Gone are the days when businesses only used videos for marketing. 

Organizations are now posting a variety of videos on private video hosting platforms, a YouTube for enterprises, catering to both internal and external audiences.

There are tons of internal video use cases.

Biteable's The State of Video Marketing 2021 survey results showcases that apart from marketing, businesses use videos in sales, admin messages, human resource messages, leadership messages, and many more departments.

However, most organizations are struggling to restrict these videos for internal viewing.

Simple public-facing video platforms like YouTube are not enough!

What you must have is a highly secure private video hosting platform requiring 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 in their Annual Cybercrime Report anticipated that cybercrimes would cost an upward of $10.5 trillion yearly by 2025.

This blog analyzes what exactly private video hosting is and provides you with a list of the 5 best private video hosting platforms (Click to jump right to the part where we discuss each!):

1. VIDIZMO

2. Brightcove

3. Kaltura

4. Panopto

5. Wistia

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. 

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 log in to view private videos. Control exactly which users or groups can access which content and even control what actions they can perform, like downloading, sharing, etc.

   Users can upload videos and keep them personal or share them in the organization's private library. They can even securely share videos with external viewers in one-off instances (if allowed by admins). 

   

   

   Not only that, but 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 off, 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 the home page for organic discovery, utilize smart video 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 options in the cloud (here are the best video cloud storage options of 2022), 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's video content management system:

   Privacy Feature	Availability in VIDIZMO
   Single Sign-on (SSO)	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.
   Access Controls	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.
   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.
   Password Protection	You can password-protect videos on VIDIZMO and also share them through password protection.
   Content Encryption	VIDIZMO provides end-to-end content encryption using AES and TLS, which is FIPS 140-2 Compliant.
   Audit Logs	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.
   Digital Rights Management (DRM)	VIDIZMO also offers DRM capabilities for customers looking for greater security through Microsoft PlayReady and other third-party DRM solutions.
   IP Restriction	An organization using VIDIZMO can restrict specific IP addresses from its portals.
   Location Restriction	VIDIZMO allows geo-blocking private or public locations. There are also settings to allow certain locations only.
   Limited Sharing	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.
   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
   Single Sign-on (SSO)	SSO integration is available through authentication providers of your choice supported through SAML 2.0 protocol.
   Access Controls	Brightcove lacks in the area of role-based access control as only 2 default roles are available.
   Content Segregation	User groups or separate autonomous portals for content segregation cannot be created on Brightcove.
   Password Protection	There are no default settings in Brightcove to password-protect videos.
   Content Encryption	Brightcove provides HTTP Live Streaming Encryption that aligns with the AES 128 standard.
   Audit Logs	Audit logs are available to track individual user activity
   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.
   IP Restriction	A specified whitelist of IP addresses can be created to restrict videos for only internal viewing.
   Location Restriction	Geo-restriction is available on Brightcove.
   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.
   Integrations	You can do live streaming through Zoom. It also offers integration with various monetization services.

    

    

3. Kaltura

   

   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
   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.
   Access Controls	There are 5 default user roles available in Kaltura and additional custom roles with different permissions can also be created.
   Content Segregation	Content can be segregated into different user groups for access restrictions.
   Password Protection	Password-protected channels can be created for private videos, but individual videos cannot be password-protected.
   Content Encryption	There is AES standard encryption on Kaltura’s platform.
   Audit Logs	Audit logs are not maintained and viewable by default.
   Digital Rights Management (DRM)	Kaltura uDRM module is API-driven and customers will have to integrate it themselves into the Kaltura’s platform.
   IP Restriction	A predefined list of approved IP addresses can be created to limit content viewing to certain users.
   Location Restriction	Geo restriction can be used to limit certain viewers from accessing your content.
   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.
   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
   Single Sign-on (SSO)	Supports SSO with multiple authentication types, including OAuth, SAML 2.0, etc.
   Access Controls	There are 5 user roles available, but custom roles cannot be created. Role-based video access can be assigned to users.
   Content Segregation	Not available; content can be segregated into different user groups like departments or classes.
   Password Protection	It is not possible to password-protect individual videos in Panopto.
   Content Encryption	Panopto uses TLS v1.2 encryption for data in transit and Amazon S3-Managed Keys (SSE-S3) for encryption at rest.
   Audit Logs	It has a lengthy audit trail process which can only be obtained by submitting a support ticket
   Digital Rights Management (DRM)	It is not available in Panopto.
   IP Restriction	IP whitelisting can be done to limit certain videos to limited users.
   Location Restriction	It is not available in Panopto.
   Limited Sharing	It is possible to share a secure link through password protection and limited availability.
   Integrations	It offers a broad range of integration options with LMS and CMS.

    

   Learn more about Panopto and its alternatives.

    

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
   Single Sign-on (SSO)	For SSO integration, 2 identity providers (Google and Microsoft) are available.
   Access Controls	4 user roles are available with pre-set permissions.
   Content Segregation	Not available; user groups cannot be created.
   Password Protection	It is not possible to password-protect individual videos.
   Content Encryption	Not possible to securely encrypt your content.
   Audit Logs	Privately shared media have an audit trail viewable with all the actions the viewer made while logged in.
   Digital Rights Management (DRM)	It is not available in Wistia.
   IP Restriction	IP restriction is not available.
   Location Restriction	Geo restriction can be enabled to make your videos restricted in certain countries.
   Limited Sharing	It is possible to share a secure link through password protection.
   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 with security in mind. Here are two well-known free private video hosting platforms:

1. YouTube

   

   YouTube is the most popular video hosting site, especially for content creators wanting to earn through free user-generated content. The enterprise use cases it mainly serves are linked to content marketing. However, it is still possible to make your videos private in case the requirement arises.

   This basic private option allows you to hide your videos from public viewing on your YouTube channel. You can then enter the 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.

    

2. Dailymotion

   

   Dailymotion 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 users' 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!