Video streaming, both on-demand and live are essential tools for businesses of all types. As major networks and studios continue to launch their streaming services, you need to offer content libraries broad to attract new customers and retain existing customers.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic is contributing to the remarkable growth of video streaming marketing due to the rising adoption of streaming as more people are subscribing to these entertainment platforms. To point out, the video streaming market is expected to grow from $42.60 billion in 2019 at an annual growth of 20.4% from 2020 to 2027.
Here is what Asia pacific video streaming market size looks like from 2016-2017.
Considering this immense growth of the industry, many digital media and broadcast providers are putting in their efforts to build new platforms for customers to access different types of content like music, videos, and other types of entertaining and informative content. The emergency situation COVID-19 has positively impacted global video streaming growth and the adoption of white-label video streaming in general.
What is white-label video streaming?
A white label product is something that is manufactured by one company and sold to other companies to be reused and sold as their own. When it comes to video streaming, white-label streaming means broadcasting your content with customized features and branding of your own.
Simply put, white-label is a term that refers to something without branding. For example, a video streamed from youtube will have its logo on the player.
Now, what is a white-label platform? A white-label video platform is an online video platform that comes equipped with a white-label video player and the necessary tools to customize it according to your needs. When your audience watches your content, they will associate your brand with the content and not the service you used to host or stream it.
With easy-to-navigate online video platforms and new integrations, white-label video streaming no more requires technical expertise to get started. Whether you are offering video on demand or live streaming solutions, you can benefit from a white-label streaming service to promote your unique video content.
Advantages of using a white label video streaming
The advantages of white label streaming to business are several. While label streaming platforms do not just offer professional video players for video on demand and live streaming solutions, it also offers offer branding solutions, video monetization, and a lot more.
In particular, white-label video streaming allows you to add your logo to your video content which helps to facilitate greater recognition of your brand to your audience. It also supports the aesthetic and functional personalization of the website in terms of colors and dimensions. The fundamental idea of white-label streaming is to allow broadcasters to maintain ownership of their content through the streaming process both from the customer and legal perspective. Not just that, there are more advantages to white label video streaming. Let’s look into those.
Control over the content
You might have heard stories of videos or live streams taken down from major platforms without any prior warning. The problem might not be always about copyrighted content. Your content could still be taken down even if you own the copyright or follow the rules. Paid solutions generally don’t monitor the content in the same automated way like social media platforms or other free services do. With white label video streaming, you have control over the content and if you meet all legal requirements, you can reduce the risk of your content being taken down without any explanations.
Advertisement free watching experience
Most free platforms allow you to host your content for free. Instead of a monthly fee, you pay for it by allowing advertising on your videos. But, you won’t have any control over the content of advertisements either. It could be advertisements of your competitors or something not relatable to your content.
In both cases, you might lose your customers to your competitors. If you have watched videos on youtube you might have noticed the advertisements that come before the content, in the middle, or at the end. Some ads might be non-skippable as well so your audience might stop watching your videos. With white-label platforms, you won’t have to give someone else the control to interrupt your content.
You choose the quality
Free services put limits on what you can upload or stream Thye can limit the file size, playing time, bitrate, or support a few video formats. When it comes to live streaming, it can restrict the resolution, streaming time, bitrate, and the number of viewers. However, white-label streaming serviceallows you to choose the quality of your videos, streaming time, resolution, playtime, and other factors that you cannot get with a free service with limitations.
Control over video placement
Withwhite label platforms, there are no limitations on content placement. If you want to place your videos on the homepage of the site, you can place it there. Or if you want to put your videos behind a paywall, you are free to do it as well. The player you use is customizable so you can personalize it to deliver the viewing experience you want.
Video monetization
With a built-in paywall of the white-label platform, you can accept payment in the player and your viewers can easily pay for the video content. This built-in paywall integration allows you to control rates, offer exclusive offers, and offer easy access to your content.
Conclusion
If you are planning to invest in creating videos for your business, it is worth using a white-label platform that allows you to maintain control and ownership of your content.
These affordable streaming solutions are designed to offer your streaming services the support you need to establish a successful position in the industry. With white-label streaming, you can customize your video player with your branding, colors you like, monetization integrations, and more. Not sure whether to use awhite label streaming service or not? If you need assistance in choosing a white label solution for your video streaming business, get in touch with us for further guidance.
The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the whole world to embrace new ways of living impacting all the industries. The fitness industry is no different, the current pandemic has transformed the way most fitness centers operate which has led to the temporary closure of many fitness facilities across the globe.
Fitness studios that have spent years building up a reputed brand now face the difficulty of running classes, but you can leverage technology to get through this challenging time and engaging your community of members. The majority of gym chains including Gold’s gym and cult fit closed their doors to prevent the spread of coronavirus. Fitness centers have come up with creative live streaming fitness solutions to keep their members active: Live stream fitness classes so that students can join classes from anywhere in the world.
During this uncertain time, you can keep engaging your members who still want their studio experiences using live streaming. By mirroring your regular timetable, you can offer regular fitness classes at times where people’s lives are lacking their usual structure or when they demand convenient ways to cope up with their busy schedules. Live streaming is a great way to bring your members together and motivate them to work out and makes them accountable for their efforts.
Tips to Live Stream Fitness Classes for your Community
Staying engaged in a workout routine is a significant factor to improve physical fitness. Live streaming your fitness sessions allows your members the ability to exercise on their schedule. Besides fitness sessions in the gym, people can also take advantage of live online fitness classes if they are living far away from your gym and cannot make it to your classes. You can leverage live streaming services that allow you to stream fitness sessions over the Internet and users can sign up for your services to enjoy your fitness classes in the comfort of their own homes.
You can choose to broadcast your fitness classes live when:
You want to expand your reach across your city and take your fitness classes to a global community.
You don’t want to spend a lot of time on creating, uploading, editing, and managing your pre-recorded videos.
You want to interact with your members in real-time.
You want to monetize your fitness programs further.
Here are some of the tips to get started.
Keep Your Live Streaming Set up Simple
When live streaming fitness programs, you would need essential equipment like a digital camera, microphone, lighting, a platform, etc. depending on your requirements. If you are not ready to invest in a camera, you can start shooting with a phone, but make sure you choose a great quality smartphone with a good camera. Another beneficial tip is to invest in a tripod to keep your camera sturdy during your live sessions.
When you are just starting out, it is recommended to keep your live streaming set up simple which will lower the chances of any technical issues, and generally makes the whole process easier.
Select a Business Model
If you want to use live streaming for business purposes, it is important to choose a business model for your fitness platform. Implement the best monetization model for your live streaming platform so that you can ensure a good amount of revenue stream with your fitness programs.
The subscription business model allows viewers to access your fitness live streams by making monthly or yearly payments. Your members can access your classes in real-time when they subscribe to your services and once they stop paying the fee, they are no longer a part of it.
Pay Per View
Pay per view is another business model to generate revenue from your live fitness videos. To gain access to your content, you can allow your members to pay for the individual content they want to stream. This is a flexible monetization strategy where you don’t overwhelm your members by a contractual agreement. Moreover, you can charge a premium price according to the value of the training program offered.
Freemium Model
You can offer your live fitness classes to your client for free where most videos are offered for free, but users have to pay to gain access to unlimited content. There are fitness brands that offer live sessions of training programs to their members for free. For example, planet fitness live streams their classes every day on Facebook and successfully prepares your fitness business for upscaling in the future.
Test Your Setup Before Going Live
A rehearsal before live streaming your fitness classes will help ensure you are not scrambling to set up the camera angle or audio when it is time to host your live sessions. Make it a practice to test your Internet connection as well to ensure that your bandwidth upload is consistent. You don’t want to have any delays or glitches when people are trying to connect with you in real-time. Test your camera and sound and make sure the audio levels are ideal. It is recommended to keep music at a lower volume to ensure that your audience can hear you clearly.
Live Broadcast Your Fitness Sessions
As your students’ join your live sessions, greet them just as you would do in a regular fitness class. Right before you begin, mute participants when you are talking so that you are audible.
Essential Features of your Live Streaming Site
After deciding on the important aspects, the next thing you need to decide is the features and functionalities of your live streaming platform. Here are some of the basic features you must consider integrating into your fitness live streaming platform.
Homepage
The home page is the main page of your fitness platform that your users land first.
Registration and User Profiles
Allowing your users to register to your platform via their email id or social media account is an essential feature of your live streaming platform after registration, users will be able to create user profiles, save their favorite videos, etc.
Search
The search function allows your users to find the videos easily based on their queries.
Secure Payment Integrations
Allow your users to pay for accessing your live streaming by integrating secure payment gateways like Braintree, Stripe, or PayPal.
Push Messages
Push notifications allow your users to notify about new live videos, training programs, and other useful updates.
Analytics
Analytics is another important feature you must integrate into your live streaming platform. It helps you to analyze the performance of your live stream and analyze the user behavior.
Admin Panel
The Admin panel is an integral feature that helps to moderate content, delete content, ban users, manage monetization, etc. effortlessly.
Choosing the Platform to Live Stream
If you want to use live streaming to power your fitness training programs, you need to choose the best live streaming platform. You can consider using social media platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Instagram, or Periscope to broadcast your fitness classes.
Another approach is to create a live streaming website to power your fitness business. If you want to build your live streaming platform on a budget, consider using white label solutions that are easily available in the market to develop your website. White label solutions are readymade solutions that help you create a live streaming platform in simple steps and in an affordable way. With readymade solutions, you can customize the script to add unique features to your website based on your requirements.
If you are looking for the best affordable live streaming solution, Streamnow is a professional live streaming script that allows you to create a fitness live streaming platform to connect with clients from anywhere at any time. Seamless live streaming, chat system, monetization, secure payment gateway, dynamic admin panel, native Android and iOS apps are some of the best features. With our live streaming software, you can hold interactive training sessions with one or many members simultaneously.
Conclusion
Live streaming is spreading its wings in every industry, including fitness and is becoming a norm. To start live streaming classes for your community, you need to have a clear business plan and leverage advanced technology to provide your members with high-quality live streams. Hope this guide gave useful insights on starting with live streaming your fitness programs to attract more members and grow your community. If you need any assistance in setting up a live streaming platform, we can guide you with the process. Please get in touch with us for expert guidance.
Live streaming is no longer a novelty for marketers. With real-time videos becoming prominent among social media users, we have seen a significant leap in the way businesses usually interact with their target audiences these days. Live video, as a part of the video marketing strategy, is becoming popular, and it is going to stay as a trend in 2020, as well.
Did you know that online viewers spend 3X more time watching a Facebook live video as compared to other types of videos? The concept of live streaming is evolving and the number of brands using it to strengthen their relationships with the customers is increasing, too.
Live streaming is gradually taking a leading place as one of the most powerful marketing tools for individuals and businesses. With its rising significance, questions like how to build a live streaming website, how much it takes to stream live videos, etc. have become some prominent undertakings among the businesses these days.
Live videos can either make or break your marketing campaigns; it’s a fact that all marketers agree with. However, you must be thoughtful to show your audience the real side of your business and offer something of great value. Live streaming can bring in more leads, conversions, and overall ROI. If you are looking for ins and outs of how to start a live streaming business, you should focus on the utility of live streaming first.
Why Live Videos For Marketing?
Businesses can stream live videos over multiple social media channelslike Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube, at the same time. They can also use this opportunity to sell their products by allowing viewers to purchase products directly with just a button click while watching the live videos. Let’s take a closer look at what else makes live streaming a popular marketing tool.
No Investment Required
One of the biggest advantages of live video streaming is it’s available to anybody with a very little investment. Compared to earlier days, when live streaming setups were expensive affairs and were accessible only to the rich brands, we now have some much cheaper alternatives for everyone. The technologies we possess today to eliminate most of the expensive requirements and it has become easier for anyone to adopt live streaming in their marketing mix.
Brands can now bypass traditional live streaming methods and reach directly to their customers with live streaming through popular social media channels. However, if the brands seek a better professional solution than social media streaming, they can also create a live streaming website of their own with some minimal investment. There are tons of affordable live streaming solutions available in the market. Having a dedicated live streaming website helps indeed, as it not only opens up the immense opportunities but also gives greater control over the brand message they want to deliver.
The Emergence of New Business Models and Sales Channels
Brands now are shifting on influencer marketing to attract audiences and sell their products. Brands are approaching influencers with a large social following and paying them for doing sponsored streams. For instance, a fashion brand can recruit fashion bloggers for a campaign that includes live streaming of their fashion shows. Besides, these bloggers can put product links on the live screen and let viewers purchase the outfits shown in the show instantly. With the rising popularity and adoption of live streaming by the brands, new business models and many such effective sales channels are emerging.
Possibilities For Brands to Create New Expanded Experiences
Live streaming brings new business opportunities for brands. They can create a more integrated brand experience for customers where an immediate channel of communication will make sure the messages flow seamlessly in both directions. For instance, sports brands can sell their products to fans who are not physically present at a game but watching the same through live streaming.
What Does It Mean For Marketers?
As it becomes competitive for brands to win customers on social media, combining both social media campaigns and paid promotions can offer an enhanced level of engagement with the audience. Live video streaming combines all of these elements into a new kind of medium with endless possibilities. By putting the capabilities of live TV into everyone’s hands, brands can deliver trust factors in a way we have not yet seen. However, we are still in the early days of adoption and are just starting to visualize the possibilities.
Power of Live Streaming For Marketers and Brands
You already know that live streaming helps brands connect with their audience more realistically. It also allows the audience to participate in a brand’s storytelling. No matter if you are a video content creator or a business, you can leverage the benefits of live streaming and deliver your brand message to the prospects in innovative ways. Let’s see different ways you can use to leverage live streaming for your brand-
Engaging Content
Live videos are a great alternative to static visual content. Over 80% of online viewers would watch live videos than exploring other types of content. As video content is visually appealing and easier to grasp, viewers can connect with the real-time content better than any other form of content. Live video streaming offers a sense of real-time connection, which is even engaging than other content types. Allowing businesses to establish their web presence and narrate brand stories in real-time, live streaming can produce some faster results.
Better Reach
There is no doubt live streaming helps to reach out to millions of global users by just a click of a button. Using live stream, brands can broadcast their events to a wider audience, and utilize this opportunity to increase brand awareness among the new audiences as well. The ability to get in touch with as many people as possible without any physical or geographical restrictions is a true power of marketing in hands.
Enhance Customer Relationships
Live streaming ensures enhanced customer relations as they can interact with brands in real-time leading to trust and loyalty. Unlike pre-recorded videos, live videos connect with your audience in a more personal way, paving a seamless channel of communication to interact with the brands. Unrehearsed live video gives a more realistic touch to the brand messages and therefore, making it even trustworthy and relatable. It gives out a sense of value and transparency among the audience. The more customers brands, the more they are likely to undertake some business and recommended the brand to others as well.
Reinforce Brand Value
Treat live streaming as any other marketing medium. What message do you want to convey to your audience? What should be the takeaway for our audience? Use your live streams to make a good impression, show the audience your personality, without just making a big sales pitch.
Different Ways To Use Live Streaming For Video Marketing
Whether you are using social media live streaming, or wondering how to set up live streaming videos from your official website, there are easier ways to undertake both kinds of plans. Irrespective of the platform you choose, you can conduct various kinds of live events to attract more and more audience to your live streams. Let’s look into different ways your business can utilize live streaming to engage with the target customers.
Host Webinars
Leveraging the power of live streaming for educational purposes can be a powerful idea. For example, a live demo on how to use a product or service can be a very honest live presentation of skills. A live demo is a practical and trustworthy solution to offer valuable information. Take this opportunity to offer knowledge while your brand builds authority in a particular field. You can even build a good part of your business around hosting webinars.
Q & A Sessions
Host live Q&A sessions to let your viewers ask questions about your brand, product, and different services. Utilize the opportunity to have real-time conversations with your audience and dig deep into your opinions about the brand. Interaction with your audience shows that your brand supports transparency, which has a positive influence on embedding trust factors.
Try to address each question individually by mentioning usernames, as it helps to build a personal relationship with your audience. You must encourage your viewers to ask questions and put comments even if your live stream isn’t a Q&A session. These sessions hold the potential to build a strong community around your brand.
For example, Humana broadcasted a live session with chef Nino answering to the questions of viewers while cooking.
Behind the Scenes Look
Broadcasting behind the scenes is a great way to get a little personal with your audience. Live stream an event, a tour of your office, and show your audience how you make your products. Even the most routine business activity might be very interesting to people who see it for the first time.
Live streaming a business victory or a celebration is another great way to share your company culture and let your viewers feel being a part of it. You can also utilize this opportunity to offer an exclusive sneak peek of your new product development status. The insights offered through such live sessions can build a special connection with your audience and can potentially attract many viewers.
Collaborate With Influencers
Collaborating with popular influencers can have a significant impact on expanding your reach. Choose influencers who have a large following on their social media platforms and websites, and can provide some expertise in a particular area. You can invite influencers to be part of your live stream, be a guest on your live broadcasts, or you can also give them some creative freedom to create their own live sessions promoting your brand.
Alternatively, you can also allow them to take your over live sessions for a period of time and allow them to post live content directly to your page. As opposed to a produced video, live streaming is an easy, honest, and unrehearsed way of reaching out to your viewers.
When you collaborate with influencers, it must align well with your brand and be organic to your viewers. Make sure you do thorough research on your personality of choice, consider their primary demographic, hashtags they use, and overall reputation. The interest and values of the influencer’s audience must also align with your brand’s message and values, making it easy to gain their attention. This type of partnership with popular influencers improves discovery and expand the reach.
Use Live Streams for Sales
Using live broadcasts for real-time sales can create a sense of urgency to buy especially if you are offering discounts exclusively for your online viewers. Set up a live broadcast displaying your special products or services, and offer a link to buy it instantly. Keep in mind that some live chats do not allow links, so you may need to get more creative. Alternatively, you can also create your own live streaming website using a decent live streaming software solution, and get better control on putting links and promoting your products even effortlessly.
Run Contests
Running contests on your live streams has great potential to increase the reach of your live broadcast. To improve the reach, you can ask your viewers to share a link of your live stream as a part of the entry requirement to the contest. This way your viewers become an additional marketing channel.
You can also use the contest entry requirements to expand your email list by capturing email addresses using a Signup form. Conducting contests via live streams can keep your audience engaged and you can use the platform to announce the results as well. Make sure you announce it early to increase the participation of your audience.
For example, Wingstop launched the world’s first live auction on periscope and announced it in advance in their Twitter account.
Live Stream Big Events
Nowadays it is customary for a large enterprise to live-stream large events and product launches. A live launch can help your products and services stand out and create a lot of buzz and traffic around it. Consider going live with your product launch, important events, keynote presentations, demos, etc. Build up the hype around large events in advance so that your viewers have the chance to share the news till the big day.
Conduct Live Interviews
Live interviews can act as an amazing traffic source as you are addressing not just your audience but another person’s audience as well. Setting up interviews with big names in the industry can give you instant recognition and authority in your niche. This further builds trust among your viewers. As mentioned earlier, you can also interview influencers who are from the same niche to capture a wider audience. For example, Benefit Cosmetics went live with makeup master José Rivera with 13k viewers and good engagement.
Live Stream Fun Activities
Your live broadcast need not be formal content always. To change it up a bit, try broadcasting fun activities like team actions, a humorous live, DIY crafts, or anything that your audience will find interesting. For example, Twitter live-streamed holiday-themed sessions with DIY crafts, cocktail mixing, and holiday planning tips by collaborating with top influencers.
Reveal Product Announcements
This is another significant strategy that works better when you have an audience, but it can be highly effective if done right otherwise too. Your viewers will love to be a part of the exclusive group that gets first access to big reveals and launches. Give them that privilege by live streaming product announcements or any similar events. Reveal big news on a live stream to people who tune in before anyone else.
Reuse Live Streams
Once you have a whole library of great content for viewing and reuse, reuse your live stream to promote it further. Create promotional videos, highlight videos, optimize uploaded VOD streams for search engines, and do a lot with your saved content even after the live broadcast is over.
Best Practices To Succeed With Live Broadcasts
You have some ideas and a professional live streaming solution; you are all set to utilize the power of live streaming for your business. Here are some live streaming tips and best practices to help you come off professional and engaging with the first video itself.
Set Your Goals
What do you want to accomplish with live streaming, reach a global audience, highlight product features, increased brand awareness, or grow your audience? Your goals help to determine what type of live experience to create. Create new customer experiences; offer branded moments, live stream product launches, live events, or customer education. In short, set your goals and decide what you are going to show. If you are not interested in your content, chances are your audience won’t be either.
Plan, Test, and Promote
While live video streaming happens in real, it is not wrong to plan ahead. You can and you must plan in advance. Be sure to script responses to possible scenarios that can arise, plot out key moments, and decide in advance the messages to convey. For example, if you are doing Q&A sessions, prepare responses and have a team ready to moderate comments. Before you go live, test in advance and make sure the camera is steady and the voice is clear.
It is also important to promote your live sessions in advance to keep your audience tuned in. Start by announcing about your live broadcast on your website and social media channels to build anticipation.
Welcome New Viewers
When you start live streaming, welcome all your viewers to the live session. This way you establish a personal relationship with them instantly. Also, make sure you welcome new viewers. However, it is not actually practical when you have thousands of viewers. You can also group names together so that it is easy to recognize a large number of people at once.
Address Viewers by Names
People love being called by their names, especially during live streaming. Hearing their username called out while watching a live broadcast helps feel recognized and instantly connect with the brand.
Look at the Camera
Similar to pre-recorded videos where you have to look at the camera, live streaming also demands the same. Looking at the camera is equivalent to making eye contact with your viewers. Just because you can’t see your audience, doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t look at them. This counts a lot when it comes to live streaming, as viewers might be offended if you don’t face them all the time.
Keep a Check on the Environment
Pick a good place with ample lighting and less noise when you go live. This is very important to the overall quality of the stream. Even a bad camera can look good to an extent with good lighting. Try hosting your videos during the daytime, preferably with light background behind you. While natural lighting is the best lighting you can get, you can also buy lights if you have to shoot videos in a dark room.
Choose the Right Platform
Selecting the right platform for your live streaming significantly affects the results you will achieve. If you take social networks, YouTube has over 3 billion searches a month and it is the second-largest search engine after Google. Facebook is already on the race to become a pioneer in this sector. On the other hand, Periscope is devoted to live broadcasts, which makes it easy for your Twitter audience to follow your live sessions.
So which one you must choose? The answer depends on your business goals and preferences of your audience. While Facebook Live offers options for more viewers, popups on their feed often distract them. Alternatively, you can also create a live streaming websiteto gain much control over your live videos.
How To Make Money Using a Live Streaming App?
We have discussed how live streaming can help with marketing campaigns and assist your brand to grow. Once you are well acquainted with how to create a live streaming website the next thing is to understand is how to monetize your live streams. Next, let’s look into some direct ways to use live videos to make money.
Pay-Per-View
The pay-per-view allows your viewers to unlock access to your individual live streams for a fee. This works great if the content is unique. If you are using custom live video streaming software to create your website, it’s more likely you will find an option to integrate pay-per-view model to start earning from your live streams. This model works best for streaming webinars, tutorials, sports events, and other events where people don’t mind purchasing tickets.
Subscriptions
Just like a pay-per-view model, subscriptions give access to all the streams at once for a specific period, instead of paying separately for each live session. Subscriptions can be quarterly, monthly, or yearly basis. You can also take advantage of the built-in subscription features that many custom video streaming software solutions offer. Besides access to live videos, monthly subscriptions can include other benefits for viewers like special badges, ability to chat and enjoy ad-free live streams.
Run Ads
Another great way to earn money using your live streaming app is by running advertisements. If you join the right live streaming platform in social networks, you can make money from ads as many businesses are still relying upon advertising bucks.
For example, Facebook live ads have benefits for both marketers running the ad campaigns and live streamers allow the ads to be shown during their broadcast. If you use live streaming software to broadcast live sessions, you can run ads in your live streams and it can be pre-roll, mid-roll, display ads, or overlay ads.
To exercise more control over the advertisements displayed during your streams you need to get into depths of how to make your own live streaming website. However, it not the best idea to have ads as the only monetization channels during live streaming.
Brand Collaborations and Sponsorships
Brand deals and sponsorships are another great way to make money using live streaming app. It works well when you have a recognizable name for yourself in the industry as brands will reach out to you with deals. If they don’t, you have to reach out to engage with businesses for sponsorships. Either way, you can make money streaming through banners ads, sponsored content, and more. While sponsoring content make sure it doesn’t appear as a sellout.
Affiliate Programs
A membership in affiliate programs will help you earn commissions every time a viewer clicks on your affiliate links and makes a purchase. Affiliate sales are not just limited to links; it can be even a coupon code that you are promoting. You can place the link or coupon code anywhere in your live stream description. While participating in affiliate programs, make sure to keep your content and the product or services you promote is relevant to the content you stream to make money using live streaming app.
Conclusion
Live streaming is a major shift in the way customers interact with business and each other., People are becoming more comfortable in getting on camera and engaging with others. This is also a great opportunity for businesses to market themselves and remain at the top of the industry. Create a plan now to include live streaming in your business marketing strategy. Capitalize on live streaming while it is still in its early development stage before all the big players gain the possible and it becomes harder to get into. If you want any assistance in creating a live streaming website, get in touch with us. We would like to help you out.
Does anyone sit and watch people playing video games all day? Yes, millions of people actually do. Over 15 million viewers daily visit live streaming sites like Twitch to watch games, tournaments, talk shows, casual solo sessions, and more. Just like YouTubers, Twitch streamers are a new breed of online celebrities with legions of dedicated fans who tune in to the platform to watch their favourite streamers. Many of these personalities have reputed sponsors and millions of fans in both Twitch and social media. While not all make it to the NFL and NBA, anyone with a modern game console and passion of gaming, can be a Twitch streamer.
What is the best thing about being a Twitch streamer? Of course, you are doing what you love and you have the celebrity status. Is that all enough? Twitch streaming is not just for entertainment; it is an excellent way to earn money online. If you are addicted to gaming and have a combination of other skills like good communication, business skills and enough time to spare, you are all eligible to start making money on Twitch.
What is Twitch?
Twitch is the leading live streaming platform in the world, mainly for gamers. It was launched as Justin.tv in 2007 by Justin Kan and Emmett Seahr as a general streaming site with different channels. But games became the major focus and soon they spun off the gaming content to a dedicated service- Twitch TV on June 2011.
In August 2014, Twitch was purchased by Amazon and since then it has continued to grow to add more participatory features and to provide exciting offers to its Amazon Prime subscribers. As the services expanded, it attracted large partnerships too with the latest one being a 2-year deal with Blizzard entertainment. Twitch is now the exclusive broadcaster of its eSports events. If you want to make money streaming video games, there is no other better place than Twitch. The streaming service boasts over 2 million unique streamers every month and thousands of them are already making a good amount of earnings through the Twitch partner programs.
How to Set Up on Twitch?
If you are looking forhow to earn money on Twitch, there are few things you need to do to set up on the platform. You have to start with creating a profile in Twitch followed by setting up equipment and so on. The first step is to create an account on Twitch. You can create an account for free, by visiting Twitch and clicking the Signup button. You can register using your email or your Facebook or Google account. The next step is that you need to have the proper equipment- You will need to have either a PC or a gaming console. If you are opting for a gaming console, you must purchase a capture card to live stream your games. If you are planning to stream via a PC or laptop, you will have to meet the requirements for the output you expect.
The minimum recommended specs Twitch offers are-
CPU: Intel Core i5-4670 or AMD Equivalent
MEMORY: 8GB DDR3 SDRAM
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium
Streaming Software
The streaming software is the most essential addition of any streaming tool kit if you plan streaming games for money. Streaming software comes with many significant features that make your broadcast stand out. With real-time video, audio mixing, switching between transitions, they offer everything you need to pull off a dynamic stream with ease. While some software is free, somelive streaming software comes with a paid subscription that offers lots of customizations to personalize your streaming software. Regardless of what software you choose, setting up your live stream involves same steps- picking your equipment, designing a layout on how they will appear to viewers and finally synchronizing your Twitch profile and actually going live.
Microphone and Camera
When you want to make money streaming on Twitch, the quality of your stream should be top-notch. You need to have a dedicated microphone and a webcam. Though you have a gaming headset, having a good microphone will ensure that your viewers can hear you clearly. Go for a good quality microphone that offers crisp audio and adjustable pickup modes. Check out for the webcams that have sharp visual and offers a built-in ring light to brighten your face.
Streaming from Consoles
If you want to become a Twitch streamer and earn money while playing games, without owning any fancy hardware, it is recommended to use either PS4 or Xbox One. This allows you to stream directly from your console without the need for any additional software or devices. Xbox One allows you to go live from the Twitch app and on PS4, you can go live straight from the system’s share menu.
If you use Xbox, you can also stream directly to the Microsoft mixer platform that is relatively easy to set up. While you won’t be able to customize your stream as you can from your PC, console streaming is a great way to start with. If you want to stream from your console like Nintendo Switch but need more control, you can get a capture card which records your console gameplay to your PC.
Building an Audience: Gaining Followers
Twitch is currently the most popular online platform to stream games. The number of concurrent streamers and viewers are overwhelming. That is a double-edged sword. If you want to be a Twitch streamer, that’s great as the potential audience is enormous. At the same time, competition is also quite high. In short, you have to stand out from the crowd to gain more followers and build a community. Let’s see the easy to follow and practical tips to build an audience on Twitch. Hang on to learn how to earn money on Twitch.
Find Your Niche: How do you stand out among Twitch’s 2 million streamers?
If you are serious about becoming an active live streamer and look forward to making money on Twitch, it is important to claim a niche. Where most streamers go wrong is that they try imitating top streamers without adding their own style element. This might work to an extent, but it is not easy to establish yourself as a top streamer by copying others. To choose a niche, you can share your talents or even lack of talents. People love talent shows like X-Factor and American Idol. If you have got a talent, don’t hide it from the world. Sing, dance, play your favorite instrument or showcase your DIY skills while you stream. Streams like ASMR and Mukbang attracts a huge audience even though they seem to be strange trends. Find your talent and run with it.
Build your channel, Be Consistent
Consistency is critical when it comes to building your channel on Twitch. Just like people tune in to their favorite shows at the same time each night, they would like to know exactly when you would go live on Twitch. And if you promise, you have to keep your word to earn their trust. Whether you broadcast in the morning or in the afternoon, stick onto a schedule and let your followers know about it. Make sure your broadcast time is clearly specified in your Twitch profile and social media.
If you choose to stream at random schedules, it becomes difficult to get the same viewers. Basically, you are training your viewers to come back at a specific time of every week by putting up a schedule. Don’t be afraid to start small if you can’t stream every 7 days. Commit to at least one or two streams a week and stick to it. Obviously, the more content you are able to provide, the better. But it’s not always about the frequency, it’s about the consistency, especially when you begin with. While building your channel, prepare it for sponsorships as well. If you are a streamer who is considering the idea of how to get sponsored on Twitch, customize your channel in an impressing way starting with offering a professional info section.
Grow your Community
What differentiates Twitch from other streaming platforms is that the audience is kept as a key part of the experience. Building a community is essential if streaming games for money is what you are looking for. All Twitch streamers have access to chat rooms that allows streamers to directly connect with users who follows them. This also helps in building a community on the platform. The more you make viewers feel like they are with you while you play, the better chances you have at building a loyal community.
Streamers have been taking different routes to keep their actions interactive. If you have ever tried how to get sponsored on Twitch, you know the significance of nurturing a community to get noticed by sponsors. Listing to your followers is also a great way to build relationships. If no one is watching your streams and engaging, ask yourself what would be the reason and try to cater to the content they want.
Social Media
Promote yourself on social media and interact with your followers there as well like on Twitch. Social media is a great platform to start with building a community. If you really want to see a noticeable positive difference in your viewership, start using social media to strengthen relationships. If you can do promos of the upcoming streams and put up a notification each time you go live, the better. The possibilities of social are almost limitless for streamers, it’s one of the most effective tools to nurture your personal brand. This is essential if you want to gain more followers and you are seriously looking for effective ways on how to make money on Twitch. On top of branding, social media also helps you to earn more sponsorships from big brands.
Don’t Stress About Your Gear (At First)
Just because popular streamers had a top-quality webcam and fancy screens with over 3 PC’s doesn’t mean that you also got to start the same way. How do gamers make money without investment? Have they invested so much in Tech gears? Not really. Interestingly, most of the popular streamers started small with probably an old laptop. The system requirements of Twitch are lenient, which means you must focus on growing an audience before spending thousands of dollars to build an impressive studio. Even if it is an old laptop that you have, start with it. As your channel grows, you can upgrade to better gaming set up.
How to make money on Twitch?
If you are wondering about can you make money on Twitch, Twitch streamers have a lot of ways to earn money and have enough support base for the same. If you have a real intention to make money with Twitch, you have to start aiming to become a Twitch affiliate. From there you can reach the level to become a partner by meeting the required criteria. To make good earnings from Twitch, streamers have to improve their skills and build up a fan base before considering making consistent
Twitch Affiliates and Partners
Have you ever wondered how to make money gaming on Twitch? Affiliates and partnerships are the way to earn more in Twitch. Twitch affiliates and partners can earn from monthly subscriptions from viewers. Each subscription cost $4.99 and for every subscription, the streamer receives 50% of that revenue. There are some statistical requirements to become an affiliate and then a partner. Once you become eligible for the affiliate program, Twitch sends an invitation via email to the streamer to be a part of the program. Once you qualify as an affiliate, you can start earning by collecting bits or when people subscribe to your channel.
How much do Twitch partners make? Again, that differs considerably as it depends on a lot of other factors. Twitch affiliates also have the opportunity to earn in-game products and game sales that originate from your channel. When you make it as a Twitch partner, you will get the benefits offered to Twitch affiliates and live chat privileges, emoticons and exclusive perks in addition.
Both Twitch Affiliates and Partners Can Earn Twitch Bits
Bits is the official donation system of Twitch and it is available only to Twitch affiliates and partners. But bits are not just as easy as getting money with just the push of a button. Bits are digital currencies that can be purchased from Twitch with real cash using Amazon payments. Streamers in Twitch earn special badges for using their bits. The more bits they use; the more badges they earn. A Twitch game streamer earns $1 for every 100 bits used during the stream.
Twitch Subscriptions
If you are looking for ways on how to make money playing games, Twitch subscriptions are a great way to earn a recurring income. Twitch subscriptions are loved by streamers. When a streamer buys a monthly subscription, the money the platform collects is divided between Twitch and the Twitch partner. Both affiliates and partners are eligible to earn revenue from subscriptions.
Video Ads
If have tried different ways on how to make money on YouTube gaming, you know one of the main revenue sources is video ads. Similarly, Twitch also allows streamers to earn through ads. Revenue earned from ads is one of the popular monetization tools available only to Twitch partners. Streamers can activate their commercial button and the viewers receive video ads. Twitch monitors the number of views for every ad and keep track of the numbers. Streamers are paid a fixed amount of money per 1000 views and it is referred to as cost per mile (CPM). CPM rates are not just on the quantity, quality outweighs the numbers. Generally, the CPM rate ranges between $1-$10.
Donations
Most new streamers are eager to learn how to get donations on Twitch. Once you sign up as a streamer on Twitch, you can immediately add a donation button in your channel that allows your users to send their contributions. Another way to accept donations is through PayPal. Accepting donations on Twitch is a common practice. Initially, donations might seem like a less relevant monetization option but imagine having millions of followers and all of them decide to donate a dollar every month. You can be a millionaire just from donations.
Affiliate Links
For people who ask can you make money off Twitch, affiliate links are the answer. Joining different affiliate programs is an excellent way to earn income. Yes, this is different from the Twitch affiliate program. Twitch streamers can sign in to any affiliate networks and thereby earn a percentage of money when your followers spend on the company’s products.
As Twitch is a product of amazon, it has added an affiliate marketing feature to Twitch. This feature allows you to showcase different products as a widget on their profile. When their followers click on the widget, they are redirected to the relevant Amazon sales page. If a streamer buys a product through the link, the broadcaster receives a share of the total sale revenue.
Selling Games and in Game Items
Twitch allows Twitch partners to sell games and in-game products from their profile and receive 5% of the total revenue. When you stream a game that Twitch sells or that has in-game products which you can sell, a sales box automatically appears on your profile.
If a follower clicks on the box and makes a purchase, you will receive the 5% share of it if you are a Twitch partner. This is an automatic process and doesn’t require an affiliate partner to do anything. The sales box automatically appears on the profile of streamers who play relevant games, but only Twitch partners would receive a share of the sale.
Selling Merchandise
Once you build a brand and becomes popular on Twitch, you can see your followers being willing to pay for your custom merchandise. At this stage, you can place a link on your Twitch profile that direct fans to your online store. You can use your online store to sell goodies like coffee mugs, T-shirts, books or other fanboy products for your followers to purchase.
Brands have now discovered how relevant Twitch is for gamers, and have found that it may be an excellent place to set up sponsorship deals. Obviously, gaming companies benefit from sponsoring the elite players of their game. If a company sells a product to “gamer-type people,” they will benefit from engaging in Twitch sponsorship. It is common to see sponsorship deals from companies that sell computer hardware, accessories, phones, websites, food, drinks, takeaways, fashion labels, and much more.
How Much Can You Actually Make on Twitch?
Do people make money on Twitch? Yes. But, how much? To be honest, there is no way to give accurate numbers. Even if you have just 300 subscribers and you get around 100 views, depending on how active your followers are how much money can you make streaming on Twitch varies.
Imagine many of your followers offer you gifts and donations, the money you make out of Twitch would be more. If you are someone who have already tried how to make money playing video games on YouTube, you know how important is to gain more subscribers to earn more money. However, Twitch offers you many different monetization ways other than number of views or subscriptions.
Most followed streamers on Twitch
Shroud
Shroud is one of the famous Twitch streamer, popular for his game performances like Call of Duty Black Ops 4. Shroud also streams videos of other games like Lord of the rings, Fortnite, Fallout 76, etc. and has over 6.7 million fans on Twitch. He streames for over 60 hours every week and has brand collaborations with many brands like HYPERX and Madrinas Coffee. Madrinas Coffee even has a product on his name- Shroud’s Insane Cappuccino.
TSM_Myth
With over 5 million subscribers in Twitch, 6.8 million followers on Instagram and 4.3 million followers on YouTube, TSM_Myth is another popular Twitch streamer renowned for his Fortnite game performances. He is a part of Team Solo Mid or TSM Premiere ESports team based in the US and has multiple brand partnership with brands like HTC, Logitech, and Geico.
Tfue
Tfue is yet another most watched Twitch streamer having over 6 million followers on Twitch and 11 million in YouTube. With just 236 videos, he owns one of the fastest-growing Twitch channels overall. He mostly plays Fortnite and streams 70 hours in Twitch every week.
Summit1g
Summit1g is another popular streamer with over 3.9 million followers who is famous for his videos on Call of Duty: Black Ops 4. He also plays other games like Counterstrike, Ring of Elysium and Fortnite for almost 60-70 hours every week. He collaborates with several brands like Audio-Technica, monster energy cyber PowerPC and Corsair.
Riot Games
Riot Games is another popular Twitch channel dedicated to League of Legends game performances. He has over 3 million followers and is a participator in tournaments at LoleSports.
Who’s Ninja, the “Trump” of the Streaming World?
Yes, we have kept the first for the last! Ninja a.k.a Tyler Blevins is a 27-year-old gamer who raised to fame when he live streamed himself playing the globally popular game Fortnite with rapper Drake. He not only trended on Twitch, he even made to BBC news. With over 22 million YouTube subscribers, Ninja is a star in both social media and Twitch where he is pulling over $560,000 per month just by streaming games. Ninja successfully made a name in the professional gaming industry by taking part in Halo competition. Later he left e-sports to pursue his streaming career and is currently having over 14 million fans on Twitch.
Does Fortnite, Model the Future?
The massive multiplayer online Fortnite Battle Royal has become a worldwide sensation since its launch. Released by epic games, the game is free for users on Xbox One, PC, PS4, and all apple devices. There is a popular paid-for version of it called Fortnite: Save the world too,
One of the main reasons it became popular is because it is free. Players don’t have to spend any money to battle against their friends. This makes the game more accessible than other multi-player title variants. Another reason is that the game is cross-platform meaning both PS4 and Xbox players can play against one another. The game is also less violent than other fighting titles making it interesting to both casual and professional video games. Equally appealing is that one of the players of Fortnite is the rapper drake who frequently live stream his online matches.
For both players and developers, Fortnite is special as players are willingly pouring out money into a game which is available for free. While the basic model of the game is a freemium one, it allows micro-transactions where players can purchase virtual goods with micropayments. It is not mandatory to follow Fortnite business model. It is true that different game has different expectations and the business model might
Twitch Streamers Reveal Their Number One Tips for a New Twitch Channel
Streaming games for a live audience has emerged as one of the ways to attain heights of popularity and make real money. You will be surprised to knowhow much money streamers make just by streaming games. If you take some of the popular Twitch streamers their dedication to what they do has convinced many to take up Twitch streaming as mainstream. However, it is not an easy career than most people would assume. Though your potential audience is quite enormous, so is the competition you have to face.
While there is no easy road to achieve it, yes there are some tips that will make you a popular streamer. Rather than beginning to create a channel without any knowledge about Twitch and game streaming, take it from the Twitch celebrities itself. Here are some of the tips by popular streamers if you are going to start a Twitch channel.
Futureman Gaming
Futureman Gaming stresses the importance of building a community but he also points out that it is not going to happen overnight. You have to work hard, learn from your mistakes and have fun to differentiate yourself so that you can grow a community.
Jeffrey Shih
Jeffrey Shih an American Hearthstone player says his number of tips for newbies is to simply stream.
Vinny from VineSauce
Vinny from VineSauce says never overreact to the audience. If you are a quiet person, let that aura follow. Always try to be charismatic and never sacrifice your personality. He also explains the significance of finding out fun themes to stream and edit some highlight videos to attract the audience.
Ari “TRIPLEWRECK” SMITH
Ari “TRIPLEWRECK” SMITH, one of the top destiny streamer suggest watching your own streams and make changes in the way it is appealing to the audience. He says if you won’t enjoy your stream, how could your viewers be enjoying it.
NICK28T
NICK28T, a FIFA ultimate team player has this advice for new streamers- Be consistent. Act like you have thousands of audience even if you just have 1 or 2.
Twitch Launches Creator Camp Channel to Help Its Users Become Better Streamers
Twitch launched a creator camp which is basically a website where streamers can get the useful information they need to grow and improve their streams. No matter you are a first-time streamer or streamer who want to try out new strategies, Twitch creator camp has something for you. It features some of the successful Twitch partners who will share tips and advises that will be helpful for your streaming journey. Creator camp also hosts live sessions with partners to dive deep into the subjects that matter the most to streamers.
Hosting a good game is not easy. Most of the streamers spend quite a lot of time searching for advice on effective tools and techniques to make their broadcast more engaging and to grow their community. However, Twitch creator camp makes things simpler by creating a centralized platform where you can access all relevant information to a streamers success and learn about how to make money on Twitch.
Twitch vs YouTube
If you want to know about how to make money playing video games on YouTube, there are a lot of other general things you must be aware of. First of all, Twitch is largely game focused whereas on YouTube it is not very easy for gamers to find their stream. If done through android smart devices or PS4, or your PC, YouTube finds the best stream resolution but if you chose to stream from the PC it needs an encoder. However, with Twitch, you can directly stream to the site from the Xbox One game console.
When it comes to earning money, with YouTube it all starts with ad revenue. Once you have over 10,000-lifetime views and youbecame a YouTube partner, you can start earning from ads. Another way to earn is through donations from subscribers and viewers through fan funding card option. Whereas making money on Twitch is possible through a partner program, ads and Twitch gives you the potential to earn much more than YouTube gaming.
Take Away
The most active streamers make a living through a combination of monetization technique like Bits, donations, paid subscriptions, and influencer marketing. As with any type of success in the social platform, making money on Twitch also takes a lot of hard work and patience.
If you are streaming games for money alone, you will struggle for the first few months. Your passion and interest in gaming are what will drive you to be patient and that is what will pay off in the end. Even if you have 30 views or 3000 views, people are choosing to watch you playing games. In the end, it is important to remember that you are still playing games. Whether it’s just a hobby or something you plan to take up as a career, streaming must be fun. The more you enjoy playing games, the more everyone will watch you and the more money you can earn.
YouTube is a powerful video-sharing platform and the most effective way to showcase your creation as it gives better exposure to your videos. There is no denying the fact. As a google affiliated with over a billion users, YouTube is the largest search engine, second to google. However, is it very helpful in making a profit by uploading your videos? When it comes to making a profit, YouTube lacks a lot of things. In this scenario, uploading your videos on Live streaming platform is a great idea to generate more revenue. Instead of uploading your videos on sites like YouTube, you have to take advantage of technology to establish a professional online presence. If you have a live video streaming platform on your own, you can upload your videos without any restrictions from third-party.
Video content providers, here is why you have to create your video on demand platform instead of uploading your video on YouTube for free.
Own Your Creative Work
Uploading your videos on YouTube will have restrictions on your creatives. What does a video on demand platform mean toStreaming Video Content providers? It must give the creator adequate freedom to decide how the videos must be showcased to users. On your own video platform, no one will remove your videos without letting you know.
You can also decide whether you want to sell video content online for free or for a price. A video on demand website of your own is just like a platform where you have full control of the feel, design, audio, and behavior completely. This is your place where you can invite your audience to create a brand identity by customizing things from header to footer.
Spread Your Influence
If you wonderhow to sell video content online, a video on demand platform is a website that allows your audience to buy your creations. You can also integrate your social media profiles on the website which enable you to spread your influence even further. You can take a step to further spread your influence through forums or your website blog. The video-on-demand platform serves as an opportunity to present your creations and people know about your brand even more in detail.
Offer Exclusive Content
If you are a good Video-on-demand content provider, never do it for free. Because you can actually make good revenue from it and offer exclusive content to entice your target audience. For example, if you are a video creator offering fitness content, you can post a preview video of your new workout series. On YouTube, it is possible to offer the initial session of your workout videos as a free demo.
Whereas, on your website, you can sell the entire workout series for a given price. You can also sync the content from your social media on your website. The best part? You can double the benefits by increasing your website reach and video views on your site and on theLive streaming platformas well. Once you have your content forever on your site, it helps in turning your casual visitors to a devoted audience.
Engage With Your Audience
Even the most popular YouTube celebrities have their own website to keep their audience updated. Use your website to engage your audience as the popular influencers do. On your website, you can interact with your audience by keeping them informed about your upcoming events, ticket sales, exciting discounts, tours, etc.
Grow Your Business Potential
A Live streaming platform is the best place to promote your business. Unlike YouTube, if you have your website, you can create newsletters. Through this, your community can receive the first look of your videos and they would always be updated and informed. Additionally, your video platform will help you grow an email subscription list of valuable contacts by adding the info of every user who signs up.
Leo Laporte has a YouTube channel and now he is a part of the Drupal-powered Twit.tv, an internet podcast network. When you have your own platform, the choices are endless and there are plenty of ways to promote yourself as a brand. No matter what your requirements are- An online portfolio, film trailer site or a production blog, you will have a place to direct your audience too.
How To Implement Video On Demand?
With on-demand platforms, the number of videos and the duration of videos allowed is unlimited. As bandwidth and viewing are unlimited, you don’t have to worry about the costs involved for bandwidth. While the reach of YouTube videos is quite broad considering its popularity, your own video on demand platform allows you to deliver videos to a global market along with a variety of other features. Beyond all, video on demand platforms can allow video content creators to set up their storefront in any language from the landing page to the billing page. It also allows subtitles and closed captioning in any language.
Designing Your Video-On-Demand Platform
Once you have the right foundation, you can start by designing your video-on-demand platform. Consider this as the user experience part of the whole process. You have to design and build all the parts of your website that your customers will come in contact with or see through your marketing strategies. You can add in features like images, layouts, logos and have to stick to the coding framework. Here are some essential features for designing your video-on-demand platform.
Video Focused Platform
When you design an on-demand platform to showcase your videos, the website has to be well equipped to focus on displaying and categorizing your videos.
Mobile Responsive
Your website has to be mobile friendly with responsive themes which adapts to smartphones and tablets.
Static Landing Pages
Create pages on your website for people to subscribe to your mailing list and purchase your products.
SEO Ready
Your website theme must also allow the pages to be SEO ready.
Conclusion
Video on demand is expanding from a marketing strategy and evolving into a business model. Popular video-on-demand platforms like YouTube has a built-in audience, but if you want to generate good income selling videos online, hosting your video on demand platform is the ideal way. Having a video platform facilitatesStreaming Video Content providersto keep the viewers informed about the new updates and additions, which is an excellent selling point. On-demand streaming platforms are not only evolving as a significant part of business models, but they are also actually the foundations of most businesses. It is a great way to create a solid user base while making a good ROI by sharing your video creations.
