Streaming Video Wars : YouTube Vs. Blogspot

Streaming video is here to stay, and it’s only getting faster, smarter and better. There are a multitude of sites where you can house your videos for all to see with the most widely-used being YouTube. The great thing about having your videos on YouTube is the fact that it’s literally a video search engine with millions of registered users, and millions more who view anonymously.

Blogging is also here to stay, and like streaming video, there are a million different platforms from which to launch your blog. Blogspot has been around for years and hosts millions of blogs for a pretty decent price– absolutely nothing. This makes Blogspot a very attractive option for companies and individuals looking to launch a blog to reach out and connect with their audience.

A nifty Blogspot feature lies in the ability to upload a video directly to your blog. Hosted by Google video, viewers can simply click play, sit back and watch whatever little gem you’ve cooked up with your video recording software. YouTube has the same attractive (free) feature and while these platforms are very different, they both offer what this blog post is all about: Streaming Video.

So which is the better platform to upload your videos? Let’s run through some of the pro’s and con’s.

Video Upload Simplicity

Both YouTube and Blogspot offer some very easy-to-use features that allow you to upload videos with a couple of simple clicks. YouTube is more involved with features that let you add descriptions, keywords and so on. Blogspot, on the other hand, simply places the video in your post after it is uploaded. So, while it may be easier (and faster) to upload a video directly to Blogspot, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find that video in any searches. With YouTube, visitors enter their search terms on the site or in a traditional search engine as the video can be found via search in either method.

Visitor Usability

I don’t care who you are, nobody is going to tell me that uploading a video directly to Blogspot is better than YouTube for this simple fact. To my knowledge, you cannot view a Blogspot-hosted video in full screen. This is a huge negative, especially if your video has text captions and no audio. Get out the magnifying glass, because you’re definitely going to need it. YouTube allows viewers to expand the video to full screen mode to get that full experience we have all come to require.

Video Statistics, Anyone?

Last I heard, Blogspot has no method of showing webmasters any information on views including how many times a video has been watched, where those viewers reside, or how popular their videos are in comparison to other relevant videos. YouTube, however, recently came out with YouTube Insights which gives you access to all of these things. Even if you choose to embed your YouTube video on a Blogspot blog, your own WordPress blog or even your website, you can view a plethora of statistics that will not only give you additional insights into the viewing habits of your audience, but will also give you valuable hints as to when your videos are most commonly viewed.

In my opinion there is no real battle here at all. YouTube wins, hands down. It’s so much more flexible than Blogspot with respect to video upload, it gives you a wealth of information about your viewers’ habits, and it can be designed specifically to suit the aesthetic requirements of your brand. So if you’re conflicted on whether to upload your video to YouTube or Blogspot, choose YouTube. If you have a Blogspot blog and still want to see your video there, simply copy and paste the embeddable code and your problems are as good as solved.

Here’s a parting question: If Google owns Blogspot, Google Video and YouTube, and you can expand YouTube & Google Videos to full screen. Why is this feature not available on Blogspot? Comments aren’t only welcome, I’m willing to beg. I must know!