Choosing a video platform

Embedded social-platform videos drop advertising trackers, so visitors who refuse cookies, about half of Europeans and more among senior professionals, see a blocking message instead of your video.

European hosting does not settle sovereignty, which also depends on who governs the vendor and whether you can leave with your content, and a fully sovereign setup would cost you playback quality.

A free consumer platform costs you control over adverts, recommendations and corrections, and sidesteps public procurement criteria, while a compliant professional platform costs only a few hundred euros a year.

Needs, which drive about seven purchases in ten, set a floor of four binary requirements, while desire, about a quarter, should come only from demonstrations held after the specification is written.

Asking each vendor to name their compromise reveals how well they know their product, and five questions, from tracker-free playback to portability, let you compare their answers before choosing.