I’ve been working on a project recently to convert one of my sites to a very video heavy destination. In doing this I’m relying on other services to do the heavy lifting. It is amazing me how many players are out there to serve the needs of those who want to post video on the internet.

Even more amazing is the fact that all of the aforementioned players offer their services for free. I’m not sure how long all this free video hosting and delivery will last. Far be it from me to question a situation I’m benefiting from.

The Giants - YouTube, MySpace, Google Video, Yahoo! Video, MSN SoapBox

With these services you automatically have your videos included in massive communities. So there’s a lot of audience but also a lot of content. Don’t be surprised if yours gets lost in the shuffle. One good thing about these services is the fact that their parent entities have plenty of cash to keep the party going for a long time.

The Upstarts - Brightcove, Veoh, Blip.tv, Vimeo, Viddler, Revver …to name a few…

These players are venture or angel funded at various levels. I think that Brightcove and Veoh are probably the most highly funded in the group. Some tout features, some monetization. Some tout both. They all allow you to create your own channel of videos that get converted to flash and can be embedded in other sites. How long these companies will be around is anyone’s guess. I would be willing to bet that there will be some consolidation of the many video startups in the next year.

The Roll Your Owns - Ning, KickApps, VideoEgg

These players are also venture funded but add the component of allowing you to build a community around your video content. VideoEgg allows you to add on video to an existing community. KickApps allows you to create a stand alone community or integrate with an existing site. Ning lets you build standalone communities around content. KickApps and Ning also host audio and photos for your community as well.

The Archives - Archive.org, Amazon S3, Dreamhost, GoDaddy …insert large storage host name…

Some of the services above preserve the original files you upload. Most just convert your originals to flash. You definitely want a backup copy somewhere that’s not local. The links above are basically storage options. You don’t get flash encoding or any kind of community features. Archive.org is totally free. The others cost money but are economical. Dreamhost offers an easy to use Files Forever service for their hosting customers. S3 appears to be a great bet for archiving video as well although the interface options for uploading and maintaining are a bit lacking for non-tech users.

This analysis is not meant to be a comprehensive one. It simply represents what I’m seeing in the market. If there are other interesting and notable players in the space feel free to let everyone know in the comments.

[tags]Social Media, Video, Online Video[/tags]