Tips for Choosing an Online Video Platform (OVP)

At the recent Streaming Media East conference in New York City, Theresa Regli, a principal analyst and managing director for technology research firm Real Story Group, gave a highly useful one-person presentation on how to choose an online video platform (OVP). We caught up with her just beforehand to get a few OVP tips for OnlineVideo.net readers.

In the market for an OVP to host your creations? The main thing Regli wants companies to think about is how they plan to use the online videos they're producing.

"I think that the first thing you have to ask yourself is 'What really do I need to do with this video? What are the destination channels for the video? What internally do I need to do with this video? What's really the end-to-end -- I often say use case -- for this particular video, from the time that it's created until the time that it's getting out to all the different channels that you might want to get it on?'" Regli explains.

When they need to work with an OVP, companies often come up with a list of devices they want to support and a list of video formats they want to stream. But, in the commoditized world of OVPs, that isn't the best approach.

"Too often, people create very long lists of technical requirements which, to a point are useful, but the reality is OVPs, they generally all do more or less the same thing and the difference is more how they do it and what technology they use to make it happen, and also what channels they tend to be more inclined to distribute to and integrate with more easily," Regli continues.

What's useful is thinking about the other technologies you're already using, including your in-house workflow and your content management system. You want an OVP that easily connects to the systems you currently have in place.

"Just writing a standard list of requirements isn't going to get you very far," Regli notes. "You have to tell the story. You have to think about what other technologies are sitting around this peripheral, and think of it that way. It's a bigger picture that just a list of what you want it to do."

For many more tips on choosing an OVP, including the best OVP resources, watch the full interview below.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net