Overview
Dailymotion provides a video hosting and streaming platform with a comprehensive API designed to support content publishers, broadcasters, and developers. Established in 2005, Dailymotion offers functionalities for uploading, managing, distributing, and monetizing video content globally. The platform is owned by Vivendi and aims to serve both professional media organizations and independent content creators who require robust video infrastructure.
The Dailymotion API enables programmatic control over various aspects of the platform. Developers can integrate video upload capabilities into custom applications, manage existing video libraries, retrieve video metadata, and embed players directly into websites or mobile applications. It supports a range of use cases, from large-scale content distribution networks to individual blogs seeking to host and stream video content efficiently. For instance, media companies can automate the publishing workflow for news segments, and event organizers can manage live streams directly through their own platforms, leveraging Dailymotion's infrastructure.
Monetization is a core component of Dailymotion's offering, providing tools for ad insertion and revenue sharing for partners. The API allows access to analytics and reporting data, enabling content owners to track performance and audience engagement. Furthermore, Dailymotion's global content delivery network (CDN) aims to ensure smooth playback performance across different geographical regions, which is critical for international publishers. The developer experience is supported by detailed documentation, including interactive explorers for API endpoints, which can assist in testing and understanding the API's capabilities prior to implementation.
While Dailymotion offers a free Starter plan, it scales with paid tiers like the Advanced, Business, and Enterprise plans, which provide increased storage, bandwidth, and advanced features for professional use cases. This tiered approach allows users to select a plan that aligns with their content volume and distribution needs, ensuring that resources are available for high-demand scenarios like broadcasting major live events or managing extensive video archives.
Key features
- Video Hosting and Management: Upload, store, and organize video content through API calls, including metadata management and content categorization.
- Video Streaming: Deliver video content efficiently to global audiences via Dailymotion's content delivery network, supporting various playback qualities.
- Live Event Broadcasting: Tools for streaming live events, enabling real-time content delivery to viewers worldwide.
- Content Monetization: Integration with advertising tools and revenue sharing models for partners to monetize their video content through ad impressions.
- Embeddable Players: Customizable video players that can be embedded into external websites and applications, offering control over playback and appearance.
- User and Channel Management: API endpoints for managing user accounts, channels, and associated content, facilitating community features.
- Analytics and Reporting: Access to performance metrics and audience data to track video engagement and monetization effectiveness.
- OAuth 2.0 Authentication: Secure access to the API using the OAuth 2.0 protocol for authorized application interactions, as outlined in the IETF RFC 6749.
Pricing
Dailymotion offers a tiered pricing structure that includes a free Starter plan and paid options for advanced features and higher usage limits. The pricing below is accurate as of May 2026 and is sourced from the official Dailymotion Partner Plans page.
| Plan Name | Key Features | Price (as of May 2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | Basic video hosting, limited storage/bandwidth, community support. | Free |
| Advanced | Increased storage/bandwidth, priority support, advanced analytics. | Starts at $29/month |
| Business | High storage/bandwidth, dedicated support, API access, monetization tools. | $299/month |
| Enterprise | Custom solutions, highest storage/bandwidth, white-label options, dedicated account manager. | Contact sales |
Common integrations
- Websites and Blogs: Embed Dailymotion videos directly into web pages using the Dailymotion player, often managed via content management systems.
- Mobile Applications: Integrate video playback and management within iOS and Android applications using the Dailymotion API for native experiences.
- Content Management Systems (CMS): Use the API to automate video uploads and publishing workflows from CMS platforms.
- Marketing Automation Platforms: Embed videos in email campaigns or landing pages, tracking engagement through Dailymotion's analytics.
- Live Event Production Tools: Connect Dailymotion's live streaming capabilities with professional broadcasting software for event delivery.
Alternatives
- YouTube: A widely used video-sharing platform offering extensive reach, monetization, and live streaming capabilities, particularly strong for user-generated content and broad audience engagement.
- Vimeo: Known for its high-quality video hosting, professional tools, and ad-free viewing experience, often preferred by creative professionals and businesses.
- Wistia: Focuses on video marketing and analytics for businesses, providing tools for lead generation, heatmaps, and deep integration with marketing platforms.
Getting started
To interact with the Dailymotion API, you typically need to obtain an access token via OAuth 2.0. The following Python example demonstrates how to make a simple request to fetch details of a specific video, assuming you have an authenticated API client. This example uses the requests library for HTTP calls, which is a common approach in Python for interacting with RESTful APIs.
import requests
# Replace with your actual access token and video ID
ACCESS_TOKEN = "YOUR_DAILIMOTION_ACCESS_TOKEN"
VIDEO_ID = "x8n6f7w" # Example video ID (replace with a real one)
# Dailymotion API endpoint for video details
API_BASE_URL = "https://api.dailymotion.com"
ENDPOINT = f"/video/{VIDEO_ID}"
# Define the fields you want to retrieve
FIELDS = "id,title,description,url,owner.username"
headers = {
"Authorization": f"Bearer {ACCESS_TOKEN}"
}
params = {
"fields": FIELDS
}
try:
response = requests.get(f"{API_BASE_URL}{ENDPOINT}", headers=headers, params=params)
response.raise_for_status() # Raise an HTTPError for bad responses (4xx or 5xx)
video_data = response.json()
print("Video Details:")
print(f"ID: {video_data.get('id')}")
print(f"Title: {video_data.get('title')}")
print(f"Description: {video_data.get('description', 'N/A')}")
print(f"URL: {video_data.get('url')}")
if 'owner' in video_data and 'username' in video_data['owner']:
print(f"Owner: {video_data['owner']['username']}")
else:
print("Owner: N/A")
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as http_err:
print(f"HTTP error occurred: {http_err}")
print(f"Response content: {response.text}")
except requests.exceptions.ConnectionError as conn_err:
print(f"Connection error occurred: {conn_err}")
except requests.exceptions.Timeout as timeout_err:
print(f"Timeout error occurred: {timeout_err}")
except requests.exceptions.RequestException as req_err:
print(f"An unexpected error occurred: {req_err}")
Before running this code, you will need to register an application with Dailymotion to obtain client credentials and then perform the OAuth 2.0 flow to get an ACCESS_TOKEN. The Dailymotion developer documentation provides detailed instructions on authentication and API usage.