Vidmetrix: Affordable Video Distribution

This is the third review in our series of online video distribution applications. For an introduction to this category, including a rundown of features common to all four applications reviewed this week, please see: Promoting and Distributing Video Content With Web 2.0.

The navigation of Vidmetrix is simplified - so simplified that you may wonder where the rest of it went. But behind the tabs are menu options that expand as you input videos, and those options cover the basic needs of video distribution.

Vidmetrix breaks your videos into campaigns, and once you've uploaded your video, they will be placed into the campaign group you specify. Navigation to where you see your viewing statistics, where you see your comments, track the traffic, and see links to your video are all under the campaign title. Most functions are split across pages or views, which may trouble users working with a large number of videos.

Distribution is done through a form where users enter their account passwords for the networks they want to push videos to. Vidmetrix currently supports fifty networks with the ability to track statistics on each of them. One of the better features of Vidmetrix is how they provide feedback when you upload a video; after each network name is a red or green light to let users know if there are problems with that network. It's a simple feature, but one that gives you an instant picture of what's happening.

Tracking with Vidmetrix is done primarily through the analytics under the campaign links, though there is also the option of tracking through urls. You can enter urls for fifty of the sites that they cover and get results not only for viewing, but comments and ranking on those sites. For users anxious to compare videos (their own or others) and see an at-a-glance chart, this is a useful feature. They also have a bookmarklet that you can drag to your browser bar for quickly adding links to track. With a premium account users can set up analytics for others (clients), so that they can follow the progress of videos created for them.

The weakness of Vidmetrix is in promoting videos, which is limited to the tagging and descriptions entered with the video. Vidmetrix also has a content limitation; "pornagraphic, indecent, or illegal" material is discouraged, though this is unlikely to affect the majority of users. That said, Vidmetrix does offer a free video distribution platform that keeps distribution and navigation simple.

For users who need a full service distribution application, Vidmetrix will most likely be lacking, but for users looking for straightforward and affordable distribution of video materials, Vidmetrix is a good option. To find this application or others like it, there is the Listio search: manage+videos.