#1 Free Branded Video Player for your Website

As a video company, we have a lot of videos. And we mean lots.

Webinars, tutorials videos, different kind of YouTube videos, product videos. Too many videos to keep track of.

But more often than not, we were a little frustrated with the video experience. You know, the experience of sharing, or in a lot of cases embedding your video somewhere. And then specifically the video player itself.

Take this blog for example. We want to give you an experience that looks and feels like Contrast. Including the video player. And we feel like we owe you that, being a video company.

So we tested a lot of video products. Of course YouTube first, because that's what almost everyone uses. But the YouTube player looks ehhhh.. like YouTube. It doesn't really blend in with our brand's colors.

Wistia then. These guys are famous for their player that you can customize and brand. The product is great. But it's kind of expensive. Surely there are better ways.

So we reverted to the standard browser player. Too ugly.

What we needed was a custom-branded video player.

What is a Branded Video Player?

A branded video player is a customized media player designed to align with a company's visual identity and marketing strategy. Unlike standard video players that often come with default designs and limited customization options, branded video players allow businesses to incorporate their logos, color schemes, and other brand elements directly into the player interface.

This customization enhances brand recognition and provides a more cohesive and professional look across all digital platforms where the video content is shared.

You've already put so much effort into creating a high quality video, you don't want to host it in a player that doesn't help you get the most out of it – that would just be a shame.

This way, your video gets the attention it deserves.

Benefits of Branding your Video Player

We cannot be the only ones with the problems of branding and hosting our videos on our websites. Everyone uses video. Everyone uses the standard YouTube player. It sticks out like a thorn in the eye on people's websites.

There are many benefits to using a branded video player on your website. From building customer trust & loyalty, increasing engagement, to customizing the experience, here are a few of the main benefits:

1. Build Customer Trust & Loyalty

Custom video players give you more control over the design so that it can better match the aesthetic and branding of your website. This will create a positive first impression and make you appear more professional and reliable.

2. Sell Your Brand Values More Effectively!

Brand recognition plays an important role in the buying process. Creating a consistent and coherent experience across your website and other assets will help users remember you.

3. Boost Customer Engagement

User-friendly interfaces with specific features, such as intuitive playback controls, quality settings, and subtitles, will drive users to engage with your content. Optimized, modern players will also reduce the load times (reduce buffering and faster page load times), preventing frustration and keeping users engaged.

4. Effectively monetize your content

If you offer premium content, a custom video player for your website can integrate payment gateways or subscription models. The more professional look and feel will also help bring customers back and make repeat purchases. Some players can also help protect you from piracy.

5. Content control

Custom video players give you more control over how the content is displayed. Using YouTube can lead to ads, or recommendations to other pieces of content you might not want your user to see (like your competitors). Players can offer features like playlists, chapters, and content sequencing to help you guide viewers through a series of pieces of content and drive an increase in engagement and conversions.

6. Customized Thumbnails

Some custom-branded video players will let you upload an image to set as a thumbnail for your video. This is a great opportunity to add a call-to-action, inviting people to click on your video and giving them a reason to — increasing the clicks and engagement you'll get on your video.

7. Enhanced Analytics and Insights

Many branded video players integrate with analytics tools, giving you access to detailed data on viewer behavior, engagement levels, and conversion metrics. These insights are invaluable for optimizing your content strategy, understanding what resonates with your audience, and demonstrating ROI on your video content.

8. Free Video Hosting

Most free video embed code generators don’t host your video for you like Contrast’s does. They require you to first upload and host the video somewhere else online, and then they’ll just wrap the video embed code HTML around that URL.

With Contrast’s video embed code generator, you can upload the video and we’ll host it for you for free. No strings attached. We don’t sell, share, or remove your video or information. It’s safe.

How to Use the Free Branded Video Player

1. Upload your Video

The first step of using a branded video player is to upload the video you want to host in the branded player tool.

Head over to embed.getcontrast.io and select the video you want to host. This will upload the video and start the proces of creating the player.

2. Add Metadata to your Video (Optional)

If you want to optimize your video to rank on Google then you need to include some metadata. Filling these fields will help Google understand what your video is about. The chapters will also be indexed by Google and appear in the Google Search results alongside your video. We take care of including all of this as structured data in your embed.

3. Brand the Video Player

Now that you have the video uploaded comes the next step: branding the video player itself.

The color you select here will be used everywhere in the player:

4. Add the Branded Video Player to your Website

We provide you with a piece of code (snippet) that you can use anywhere you need to. This piece of code consists of an iframe to embed the branded player with your video.

If you wish to include the SEO metadata, all you need to do is toggle the button right on top of the “Copy embed code” button. This will include a small script in the copied code to set the VideoObject markup of your page (this is exactly what Google is looking for on your page).

You’ll also need to fill an additional field with your page URL (the page where the video will be embedded). This URL will be used to generate the chapters / key moments pointing to your website.

Can I get Analytics for Free Branded Video Player?

Analytics for an embedded video player are crucial for understanding how viewers interact with your video content.

These metrics provide insights that can help you optimize your videos for better engagement, improve content quality, and tailor your marketing strategies. Here's an overview of key analytics to track for an embedded video player:

  1. View Count: The total number of times your video has been viewed.
  2. Play Rate: The percentage of visitors who click play on your video out of the total number of visitors who see the video player.
  3. Engagement Rate: How much of the video your viewers watch, often represented as a percentage of the total video length.
  4. Average Watch Time: The average amount of time viewers spend watching your video.
  5. Completion Rate: The percentage of viewers who watch your video to the end.

Conclusion: The Best Branded Video Player

You might still be wondering if Contrast's free branded video player is the tool for you, and while we admit we might be a little biased, we truly believe it is.

Here's why: Most other video player solutions out there either come with hefty prices, don't allow you to add your own branding, or are simply too slow, creating a poor and negative experience.

So why keep wondering?
Take the leap and start using our free branded video player today. It's designed to give you everything you need to enhance your website and keep your viewers engaged, all at no cost to you.