Live streaming has exploded in popularity in the last few years. A combination of improved accessibility to streaming software and the Covid-19 pandemic has seen the industry boom. Predicted to reach around $4.26bn by 2028, and with the rise of features such as Facebook Live, growth is showing no signs of stopping and an ever-increasing number of businesses are turning to streaming as a form of communication.
According to Restream, almost three-quarters of businesses increased their investment in live streaming due to the pandemic, and 91% said they would continue to utilize live streaming after the pandemic. What may have been seen as a temporary compromise has become a critical tool for businesses to grow and sustain their brand.
Why Live Stream?
So, live video streaming is becoming very popular among businesses, but why should you do it, and how could it benefit your business?
Live streaming is the transmission of live video content over the internet for real-time consumption by an end-user i.e. your customer base, staff members, or other businesses.
Unlike other forms of content, such as blog posts or video-on-demand (VOD), live streams are delivered at a specific time and allow for real-time audience participation, offering an overall more engaging experience for your viewers.
Live streaming is also more appropriate when you wish to cover a range of topics. For example, for events such as webinars, conferences, tutorials, or the launch of new products, the content may be too dense to release as an on-demand video. Turning these into virtual events can offer a very effective solution. Live streaming is a unique, exciting alternative to other traditional types of communication and comes with several key benefits, which we’ll now explore in more detail.
5 Key Benefits of Live Streaming
Cost-Effective
One significant benefit of live streaming is how cost-effective it can be.
The technology needed to stream is accessible and affordable, particularly for bigger businesses. To stream, all you need is a device with a webcam, a good internet connection, and an account with a live streaming platform. Similarly, the viewers themselves only require strong internet bandwidth and a device on which to watch.
While you may invest in a high-quality camera and microphone, it is possible to stream successfully with basic video equipment.
There are also ways of improving the quality of your stream without too much expenditure. Here, you can learn more about our favorite affordable tips for improving stream quality.
Comparatively, the price of producing a piece of content to be viewed on-demand is much greater. This is due to the higher quality equipment you’ll require and the need for post-production editing to make your video look professional and stand out.
Streaming also avoids other costs associated with holding an in-person event such as travel, venue, and even food while still allowing you to deliver the same message to many people.
Real-Time Engagement
As touched on earlier, one of the most significant benefits that differentiate streaming from other forms of content is how it allows for real-time audience participation.
You can have an actual conversation with your viewers, and viewers may ask questions, answer polls and give immediate feedback. Not only does this allow for real-time understanding and exchange of ideas, but it also creates a more personal viewing experience. In addition, it is likely to make your viewers feel like a more valued part of the business, creating an environment in which they will want to return.
Depending on which streaming platform you use, it’s also very likely that you’ll be able to monitor and direct your Q&A sessions by asking viewers to post a question in the written chat. This way you can filter the best and most relevant questions, giving viewers a more worthwhile experience.
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Produces Reusable Content
While live streaming thrives off the real-time interaction that it allows, that’s not to say it doesn’t have other uses.
You can record your live stream and repurpose the content, which can be used as a marketing tool. While a stream allows in-depth coverage of a range of topics, video on demand is more suited to smaller, more concise snippets of information. You can take the most appropriate parts of your recorded stream and share them on your website or social media feeds.
These can then easily be shared and distributed in a retargeting campaign, ultimately reaching a wider audience and attracting new potential customers without incurring the usual costs associated with producing a piece of on-demand recorded video.
Depth & Quality of Content
Utilizing live streaming can be very beneficial when you wish to cover a broad range of topics in detail. Due to the interactivity of a stream, you can keep viewers’ attention for longer, therefore packing in a lot of rich information.
A live stream is more suitable in this instance than an extremely long blog post, which people are unlikely to have the time or desire to read, or an on-demand video in which people may become disinterested due to the length.
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Level up your organization with live streaming
This article has explored some of your brand’s main benefits of streaming. Cost-effectiveness, the engaging, real-time nature, the reusable nature of its content, and the depth of content you can cover are all significant upsides that you wouldn’t experience with other forms of communication.
In the 21st century, your business must be shown to be versatile, adaptive, and forward-thinking. Live streaming events can be a way to show that while also offering a practical, less time-consuming alternative for staff and customers. As a result, it’s rapidly becoming a tool that you can’t, and shouldn’t, ignore.
CDNetworks’ Media Acceleration Live Broadcast can dramatically improve your viewers’ experience by providing a low-latency, high-reliability live streaming service. With value-added features such as live recording, our live streaming solution is user-friendly and versatile and can be the ideal way to develop your business’ communications.
In addition, at CDNetworks we also provide Cloud Live, a user-friendly and all-in-one live streaming platform ideal for enterprise-level conferences, online educational courses, and sporting events. You can share live content directly with your global audiences at any scale using our cloud-based platform.
