#cloudchat25 Recap: Challenges and Strategies for Hosting Video Content

The web is becoming more of a visual space.

While this is an accepted truth for digital natives, those of us who grew up with a dialup connection and a text-based Internet can easily forget how much videography matters to the modern web. Yet producing video content is cumbersome, and hosting it is a challenge unto itself.

That’s why we assembled top talent to discuss some of the challenges and strategies for companies to host video content.

Miss a #cloudchat? We have all the #cloudchat recaps here on the blog!

Joining us to discuss the topic was Rackspace principal engineer David Porter along with CTO of Cybric mike d. kail, CTO of Seenit Dave Starling and Corey Quinn of Last Week in AWS. The group discussed the following questions:

• Q1: Video is big on the web, but it also carries a large file size. Why is video so important to business? In your opinion, is it worth the heavy load it takes to produce/host it?
• Q2: Have you decided to move away from public video platforms (YouTube/Vimeo) to hosting your own video? What are some of the challenges to hosting your own video solutions?
• Q3: What are some of the benefits of hosting your own video content? Do the benefits outweigh the challenges?
• Q4: When looking to host video content, do you use traditional managed hosting, cloud hosting or a combination of hybrid hosting? What has helped determine your choice?
• Q5: How do you know your solution is effective? What are some of the backend metrics that you’re looking at to know that your hosting solution is performing?
• Q6: Digital video has certainly become mainstream—do you think that VR will do the same? What new challenges will it pose to the industry? Do we have solutions in place to support them?

Video is important to businesses because it allows them to distinguish themselves from the competition, argues mike d. kail. He says that's a powerful way to get your message out to a wide audience.

https://twitter.com/mdkail/status/959111123105497088

Dave Starling believes it’s a way to connect with your audience, because it’s the easiest way to communicate emotion.

https://twitter.com/davestarling/status/959111127312551937

I agreed with Dave’s sentiment and have seen how it can connect with folks in a very visceral way. But it’s important to caption videos, because often consumers watch videos without sound. It’s important to make sure your message comes across.

https://twitter.com/pinojo/status/959112779604033536

The group felt that as a brand begins to grow, it may make sense to go away from the more public video platforms such as YouTube and Vimeo. The main reason? Control.

https://twitter.com/bighappyface/status/959115427241742341

By owning the system, Corey Quinn argue,s you can control the consumer experience, especially on videos that follow as related content.

https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/959115287936221187

We ended the chat by taking a look at the next evolution of visual content on the web: Virtual Reality. David Porter felt that VR will present a new opportunity for businesses, especially when it comes to delivering analytics.

https://twitter.com/bighappyface/status/959120305317916673

While Corey Quinn was a little bearish on VR as a future content delivery vehicle, mike d. kail felt it would eventually augment all video content.

https://twitter.com/QuinnyPig/status/959120194458173440

https://twitter.com/mdkail/status/959120553603776512

Check out our Twitter Moment below to see some of our favorite tweets from the chat. And if you’ve ever missed one of our #cloudchat conversations, you can browse the recaps in our archive!

https://twitter.com/i/moments/960543096164573184