dailymotion.com
Some other, lesser known video streaming platforms are actually worth considering, especially if you're looking for a more specialized platform or want to avoid YouTube's well-known problems. For example, Vimeo has been praised by many filmmakers as the best platform for pre-release screenings and early reviews. Another option is Blip.tv, which is known for its high quality HD content.
Many people have major complaints with YouTube because of the amount of ads that it puts in users' faces. Before, during, and sometimes after videos, YouTube has become just as bad as traditional cable television when it comes to commercials. This results in an extremely unpleasant experience for users, who often wish YouTube would reduce ads even a little bit. It appears that YouTube is on the path to only continue to increase ads, rather than listen to the public's frustrations and scale them back even a little bit.
Many people have issues with YouTube's policies on censorship, which tend to be very strict and arbitrary. All it takes is one complaint about a video, and often times the video will be taken down regardless of whether it violates any rules. Additionally, if YouTube does not agree with what a user is saying in their videos, they can simply demonetize the channel. This has serious implications for free speech, something many people value.
These slipups on behalf of YouTube have allowed other (similar) video streaming platforms to rise up and amass hundreds of millions of monthly users. One such video streaming site that comes to mind is Vimeo, which has successfully managed to brand itself as a sort of anti-YouTube, with cooler censorship policies and absolutely zero ads. Unfortunately, though, Vimeo has not yet been able to even scratch the surface of engagement that YouTube has, which means that the range of videos available on Vimeo is going to be relatively very limited.
Another video streaming service that has garnered attention and acclaim is Daily Motion. It has not yet reached the level of popularity of YouTube, but it has over 300 million active monthly users. Daily Motion could potentially be a viable alternative to YouTube if its users are satisfied with the service. Let's dive into it to see what we think.
History
In the first full year of operation, Daily Motion brought in over 2 million euros. The website has since grown exponentially and now has over 300 million monthly unique visitors.
In March 2005, Benjamin Bejbaum and Olivier Poitrey founded DailyMotion with a group of 6 people. In their first year of operation, they raised investments from Atlas Ventures and Partech International to the tune of 7 million euros. According to French Web 2.0, DailyMotion received the most funds raised of any site in 2006. As DailyMotion grew in popularity, the money just kept rolling in- in 2007 alone they raised another 5 million euros. Today, DailyMotion boasts over 300 million monthly unique visitors and is one of France's leading internet companies.
In October of 2009, the French government invested in Daily Motion through a federal strategic investment fund. On January 25th, 2011, Orange purchased a 49% stake in the company and estimated its value at 62 million euros. As of October 1st, 2017, Dailymotion was worth over ?1.2 billion.
In 2013, Orange acquired the remaining 51% of Daily Motion for 61 million. And in May of that same year, the French government blocked an attempt from Yahoo to purchase the majority stock.
In 2014, Orange announced that it had been negotiating a deal with Microsoft to extend Dailymotion into the US market. CEO said that there was ?great hope? that a deal could be made, so long as Orange retained the majority stake in the company. Talks with other potential partners were also made public. In 2015, Vivendi purchased an 80% stake in Dailymotion, increasing it to 90% September of that year, keeping the company largely France-based.
Design
The videos themselves are arranged into channels, each with its own tab - for example, News, Comedy, Gaming etc. There is also a toolbar on the bottom of the screen with quick links to other areas of the site.
Upon first visiting Daily Motion, it may more closely resemble a news site than a proper video streaming platform. The homepage features a vertically cascading list of Featured videos, subtitled "top stories today," to give an even better idea of what I mean. The videos themselves are arranged into channels, each with its own tab - for example, News, Comedy, Gaming etc. There is also a toolbar on the bottom of the screen with quick links to other areas of the site.
On the top of the page, there is a very subdued site menu bar. You can navigate Daily Motion by type of content. Choose from the default home page, Featured, or browse the site by clicking on News, Sports, Entertainment, or Music. It is very sparse and barebones, but it gives the page a very classy and minimalist feel.
Honestly, I think Daily Motion is the best video streaming site because it makes me think I could benefit from making it my home page. The design is similar to popular news sites, which probably comes from the instinct to keep up with current events. It's perfect for watching videos about current events, not just entertainment videos like on YouTube.
Content
The content on Daily Motion, as compared to rival video streaming platforms, feels more serious and productive. It is also of a higher caliber, typically speaking. This may be due to the site's focus on current events. The content on Daily Motion feels more like what you would expect from a well-respected media outlet than from most video streaming platforms - high quality and informative videos from certified contributors.
However, if you are the type of person who values quantity over quality, then I think that you will find Daily Motion less than adequate.
That being said, Daily Motion will have a narrower scope in terms of the types of content available. So it is the classic debate: quality or quantity? If you are inclined towards quality, I think that you will be very happy with what Daily Motion has to offer. However, if you prefer quantity over quality, I think that you may find Daily Motion less than adequate.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
The Daily Motion desktop experience can be a little laggy and videos occasionally waver in and out of resolution qualities, depending on what you're doing. The good news is that as you scroll down a given page below a playing video, the video will minimize itself into a bar above the content you are viewing, allowing you to keep browsing without missing out on the current content.
The app, according to some users, might provide a better overall experience than the website's experience tends to provide. The app has less lag and better performance, which might make it the best way to go in order to fully enjoy everything that Daily Motion has to offer. Meanwhile, other users have average ratings of 4.5 stars for the Apple App Store for the app.
Pricing and Plans
Daily Motion is a free website that allows users to access a wide variety of videos. There are no paywalls or subscriptions necessary to use the site, and videos can be watched without any commercials.
Suggestions that I have for Daily Motion
The idea of redesigning the desktop and mobile web browser version of Daily Motion is a valid one.
A slight redesign of the desktop and mobile web browser versions of Daily Motion may be in order. I don't necessarily mean from an aesthetic standpoint, because I think that the site actually looks very nice. I'm speaking more from a functionality standpoint. Perhaps there are some coding shortcuts to be looked into so as to avoid video playback lag and make pages load more quickly.
If you are looking for well executed videos that will keep you up-to-date on current events, Daily Motion is the website for you. There are fewer videos here than on YouTube, but they typically tend to be of a higher quality.
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