YouTube vs. Vimeo vs. Viddler vs. 12Seconds

I did a little research to try to figure out the differences between the top video hosting sites and how they benefit small business owners/video makers. I was excited about 12seconds.tv because I plan to post a short video clip everyday and 12 seconds is about the right length. I signed up and was disappointed with the quality so I looked around. This is was I found:

YouTube (YouTube.com) is a great service if you’re looking for lots of viewers. The videos will play on slower computers (in standard quality) and they offer a high quality option for faster computers/connections. With so many YouTube subscribers, there are many home videos and people looking to criticize new work. I’ve used YouTube for business (with the username studiogoodstuff) for a few years and they’ve been consistently dependable.

Vimeo (vimeo.com) is my new favorite. The quality is beautiful and I found some amazing art videos that are just stunning! Like this one by Overture:

Bryum & Kapok 03: A Lilt from Overture on Vimeo.

There are many artists with high quality work on Vimeo and it’s my choice for the short video clips I’ll soon post.

Viddler (viddler.com) is another video service I’ve played with recently. The video quality is decent (but stutters a bit on slow computers) and the users are geared more toward sharing information. This is where I’ll host the new “How to Make a Branded Web Video” series. More info about that soon…

I’m addicted to Twitter and love using TweetDeck. Their recent upgrade links 12seconds.tv and Facebook to Twitter so I gave 12seconds.tv a try. It’s not what I need right now. It seems like a great service for people who record video with their mobile phones and web cams. I’ll visit it again when the iphone ships with a video camera.

This is a brief look at just a few web video hosting services.

I’m curious… What video service do you use and why?