Streaming Platforms Face-Off: Choosing Between Vimeo, YouTube, DailyMotion

Vimeo vs YouTube vs Dailymotion: Which Video Platform is Right for You?

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you are an upcoming entrepreneur who is looking forward to an effective video marketing strategy then you have to come to a decision regarding the portal you want to use for your marketing. As you should know by now YouTube , Dailymotion and Vimeo are the 3 major players in the field of video marketing. In this article, we are going to give you a comparative analysis of all these video sharing platforms so that you can select the one most suited to your needs.

• Part 1: Detailed Comparison of Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion
• Part 2: Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Compare Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion in 4 Aspects

1. Content

Before deciding which video platform to choose, you need to find out about the content in which each of them specializes.

Youtube: If your content is more related to entertainment then YouTube is the platform to go for.

Vimeo: Vimeo is a closed community specializing in videos by artists from various genres and is considered to be a more creative platform than YouTube.

Dailymotion: Dailymotion has a fair share of both but it resembles the YouTube trend.

2. Audience Size and Membership

Youtube: YouTube’s audience is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day! Vimeo has a much smaller for their audience, its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.

Vimeo: Vimeo comes with 4 membership options – the Basic which is available for free and the paid Plus, ($59.95/ year) Pro ($199.00 a year), and Business membership ($599.00 a year). The storage level and support for each membership option vary. The free membership is limited to just 500 MB/week. YouTube and Dailymotion on the other hand are totally free, and Youtube gives unlimited hosting. However YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that will allow you to watch ad-free videos and download them for watching offline.

Read this Vimeo introduction >>>

Dailymotion: DailyMotion is the world’s second-largest video-sharing website behind YouTube, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared with DailyMotion’s 112 million visits per month.

Know more about Dailymotion >>>

3. Limitation of Videos

Youtube: One of the best parts about this platform is that it doesn’t come with any upload limit.

Dailymotion: Regular users can upload 60 minutes videos of 2 GB limit and the quality of upload is limited to 1280 720p.

Vimeo: With a Basic plan, you can upload 500MB/week, with a Plus plan you can upload 5GB/week and with Pro plan you will be able to upload unlimited videos with a per-file limit of 25 GB.

4. User Experience

To begin with, both Vimeo and YouTube had a very similar kind of user interface. This has gradually evolved over the years and these days the user interface of Vimeo is more attractive than YouTube. Vimeo would give the user fewer adverts, offer easy navigation and of course, allow them to watch the videos on a large video player. Though these days YouTube is also offering a ‘theatre mode’ for the full-screen view along with a skip adoption, yet the quality of its user experience is still isn’t at par with Vimeo. YouTube is still trying its best to satisfy its one billion/month users but still, Vimeo is the winner when it comes to unparalleled user experience.

Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Before uploading your video on any one of these above-mentioned platforms the first thing you have to do is get your videos edited. The Wondershare Filmora is a comprehensive video editor that is ideal for use by beginners. With this software, you will be able to nicely edit a video even if you have no prior knowledge about video editing. This easy to use video editing software is loaded with lots of useful features which can be effectively used by the casual and novice editors. This software is packed with all you need to create good quality videos for your audience on YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. All you need to do is import the video clips and choose a piece of pre-programmed music and theme for your video. The software would then analyze your video clips and automatically create a video for you.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you are an upcoming entrepreneur who is looking forward to an effective video marketing strategy then you have to come to a decision regarding the portal you want to use for your marketing. As you should know by now YouTube , Dailymotion and Vimeo are the 3 major players in the field of video marketing. In this article, we are going to give you a comparative analysis of all these video sharing platforms so that you can select the one most suited to your needs.

• Part 1: Detailed Comparison of Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion
• Part 2: Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Compare Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion in 4 Aspects

1. Content

Before deciding which video platform to choose, you need to find out about the content in which each of them specializes.

Youtube: If your content is more related to entertainment then YouTube is the platform to go for.

Vimeo: Vimeo is a closed community specializing in videos by artists from various genres and is considered to be a more creative platform than YouTube.

Dailymotion: Dailymotion has a fair share of both but it resembles the YouTube trend.

2. Audience Size and Membership

Youtube: YouTube’s audience is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day! Vimeo has a much smaller for their audience, its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.

Vimeo: Vimeo comes with 4 membership options – the Basic which is available for free and the paid Plus, ($59.95/ year) Pro ($199.00 a year), and Business membership ($599.00 a year). The storage level and support for each membership option vary. The free membership is limited to just 500 MB/week. YouTube and Dailymotion on the other hand are totally free, and Youtube gives unlimited hosting. However YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that will allow you to watch ad-free videos and download them for watching offline.

Read this Vimeo introduction >>>

Dailymotion: DailyMotion is the world’s second-largest video-sharing website behind YouTube, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared with DailyMotion’s 112 million visits per month.

Know more about Dailymotion >>>

3. Limitation of Videos

Youtube: One of the best parts about this platform is that it doesn’t come with any upload limit.

Dailymotion: Regular users can upload 60 minutes videos of 2 GB limit and the quality of upload is limited to 1280 720p.

Vimeo: With a Basic plan, you can upload 500MB/week, with a Plus plan you can upload 5GB/week and with Pro plan you will be able to upload unlimited videos with a per-file limit of 25 GB.

4. User Experience

To begin with, both Vimeo and YouTube had a very similar kind of user interface. This has gradually evolved over the years and these days the user interface of Vimeo is more attractive than YouTube. Vimeo would give the user fewer adverts, offer easy navigation and of course, allow them to watch the videos on a large video player. Though these days YouTube is also offering a ‘theatre mode’ for the full-screen view along with a skip adoption, yet the quality of its user experience is still isn’t at par with Vimeo. YouTube is still trying its best to satisfy its one billion/month users but still, Vimeo is the winner when it comes to unparalleled user experience.

Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Before uploading your video on any one of these above-mentioned platforms the first thing you have to do is get your videos edited. The Wondershare Filmora is a comprehensive video editor that is ideal for use by beginners. With this software, you will be able to nicely edit a video even if you have no prior knowledge about video editing. This easy to use video editing software is loaded with lots of useful features which can be effectively used by the casual and novice editors. This software is packed with all you need to create good quality videos for your audience on YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. All you need to do is import the video clips and choose a piece of pre-programmed music and theme for your video. The software would then analyze your video clips and automatically create a video for you.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you are an upcoming entrepreneur who is looking forward to an effective video marketing strategy then you have to come to a decision regarding the portal you want to use for your marketing. As you should know by now YouTube , Dailymotion and Vimeo are the 3 major players in the field of video marketing. In this article, we are going to give you a comparative analysis of all these video sharing platforms so that you can select the one most suited to your needs.

• Part 1: Detailed Comparison of Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion
• Part 2: Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Compare Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion in 4 Aspects

1. Content

Before deciding which video platform to choose, you need to find out about the content in which each of them specializes.

Youtube: If your content is more related to entertainment then YouTube is the platform to go for.

Vimeo: Vimeo is a closed community specializing in videos by artists from various genres and is considered to be a more creative platform than YouTube.

Dailymotion: Dailymotion has a fair share of both but it resembles the YouTube trend.

2. Audience Size and Membership

Youtube: YouTube’s audience is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day! Vimeo has a much smaller for their audience, its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.

Vimeo: Vimeo comes with 4 membership options – the Basic which is available for free and the paid Plus, ($59.95/ year) Pro ($199.00 a year), and Business membership ($599.00 a year). The storage level and support for each membership option vary. The free membership is limited to just 500 MB/week. YouTube and Dailymotion on the other hand are totally free, and Youtube gives unlimited hosting. However YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that will allow you to watch ad-free videos and download them for watching offline.

Read this Vimeo introduction >>>

Dailymotion: DailyMotion is the world’s second-largest video-sharing website behind YouTube, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared with DailyMotion’s 112 million visits per month.

Know more about Dailymotion >>>

3. Limitation of Videos

Youtube: One of the best parts about this platform is that it doesn’t come with any upload limit.

Dailymotion: Regular users can upload 60 minutes videos of 2 GB limit and the quality of upload is limited to 1280 720p.

Vimeo: With a Basic plan, you can upload 500MB/week, with a Plus plan you can upload 5GB/week and with Pro plan you will be able to upload unlimited videos with a per-file limit of 25 GB.

4. User Experience

To begin with, both Vimeo and YouTube had a very similar kind of user interface. This has gradually evolved over the years and these days the user interface of Vimeo is more attractive than YouTube. Vimeo would give the user fewer adverts, offer easy navigation and of course, allow them to watch the videos on a large video player. Though these days YouTube is also offering a ‘theatre mode’ for the full-screen view along with a skip adoption, yet the quality of its user experience is still isn’t at par with Vimeo. YouTube is still trying its best to satisfy its one billion/month users but still, Vimeo is the winner when it comes to unparalleled user experience.

Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Before uploading your video on any one of these above-mentioned platforms the first thing you have to do is get your videos edited. The Wondershare Filmora is a comprehensive video editor that is ideal for use by beginners. With this software, you will be able to nicely edit a video even if you have no prior knowledge about video editing. This easy to use video editing software is loaded with lots of useful features which can be effectively used by the casual and novice editors. This software is packed with all you need to create good quality videos for your audience on YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. All you need to do is import the video clips and choose a piece of pre-programmed music and theme for your video. The software would then analyze your video clips and automatically create a video for you.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

If you are an upcoming entrepreneur who is looking forward to an effective video marketing strategy then you have to come to a decision regarding the portal you want to use for your marketing. As you should know by now YouTube , Dailymotion and Vimeo are the 3 major players in the field of video marketing. In this article, we are going to give you a comparative analysis of all these video sharing platforms so that you can select the one most suited to your needs.

• Part 1: Detailed Comparison of Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion
• Part 2: Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Compare Vimeo, YouTube, and DailyMotion in 4 Aspects

1. Content

Before deciding which video platform to choose, you need to find out about the content in which each of them specializes.

Youtube: If your content is more related to entertainment then YouTube is the platform to go for.

Vimeo: Vimeo is a closed community specializing in videos by artists from various genres and is considered to be a more creative platform than YouTube.

Dailymotion: Dailymotion has a fair share of both but it resembles the YouTube trend.

2. Audience Size and Membership

Youtube: YouTube’s audience is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day! Vimeo has a much smaller for their audience, its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.

Vimeo: Vimeo comes with 4 membership options – the Basic which is available for free and the paid Plus, ($59.95/ year) Pro ($199.00 a year), and Business membership ($599.00 a year). The storage level and support for each membership option vary. The free membership is limited to just 500 MB/week. YouTube and Dailymotion on the other hand are totally free, and Youtube gives unlimited hosting. However YouTube Red is a $9.99 subscription service that will allow you to watch ad-free videos and download them for watching offline.

Read this Vimeo introduction >>>

Dailymotion: DailyMotion is the world’s second-largest video-sharing website behind YouTube, statistics claimed by both companies show that YouTube has a significant advantage over DailyMotion in terms of unique site visits, totaling one billion visits per month compared with DailyMotion’s 112 million visits per month.

Know more about Dailymotion >>>

3. Limitation of Videos

Youtube: One of the best parts about this platform is that it doesn’t come with any upload limit.

Dailymotion: Regular users can upload 60 minutes videos of 2 GB limit and the quality of upload is limited to 1280 720p.

Vimeo: With a Basic plan, you can upload 500MB/week, with a Plus plan you can upload 5GB/week and with Pro plan you will be able to upload unlimited videos with a per-file limit of 25 GB.

4. User Experience

To begin with, both Vimeo and YouTube had a very similar kind of user interface. This has gradually evolved over the years and these days the user interface of Vimeo is more attractive than YouTube. Vimeo would give the user fewer adverts, offer easy navigation and of course, allow them to watch the videos on a large video player. Though these days YouTube is also offering a ‘theatre mode’ for the full-screen view along with a skip adoption, yet the quality of its user experience is still isn’t at par with Vimeo. YouTube is still trying its best to satisfy its one billion/month users but still, Vimeo is the winner when it comes to unparalleled user experience.

Tips for Editing Videos on YouTube, DailyMotion, and Vimeo

Before uploading your video on any one of these above-mentioned platforms the first thing you have to do is get your videos edited. The Wondershare Filmora is a comprehensive video editor that is ideal for use by beginners. With this software, you will be able to nicely edit a video even if you have no prior knowledge about video editing. This easy to use video editing software is loaded with lots of useful features which can be effectively used by the casual and novice editors. This software is packed with all you need to create good quality videos for your audience on YouTube, Vimeo, or DailyMotion. All you need to do is import the video clips and choose a piece of pre-programmed music and theme for your video. The software would then analyze your video clips and automatically create a video for you.

Ollie Mattison

Ollie Mattison is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Ollie Mattison

Advanced Techniques for YouTube Card Use

How to Use YouTube Cards and Annotations?

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Annotations and Cards are both tools for linking viewers to your other videos or to off-YouTube webpages. Two of the major differences between them are:

Annotations are not clickable on mobile devices.

You cannot choose the size or positioning of Cards.

This article will teach you about both Cards and Annotations and discuss the best uses for each of them.

Part 1: Annotations

Annotations are messages that float overtop of your videos in the YouTube player. Usually, annotations are clickable and take users to other content created by you.

Section 1: Types of Annotations

There are five types of YouTube annotations:

Notes are colored boxes placed over the top of your videos.

Speech Bubbles look like dialogue boxes in a comic strip. They have tails that you can adjust so it looks like one of the people in your video is saying what is written in the annotation.

Spotlights have a subtle border and are completely clear inside. Your text only appears when a viewer’s cursor hovers over top of these annotations.

Labels are like spotlights except that viewers do not have to hover over them for your text to be visible.

Any of these annotations can be used to link viewers to other videos, or as subscribe links. You can also add a simple Title to your video through the Annotations menu.

Section 2: How to Use Annotations

*Note: the above video mentions Pause annotations, which are no longer available.

Here are two of the best uses for annotations:

Clickable End Cards / Outros

One of the best ways you can use spotlight annotations is to create clickable end cards for your videos.

When your video finishes playing the YouTube player will display a selection of suggested videos that might direct viewers away from your channel. You can keep more of these viewers watching your content by creating your own ‘suggested videos’ card and putting it at the end of your videos.

Put thumbnails of two or three of your other videos on your end card, or use ‘picture-in-picture’ to actually imbed footage from them. Then, after you upload your video, go in and place clickable spotlight annotations over top of your video thumbnails.

This is one use for annotations that cannot be duplicated with cards.

Promoting Your Videos

You should not wait until the end of your video to start linking viewers to other content. Many viewers will click away before they see your end card because your video is not exactly what they were looking for. By placing note or speech bubble annotations occasionally throughout your videos you can catch some of these people before they click off of your channel.

This works especially well if you link to videos on similar subjects to the one you are annotating.

Instead of just linking to another video of yours, try to link to that video on a playlist. Once a viewer is on a playlist your videos will auto-play after each other, which is good for both your view count and watch time.

You can also use the newer YouTube Cards for this, but Annotations might still be a better choice because viewers only need to click once vs. twice for Cards.

Try both and see which performs best for your channel. It might be in your best interest to keep on using both as they target different audiences – Cards are clickable on mobile devices, for example, but Annotations are not.

Part 2: YouTube Cards

YouTube Cards are newer than annotations and a lot of people believe they will one day replace Annotations. While there are benefits to Cards – like embedding images to represent your links – you cannot choose the shape, size, or placement of them. This means they have limited uses.

When viewers click on a Card they are shown additional information and a thumbnail representing the page they will be taken to if they choose to click again. This extra step could be either help viewers decide to click your links or give them a second chance to decide they would rather not.

Section 1: When to Use Cards

A linked Annotation is simply a call to action viewers can click on. A Card is a call to action as well, but instead of taking the viewer directly to where its link leads when it is clicked a Card opens up into a larger version of itself with a thumbnail image.

Crowdfunding pages (Patreon is a great choice for video creators), charity fundraising pages, and merchandise stores are all examples of links that benefit from the format of YouTube Cards.

When you link a viewer to a non-YouTube page you break up their session time, which negatively impacts your watch time and SEO ranking. You want to make sure that the viewers you are directing away from YouTube are the ones most likely to convert after they leave. By ‘convert’ we mean to contribute to your Patreon campaign, donate to the charity you are promoting, or buy some of your merchandise.

Giving viewers more information and a thumbnail through a Card can help ensure the most interested viewers are the ones clicking your links.

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Filmora, which is equipped with its own footage stock Wondershare Filmstock and will definitely enhance your productivity and helps you to make money by making videos much easier.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Annotations and Cards are both tools for linking viewers to your other videos or to off-YouTube webpages. Two of the major differences between them are:

Annotations are not clickable on mobile devices.

You cannot choose the size or positioning of Cards.

This article will teach you about both Cards and Annotations and discuss the best uses for each of them.

Part 1: Annotations

Annotations are messages that float overtop of your videos in the YouTube player. Usually, annotations are clickable and take users to other content created by you.

Section 1: Types of Annotations

There are five types of YouTube annotations:

Notes are colored boxes placed over the top of your videos.

Speech Bubbles look like dialogue boxes in a comic strip. They have tails that you can adjust so it looks like one of the people in your video is saying what is written in the annotation.

Spotlights have a subtle border and are completely clear inside. Your text only appears when a viewer’s cursor hovers over top of these annotations.

Labels are like spotlights except that viewers do not have to hover over them for your text to be visible.

Any of these annotations can be used to link viewers to other videos, or as subscribe links. You can also add a simple Title to your video through the Annotations menu.

Section 2: How to Use Annotations

*Note: the above video mentions Pause annotations, which are no longer available.

Here are two of the best uses for annotations:

Clickable End Cards / Outros

One of the best ways you can use spotlight annotations is to create clickable end cards for your videos.

When your video finishes playing the YouTube player will display a selection of suggested videos that might direct viewers away from your channel. You can keep more of these viewers watching your content by creating your own ‘suggested videos’ card and putting it at the end of your videos.

Put thumbnails of two or three of your other videos on your end card, or use ‘picture-in-picture’ to actually imbed footage from them. Then, after you upload your video, go in and place clickable spotlight annotations over top of your video thumbnails.

This is one use for annotations that cannot be duplicated with cards.

Promoting Your Videos

You should not wait until the end of your video to start linking viewers to other content. Many viewers will click away before they see your end card because your video is not exactly what they were looking for. By placing note or speech bubble annotations occasionally throughout your videos you can catch some of these people before they click off of your channel.

This works especially well if you link to videos on similar subjects to the one you are annotating.

Instead of just linking to another video of yours, try to link to that video on a playlist. Once a viewer is on a playlist your videos will auto-play after each other, which is good for both your view count and watch time.

You can also use the newer YouTube Cards for this, but Annotations might still be a better choice because viewers only need to click once vs. twice for Cards.

Try both and see which performs best for your channel. It might be in your best interest to keep on using both as they target different audiences – Cards are clickable on mobile devices, for example, but Annotations are not.

Part 2: YouTube Cards

YouTube Cards are newer than annotations and a lot of people believe they will one day replace Annotations. While there are benefits to Cards – like embedding images to represent your links – you cannot choose the shape, size, or placement of them. This means they have limited uses.

When viewers click on a Card they are shown additional information and a thumbnail representing the page they will be taken to if they choose to click again. This extra step could be either help viewers decide to click your links or give them a second chance to decide they would rather not.

Section 1: When to Use Cards

A linked Annotation is simply a call to action viewers can click on. A Card is a call to action as well, but instead of taking the viewer directly to where its link leads when it is clicked a Card opens up into a larger version of itself with a thumbnail image.

Crowdfunding pages (Patreon is a great choice for video creators), charity fundraising pages, and merchandise stores are all examples of links that benefit from the format of YouTube Cards.

When you link a viewer to a non-YouTube page you break up their session time, which negatively impacts your watch time and SEO ranking. You want to make sure that the viewers you are directing away from YouTube are the ones most likely to convert after they leave. By ‘convert’ we mean to contribute to your Patreon campaign, donate to the charity you are promoting, or buy some of your merchandise.

Giving viewers more information and a thumbnail through a Card can help ensure the most interested viewers are the ones clicking your links.

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Filmora, which is equipped with its own footage stock Wondershare Filmstock and will definitely enhance your productivity and helps you to make money by making videos much easier.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Annotations and Cards are both tools for linking viewers to your other videos or to off-YouTube webpages. Two of the major differences between them are:

Annotations are not clickable on mobile devices.

You cannot choose the size or positioning of Cards.

This article will teach you about both Cards and Annotations and discuss the best uses for each of them.

Part 1: Annotations

Annotations are messages that float overtop of your videos in the YouTube player. Usually, annotations are clickable and take users to other content created by you.

Section 1: Types of Annotations

There are five types of YouTube annotations:

Notes are colored boxes placed over the top of your videos.

Speech Bubbles look like dialogue boxes in a comic strip. They have tails that you can adjust so it looks like one of the people in your video is saying what is written in the annotation.

Spotlights have a subtle border and are completely clear inside. Your text only appears when a viewer’s cursor hovers over top of these annotations.

Labels are like spotlights except that viewers do not have to hover over them for your text to be visible.

Any of these annotations can be used to link viewers to other videos, or as subscribe links. You can also add a simple Title to your video through the Annotations menu.

Section 2: How to Use Annotations

*Note: the above video mentions Pause annotations, which are no longer available.

Here are two of the best uses for annotations:

Clickable End Cards / Outros

One of the best ways you can use spotlight annotations is to create clickable end cards for your videos.

When your video finishes playing the YouTube player will display a selection of suggested videos that might direct viewers away from your channel. You can keep more of these viewers watching your content by creating your own ‘suggested videos’ card and putting it at the end of your videos.

Put thumbnails of two or three of your other videos on your end card, or use ‘picture-in-picture’ to actually imbed footage from them. Then, after you upload your video, go in and place clickable spotlight annotations over top of your video thumbnails.

This is one use for annotations that cannot be duplicated with cards.

Promoting Your Videos

You should not wait until the end of your video to start linking viewers to other content. Many viewers will click away before they see your end card because your video is not exactly what they were looking for. By placing note or speech bubble annotations occasionally throughout your videos you can catch some of these people before they click off of your channel.

This works especially well if you link to videos on similar subjects to the one you are annotating.

Instead of just linking to another video of yours, try to link to that video on a playlist. Once a viewer is on a playlist your videos will auto-play after each other, which is good for both your view count and watch time.

You can also use the newer YouTube Cards for this, but Annotations might still be a better choice because viewers only need to click once vs. twice for Cards.

Try both and see which performs best for your channel. It might be in your best interest to keep on using both as they target different audiences – Cards are clickable on mobile devices, for example, but Annotations are not.

Part 2: YouTube Cards

YouTube Cards are newer than annotations and a lot of people believe they will one day replace Annotations. While there are benefits to Cards – like embedding images to represent your links – you cannot choose the shape, size, or placement of them. This means they have limited uses.

When viewers click on a Card they are shown additional information and a thumbnail representing the page they will be taken to if they choose to click again. This extra step could be either help viewers decide to click your links or give them a second chance to decide they would rather not.

Section 1: When to Use Cards

A linked Annotation is simply a call to action viewers can click on. A Card is a call to action as well, but instead of taking the viewer directly to where its link leads when it is clicked a Card opens up into a larger version of itself with a thumbnail image.

Crowdfunding pages (Patreon is a great choice for video creators), charity fundraising pages, and merchandise stores are all examples of links that benefit from the format of YouTube Cards.

When you link a viewer to a non-YouTube page you break up their session time, which negatively impacts your watch time and SEO ranking. You want to make sure that the viewers you are directing away from YouTube are the ones most likely to convert after they leave. By ‘convert’ we mean to contribute to your Patreon campaign, donate to the charity you are promoting, or buy some of your merchandise.

Giving viewers more information and a thumbnail through a Card can help ensure the most interested viewers are the ones clicking your links.

If you want to find a video editing solution that empowers your imagination and creativity yet takes less effort, please try this robust and user-friendly video editing software Filmora, which is equipped with its own footage stock Wondershare Filmstock and will definitely enhance your productivity and helps you to make money by making videos much easier.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

YouTube Annotations and Cards are both tools for linking viewers to your other videos or to off-YouTube webpages. Two of the major differences between them are:

Annotations are not clickable on mobile devices.

You cannot choose the size or positioning of Cards.

This article will teach you about both Cards and Annotations and discuss the best uses for each of them.

Part 1: Annotations

Annotations are messages that float overtop of your videos in the YouTube player. Usually, annotations are clickable and take users to other content created by you.

Section 1: Types of Annotations

There are five types of YouTube annotations:

Notes are colored boxes placed over the top of your videos.

Speech Bubbles look like dialogue boxes in a comic strip. They have tails that you can adjust so it looks like one of the people in your video is saying what is written in the annotation.

Spotlights have a subtle border and are completely clear inside. Your text only appears when a viewer’s cursor hovers over top of these annotations.

Labels are like spotlights except that viewers do not have to hover over them for your text to be visible.

Any of these annotations can be used to link viewers to other videos, or as subscribe links. You can also add a simple Title to your video through the Annotations menu.

Section 2: How to Use Annotations

*Note: the above video mentions Pause annotations, which are no longer available.

Here are two of the best uses for annotations:

Clickable End Cards / Outros

One of the best ways you can use spotlight annotations is to create clickable end cards for your videos.

When your video finishes playing the YouTube player will display a selection of suggested videos that might direct viewers away from your channel. You can keep more of these viewers watching your content by creating your own ‘suggested videos’ card and putting it at the end of your videos.

Put thumbnails of two or three of your other videos on your end card, or use ‘picture-in-picture’ to actually imbed footage from them. Then, after you upload your video, go in and place clickable spotlight annotations over top of your video thumbnails.

This is one use for annotations that cannot be duplicated with cards.

Promoting Your Videos

You should not wait until the end of your video to start linking viewers to other content. Many viewers will click away before they see your end card because your video is not exactly what they were looking for. By placing note or speech bubble annotations occasionally throughout your videos you can catch some of these people before they click off of your channel.

This works especially well if you link to videos on similar subjects to the one you are annotating.

Instead of just linking to another video of yours, try to link to that video on a playlist. Once a viewer is on a playlist your videos will auto-play after each other, which is good for both your view count and watch time.

You can also use the newer YouTube Cards for this, but Annotations might still be a better choice because viewers only need to click once vs. twice for Cards.

Try both and see which performs best for your channel. It might be in your best interest to keep on using both as they target different audiences – Cards are clickable on mobile devices, for example, but Annotations are not.

Part 2: YouTube Cards

YouTube Cards are newer than annotations and a lot of people believe they will one day replace Annotations. While there are benefits to Cards – like embedding images to represent your links – you cannot choose the shape, size, or placement of them. This means they have limited uses.

When viewers click on a Card they are shown additional information and a thumbnail representing the page they will be taken to if they choose to click again. This extra step could be either help viewers decide to click your links or give them a second chance to decide they would rather not.

Section 1: When to Use Cards

A linked Annotation is simply a call to action viewers can click on. A Card is a call to action as well, but instead of taking the viewer directly to where its link leads when it is clicked a Card opens up into a larger version of itself with a thumbnail image.

Crowdfunding pages (Patreon is a great choice for video creators), charity fundraising pages, and merchandise stores are all examples of links that benefit from the format of YouTube Cards.

When you link a viewer to a non-YouTube page you break up their session time, which negatively impacts your watch time and SEO ranking. You want to make sure that the viewers you are directing away from YouTube are the ones most likely to convert after they leave. By ‘convert’ we mean to contribute to your Patreon campaign, donate to the charity you are promoting, or buy some of your merchandise.

Giving viewers more information and a thumbnail through a Card can help ensure the most interested viewers are the ones clicking your links.

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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