Introducing Custom Domains for api.video

Introducing Custom Domains — a feature that lets you stream videos or live streams from your own domain (such as videos.yourdomain.com/ or livestreams.yourdomain.com/).

Why use Custom Domains? Because it lets you brand your video URL, comply with network security, and increase your SEO ranking. Let’s look at its benefits in detail, pricing, and explain how you can start using your own domains.

Benefits of Custom Domains

1. Branded Experience

With Custom Domains, you can create a fully branded URL for your viewers. This means that when your audience watches or shares videos or live streams, they will only see URLs with your domain. They will never know you are relying on api.video to actually serve these videos.

2. Compliance with Network Security Requirements

Using a custom domain can help you comply with network security requirements.

If you have a firewall in your organization, Custom Domains helps meet the firewall requirements. This ensures that your videos are viewed without any issues, and you can maintain the security of your network.

For example, if you are working in a university or public institution, there are probably network restrictions that could prevent api.video content to be played, and that is when you will need a custom domain.

3. SEO Boost

Improving search engine traffic and viewer confidence with brand-relevant URLs is another key benefit of using Custom Domains. By using your own domain name, you can create a more memorable and recognizable URL that is relevant to your brand. This can help improve your search engine ranking and attract more viewers to your videos.

How it works

Without custom domains, your users will see URLs such as

https://live.api.video/{livestreamid} or https://vod.api.video/{videoid}

With a custom domain set, your users will see your own URL. Depending on how you set it up, it could look like anything! Here are 2 examples for your inspiration:

https://videos.yourdomain.com/{videoid} or https://livestreams.yourdomain.com/{livestreamid}

How to enable Custom Domains for your account

Let us see, step by step, how you can set-up Custom Domains via your Dashboard.

1. Click on “Add Custom Domain” from the Domains tab in the sub-menu of your dashboard.

2. Now choose how you plan to use Custom Domains.

3. Click on 'Configure Custom Domains'. You can do it right away or later. Make sure you have an active TLS certificate and keys handy before proceeding to click on this button.

4. Choose if you want to use api.video player or an external one.

5. Provide your sub-domains and upload your certificates and keys.

6. Click on 'Continue' and your request will be accepted.

Conclusion

In this article, we have described how custom domains can be helpful to your business (branding, SEO, avoiding network restrictions) and how you can easily set your own custom domains with api.video. We hope the content was clear. Now, try setting up your own domains 😄

Please note that Custom Domains is only available under a production environment. So, if you want to get started with it, upgrade your sandbox account to production and try it our for yourself. To learn more on how to activate Custom Domains on your existing account, read here.

Happy video day!

FAQs

On which domains can I apply custom domains?

Depending on your use case, your customers will see these URLs when you deliver videos or live streams to them.

video.mycustomdomain.com,vod.mycustomdomain.com,embed.mycustomdomain.com,collector.mycustomdomain.com

What is the exact cost of custom domains?

It depends on your use case.

• If you use api.video only for video or live streaming, the price will be $60/month.
• If you use api.video for both video and live streaming, the price is $100/month.

How often do I need to update my TLS certificates?

Each TLS certificate has an expiry date. To ensure uninterrupted service, make sure that you always renew your TLS certificates and provide them to api.video before they expire.

Who can I contact for information on Custom Domains?

For technical questions about Custom Domains, please refer to our documentation. For further assistance with the configuration process, please visit our help center here.