Yokto is a newly launched video platform which offers an embeddable player that intelligently switches between a Flash-based interface or HTML5, depending on the device being used to view the content. This idea on its own is not original, of course. Similar solutions from companies like Brightcove, Ooyala, Kaltura and SublimeVideo, for example, offer much of the same thing.
But where Yokto stands out is in its “playlists” feature. Instead of simply embedding a single video on your website or blog, you can collect a series of videos from multiple sources and embed them on your website within a single player interface.
Yokto currently lets you select videos from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Brightcove, Ustream and Photobucket, as well as presentations from SlideShare. After signing up for an account, you’re walked through a series of steps to search for videos, organize them into playlists, choose a player type and grab an embed code.
The entire process is incredibly easy and really fast.
Another benefit to Yokto’s service is the wide variety of player options it offers. For example, you can choose to have your playlist displayed on the right or bottom of the video, choose a “theater format” player, display videos as a wall of thumbnails, and more.
All players include social sharing buttons, too, which will post links that direct users back to your website when clicked.
After the player is embedded on your website, any further changes to the playlist made on the Yokto website are immediately and automatically reflected in the player inteface, without any need to update the embed code on your end.
Pricing Plans for Pro Users, Hook into S3 or CloudFront
Yokto offers a Pro service for advanced users, which allows you to upload your own videos to the service. These videos are then encoded into multiple formats and intelligently served based on the end users’ device. On iOS devices, they’re also optimized for screen resolution, format and bitrate on iOS devices, Yokto’s Chief Tech Evangelist, Oojal Jhutti tells us.
Pro users can choose connect to Amazon S3 or CloudFront accounts to Yokto, which will then push all the encoded content back into those hosted accounts, for full control over your files.
Yokto’s basic service is free to use, and Pro users are being offered one month free trial right now. There are different levels of paid service avaiable, starting at $0.10 per video and up. Pay-as-you-go pricing is available here.
Yokto was founded in late 2010, and is led by CEO Ross Alderson, who has been involved in many technology startups over the years, and who co-founded UK’s The Register. The company is privately funded by Powershift Media Ltd.