Live streaming was the newbie in 2016. It looks set to cement itself as your content necessity in 2017.
Eighty-one per cent of internet and mobile audiences watched more live video in 2016 than in 2015. This upward trend will continue.
Here we walk you through some key questions you may have when it comes to live streaming.
Why live stream?
Live streaming is easy to deliver. Through a smartphone, brands can broadcast from anywhere, at any time. Online streaming platforms like Periscope, as well as Facebook’s Live, can connect brands to global audiences. And with 78% of online audiences already watching live video, ready-made audiences are out there.
Live is also a key differentiator. As brands compete for attention, it’s important to note that audiences will spend three times longer watching video which is Live. That’s compared to video which is no longer Live.
How Live compares to video-on-demand?
Live video outstrips video-on-demand (VOD). People watch a fifth more live video on a mobile than they do VOD. On a desktop, it’s a whopping 34+ minutes for livestreaming versus 2.6 minutes for VOD.
In total, viewers spend eight times longer with live video than on-demand, according to Tubular Insights.
[bctt tweet=”In total, viewers spend eight times longer with live video than on-demand” username=”TellyoTV”]What’s being watched Live?
With high viewing times, what exactly is being watched? Yahoo’s report – The Live Video Opportunity – says that compelling content is a prime motivator. Online viewers want to feel “excitement, immediacy, and connection”.
The above points to the detail in Livestream’s research:
“Breaking news makes up 56% of most-watched live content, with conferences and speakers tied with concerts and festivals in second place at 43%”.
Here at Tellyo, our sports customers find that ‘behind-the-scenes’ access can be a huge draw. Our post – 5 sports brands mastering real-time marketing – sheds some light on this. Livestream’s research also shows that 87% of audiences would prefer to watch online (versus traditional television) if it meant more behind-the-scenes content.
[bctt tweet=”87% of audiences would prefer to watch online (versus traditional television) if it meant more behind-the-scenes content.” username=”TellyoTV”]Do people behave differently when it’s Live?
Yes. Viewer engagement and interactions are shown to happen simultaneously with live streams.
[bctt tweet=”Viewer engagement and interactions are shown to happen simultaneously with live streams.” username=”TellyoTV”]Joe Media’s Football Friday Live is a 30-minute weekly panel discussion about the English Premier League. The show took to Twitter’s live-streaming app, Periscope, simply because Twitter is the place people go for real-time conversations. The show also broadcasts on Facebook Live, with the first episode achieving around 400,000 views.
As the host of a live-streamed talk show Mario Armstrong is a man who knows about live engagement. He has found that Facebook Live viewers comment ten times more on Facebook Live videos than regular ones.
We’ll leave the final word to Mario:
“This is the most amazing thing about live streaming – your audience isn’t a bunch of passive viewers of your content, they’re people who are highly engaged and interacting, and they become meaningful participants in real-time during your broadcasts.”
