8 best video content management systems

Video is on the rise — and that will probably be true for years to come. By 2020, video usage among Americans had grown to 83.3%, including not just popular video platforms like YouTube, but also streaming services, social platforms, and more.

But people don’t only use online video for entertainment — we use video at work, not just for instructional content, but also with recorded video messages, stand ups, and beyond. But with so much going on, what’s the best way to keep it all organized? With a video content management system.

In this article, we’ll explore what makes a great video content management system. Then, we’ll dive into eight of the best solutions on the market to help you find the best one for your organization.

What takes a video content management system (video CMS) from good to great?

One word: features. Any great video CMS will have smart features that allow you to easily manage huge files in bulk. This means plenty of storage, support for mobile devices, and plenty of ways to categorize and manage digital media.

Let’s explore each of these features in greater detail and discuss what they mean for your team.

The video CMS should have plenty of storage

Video files are big — and we don’t just mean popularity, but in terms of the sheer number of gigabytes. Just to give you an idea, a one-hour 4K video is somewhere between 20 and 22GBs. This doesn’t just apply to high-res videos, either — even lower resolution video assets still take up more space than text and image content. You can cut that number down somewhat, but doing so may sacrifice quality so much that it’s not worth it to do so.

The bottom line is, whatever video hosting and management platform you choose, it needs to come with plenty of secure storage. This ensures that you’ve got space for the content you already have — and the expanded video library you’ll create in the future. Systems with solid security also give you the peace of mind that your files are safe in the cloud, only accessible by those who should have access.

The video CMS should be easy to learn and use

Most of the biggest video platforms on the market are advertised as easy to use — and for many of them, it’s true. But are they easy enough to meet your team’s needs?

To answer that question, think about what you actually need. Do you need enterprise video content management that can be used across multiple departments for internal videos, promotional videos, and everything in between? Or do you simply need a streaming platform that saves your recorded meetings?

Rather than going for the option that has all the bells and whistles “just in case” you need them someday, choose the CMS that has what you know you need now. This will save you and your team lots of time spent learning to navigate more complex interfaces or tools they may never use.

The video CMS should integrate with your other go-to apps

Speaking of ease of use, integrations are another key consideration. Yes, you can download videos from your cloud storage to upload them to whatever platforms or sharing apps that you use — but why go through those extra steps if you don’t have to?

So, what kinds of integrations should you look for? The short answer is that it depends on the types of videos that you produce. If you’re focused on internal videos — like meetings, messages, and training — look for a video CMS that offers integrations with business software and video conferencing platforms, like Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Zoom etc.

The video CMS should help your team stay organized

Organization is one of the biggest reasons to choose a video content management system — and you’ll probably want more than just the ability to create playlists. It’s also helpful to be able to add tags and other metadata so that you can easily categorize videos in a variety of ways. A drag-and-drop interface is also nice when you’re building video libraries or playlists categorized by different topics.

Last, think about the search features you may need. At minimum, videos should be searchable by keywords within the titles and metadata — but some platforms also feature AI that can search the video content itself or even produce transcripts. If you have a large volume of videos, tools like this make it easy to zero in on exactly the content you’re looking for with minimal fuss.

The 8 best video content management systems

Looking for video CMS options? There are quite a few great choices out there that are suited to different formats — like meetings and business videos, shareable social content, livestreamed events, and so on. We’ve rounded up some of today’s best video CMS options below.

1) Rewatch

If you make a lot of videos to share with your team, then Rewatch is your go-to. It’s a secure video platform designed to let you save, manage, and search content made for collaborative teams. It’s an especially good tool for remote and hybrid teams as well as distributed teams. Check us out and book your demo today!.

Key features

• Rewatch automatically transcribes video content (in more than 30 different languages, no less), which means you’ve got access to ready-made meeting notes, plus each transcript is searchable to make it easy to find exactly what you’re looking for.
• Video analytics give you the power to see how your team consumes videos — and what you can do to make videos even better.
• Rewatch integrates with Zoom, Slack, Google, and more.

Pros

• Rewatch is simple to use — no need to spend hours figuring out how to navigate the platform.
• It’s easy to organize content any way you want, or do a video search.
• It works with most major live video call platforms to upload teleconferences automatically at the conclusion of the meeting.

Cons

• Uploads can be a little slow.
• There’s no free version for people who don’t need to upload videos.

2) Microsoft Stream

For Microsoft 365 users, there is Microsoft Stream, which comes with the Microsoft 365 suite of tools. Stream is Microsoft’s enterprise video service (a step up from Office 365 Video) and allows users to view, upload, and share video recordings — think meetings, remote training, or even things like webinars. It lets you host live streaming events that can be saved and stored to a video library for easy post-event viewing.

Key features

• Host live streaming videos for real-time meetings, training, webinars, or other events.
• Native engagement tools within Stream allow you to add calls to action and custom branding, while analytics allows you to track user demographics and other audience metrics.
• Microsoft Stream supports monetization, allowing you to include ads in videos.

Pros

• Microsoft Stream makes it easy to collaborate with team members with video-sharing tools.
• Storage is unlimited, which is ideal for enterprises with large volumes of video data.
• It works across multiple devices, including mobile platforms.

Cons

• While Stream does offer robust tools to share videos, the sharing permissions process can be tedious to navigate
• This platform has a moderate learning curve with a lot to explore — and some users have reported that the interface feels a little bit dated and overly simplistic.

3) IBM Cloud Video

IBM Cloud Video is another enterprise video platform that works well for on-demand video streaming. It’s a good option for corporate events and communications, and it features content management tools to keep everything organized, plus security features to ensure your data remains safe.

Key features

• This platform gives you the power of AI. With IBM Watson, you can automate captions in live and on-demand videos.
• IBM Cloud Video also offers automatic language conversion, which is a useful tool for anyone working with a global audience.

Pros

• IBM Cloud Video offers plenty of cloud storage for large-volume users.
• It’s a responsive platform with low wait times to join streams and minimal buffering.

Cons

• It offers a chat feature for audience interaction — but given that this is a platform geared towards large audiences, it can be challenging to actually interact with audiences.
• Integrations are a bit limited. It’s an all-in-one platform not designed to work with other apps or software suites.

4) Vimeo

Much like IBM Cloud Video, Vimeo is another all-in-one platform that is well-suited to businesses looking for efficient content delivery. It’s great for hosting virtual events, building your own video wiki, and sharing messages. It’s an easy-to-use platform that lets you get started and create videos in minutes.

Key features

• Vimeo features social media integration, which is ideal for marketers.
• Users have the option to monetize videos.
• Vimeo’s robust analytics tools give you an in-depth understanding of audience engagement.

Pros

• Vimeo is one of the easiest platforms to use, featuring a clear, user-friendly interface.
• Video quality is high, and you get a lot of tools to manage your videos.
• Vimeo has a large content creator community, which is helpful for organizations looking for a video portal to branch out to different audiences.

Cons

• Live streaming features are limited compared to platforms devoted solely to live streams.
• Storage and uploads are limited according to pricing tiers. Plus and Pro plans only allow 5GB and 20GB uploads per week respectively, which isn’t much if you’re creating even a moderate amount of video content. Business and Premium accounts have unlimited uploads, but these are more expensive pricing tiers.

5) Wistia

If you’re looking for something to enhance B2B marketing, then you might be looking for Wistia. It might not have the name recognition of Vimeo or Microsoft — but this is a well-established platform that has been around since 2006. Users rely on it to create branded videos and podcasts for lead generation.

Key features

• Wistia’s video player is brandable, which lets you create customizable branded videos.
• This platform gives you world-class analytics so that you can really drill down on audience engagement and the ROI of your video marketing dollars.
• Wistia integrates with a broad variety of video editing and cloud collaboration tools.

Pros

• Wistia’s analytics tools are extremely comprehensive, letting you maximize SEO, build engagement, and even use tools like heat mapping to learn more about how your videos are consumed.
• Wistia’s interface makes it easy to divide longer videos into chapters — which is a popular function among busy watchers.
• People rave about this platform being not only easy to use, but easy to navigate and to create organized collections.

Cons

• It’s a bit on the pricey side. While there is a free version, the Pro, Advanced, and Premium plans unlock more features and start around $100 per month.
• Features are a bit limited on the mobile app — this platform is mainly designed for desktop use.

6) SproutVideo

SproutVideo is a great all-arounder for organizations that need a little bit of everything from their video CMS platform. It offers a lot in the way of security, plus it gives you several different privacy options. With it, you can customize videos, track their performance, optimize SEO, and organize everything into playlists or libraries so that team members have easy access.

Key features

• SproutVideo offers lots of privacy options — password protection, single sign-on, viewer logins, IP and geo address restrictions, and more.
• The platform offers video website templates plus SEO tools to easily create websites and landing pages.
• Advanced analytics let you track how videos are performing.

Pros

• Some platforms are quite costly, but SproutVideo comes in at a reasonable price for all the features you get.
• Users enjoy the wealth of features there are to choose from. You’ll find not only a host of analytics tools, but also tons of ways to edit or adjust playback settings.

Cons

• It doesn’t have as many integrations as some platforms.
• While page templates are available, they’re not quite as customizable as they could be.

7) Vidyard

If you do virtual sales, then check out Vidyard, which is designed with this in mind. It’s a video creation tool that lets you customize videos to make them memorable. You can create screen recordings or use your webcam, then use Vidyard to send videos out to sales prospects via email, LinkedIn, and other platforms.

Key features

• Not only do you get screen and webcam capture tools, but Vidyard also gives you an editing interface where you can make adjustments and annotations.
• Since Vidyard is designed to make it easy to share videos with sales prospects, there are robust sharing tools available — including social media integrations.
• You can organize and search your videos on your customizable profile page, making it easy for you, your team, and your prospects to find things.

Pros

• Vidyard has a Chrome extension, which makes screen recording even easier.
• It’s an all-around easy app to use, which means the learning curve for your team is minimal.

Cons

• While it does offer webcam capture, it doesn’t offer virtual backgrounds.
• You can organize videos — but since Vidyard’s primary purpose is marketing, not cloud storage, organization options are a little limited.

8) JW Player

JW Player is made with advertisers in mind. To quote from their website, “We live in a Digital Video Economy, where every company is now a video company.” With JWP, you can create promotional content, or create other types of content to use with ads. This platform specializes in reaching viewers on a variety of platforms using a variety of devices, and maximizing your reach so you can generate leads or build ad revenue.

Key features

• JWP gives you a robust suite of analytics tools to track engagement.
• Not only does JWP integrate with social channels and other outlets, but it can integrate with some CMS software, too.

Pros

• This app offers loads of integrations so that you can push videos out to a variety of social channels, feeds, and more.
• It’s user-friendly, and it works with almost all video formats.

Cons

• It can be quite expensive, especially if you’re hosting large volumes of video.
• This app is more about creating videos and expanding their reach — less about storage and organization — so video organization features can be a bit clunky.

Securely manage your videos with Rewatch

There are quite a few video management tools out there, but if you’re looking for one of the best, one that offers you security plus lots of tools to save, manage, and search videos, then you need to check out Rewatch. It puts everything you need all in one place. Click here to book your demo!