Video use in business is only limited to marketing, you say? I wouldn't hold that against you given the common misconception among the general public. Enterprises are publishing a variety of video content on private video hosting platforms for internal audiences, the pandemic has only added fuel to the fire. There are a ton of internal video use cases, including corporate communication, training, knowledge management, and video archival.
A Forrester research shows that employees are 75% more likely to watch videos compared to reading boring, lengthy documents.
However, most organizations are struggling to restrict these videos for internal viewing. Simple public-facing video platforms like YouTube are not enough in catering to these needs. What you require is a highly secure private video hosting platform that requires users to log in before accessing your content through a YouTube-like video library. These platforms have stringent security and access control measures securing your videos from any external threats.
Cybersecurity Ventures had anticipated that, by 2021, cybercrimes would cost an upward of $6 trillion yearly.
This blog will analyze what exactly private video hosting is and provide you a list of the 5 best private video hosting platforms. These platforms will be compared on the basis of the following critical privacy features:
- Single Sign-on (SSO) and IAM Integration (Having SCIM is a Bonus)
- Access Controls
- Content Segregation
- Password Protection
- Content Encryption
- Audit Logs
- Digital Rights Management
- IP Restriction (Or Geoblocking)
- Location Restriction
- Limited Video Sharing
- Video Integrations
What is Private Video Hosting?
Private video hosting is when you upload a video and share it will a restricted audience, in a secure way. Through video encryption technologies such as AES, SSL or DRM, you ensure that videos are not accessible to external parties and hackers, and only those that are authorized can see them.
It goes one step ahead and involves assigning access for every video - who gets to view it and who doesn't.
Businesses or organizations may need to share videos privately as these may contain Controlled Unclassified Information (CUI), Classified Information, or Personally Identifiable Information (PII). If these are accessed by unauthorized parties, it may lead to a breach of compliance, loss in revenue, damage to reputation, or legal action.
5 Best Private Video Hosting Platforms:
1. VIDIZMO
VIDIZMO is a Gartner-recognized private video hosting platform, designed with a security-first approach. The platform allows you to upload, stream, and manage live and on-demand videos for both internal and external audiences.
Create a secure YouTube-like portal where users need to login to view private videos. Control exactly which users or user groups can access which content and even control what actions they can perform, like downloading, sharing, etc. You can even securely share videos with external viewers in one-off instances.
Not only that, you can also create multiple autonomous video portals, such that users of one portal can't access the content of the other portals. Plus, each portal will have its own security policies and administrative controls in place.
Learn More About Video Sharing and Access Management in VIDIZMO
To top it all of, the platform is a complete video asset management solution. You can track analytics of your videos, increase engagement by adding interactive elements in them, organize them in playlists and feature them on home page for organic discovery, utilize smart search to quickly find the right videos, brand your videos to adhere to corporate guidelines, and do much more. Above all else, you have flexible deployment option in the cloud (here are the best video cloud storage options of 2021), on premise, or as a hybrid model.
VIDIZMO's ever-responsive customer support team is always available to answer customer queries. With its customer-first philosophy, our flexible professional services team provides various customizations and configurations for all your unique needs.
Following is an extensive analysis of all privacy features of VIDIZMO:
Privacy Feature |
Availability in VIDIZMO |
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VIDIZMO allows user authentication management through its multiple integrations with SSO providers like directory services (Azure AD, AWS and more), Identity Access Management services (Okta, OneLogin and more), and third-party login services (Google, Twitter and more). it also offers user and group provisioning and synchronization through SCIM. |
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VIDIZMO has comprehensive role-based access controls that can be used to directly assign user access permission to certain default user roles (6 user roles available) or create custom roles and assign new permissions to those. |
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Content Segregation |
VIDIZMO has options to segregate content either through the creation of user groups based on different organizational units and projects or through the creation of multiple separate autonomous portals where different users or user groups can be added. |
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Password Protection |
You can password-protect videos on VIDIZMO and also share them through password protection. |
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Content Encryption |
VIDIZMO provides end-to-end content encryption using AES and TLS, which is FIPS 140-2 Compliant. |
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VIDIZMO's clients can maintain real-time audit logs for all the platform-wide activity as well as all individual activity performed on the video content. |
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VIDIZMO also offers DRM capabilities for customers looking for greater security through Microsoft PlayReady and other third-party DRM solutions. |
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IP Restriction |
An organization using VIDIZMO can restrict specific IP addresses from its portals. |
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Location Restriction |
VIDIZMO allows geo-blocking private or public locations. There are also settings to allows certain locations only. |
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Videos can be securely shared with an outsider through a password-protected link. You can expire these links any time you want. You can also guest share a video with an external viewer or even viewers from within your organization through an email invite. These videos can also be password-protected with limited views and limited time period of availability. |
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Integrations |
You can integrate with Zoom, MS Teams etc. to ingest your recorded meetings and privately host them. You can also integrate with your LMS, CMS, etc. to improve video playback within these systems. |
The US State Department Uses VIDIZMO For Secure Private Live and On-demand Streaming - Read More On This Story
2. Brightcove
Brightcove is another enterprise-grade video platform that is more focused on industries of media and broadcasting, entertainment, and sports. However, Brightcove still has good security features but is a bit lacking on the privacy side as the video hosting platform was designed to cater better to external use cases. Following is an analysis of privacy features of Brightcove:
Privacy Feature |
Availability in Brightcove |
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Single Sign-on (SSO) |
SSO integration available through authentication providers of your choice supported through SAML 2.0 protocol. |
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Access Controls |
Brightcove lacks in the area of role-based access control as only 2 default roles are available and it is not possible to create custom roles. |
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Content Segregation |
User groups or separate autonomous portals for content segregation cannot be created on Brightcove. |
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Password Protection |
There are no default settings in Brightcove to password-protect videos. |
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Content Encryption |
Brightcove provides HTTP Live Streaming Encryption that aligns with the AES 128 standard. |
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Audit Logs |
Audit logs are available to track individual user activity |
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Digital Rights Management (DRM) |
DRM is not included in the default package of Brightcove and can only be bought as an add-on. Brightcove supports Microsoft PlayReady and two other DRM solutions. |
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IP Restriction |
A specified whitelist of IP addresses can be created to restrict videos for only internal viewing. |
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Location Restriction |
Geo-restriction is available on Brightcove. |
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Limited Sharing |
While sharing a video, it can be made available for a limited amount of time, but password-protection is not available in Brightcove's default settings. |
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Integrations |
You can do live streaming through Zoom. It also offers integration with various monetization services. |
3. Kaltura
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Kaltura is also a well-known private video hosting platform catering to both internal and external audiences. Kaltura is a bit different as it is open-source software that requires IT expertise as its deployment is much more complex compared to all other platforms. Kaltura also does not offer any customer service or consultation and only detailed documents for companies to understand themselves. Kaltura's video portal is called MediaSpace. Here is an analysis of the privacy features of Kaltura:
Privacy Feature |
Availability in Kaltura |
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Single Sign-on (SSO) |
In MediaSpace, SSO is not natively integrated. An SSO gateway has to be configured into it, which is a complex process. |
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Access Controls |
There are 5 default user roles available in Kaltura and additional custom roles with different permissions can also be created. |
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Content Segregation |
Content can be segregated into different user groups for access restrictions. |
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Password Protection |
Password-protected channels can be created for private videos, but individual videos cannot be password-protected. |
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Content Encryption |
There is AES standard encryption on Kaltura’s platform. |
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Audit Logs |
Audit logs are not maintained and viewable by default. |
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Digital Rights Management (DRM) |
Kaltura uDRM module is API-driven and customers will have to integrate it themselves into the Kaltura’s platform. |
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IP Restriction |
A predefined list of approved IP addresses can be created to limit content viewing to certain users. |
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Location Restriction |
Geo restriction can be used to limit certain viewers from accessing your content. |
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Limited Sharing |
Limited sharing is not available separately with password protection. If you share a private video, it will only be viewable to those who were given access to it. |
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Integrations |
It offers integrations with various LMS and CMS. |
4. Panopto
The last private video hosting platform we will be discussing is Panopto. This platform is highly focused on delivering solutions for educational institutes for online learning and hence is a good internal platform. However, the solution does not allow any customizations or configurations. Following are the default privacy features available in Panopto:
Privacy Feature |
Availability in Panopto |
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Single Sign-on (SSO) |
Supports SSO with multiple authentication types, including OAuth, SAML 2.0, etc. |
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Access Controls |
There are 5 user roles available, but custom roles cannot be created. Role-based video access can be assigned to users. |
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Content Segregation |
Not available; content can be segregated into different user groups like departments or classes. |
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Password Protection |
It is not possible to password-protect individual videos in Panopto. |
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Content Encryption |
Panopto uses TLS v1.2 encryption for data in transit and Amazon S3-Managed Keys (SSE-S3) for encryption at rest. |
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Audit Logs |
It has a lengthy audit trail process which can only be obtained by submitting a support ticket |
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Digital Rights Management (DRM) |
It is not available in Panopto. |
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IP Restriction |
IP whitelisting can be done to limit certain videos to limited users. |
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Location Restriction |
It is not available in Panopto. |
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Limited Sharing |
It is possible to share a secure link through password protection and limited availability. |
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Integrations |
It offers a broad range of integration options with LMS and CMS. |
5. Wistia
Wistia is a simpler video platform focused on marketing use cases in an ad-free environment while allowing you to retain 100% ownership of your content. You can place CTAs on your videos and opt for email gating for lead generation. However, this has led to the platform being weaker in terms of internal private streaming. You can opt for this option in case you are on the lookout for a simpler, more secure external streaming platform.
Privacy Feature |
Availability in Wistia |
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Single Sign-on (SSO) |
For SSO integration, 2 identity providers (Google and Microsoft) are available. |
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Access Controls |
4 user roles are available with pre-set permissions. |
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Content Segregation |
Not available; user groups cannot be created. |
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Password Protection |
It is not possible to password-protect individual videos. |
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Content Encryption |
Not possible to securely encrypt your content. |
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Audit Logs |
Privately shared media have an audit trail viewable with all the actions the viewer made while logged in. |
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Digital Rights Management (DRM) |
It is not available in Wistia. |
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IP Restriction |
IP restriction is not available. |
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Location Restriction |
Geo restriction can be enabled to make your videos restricted in certain countries. |
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Limited Sharing |
It is possible to share a secure link through password protection. |
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Integrations |
It offers a range of integration options with marketing platforms such as SalesForce, HubSpot etc. |
Free Private Video Hosting Platforms
If your private video hosting requirements are extremely minimal and you are on a budget, you can opt for a free private video hosting platform with very basic functionality not designed keeping security in mind. Here are two well-known free private video hosting platforms:
YouTube
YouTube is the most popular video platform, especially for content creators wanting earn through free user-generated content. The enterprise use cases it mainly serves is linked to content marketing. However, it is still possible to make your make your videos private in case the requirement arises.
This basic private option allows you to make you to hide your videos from public viewing on your YouTube channel. You can then enter email addresses of your team member to make your video accessible to them for playback. These videos cannot be accessed by any other individual even if they get their hands on its link. You could also just make your video unlisted to hide it from being publicly available on your video channel. However, these videos could still be accessed by anyone who has their link.
Beware that apart from weak security, YouTube also takes away your content ownership and can have random video content be recommended at the end of your videos. Adverts are placed on your video content. However, you can turn off this setting for individual videos if you do not want to monetize them.
Dailymotion
This is another free video platform that allows you to make your videos private. If you select the private upload option for a video, it will be hidden from your account. However, anyone with the link to the video will still be able to access and view your video. Hence, you must be highly protective while sharing your private video links. You can also password-protect your videos on Dailymotion.
A problem encountered in the free version of this platform is the limit on your video to be under 4 GB. The platform does have random adverts placed within your videos. These adverts are placed on all user's content and it is not possible to turn them off.
Wrapping Up
To choose a private video hosting platform that best fits your unique needs, you should first evaluate your organization's requirements internally. Then, compare your specific privacy requirements to the above privacy feature analysis to choose an appropriate platform to help you upload and stream private videos.
If you are from the education industry with basic private video needs, Panopto would be the way to go. If you require a complex open-source platform, you can give Kaltura a try. If you have minimal privacy needs with videos for an external audience, Brightcove might be a good solution.
However, if you have both internal and external video needs and would like powerful privacy, security and compliance features, you should definitely give VIDIZMO a try. If this is the case, contact VIDIZMO today to discuss your specific needs with our team or go for a free trial to experience these features yourself!
