Webamator

YouTube iframe embeds often load many unnecessary resources, which slows down your page. YEP: Optimize YouTube Embeds is a lightweight WordPress plugin that replaces YouTube iframes with a clickable preview image. 
The actual video loads only when the user clicks the play button, improving page load times and reducing initial page size.
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin uses the external YouTube thumbnail service (https://i.ytimg.com) to display preview images of YouTube videos. 
When a page with a YouTube embed is loaded, the plugin requests the thumbnail image directly from YouTube servers. 
No personal data is sent from your site to YouTube, only the video ID (already public in the YouTube URL).
Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy 
Terms of Service: https://www.youtube.com/t/terms

YEP: Optimize YouTube Embeds

Short Description: Load YouTube videos faster by replacing iframes with a preview image; the video plays only when clicked play.

Bigelow Inventions LLC

The Procure Eminence Theater allows your viewers to focus their attention by fading out the background and making the current YouTube video the central object. All videos will be listed in one place for convenience and each video loads asynchronously, meaning there are no more page refreshes. Since videos don’t load until they’re clicked on, the initial load time per page will be reduced when compared to the same page using YouTube’s embed code. Please refer to the list below for other key features and benefits.
Features:
<ul>
<li>Animated opening and closing of the Procure Eminence Theater.</li>
<li>Easy to add YouTube videos – Copy links from YouTube and paste them into the Theater admin page.</li>
<li>Add custom titles to each video.</li>
<li>Autoplay – Play videos as soon as they load.</li>
<li>Suggested YouTube videos – Show suggested videos when the current video finishes.</li>
<li>HTTPS – Encryption of data to prevent “Mixed Content” warnings on HTTPS enabled websites.</li>
<li>Privacy-Enhanced mode – Restrict YouTube’s ability to set cookies for your viewers.</li>
<li>Theater background opacity – Adjusts the background transparency. (3 settings: Light, dark and solid black.)</li>
<li>Videos automatically resize based on current browser window size.</li>
<li>Videos open without requiring a page refresh.</li>
<li>Works with these web browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari and IE8+.</li>
</ul>

Procure Eminence Theater

A better way to view YouTube videos on WordPress! Create the look and feel of a movie theater for your audience!

YEP: Optimize YouTube Embeds vs Procure Eminence Theater