How to ‘Gate’ Video Content on your Website

Have you got stuck not knowing how to gate video content on your website? In other words, wanting to provide free video content (such as an informative guide or webinar recording), but only permit those that register for it/give their name and email to be able to view it? In this blog we’ll explain how you can do just that.

You may be thinking “Surely I can just do that via YouTube somehow…?” but the answer is no, not exactly. On YouTube you can have the privacy setting for each of your videos as either Public, Private, or Unlisted.

• Public is, of course, where everyone can see your video.
• Private means only those you invite to watch the video can see it – but this would be a manual process and it’s limited.  The people you invite must have their own Youtube accounts and the maximum number you can invite to watch is 50 usernames.
• Unlisted means your video will not come up in search results or on your channel either. Only those who know the link can view it and they don’t even need a YouTube account. You could share the link to your video with anyone and they could share it. Some people may even guess the link.

What is ‘Gated Content’?

‘Gated’ content is a great marketing tactic. It’s normally used for gathering email addresses for your database – which you acquire in return for providing something of added value.

Typically you would offer something tangible for free (it could be a sample, a downloadable guide or a video) and direct a prospect to a landing page on your website. This landing page would have a form to fill in in order for them to access to your free product or resource. By filling in the form their email address would then be added to your email database (ensure you’re following GDPR practices when gathering email addresses and other personal information!).

Many email marketing platforms have the ability to embed a form on your website pages (such as Mailchimp), which automatically add email addresses to your database.

Once the form is filled in, the prospect will then be able to see your content! Hence why it’s called ‘gated’, as they can only view it once they have submitted their information.

Offering valuable ‘gated’ content that is enticing to your target audience will help build your database for ongoing communications, as well as demonstrate your knowledge and expertise and help build your reputation.

How do I ‘Gate’ Video Content on YouTube?

If you’re offering a video as your free resource/’gated’ content, you obviously don’t want it on your YouTube channel for anyone to be able to watch. But there is a way you can upload a video to your YouTube channel that is only viewable from your gated landing page. And here’s the steps to follow to do just that…

1. Login to your YouTube channel and click the upload button
2. Choose the file to upload and fill in the details such as the video title and description, setting a thumbnail etc. You don’t need to add tags to your YouTube video if it’s going to be used as gated content (as it won’t be public on YouTube and coming up in searches)
3. Once your video has uploaded, click next to get to the ‘Visibility’ screen. Ensure you select the ‘Unlisted’ toggle underneath the ‘Save or publish’ section. As mentioned above, by having it as ‘unlisted’ means only those who have the link to your video can watch it
4. Create a web page offering your content, including a form for people to submit their name and email address. Create another hidden landing page for those that submit the form that has the unlisted YouTube video embedded in it. Only those that have completed the form will be able to see that web page with your video on.

It’s important to note that this method is not absolutely watertight –  someone who has submitted their email address could decide to share the URL of the web page with someone else. So don’t place very valuable, sensitive information in the video. But it’s a very useful method for gaining contact details for future email marketing communications. It works brilliantly for most businesses!

We hope that’s been useful. And if you have any questions on marketing campaigns or gated content, please do contact us. We’re a flexible outsourced marketing agency based in East Sussex working with SME’s across the UK! Learn more about us and our services.