The average attention span of an internet user is less than that of goldfish – 8 seconds! This means that you have a very short time to catch the attention of a potential lead before they decide to skip your video.
Although CTAs, hooks, marketing scripts, etc play an important role, the quality of the video content you use matters a lot as well.
If you don’t have good gear to shoot quality videos, using stock footage can be your best shot. Leading companies have been successfully employing the power of video marketing using stock footages for quite some time now.
In this post, you’ll learn about the best stock video sites for startups and small businesses.
These websites can be beneficial whether you’re looking to find footage for an ad or even a normal YouTube video.
Let’s take a look at the top stock video sites for small businesses.
1. Pexels (Stock Photos And Videos Site)
Pexels is one of the most popular stock photo and video sites for bloggers, YouTubers, and small businesses. They host more than 50,000+ video content. Almost all of the content on Pexels can be downloaded and used with citing the copyright owner as they come under Creative Commons 0 license or under public domain. You don’t need any permission to edit and upload the videos or photos you download from Pexels.
Pricing
Pexels is forever-free! You don’t have to pay anything to use the videos uploaded by the creators.
Pros
- High-resolution videos and photos
- Completely free for commercial content
- Attribution is not required
- Unique search features including search by color
- Carefully curated and ever-updating content
Cons
- Few videos for niche keywords
- Overused content
- Lacks a community
License
Pexels offers a creative commons zero license. This license allows the creators to waive all the copyright they have regarding the photo or video content to the maximum extend allowed by the law. It means you can use the content without any worry of facing copyright issues.
Who Uses Pexels?
Since pexels is totally free to use, the websites attracts over 31 million visitors and thousands of users that are spread over different industries. Majority of the users include:
- Startups
- Small businesses
- Digital marketers
- Web developers
- Blog writers
- YouTubers
2. Shutterstock ( Royalty Free Stock Videos Site)
Shutterstock is another big player in the stock footage market. Not only do they provide high quality videos, they are also famous for their top resolution and unique images, music, vectors, etc. Their content is catered mainly towards businesses and media organizations looking to satisfy their marketing needs. Shutterstock offers more than 18 million stock footages to their users.
Pricing
Their pricing is based on subscription plans that are as follows:
- 5 clips – US$ 99/month
- 10 clips – US$ 159/month
- 20 clips – US$ 199/month
Pros
- High-resolution unique stock footage
- Advanced tagging of footages makes search easy
- Can edit the content for social media before downloading
- Licensing and download process is smooth
- Footage is recorded specifically for business needs
Cons
- Can be a bit expensive for small businesses
- Subscription conditions are a little confusing
- Their content creators have reduced in numbers significantly over past few years
License
Shutterstock has an auto-licensing feature. They have two types of licensing:
- Standard license
- Enhanced license
The standard license is the default license and grants you worldwide rights except for using the content as it is without adding in any modifications. The enhanced license on the other-hand gives you complete publishing access without any restrictions. You can view more details here.
Who Uses Shutterstock?
Shutterstock footage is mainly used by:
- Marketing agencies
- Businesses
- Startups
- Videographers
- Photographers
- Media organizations
3. Pixabay (Free Stock Footage Site)
Pixabay is a website having a strong community sharing photos, images and stock footage that can be used as creatives for various projects under the custom pixabay license.
Pricing
You can use stock footage from pixabay for free. All the creatives shared on this website are for content writers who cannot afford pricey footages.
Pros
- Free stock footage
- Easy navigation
- Unedited down-to-earth videos
- Huge collection of stock creatives
- Custom sizes
Cons
- Mediocre content
- Inaccurate tagging
License
You can use pixabay videos for both commercial and non-commercial purposes without giving any attribution. But just don’t try to sell them in other stock sites, that’s strictly against their terms and conditions.
Who Uses Pixabay?
Pixabay is mainly used by:
- Photographers
- Videographers
- YouTubers
- Bloggers
- Graphic designers
- Small Businesses
4. iStock (Royalty Free Stock Video Site)
iStock by Getty Images is a high-quality online stock creatives website providing over 75 million images, videos, and music. iStock is the leading brand in the microstock model that is aimed at helping content creators and small businesses.
Pricing
iStock offers a credits based payment system. Normal videos will cost you 6 credits to purchase. The pricing for credits are as follows:
- 18 credits – ₹6210
- 24 credits – ₹8280
- 36 credits – ₹12240
- 60 credits – ₹20700
- 300 credits – ₹103500
Pros
- Top notch stock footages
- Advanced search filters and tagging
- Best suited for business needs
- You don’t need to purchase anything before searching for content
- Extensive and exclusive stock library
Cons
- Expensive for beginners
- Modification of some content is restricted
License
Similar to Shutterstock, iStock also two different licenses namely standard and extended. Click here to learn more about their license.
Who Uses iStock?
- Businesses
- Freelancers
- Media Agencies
- Publishers
- Bloggers
5. Storyblocks
Storyblocks is another stock footage website offering unlimited downloads based on a subscription model. They have a library of more than 1.5 million stock assets all available in the subscription.
Pricing
Storyblocks offers a monthly subscription offer for stock videos at 1119 INR/month.
Pros
- Top notch stock videos
- Advanced search filters and tagging
- Best suited for business needs
- Unique subscription based pricing model
- Extensive and exclusive stock library
Cons
- Modification of some content is restricted
License
Storyblocks offers two licensing models:
- Individual license
- Business license
The difference between the two is that individual license is given to an individual whereas business license is given to entire users of your organization.
Who Uses Storyblocks?
Storyblocks is an ideal website for:
- Entrepreneurs
- Small businesses
- Startups
- Freelancers
- Bloggers
5 Best Stock Video Sites For Small Businesses Summed Up
We have considered a lot of factors in determining the best stock video sites. In conclusion, these are the best stock footage sites we recommend:
- Pexels
- Shutterstock
- Pixabay
- iStock
- Storyblocks
Also read: Powerful website builders for small businesses
What is the best stock video site?
Considering the overall video quality, the number of footages, and the ease in looking them up, these are the best stock video sites: 1) Storyblocks 2) Shutterstock 3) iStock 4) Adobe Stock 5) VidevoHow much does video footage costs at the best stock video agencies?
On a research conducted with different stock video sites, we found that stock footage on an average costs 25 USD per video. This study included popular stock video agencies like Adobe Stock, Shutterstock, Storyblocks, etc.Will you get copyright issues if you use stock footage?
It depends! Various YouTubers have reported copyright issues with stock music. However, stock videos don’t seem to have this problem. Even if you get copyright issues, it should easily be refutable provided that you purchased the license for the video or music in question.
