Broadcasting

Everything you’d like to know about video streaming, but were afraid to ask

If you are just about to start your adventure with professional live video streaming, you may well be a little bit confused. Whether you’re a social media specialist or digital marketer or you’re working in sport, fashion or the music business, streaming will undoubtedly improve your content, brand visibility and boost sales. But there’s a plethora of things you need to remember, learn and tons of options to choose from. Let’s start with the basics and answer some of the most commonly asked questions regarding live video streaming.

What are the best ways to livestream an event and why?

There are many free solutions if you want to stream an event, which you can easily check out for yourself. For personal use, the free solutions can be great. But if you aspire to professional streaming of any kind, the free options aren’t going to offer you enough.

Free software solutions for live video streaming (whether an online or desktop solution) are either not advanced enough or simply not good enough. When using a free solution it is quite common to encounter problems during a livestream and highly likely you will not be able to get support when it comes to technical issues.

If you aim to create great live streamed content and promote your event effectively, you should put in place specialist software that will enable you to better configure and manage your stream.

In answering the question, to stream your event in the best possible way, use professional tools to guarantee great results.

What is the best software for live video streaming?

Here at Tellyo, we’ve put a lot of expertise into creating our streaming software. We’re confident it is one of the best professional solutions for streaming regardless of the event type – be it a sports match, fashion show or music gig. Why?

Specifically designed for streaming and clipping videos, our software platform enables you to edit your content and its audio, and adjust videos to fit different formats and streaming destinations (such as Facebook and YouTube).

Tellyo is cloud-based software built on a core platform that delivers two separate solutions to choose from: Tellyo Pro for extensive usage when you have lots to live stream; plus Tellyo On Demand for occasional streams and when you want no strings and simple payments. Both are fully professional solutions and support the most popular social media channels like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and Periscope.

You can request Tellyo Pro demo here (we will require some technical details from you) or simply create your account in Tellyo On Demand and start streaming.

What are some of the best live video broadcasting sites to stream live events?

If you want to stream to social media using a channel that’s already popular in the market,  there are quite a few streaming-friendly sites we can highlight:

• Facebook
• YouTube
• Twitter
• Periscope

What’s great about the above platforms is that they not only offer streaming features, but also include other cool features too, like chat (YouTube) or announcements and sponsored posts (Facebook). However, the most important part of the deal is that popular social media channels offer direct contact with audiences on pre-established platforms.

Is it possible to live stream to Facebook, YouTube and Twitter simultaneously?

Yes. You can stream to all of the above mentioned platforms simultaneously using Tellyo. Additionally, you can broadcast to other, custom RTMP destinations.

What are some KPIs for live streaming?

This will very much depend on your strategic objectives. If you wish to gain audience and brand visibility, you should aim to get as many viewers and views as possible. Total reach is also a valuable indicator because it shows how many people could have potentially viewed your content.

Depending on your needs, other indicators might include engagement signals (likes, comments and shares), leads and sales, or new signups to on-demand platforms.

It is crucial to set some goals before you start a stream, as these will give you something to measure against.

What are the best practices for live streaming events?

 We’ve prepared a number of articles that you might find useful, regardless of your streaming experience or industry knowledge:

• Improve your social broadcasts with different content types
• 8 common live streaming mistakes
• What indicates success? The social video KPIs that count
• Going social with your broadcast: the basics
• Sports video content ideas to help you survive out of season
• How to prepare and promo live-streamed sports content?
• How to incorporate sponsorship into your real-time social videos
• How to turn broadcast content into great social live streams
• Three ways to maximise real-time interactions with fans
• Understanding the power of online sports videos
• A sport marketer’s simple guide to Facebook post promotion

Explore our blog for other interesting insights and ideas.

Is it possible to clip videos out of a live stream?

Using Tellyo – yes. Our platform allows you to cut clips out of live streams and simultaneously share them on social media in a matter of seconds. You can enhance your clips using our feature-packed Editor or simply clip-and-publish. Videos can be distributed straight from the Editor to the most popular social platforms of your choice. If video editing and live streaming is your main concern – consider using Tellyo.

What kind of events can be turned into live video streams?

There’s really no correct answer to this. However, if you’re responsible for an event and it would benefit from having a larger audience, or you want to reach people who are unable to attend in person, then it would be a good option to stream.

To understand what kind of events others are streaming, let’s take a look at some of our clients:

Our Tellyo Pro is used mainly by sports leagues and federations, and TV and digital broadcasters. They will own content or have the rights to stream it, so they require a trusted service that will enable them to broadcast their content directly to social media. They stream big amounts of content regularly, such as entire matches and complete shows.

Tellyo On Demand is used across sport, fashion, music and event organising. It offers a more flexible option and is suitable for organisations who only need to stream from time to time, but still want to rely on an excellent service. They stream small amounts of content, such as occasional behind-the-scenes footage, gigs, press conferences, and fashion shows.

Still not convinced?

If you still have some doubts regarding live video streaming, live production, real time video sharing or anything in between – let us know. Send in your question(s) using our form, message us at contact@tellyo.com, or make contact via social media.

How people watch live streams on social media – your questions answered

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.

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.

Do people behave differently when it’s Live?

Yes. Viewer engagement and interactions are shown to happen simultaneously with live streams.

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.”