Thanks to the available digital photo, we observed the dawn of citizen journalism and its development, and what the video will give us - we can evaluate right now, in real time.

Anyone can create a video, from zero to many millions. Sky is the limit, as they say.
')
Typical video sources today:

• amateur photography on a smartphone and a camera - almost everyone has them.
• Surveillance cameras, video recorders, webcams are an excellent impartial source of information. Chelyabinsk meteorite witness.
• professional content producers - TV channels and media studios. With them, everything is clear - the content for the TV goes perfectly and on the web.

Two sides of the video

All videos on the Internet can be divided into two unequal parts.

Live video (live video) takes about 10% of all data transfer volumes. What are the main features:

• shooting directly from the scene.
• transmission via communication channels from the source to the viewer in real time
• infrastructure requirements for creating, transmitting and displaying video are above average.

Recorded video (video on demand, video-on-demand, VOD) occupies the remaining 90% of the volume. Main features:

• The video is pre-recorded and stored somewhere.
• downloaded and viewed as interest.
• It works on any channels and devices, only the quality of perception suffers.
• relatively high requirements for data warehousing, first of all, for volume and reliability.

So what's wrong with YouTube?

We have come to the main element of the main question - “after all, there is YouTube”.
Free services - YouTube, RuTube, Vimeo - what they give and what is not in them?

Benefits :

• Zero costs for storing and delivering video for the content owner. Freebie!
• An excellent social component - engaging the audience not only with content, then through like, share, retweet, embed, comment, etc.

Disadvantages :

• Limited earning opportunities. You can make money on YouTube, but Google will take a “small share” and the content owner should make a lot of efforts to at least recoup the creation of content with their advertising profits.
• Loss of content control. Hence the possible blocking hoster for any reason, including complaints of rights holders or regulatory authorities. The service seeks to protect itself, and therefore, you walk around the edge, if you lay out something other than cats and lugs. Any complaint - and you risk not seeing your video.
• Strong intersection with competitors. While you are showing the product face through your video, next to the lists of similar videos in the queue for playback are already videos of your competitors on the same topic. And this is if competitors have not already ordered a demonstration of advertising right in front of your video.

The alternative is to create your video display system.

Benefits :

• The opportunity to earn money. The main ways to monetize - advertising model or subscription for the time or views (the so-called pay-per-view).
• Full control over the content - you show what you think is necessary. You get the rights to show content or make it yourself, and you can show it as long as you like, as long as it does not violate the laws of your country. Yes, and competitors can no longer twist their ads without your knowledge.
• Arbitrary combination of live broadcast and recorded video. You can even make your own TV channel “Kolenka-TV”, where you can play both direct speech and pre-recorded videos. Free channels do not know how to do this.
• Full control over the presentation. It is possible to overlay text and images on top of the video as you like. Launch the running line, the score of the match, advertising - whatever.

Disadvantages :

• The cost of implementing video infrastructure. Buy or rent a server, set up everything as needed, screw the right player, make a money collection system
• 24/7 infrastructure support costs. Payment of traffic, servers, salaries to administrators and developers, etc.
• The cost of expandability in the event of a sharp increase in the audience. You dropped the link in the comments in the article on Habré and you got covered with habraeffekt The extensibility for video infrastructure is more difficult to make than for a website with text or a photo; additional investments are required.

Golden mean

Of course, both options work well together. The combination of free services and their own development is beneficial to a larger audience. The best qualities of both approaches give a cumulative effect. The most striking recent example is the Russia Today TV channel. They are the first of the news channels to overcome the billion-page bar, having their own video streaming on the site and transmitting their programs through traditional channels - satellites and cable networks.

How to vary free services and your own solution? The main criterion is the attitude to the content and its monetization. The more you want exclusivity and money, the less it costs to give your content at the mercy of free services. There are two extremes.

1. Video content is secondary, it only complements the main products. If we are talking about a company for which a video is just a way to talk about a product, and there is no fear of competitors, then YouTube will be just right. You lead a news portal with analytics, photos from the field, and supplement it with your videos - excellent, YouTube will give you the opportunity to post videos and create an opportunity for social interaction. The goal is to attract to your site, and it will cope with it. Your video bike is probably not needed here.
2. Content is primary, it is - your product. You sell video by subscription or through access restriction - for example, with earnings for advertising. In this case, YouTube will be ideal for promotion: teasers, trailers and advertising this content. At the same time, the earnings will go directly to the users attracted to the site. They threw a viral video onto YouTube, people took him away on blogs, contacts, put huskies - and some of them came to look at everything else. Everything else is under your control, on your equipment, with your systems of access restriction and earnings.

Where are you in this coordinate system - you know better.

Yes, we do our

And now you understand that you should at least try your own broadcast.
You need to be puzzled by the following components:

• Video creation tools - for starters, it can be a smartphone, camera or a good camera.
• Software for video processing - options range from free to professional for many kilobaksov.
• The media server is what will distribute your content in the right formats and the right protocols. Need software and hardware. Here, the picture is the same - from free software with virtual hosting for $ 5 a month to dedicated servers with proprietary software for thousands of dollars a year.
• Website with a video player - make the correct display of content through a browser or through applications for smartphones or STB (set top boxes). Here the traditional rule works - either time is wasted and everything is done for free, or a professional developer is hired, who does everything right.

In principle, not so much. In fact, from “conditionally free” to millions of budgets.

At this point, you can still stop. The main question - “why is it even necessary?” - I answered. If you need articles with details of the creation of certain types of solutions - please in the comments.