Check out four new features to help you manage your video assets, easily market video content, and customize the viewer experience. 

Customizable Dynamic Watermarks

Dynamic watermarks protect your content from theft, piracy, and unauthorized distribution by displaying the viewer’s information on-screen. This type of video watermark continuously moves on a timed interval, making it nearly impossible to crop out. You can set this watermark to appear on some or all of your videos. 

With our latest updates to dynamic watermarks, you have even more control of your video security. Adjust the background transparency, how frequently the watermark changes positions, restrict placement to avoid the video’s center, or even hide the watermark intermittently to limit any potential interference with your content.

Read More: 4 Ways to Customize Dynamic Watermarks

Improved Workflow for Downloading Video Assets

Introducing a redesigned download workflow to help manage your video assets. You can access the improved workflow from any uploaded video in your account.

Now, you can: 

• View and download all resolutions of an uploaded video 
• See the file size of downloadable assets before downloading them 
• Download video poster frames — both static and animated 

Flexible download options offer several benefits, including:

• Improve your archival workflow
• Share assets between team members for fast collaboration
• Download recorded live streams for editing, then replace the original file
• Reuse assets, such as animated poster frames, in marketing campaigns

Read More: How to Download Video Assets

Easy Access to Direct Video Links & m3u8 for HLS Streaming

Along with easier access to your downloadable video assets, this product update makes it easy to get direct access to video file URLs, like mp4 and m3u8 for HLS streaming.

Direct video links are sometimes necessary for third-party platforms, application building, and website plugins. Specific examples include WordPress themes that require an m3u8 link and businesses that need a white-label player for selling subscription-based content through a private app. 

Read More: Get Direct Video File Access

Import Videos Directly from Third-Party Storage Accounts

The SproutVideo platform has always made it easy to quickly upload your video files. This update adds the ability to directly import videos to your account from third-party storage services: Box, Dropbox, Google Drive, and One Drive.

Import videos from third-party services directly from the Upload page within your SproutVideo account. We hope this ease-of-use feature will help make your workflow more seamless than ever before. 

Read More: How to Import Videos from Third-Party Storage Accounts

We love hearing your feedback! This product update includes lots more changes that were requested by you: added control over SEO and search engine indexing, easier account management, new player color customizations for video websites, and more.

Read More: 25 More New Additions from This Product Release

We are constantly improving and want to hear from you. Don’t hesitate to reach out to Support with your own requests and feedback.

As always, we’re here to help! Get the most out of your SproutVideo experience with our knowledge base of help articles, how-to guides, and a human-powered support team. 

The post Product Update: Watermark Customizations, Direct Video Links, and Cloud Storage Importing appeared first on SproutVideo.

OAuth2.0 allows us to work with developers and companies to create applications that seamlessly integrate with your account for improved workflow, marketing, and sales functionality. 

OAuth2.0 completes a long-standing SproutVideo goal. We can now work with companies and developers to build app integrations for the platform. Unlike API keys, these integrations will be available for all customers and seamlessly integrate with your account.

We’re excited to introduce three app integrations already available in your SproutVideo account today. We’ll also discuss the many benefits of OAuth2.0 authentication support! 

3 Apps to Integrate with Your Account

The applications below are available now for easy integration with your SproutVideo account. We’re excited to add to this library of valuable integrations to help you get more done in less time. 

Sky Pilot

Sell access to your videos with Sky Pilot. This Shopify application makes selling digital downloads and products, like videos, easy. Directly within Sky Pilot’s settings, you can choose SproutVideo as your hosting platform to share the necessary information between accounts. 

Crowdin

Localize your content with cloud-based Crowdin. Using the SproutVideo integration, Crowdin will automatically produce translated subtitles for your videos, allowing the value of your business to be received by people worldwide. 

Zapier

Use our Zapier integration to connect your SproutVideo account with over 5,000 different applications. Zapier can automate repetitive tasks by creating “zaps,” which are automated workflows initiated by a specific event or action.

What Makes These Integrations Possible? 

Previously, the SproutVideo platform only supported API keys. These offered a way to authenticate our application and use our API with third-party software. However, API keys can access all of a user’s account information. If unauthorized parties access that information, it requires manual revocation.

OAuth2.0 allows SproutVideo users to easily integrate their accounts with third-party applications and securely exchange data.

OAuth2.0 authentication support (for SproutVideo users):

• Grants access to only the specific information authorized within the application.
• Uses token-based authorization, which is more secure than API keys.
• Allows you to easily revoke access to third-party applications at any time.

For more information on understanding OAuth2.0, read Aaron Parecki’s Simplified Guide. For a less technical overview, check out David Neal’s Illustrated Guide. 

OAuth2.0 Specifics for Developers

The additional support for OAuth2.0 opens the door for developers to create applications that interact with SproutVideo. 

Developers creating a SproutVideo integration are welcome to email us for questions and help at support@sproutvideo.com.

The post 3 App Integrations to Maximize Your SproutVideo Account appeared first on SproutVideo.

We’re serious about security at SproutVideo, which is why we are excited to announce a new way to protect your hosted videos with dynamic watermarking for videos. 

A dynamic watermark displays the viewer’s email address, IP address, and session ID over your video and continuously changes position. This makes it nearly impossible to crop out of a screen recording. You can also customize the opacity of the watermark, restrict its position, and more.

What is Dynamic Watermarking?

Watermarking, in general, is the process of overlaying an image or text over a piece of content to identify the content’s owner, authorized user, or validity. 

There are various methods for watermarking different kinds of content; we’ll focus on static and dynamic watermarking of videos today. We are SproutVideo, after all.

A static watermark is a watermark that is the same for all viewers. Dynamic watermarks change based on various factors, such as where the video is played or who is watching it.

Static Watermarking

Static watermarking adds a visible mark on a video. It’s a great way to brand content and deter theft. When used for branding purposes, these watermarks can commonly be seen on videos or photographs as a logo, name, or phrase that typically appears along the edges, so they aren’t too distracting. 

The creators of a television show, for example, may watermark a video clip or GIF on social media to grow brand awareness. When attempting to deter theft, a content creator might have the static watermark cover the entire photograph or video. 

Even if someone were to download or screenshot the content, the watermark would still be present; therefore, everyone would know who created the content. Static watermarks are easy to incorporate since they only have to be added once and can be done before uploading to a video hosting platform.

Dynamic Watermarking

Dynamic watermarks, on the other hand, change from viewer to viewer based on different factors. For instance, a video could have a different watermark based on what site it’s been embedded in, or each video viewer might get a unique watermark that identifies them. 

While dynamic watermarks don’t prevent screen recording, they can be excellent at discouraging viewers from recording and redistributing content because their personal information is burned in and can easily be traced back to them.

You’ll generally want to use dynamic watermarking on content intended for a narrow audience, such as quarterly reports, employee training videos, or content containing intellectual property or trade secrets.

4 Ways to Customize Dynamic Watermarking on a Video

Dynamic watermarks offer superior security to static watermarks. While static watermarks can easily be cropped out, dynamic watermarks are difficult to hide and reveal the thief’s personal information.

However, to minimize its prominence while providing security, the SproutVideo platform allows you to customize the dynamic watermark on your videos. 

Background Transparency

Set the watermark’s background to be more or less transparent. We recommend a “semi-transparent” watermark for a balance of readability and strong security. The more opaque the watermark background, the more prominently it is featured. 

Position Change Time

By default, the dynamic watermark changes positions on a timed interval to prevent thieves from being able to crop out one section of the image in order to avoid being identified. 

We recommend a 20-second interval. This provides strict anti-theft protection without being distracting to the viewer. Available options include 10-second and 30-second intervals as well. 

Intermittent Visibility

This feature allows you to display the watermark intermittently. The watermark will display every other interval, meaning the watermark is hidden for roughly half the video. 

The frequency of interval change corresponds to the position change time you’ve selected for watermarks. Keep in mind that enabling this setting makes it easier to grab screen captures. 

Restricted Positioning

The placement of the dynamic watermark is random by default. Restricted Positioning prevents the watermark from displaying at the center of the video, which is generally the main focus of the video content.

When this setting is enabled, the watermark will stick to the edges of the video as much as possible. Once again, remember that this creates less variability in the watermark placement, making it easier to crop the watermark out.

Dynamic Watermarking for Videos with SproutVideo

Our dynamic watermarking feature provides a strong theft deterrent by sharing personal details like the viewer’s email address, IP address, and session ID. If a viewer chooses to pirate your content and share it without your consent, their personal information will also be shared. 

Changing the placement of the dynamic watermark throughout the video adds another layer of protection, making it extremely cumbersome for any screen recorder to crop out or conceal without needing to display the watermark over the entire surface area of the content.

Our platform also gives you the flexibility to enable dynamic watermarks for all of your videos account-wide, on a per-video basis, or per viewer login access grant — making it an excellent option that can adapt to your needs. 

Dynamic watermarking is an essential tool for preventing video content from being stolen and redistributed. It is ideal for protecting intellectual property and keeping trade secrets, well, secret.

Ready to get started? 

• Try it out completely free with a 30-day trial to the platform.
• Learn how to set up dynamic watermarking on SproutVideo. 
• Discover the best practices for sharing private videos.

The post Product Update: Dynamic Watermarks for Videos appeared first on SproutVideo.

We’ve divided this release into two categories: Player Customization and Video Management. Player features govern how your content looks and how your viewers can interact with it. Video management features are used to organize and manage your content on our platform. Check out the video below for a walkthrough of our newest features:

Player Customization Features

ANIMATED POSTER FRAMES

As a SproutVideo customer, you already have the flexibility to customize your poster frame, or video thumbnail, by selecting an auto-generated still from your video, uploading an image, or designing your own using our Canva integration. Now you also have the option to use our new animated poster frames feature for both live streams and on-demand videos. You can create your own animation from your video, or upload a custom GIF up to 10 MB. 

This feature can be useful for sales teams, realtors, or even internal communications. A video thumbnail in motion is more dynamic than a still image, and probably better at grabbing a viewer’s attention on a page or in an email. So give animated poster frames a try to see how they impact your viewer engagement. 

AUDIO CONTROL OPTIMIZATION

The SproutVideo platform can now detect whether or not your video has an audio track and remove all volume controls accordingly. This creates a cleaner player that allows your videos to seamlessly integrate with the design of your site. If you have a retail site, for example, this feature will allow you to regularly feature autoplay videos without player controls on your product pages.

LIGHT BOX & EMAIL EMBED POSTER FRAME ENHANCEMENTS

This feature allows you to remove the play button from your poster frame in either the light box or email embeds. This is a really handy improvement, especially if you’re using our new animated poster frame feature! If you’re designing a custom poster frame, you can integrate a play button into that design to create a thumbnail that matches better with your own style and branding.

LEAD CAPTURE PROMPT CUSTOMIZATION

In addition to the ability to customize the lead capture prompt message, you can now customize the background and text color of your lead capture forms. This lets you tailor your lead capture forms to match the look and feel of your branding and player. You can also now edit the lead capture message on our hosted video sites, in addition to inline embed and lightbox embed so your message for lead capture can stay consistent no matter where it’s embedded. 

AIRPLAY SUPPORT

Airplay was always available for live streams on our platform, but now you have the option to allow airplay for your on-demand videos as well. You can allow this account-wide, or on a per-video basis. Keep in mind, if you allow airplay, you do open yourself up to the slight risk that someone could potentially download or watch your videos without your permission, so make sure you consider the risks.

Video Management Updates

CLONE VIDEOS, LIVE STREAMS, AND PLAYLISTS

This update can make your workflow more efficient and give you more options when it comes to sharing your content. With a few convenient clicks, you can clone a copy of any video in your account along with that video’s settings. For example, you could A/B test different poster frames, or separate the analytics for two different placements of the same video. For live streamers, cloning also makes setting up a live stream series easier because you can quickly copy all your settings for future episodes. You also have the option to duplicate playlists in order to create more sharing options. If you use a playlist to frequently share your work, you may find yourself constantly modifying it based on who you’re sharing it with. Now you can simply duplicate the playlist, make minor tweaks, or remove or add videos to focus a playlist for a specific client.

VIDEO TITLE CLEANUP

Prior to this release, video titles were generated from the entire file name, including .mov, .mp4, or whatever extension your video had. Now, those file extensions are automatically deleted when you upload. In addition to the file extension, the platform will also remove underscores, split camel case, and capitalize for title case, so a project filename results in a video with a title that’s much more presentable. For example, If your file name is “WeLoveVideoHosting_2022.mov” the new file name in your video library would read “We Love Video Hosting 2022” once you upload. If for any reason you want to retain your video file’s original title, you have the option to disable this feature in your account settings. 

FLEXIBLE EMAIL EMBED OPTIONS 

We’ve always made it simple to customize your email embeds for marketing platforms such as Mailchimp and Constant Contact, but now if you want to send an email straight from Outlook, Gmail, or any other email client that allows for rich HTML emails, you can select that option, and paste your linked poster frame directly into your email. 

LIVE STREAM TAGS

Your live streams will be even more organized on the SproutVideo platform with our tags update, which gives you the ability to tag and filter your upcoming streams. Previously, you could group your live streams into categories on the video website, but now you can tag and organize your videos accordingly in the index view as well.

HTTPS SUPPORT FOR VIDEO WEBSITES USING CNAMES

With this new update, your videos will stay secure even on your custom domains. If you’re using a custom domain name on your video website hosted on SproutVideo, the platform now automatically provides SSL certificates. An SSL certificate is a digital certificate that authenticates your website’s identity and enables an encrypted connection, allowing for more security between the web server and a web browser. 

All of these features were implemented in response to suggestions from our customers. We appreciate the feedback and look forward to continuing to improve and grow with you. If you’d like to test these out for yourself, start a free trial today! If you have any questions or feedback, feel free to contact our support team.

The post Summer 2022 Product Updates appeared first on SproutVideo.

Sara, can we start by getting to know a little more about you?

Sure! My name is Sara Greene, and I’m the Marketing Designer here at SproutVideo. I received my BFA in Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in 2008, along with a Certification in Graphic Design from Shillington School in 2011.

I’ve worn many hats throughout my graphic design career, including print, digital, user experience and interface (UX/UI), and motion design, covering a wide array of clientele and industries. At SproutVideo, I design collateral across our social media platforms, graphics for our How To Video series and live stream events, and I help build new user interfaces (UI), including our blog redesign in 2020 and our new Spruce video website theme.

Did you have a specific user in mind with this design?  

Any type of user would enjoy this new theme, but the main users in mind for Spruce are videographers, content creators, production companies, and educators. Not only will they be capable of showcasing their portfolios, reels, or lessons, but they also have a place for potential prospects to reach out from within the site via the optional contact form.

B2C and B2B companies who want a centralized place to both maintain their brand and organize their video libraries will also greatly benefit from this theme. It’s especially ideal for things like employee onboarding, instructional videos, internal corporate videos, and more.

What was your process behind designing this theme?

The product team approached me about designing a new theme, along with implementing some new features suggested by not only them, but by our own customers. After our initial discussions, my top priorities for Spruce were to achieve a modern, clean, flexible, visually impactful, versatile, user-friendly, and fully optimized theme for all screen sizes and devices. Keeping all these factors in mind, we certainly had our work cut out for ourselves, though the SproutVideo team could not be more pleased with the finished product.

What references or examples did you draw on while you were designing this theme? 

I’m already very familiar with popular website building platforms for creating sites for friends, family, clients, and even myself, so their templates were absolutely an integral resource for this new theme, especially when it came to the customization options. I also spent a good amount of time endlessly scrolling through designers’ shots and projects on Dribbble to see how they’re pushing the envelope, so I referenced the many UI designs I’d saved into my collections on that platform.

My top priorities for Spruce were to achieve a modern, clean, flexible, visually impactful, versatile, user-friendly, and fully optimized theme for all screen sizes and devices.

How does the Spruce theme stand out from the others? 

The versatility is really what makes Spruce a cut above the rest. No users like to feel limited by constraints, but we also acknowledge that an overabundance of options runs the risk of creating an unnecessarily complex theme. We feel the introduction of these new features strikes a nice balance between what our customers want and need, without compromising the integrity of our product.

What are your favorite new features? 

Font options, hands down! The product team and I decided to implement a handful of popular yet legible serif, sans serif, and display fonts for customers to choose from that are easy to mix and match. I am also partial to the optional introduction/bio portion of the homepage — such a great way to introduce yourself and your work to the viewer right away, with a simple call-to-action button to take to your page of choice. 

How will this theme empower users? 

User control and freedom is absolutely imperative when it comes to good UI design; you want to ensure the user is comfortable and confident interacting with your product, without feeling confused by inconsistent UI or unfamiliar jargon. This also means that if the user makes a mistake, they have easy access to reset or undo those changes within our site editor. 

With these core principles already applied, Spruce will give our customers even more agency over the look and feel, giving them more power to tailor their video website to their exact needs.

The post Product Update: New Spruce Video Website Theme appeared first on SproutVideo.

What’s New With Live Streaming?

There are three new features available for live streaming: latency options, a two-minute reconnect window, and stream recording settings. For a platform walkthrough of those amazing new features and more, please check out the video below:

1. Latency Options

The first new feature that we’ve added is the ability to select the latency for your live stream. So, what exactly is latency?

Latency is the time difference between the action happening in front of the camera, and when that moment is broadcast to your audience. For most broadcasts, latency can vary anywhere from about 10-30 seconds.

The delay in your video reaching your audience is generally caused by the processing that needs to happen to allow your live stream to play on all devices and browsers.

Individual factors can also impact the delay. We’ve all probably had the experience of watching an event live with other people on different devices, and realizing someone is a little ahead or behind as it unfolds. The device and browser type and configuration can have a small impact on latency.

So, what are these new options, and how do they affect your live stream?

Reduced Latency

Typically, reduced latency results in around a 15 second delay. Being as close to real-time as possible can be really important in certain situations.

For instance, you might be live streaming a sports event, or your audience might be following along very actively on social media. In that kind of situation, your audience won’t want to feel like they’re behind the action, so a reduced latency live stream is likely a good choice.

Reduced latency does come with certain trade-offs. This setting prioritizes near-real-time delivery over video quality, and it does not allow for the ability to reconnect the stream if something goes wrong (more on that below).

Standard Latency

Compared to reduced latency, standard latency offers certain advantages. With standard latency, you can expect a delay of around 30 seconds. The extra time allows for both higher video quality for viewers, and a reconnect window of up to two minutes. For those reasons, standard latency is the default setting on the SproutVideo platform.

Note that once you have selected a latency option for your live stream, you cannot edit it after creating the live stream. If you change your mind, you’ll have to create a new live stream with your preferred setting.

2. Reconnect Window

If your live stream is using the standard latency setting, your live stream will now have the ability to recover in the unlikely event something goes wrong. Maybe someone trips over a cord, or the internet cuts out. There are several everyday scenarios that could cause your stream to drop.

A two minute reconnect window means that if your stream is interrupted for any reason, the platform will continue trying to reconnect for up to two minutes. That gives you a grace period to correct whatever the issue is, and get back to your audience.

After all, you probably put a fair amount of effort into driving attendance for your live stream. It’s nice to have the confidence that you’ll have a chance to fix it if the unexpected happens.

3. Stream Recording Options

The third and final new setting for live streams has to do with what happens after your broadcast ends. By default, we record your live stream and post it to your account as an on-demand video automatically. This new option allows you to disable that process.

This comes in handy in instances where your live stream only has value while it’s live. For example, a promotion you only want to run for the duration of the stream. This will also help keep your account storage usage in check by only saving the live streams you need.

Even if you don’t record your live stream, the analytics and engagement data associated with the live stream will still be available. Those metrics are associated with the live event, and not the video-on-demand version, so they are not affected by this setting.

More on Live Streaming with SproutVideo

Our live streaming features are still new, meaning we’re actively looking for feedback from users to help improve this feature set. The above features were all implemented in direct response to popular demand from our customers.

Although they are new, our live streaming features are very much ready for show time. We are focusing on adding more new features to make the experience even better in the near future.

So, if you’ve tried live streaming with us, how did it go? Share your thoughts by reaching out to our support team.

The post Our Latest Live Streaming Platform Updates appeared first on SproutVideo.

Keep reading for all the details on these powerful new marketing tools!

New Marketing Features Available on All Plans

We’re really excited about the new features we’ve added to all our subscription plans. Now, you can get sophisticated video marketing tools and premium integrations at a price that makes business sense.

In-Player Call-to-Action

With marketing, timing is everything. We’ve made it easier than ever to reach an interested viewer at just the right moment with our brand new call-to-action feature.

You can easily specify the duration and timing of your CTA, add text (up to 255 characters), and a URL. The clean design helps keep the emphasis on your message, without taking away from your video.

Enhanced Lead Capture Forms

We’ve supported email capture for a while, and we’ve received many requests for additional fields on our lead capture forms. Well, that day is finally here!

Our new lead capture forms enable you to get to know your viewers on a more personal level by including their first and last names in the form.

We also updated all of our existing marketing integrations to support these additional form fields. Now, if you use Zapier, HubSpot, Mailchimp, or any of the eleven available integrations, you can pass first name, last name, and email address automatically to help grow your list.

Want to see these new features in action? Get started with a free 30 day trial today.

Questions about the new features? Leave a comment below or contact our support team for personalized guidance.

The post New Features! Calls-to-Action and Better Lead Capture appeared first on SproutVideo.

Packed into this feature release are folders, bandwidth caps, an audit log for team activity, a poster frame picker, and a shiny new integration with Zapier. Keep reading for all the details on the ways these new features will help improve your workflow and account management.

What’s in the Release?

Stay organized and work more efficiently with your team while extending the abilities of the SproutVideo platform through Zapier. Watch the video below to get the highlights.

Those with large video libraries, rejoice! Folders are here, and they’re incredibly easy to use to organize your video content.

By default, all your videos are listed in your home folder. If you have a lot of videos, it can be hard to stay on top of all your content.

Now, you can create nested folders to make it simple and quick to find what you’re looking for. You can easily move videos from one folder to another, delete folders, and upload new videos directly to a folder.

Tags

Tags are still a great tool to help you find content by search, and to surface results within your account across folders. They are also used on your video website to help viewers locate and navigate to your videos.

We moved Tags from the sidebar to a dropdown menu above your list of videos to better showcase your video library, and to help make it clear when you’re filtering results.

Account Management Tools

In our last major release, we added support for multi-user accounts. Since that change means more people are uploading content and helping to manage accounts, we added new tools to help you stay on top of everything.

Bandwidth Caps

More uploading usually means more streaming, so we added support for the ability to cap your monthly bandwidth at a specific amount. Every SproutVideo account comes with more than enough bandwidth for the vast majority of our users, however, for those who want that extra peace of mind, bandwidth caps are a great option.

First, decide how much extra bandwidth would be permissible for your account to use in a given month. Then, simply enter the number in GB to set a limit for your account’s streaming.

Note that this is an approximate limit. If an account is consuming an exceptionally high rate of bandwidth, we might not be able to cut off streaming at the exact limit you’ve set. This is an extremely rare scenario, and not one we anticipate users encountering frequently.

Audit Log

With all those team members helping you upload videos and manage your account, you’ll want to keep track of who’s doing what. We created an audit log for that exact purpose.

Now, you can easily check and see who uploaded a video, changed a privacy setting, or edited a detail about your account.

Zapier Integration

SproutVideo already has many awesome integrations with marketing platforms. But, our latest addition stands out because it’s so flexible and so very powerful.

Our new integration with Zapier allows you to connect our platform to any other app that also integrates with Zapier. Now, you can hook up some really popular platforms, like Slack, PayPal, Salesforce, Google Drive, and many more, with your SproutVideo account.

The ways you can use this new integration are nearly endless. Here are a few uses we came up with:

• Upload videos from storage solutions like Google Drive and Dropbox
• Create a new viewer login after someone makes a purchase through Shopify or Paypal
• Notify a channel in Slack when a video is watched

Of course, there are many more ways to use SproutVideo and Zapier and any of the other apps they support. We’re excited to see what you come up with!

Our Video Website Themes and Site Editor Got an Upgrade

All of our beautiful video site themes are now even more beautified. We made minor tweaks to the designs, including updated fonts and minor changes to layouts for certain themes. We also did a lot of work on the backend to make sure your video website performs just as nicely as it looks.

Note that if you are currently using a video website or custom landing pages, and make changes to your video site, you will automatically be upgraded to the latest version of your theme when you publish your changes. If you are using custom Javascript or CSS on your video website, you’ll want to be doubly sure your custom code works properly with the new themes.

The Site Editor now contains all of the video website settings, though we bet the first thing you’ll notice is the refreshed design. We moved site privacy controls, like SSO and the site password, to a new tab called “Security” and other site settings to “Settings”. As a result, you can find everything you need in one place!

Poster Frame Picker

Last, but not least, we created a custom poster frame generator that allows you to select any frame from your video to use as the poster frame.

The poster frame is the image that’s displayed before a viewer clicks to play your video. Before, you could upload your own, or pick from one of four images we generated for you.

Now, you can select any frame from the video, and we will automatically generate the image for you.

This simple tool will save you a lot of time and allow you to more precisely adjust the appearance of your videos.

We hope you love these updates to our platform! If you’d like to test them out for yourself, open a free trial today to see what all the fuss is about.

If you have any questions or feedback, please contact support or leave a comment below.

The post Update: Get Organized with Folders, and More! appeared first on SproutVideo.

We also added support for Two-Factor Authentication, created new analytics reports, made all of your data exportable, added video security features, and are introducing premium support options. Phew.

Read on for all the details about these big changes to the SproutVideo platform.

Multi-User Feature Release

This is by far the biggest change to our platform since we were established back in 2010. As part of this feature release, you can now add up to fifty team members to help you manage your SproutVideo account.

Here are the roles we’ve added, and the permissions associated with each role:

Owner

The owner of the SproutVideo account has access to everything within the account. There can only be one owner per account. Owners have the exclusive power to close an account, or to transfer ownership of the account.

They can add team members to the account, manage billing and all other account-wide settings, upload, manage and share videos, and access all account data.

Admin

Other than transferring ownership, or closing an account, admins have similar permissions to owners. There can be multiple Admins per account.

Admins can add team members to the account, manage billing and nearly all other account settings, upload, manage and share videos, and access all account data. They cannot transfer ownership of an account, or close an account.

Editor

Editors have a much more limited role than Admins or Owners. There can be multiple Editors per account. The Editor role is designed to focus on video management.

Editors have access to the following aspects of the account:

• Video library management (uploading, editing privacy settings, deleting, and sharing)
• Playlist management (creating, editing privacy settings, deleting, and sharing)
• Viewer login management (adding, deleting, and setting video access permissions)
• Analytics data and engagement metrics reporting
• Video website and landing page design

Editors do not have the ability to do the following:

• Add or remove other team members
• Make changes to billing settings
• Edit account-wide video settings
• Edit video website settings for the account

Easy Account-Switching

In case you’re really popular, and have been added to more than one SproutVideo account, we also made it really easy to switch between accounts. All you have to do is use a convenient little drop down menu to select the account you’d like to manage.

The option to switch between accounts will only appear if you have access to more than one account. You won’t have to log in again, making it easy as pie to manage more than one account.

New Account Security Tools

With all those people now able to help manage your account, security is a top priority. That’s why we also included support for Two-Factor Authentication (2FA), and active session monitoring, in this feature release.

With 2FA enabled for your account, you can only access your account after entering a unique code generated by a 3rd party authentication app installed on your phone. We like Authy, Google Authenticator, 1password Authenticator, and LastPass Authenticator.

Monitor Active Sessions

You also have the ability to monitor and revoke active sessions on the SproutVideo platform. A session is usually created whenever you log into your SproutVideo account. If you were to log in on a computer, and also on your phone, you’d see two active sessions listed in your account.

By revoking a session, you’ll automatically close it. This helps increase the security of your account by decreasing the number of open sessions.

For example, if you forgot to logout of your account before leaving the office, you can now close that session from home. You can also use this feature to monitor for any unexpected sessions.

This additional layer of security is important to help safeguard your premium video content.

Geo Whitelist

SproutVideo already has a robust line-up of video privacy settings. To further enhance the security options available to you, we’ve just added support for a geo whitelist on our higher tier plans.

By default, your videos are playable anywhere in the world, thanks to our speedy global CDN. Geo whitelisting enables you to determine the specific regions or countries where viewers can access your videos.

Got a release only for Canadian eyes? We can help with that. Need your videos to only circulate to viewers in Europe? A geo whitelist is the answer.

It couldn’t be easier. Just select the region(s) or countries where you’d like your videos to be playable, and that’s that. You can enable this setting account-wide, or for individual videos.

New Analytics Reports

Streaming isn’t the only way to enjoy video on our platform. Many of our users choose to allow viewers to download their videos, too.

Now, you can easily see exactly how many downloads are happening, and which video formats are being downloaded by your viewers. These new reports make it simple to review trends in video downloads for your account at a glance.

Lots of New Exportable Reports

At SproutVideo, we love data. We wanted to share the love, so on certain plans, you can now access a whole lot more data with this feature release. Excel lovers and data wonks, rejoice!

Some of the new exportable reports we’ve added include:

• Summary of all Video Data
• Downloads
• Playlists
• Viewer Logins
• Video Tags
• Account Usage History

There are even more reports than that – too many to name here. In fact, on the new Tree or Forest plans, you can export nearly all of the data associated with your SproutVideo account.

You’ll just have to see for yourself.

Premium Support Options

Until now, we’ve only provided live chat and email support. With our new pricing structure, we are adding support for scheduled phone support for our top tier plan.

If you are on our new Forest plan, you can now request a call back from your dedicated support representative.

Live chat and email support will continue to be available for all subscribers on our platform.

New Pricing Plans

As part of this platform update, we’ve introduced new pricing plans that provide much more value in terms of features, as well as bandwidth and storage.

The new plans are focused on the features businesses of different sizes require to succeed with online video, and no longer on the amount of storage or bandwidth included with each plan.

• The new Sprout plan would be perfect for a business or small team looking to share video securely online, and use our video marketing tools.
• The Tree plan is oriented towards businesses and medium-sized teams with more sophisticated content security and reporting needs, and which require advanced customization options for their video website or landing pages.
• The Forest plan is designed for large corporations, or teams of up to 50 people, that require enterprise-worthy video privacy tools, and premium support options.

Storage, Bandwidth and Overages on New Plans

To help you get the most out of those great features, every plan now includes 500 GB of bandwidth, and 500 GB of storage. And, the lowest overages on the market.

If you happen to need more than 500 GB of either storage or bandwidth, you’ll only pay $0.10/GB on one of our new plans. The new Forest plan, our premium plan, actually goes even lower, with overages priced at just $0.08/GB.

Please refer to our pricing page for more details.

Existing Customers

Importantly, we want to reassure our subscribers they can keep their current paid plan, until they decide to change it. All previously available plans will continue to be supported on the SproutVideo platform.

As an existing subscriber, you also have access to special pricing options for our new plans. Please contact support with any questions about the options available to you, or check them out here.

Want to see all these amazing new features for yourself? You can open a free trial today to see what all the fuss is about. Questions? Don’t hesitate to contact our support team, or leave a comment below.

The post Our Biggest Feature Release Yet! Add Team Members, and More appeared first on SproutVideo.

We’ve streamlined some processes, made certain tasks more intuitive, and refreshed most of the UI. We’ve also added some nifty grab-and-go video sharing tools to boot.

Keep reading for all the details on these fabulous new features.

In-App Design Changes

Across the whole platform, you should notice a much more streamlined appearance. We changed lots of details, big and small, to help make everyday tasks much more intuitive.

The most significant changes are in the Video Library, where you can view all of your videos. We added a few tools that will make users with large video libraries very happy.

New Video Sharing Features

The biggest change we made was to add the ability to grab a video URL or embed code right from your video listing page. You no longer have to click through to a specific video in order to access these sharing tools.

To grab the sharing URL for a video, simply hover your cursor over the corresponding sharing icon in the new “Share” column:

To copy an embed code, you can chose from the default inline, lightbox, or email embed codes for your video. You can also jump straight to the embed code customization tools if you’d like to edit the embed code for your video first.

New Tag and Playlist Search Features

If you have lots of tags or playlists, these new search features should help make your lives much easier when it comes to tagging videos or adding them to playlists.

We’ve added the ability to easily search Tags right from the corresponding dropdown menu:

We’ve also added a similar functionality to the Playlist dropdown menu:

Please note that the new search features only show up if you have more than 10 tags or 10 playlists. If you have fewer than 10, you won’t see the new search field.

Curious about all these changes, but don’t yet have a SproutVideo account? You can open a free trial and check them out for free.

We’re always looking for ways to make your life easier. If you have any suggestions for what we might tackle next, be sure to share them with us in the comments below.

The post New Platform Improvements and Simpler Sharing Tools appeared first on SproutVideo.