YouTube is one of the most well-known names on the Internet. It is the third most viewed website, constantly getting billions of views. This unbeatable advantage over its competition puts YouTube at the top of the game.
When it comes to video sharing, it is the go-to place for celebrities, politicians, and individuals alike. From funny fail videos to even the most serious of announcements, you can pretty much find anything. Since YouTube had its first upload, it has grown itself into a massive network that gets millions of uploads as each hour passes.
Most of the topics you’re interested in or anything worth sharing can be looked up with pretty good results. Being so extensive, the amazing success that YouTube has been having over the past 10 years is understandable.
But that isn’t the only reason why YouTube stands out. This website also has a large army of content creators who work tirelessly, uploading daily videos and gathering large fan bases. Thus, the term YouTuber was born. Thanks to them, YouTube is attracting more traffic every day than it ever has, giving a lot of new opportunities to its users.
So Why Use Any Alternatives?
The first and most obvious reason to use other video sharing sites is the variety of content and the fact there’s always something to behold in the industry of video production.
YouTube has some obvious flaws that can ruin the experience sometimes. If you spend enough time on there, you will see that there is a lot of trashy content that get uploaded just so they can make some money. Some of these videos just feature popular keywords and take advantage of YouTube’s algorithm and search engines. Videos like this rarely contain anything relevant to your interests.
The quality of videos isn’t as important here as you would expect. Infact, a lot of times content creators aim at the number of videos and the sheer number of views they get. But if you’re looking for quality videos, you have to do yourself a serious search.
YouTube has brought some serious fame and fortune to a lot of people who develop quality, interesting content on at least a weekly basis, which is great! But, having such a massive community that YouTube has, it is evident that it gets a bit spoiled here and there. The best example for this is the infamous comment section that tends to contain a lot of trashy stuff to say the least.
Accounts have been known to get suspended without any warnings too, causing a lot of rage. The DMCA takedown system aims its victims and strikes mercilessly!
It’s also a fact that YouTube gives strict guidelines to their users but they don’t publish an update log. This sometimes results in content creators having their videos monetized without giving them any notice.
So if you’re looking for good alternatives and quality videos, read the list below!
If you’re interested in seeing some great quality, more intellectually focused videos; Vimeo is the place to be!
1. Vimeo
When we are talking in terms of quality, Vimeo has beat YouTube in a lot of ways. It is a website developed by film-makers and video creators, creative individuals who prefer quality over quantity. Due to this fact, their site and videos really please the eye. The website was built so individuals can share their „creative work” and it has been working since 2004.
Straight from the get-go, the Explore tab offers great navigation, enabling you to reach the content through the categories. But it’s not the place you would go to search for cat videos and trashy vines. Vimeo is about snapshots, interesting stuff about interesting people’s lives, unique projects, experimental music videos, graphic art, and anything creative you could make in the form of a video.
Video uploads are restricted to 500mb limits per week and it can be stretched to 2 GB by upgrading.
The video player is where Vimeo really stands out, because it concentrates on delivering a truly high quality experience.
2. DailyMotion
DailyMotion is the second most viewed online video posting website around the world. This website has more than 112 million unique visitors each month, so it offers a lot of potentials for your video to reach millions. It isn’t that much behind YouTube, as it is the 92nd in the global Alexa ranking.
The website itself looks a bit similar to what YouTube used to in the past. Their starting page promotes trending videos and most of them are of high quality.
You can start uploading videos right away by creating an account with a valid email address. You can upload a maximum of 60 minutes and 4GB of the video in HD 1080p resolutions. If you want to remove those limits, you’ll have to create a MotionMaker account, which you can also do for free.
The site offers a convenient search feature that returns playlists, channels and videos separately.
The MotionMaker program lets users compete for money and visibility on their homepage. This program has about 50,000 content creators and the site distributes about $50,000 among these users.
You can also join their Openvod program which offers more functionality, easier access to many features, and a better user experience altogether.
3. Flickr
Flickr is a photo-sharing website first of all, but it also shares videos online. It is owned by Yahoo! And is well established, offering some nice unique features.
To keep things interesting, Flickr only allows videos to be 90 seconds, which makes sure they have more impact. These are called “long photos”. Free users are able to upload two 90 second videos per month and paid subscribers can have unlimited uploads for $25. The free account comes with 1TB of memory while the unlimited account offers unlimited storage spaces and is free from ads, plus it provides some detailed stats.
But if you’re really into watching videos, there aren’t many features that might interest you here.
4. Metacafe
Metacafe was here before YouTube. It is the oldest among video sharing sites and it has been operating since 2003. It is a massive community-based website, serving more than 40 million unique visitors every month.
They specialize in serving short-length original videos to their users. They don’t feature full-length episodes of your favorite series because their average video length is 90 seconds. This site attracts millions of unique visitors each month for good reasons. It doesn’t put out any trashy videos and has made a solid reputation at that.
Categories on the starting page are nicely framed, offering a much better experience to users.
To get the best experience out of Metacafe, check their exclusives originals and their partner channels.
5. Veoh
Veoh is similar to YouTube in many ways, making it a great alternative. Videos of any length can be uploaded and shared instantly. The website has a great user interface with a lot of social features like adding friends, sending personal messages, groups, and forums. They have developed a strong community thanks to this and you are able to share a lot with people who have the same interests.
Veoh is a great place to share long videos but their search engine isn’t really top tier, so it ruins the experience a bit.
Summary
Each of these sites gives a good reason for you to visit them, offering a different take on video sharing than YouTube does. Some of them nail video quality with their high standards and amazing video players and some are just plain fun to scroll through. Either way, you are sure to find something to catch your interest or even have you coming back for more.
I hope this article has helped to make your video viewing experiences richer and I hope to see you in our next article!
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