Should I host my own videos?

Hosting your own videos is tricky business.

Hosting videos is extremely server intensive and expensive

Massive Video Server

It can be done and many cloud data centers can help you with setting up a nice size VM with plenty of memory and tons of internet bandwidth. So that part can get knocked out pretty quick, and if they offer a scalable solution you can just keep making the VM and storage larger.

But video hosting and streaming is more than just servers, memory and bandwidth. What formats will your videos be created in and what formats will you convert them into for streaming? How many bit-rates should you support? Do you need a global content delivery network (CDN)? Do you expect lots of simultaneous viewing? Do you want to capture leads in videos? Are you prepared and staffed to monitor/test performance across devices and browsers (hint not all videos play on Apple). Hosting your own video is possible, but there are many very affordable options you should consider before doing it yourself. Check-out the following video hosting providers: TogoTiki , Brightcove, Vidyard