What Is HLS Streaming?
Think about it — what actually happens when you upload a video to a video sharing service like YouTube or Aparat and embed it on your own website? Keep reading to find out.
One of the most effective ways to attract customers to your business is through video content — whether the goal is to drive a purchase, get newsletter signups, or bring people to your site. A good video creates a direct connection with your audience and nudges them toward that next step. Any distraction along the way can kill your chances of converting them.
So what's the biggest threat to your video marketing? In a word: video sharing platforms like YouTube, Aparat, and others.
A quick note: since YouTube is blocked in Iran, the focus here will be on platforms like Aparat, Namasha, Tamasha, and similar services.
How Video Sharing Services Cost You Customers
Think about what actually happens when you upload a video to Aparat and embed it on your site. The moment a visitor hits play, the first thing they notice is the Aparat logo. Then, when the video ends, they're shown a grid of related clips — some of which may be from your direct competitors. You've probably experienced this yourself: you watch one video on Aparat, then another, and another, and by the end you've completely forgotten what you were originally there to see.
Here's something I personally do all the time out of curiosity: I click on the video title to go to its page on Aparat, just to see what other videos that channel has. One click, and I'm gone — browsing their content instead of staying on the original site.
So what's the fix? The solution is to use a dedicated video hosting service like Kavimo. With Kavimo, you have full control over whether the platform logo appears, you can add your own branding to the player, set a custom thumbnail, and — most importantly — no suggested videos will appear at the end of your clips. Your visitors stay on your site, right where you want them.
Video Sharing Platforms Aren't Built for Content Creators or Businesses
Video sharing platforms like Aparat aren't designed with content creators or businesses in mind — they're built for entertainment and social sharing, with the goal of driving traffic to their own site so they can sell ads. Video hosting platforms like Kavimo, on the other hand, are built specifically for businesses and creators. Every feature added to the platform is aimed first and foremost at serving the video owner. The list of tools Kavimo puts in your hands is extensive: hide the platform logo, display your own branding, disable downloads, block ads, and more.
If your goal is simply to get more views, then YouTube and Aparat are great options. But if you're trying to attract and keep customers, those same platforms can actively work against you. Why? Because the single most important factor in converting a viewer into a customer is keeping their focus locked on your video and your message — limiting distractions, not multiplying them. The goal should be clear: either they buy, or they sign up. By hosting on YouTube or Aparat, you're handing your audience an exit door — don't do that.
Video Sharing Platforms Don't Protect Your Copyright
For anyone who invests serious time and money into producing a video, copyright protection is a real concern. On platforms like YouTube and Aparat, it's trivially easy to record or download videos — which means your content can spread far and wide, losing its value in the process. This is especially damaging if the video is meant to live exclusively on your own site.
On Kavimo, all videos are non-downloadable by default. The download button only becomes available if you explicitly enable it in your settings.
You Can't SEO Your Videos on Sharing Platforms
On video sharing platforms like YouTube and Aparat, the SEO value of your video goes entirely to them — not to you. With Kavimo's video hosting, you can properly optimize your videos for search, which means Google can index them under your own domain and surface them in search results pointing directly to your site.
How Video Sharing Platforms Hurt Your Site's SEO
As you can see, Google prioritizes video sharing platforms in search results because of their massive traffic. But when you upload your video to Kavimo and give it a solid title and description, your own website can claim that top spot — and that's exactly what most people are after.
Video Sharing Platforms Kill Your Conversion Rate
As a business owner, the last thing you want is for your video to end with a wall of suggested clips — many from your competitors. You'd love to turn that feature off, but there's simply no way to do it. Even if just a small percentage of your viewers get tempted and click away, they've left your site and fallen into an endless stream of entertainment on Aparat. That means your website gets forgotten — a serious obstacle for any business trying to build an audience. All of this translates to wasted effort and a lower conversion rate, especially when these videos are on your product pages or landing pages.
Don't Bank on Users Clicking Through
When I ask people why they use Aparat, a common answer is: "We drive viewers from Aparat back to our site." But here's the real question — how exactly are you doing that? The only option available is dropping your website URL in the video description, as plain text — not even a clickable link.
So realistically, what percentage of viewers actually bother to visit your site? Even in the best-case scenario — a compelling description with a strong call to action — you're looking at well under 1% of Aparat viewers making it to your actual website. Let's put some numbers to this.
Say your Aparat video gets 1,000 views. In the most optimistic scenario, 1% of those viewers copy the URL from the description and type it into their browser. That's just 10 people out of 1,000 who might visit your site.
But here's the part we rarely think about: how did those 1,000 people find your video on Aparat in the first place? Almost certainly through a Google search. If you had hosted that same video on Kavimo, those 1,000 people would have landed directly on your website — not Aparat's.