Live streaming presents huge opportunities for broadcasters, able to both complement and transform TV’s linear broadcast format.
Many broadcasters have been moving fast to incorporate live streams into their offering. But how can you follow suit? To help you find a way forward, I’ve gathered together some examples from across sports, entertainment and news.
Sports
Sports broadcasters have been mastering the art of turning broadcast content into live streams for some time.
They have seized upon live streaming’s ability to take viewers behind the scenes, showing content that wouldn’t normally fit a programme’s format, or be possible due to rights and scheduling restrictions.
For example, the NBA on ESPN uses live streaming before a game starts, showing insights such as the players warming up.
During the Rio Olympics, Sky Sports teams often broadcasted live behind the scenes via Facebook (often when they didn’t have the rights to broadcast the actual event). In this clip, they offer viewers some prime second-screen content by exploring a triathlon venue and chatting to fans.
BT Sports use Facebook Live to stream pre-game analysis from its team of pundits. With the punditry team at the stadium, it makes sense to put them to work! Viewers leave questions for the team, which delivers huge audience engagement prior to a game’s actual broadcast.
Entertainment
Carrying on the sports theme, the BBC’s TV show – Match of the Day – regularly use Facebook Live to reveal the running order of that evening’s football matches. The show’s host Gary Lineker presents the live snippet, which has lo-fi production values but provides another engaging dimension to an already successful show.
TV channel ABC also used Facebook Live to build excitement for its reality show The Bachelorette. Prior to the season’s start and for the first-time ever, it announced the bachelorette’s eligible men via Facebook Live. A perfect teaser before the first episode, which had over 1.3 million views.
If you’re recording a live chat show, why not stream what’s happening backstage? On The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, live streaming complements the main broadcast and mirrors the show’s humour. Twin Peaks’ Kyle MacLachlan was recently streamed backstage via Facebook Live in true Twin Peaks style (in which nothing much happens)!
The Tonight Show sometimes stream the first part of their broadcast content live on social media. The clip below shows Jimmy Fallon’s intro, which Facebook Live then leaves before the full show commences. This can help to drive viewers from social over to your TV channel.
News
If you’re broadcasting news you will have reporters constantly on the move, where things are happening. Traditionally they’d have to wait to present live on the main show. Nowadays, reporters can go live via social media, unrestricted by programme schedules.
As with the last Tonight Show clip above, a cute trick with news reporting would be to guide viewers from a social stream to a fuller report on your main TV show.
