In this digital world, the importance of integrating videos into your marketing techniques is only projected to rise. Innovative marketers are increasingly using videos and integrating these new ways to engage users to remain relevant and competitive in the industry. In the past decade, there has been a rapid shift from text and visual content to more engaging video content. Businesses who are slow to adapt to their transformation might find themselves dealing with underperforming sites and marketing campaigns. A visitor tends to spend 88% more time on a site with videos than they do with any other type of content.
Businesses can use videos for landing pages, YouTube, emails, training purposes, landing pages, and a lot more. Videos also help brands to introduce themselves to potential customers and build lasting relationships with existing customers and earn new customers.
Live Streaming and VOD
Video streaming is quickly gaining momentum these days with more online audiences embracing streaming like never before especially during the time of COVID-19 pandemic. According to Statista, the Coronavirus outbreak has led to increased digital media consumption in many countries across the globe ac
While most businesses understand the power of videos for promoting their brand and growing their business, they find it challenging to choose the right type of video content for various scenarios. For example, video on demand and live streaming are the two main types of video content which comes with its own advantages and disadvantages.
In recent years there has been a rise in popularity and usage of live streaming apps like Facebook Live, Periscope, Instagram Live, etc. Likewise, video streaming services like Netflix, HBO Now, Disney Plus are gaining momentum as well among viewers who prefer viewing on demand videos. Live streaming probably is an easy way to introduce your brand to the online world. It is a great short-term option that will help you get online and start making money. But considering the longevity of your business, you must consider video on demand (VOD).
According to the type of your business and the demographics of your customers and their preference, any of these content types can be chosen. But, how to choose between VOD vs live streaming. Let’s find out. Once you finish reading this blog, you will have a clear idea about the two and so that you can make a decision fast.
What are on-demand videos?
Video on demand is a way of accessing content from online libraries according to the convenience of users, anywhere, anytime, and on any devices. When traditional broadcast services force users to view content on their schedule, video on demand platformsallow users to access videos at their time.
VOD offers a wide selection of online videos including entertainment, sports, educational programs, movies, TV shows, and feature films. VOD services allow customers to stream content through computers, laptops, smartphones, tablets, smart TV, etc. delivered over the internet.
VOD streaming is not just confined to watching movies and shows on Netflix. You can create on demand videos in any niche like entertainment, sports, religion, education, etc. according to the interest of your audience.
Let’s look into the benefits of video on demand content.
Convenience of access
It is for no reason that video streaming services like Disney+, Netflix, Hulu, and HBO now are gaining popularity among the audience. These video streaming services allow people to view content whenever they like, unlike traditional TV networks. Traditional broadcast services allow people to watch programs on their schedule, whereas the VOD platform allows viewers to watch programs in their own time according to their convenience and choice.
Fewer mistakes
Video on demand content is pre-produced and edited making adequate room for improvements. As making on demand videos take more time in producing and improvising the content, it leads to fewer mistakes as well. VOD allows content creators to improve the videos to a greater degree for delivering a better viewing experience to the audience.
Content varieties to select from
VOD content can be edited to be personalized according to the unique needs of your business before distributing the content. There is always a big space for customizations so that you can bring much-desired variety to your content. You can craft your videos in a way it can go viral than live broadcasts. VOD content is easier to implement if you want to provide the best video quality to your viewers provided that you have a lot of time to create and edit videos.
Ability to leverage editing tools
As on demand videos are pre-made, you can use different editing tools to create and make your videos appealing. You can use creative tools to implement your creative ideas and bring them into life with your videos, which cannot be used in live streaming.
Live Streaming
Live streaming or broadcasting your videos live is a modern streaming technology that lets you create, watch, and share live videos as it is shot. Considering the fact that the live streaming industry is projected to hit $70.05 billion by 2021, live videos are growing popular every year with a huge user base that enjoys and supports live streaming.
Unlike VOD content that is pre-produced and edited, live streaming is live, authentic, and unedited. You just need a smartphone and a stable internet connection, and a live streaming platform or an application to broadcast live from. Let’s explore some of the benefits of live broadcasts.
Simple to produce
When compared with VOD content, live videos are much easier to produce and fits into your budget as well. While you might just need a free social media platform to stream from, you might need a more professional setup including a live streaming software to broadcast your live videos with the best quality.
Takes less time to produce
Considering the time to produce a different type of content like blogs, and VOD content, live videos take quite less time to produce. While the time varies when it comes to traditional video production, it might take a couple of hours to create and edit even the simplest vlog. However, if you create live broadcasts that are 5 minutes long, it just takes 5 minutes.
Real time experience
Online audiences want to become a part of brand stories as they happen. This is why live streaming services for businesses are becoming a sensation today. Nothing is better than seeing your favorite brand showcase something right at the moment. Unlike years before, you can easily become part of your customer’s life instantly with live streaming.
Direct engagement
Live streaming helps to establish a direct and personal connection with brands and the audience. Through live chat and other engagement tools integrated into live streaming platforms, there is a huge possibility of direct engagement with customers is much more direct and personal than VOD.
It’s cheap
If you think about the cost of creating live videos, it is incredibly cheap. In fact, if you are planning to do on a small scale using free social media platforms it’s completely free. Even if you want to do it in a sophisticated professional setup, the cost is quite low making it an affordable option.
When to use video on demand and live streaming
Now that you know about live streaming and streaming video on demand, it’s time to find which is the best option that will help you take your business online to grow your business and generate revenue. VOD makes an effective online asset for your business to deliver more value to your audience for a longer time frame than a live streaming. Whereas, live streaming is an easy way to reach and connect with your audience due to its raw and instantly engaging nature.
Let’s find out when is the best time to use VOD and when you must use live streaming and the advantages of using it together.
When to use VOD
Launching a VOD service works great when you want to provide your target viewers with the convenience of choosing when to watch your content. People use VOD services pretty much every day for various purposes. One of the biggest advantages of streaming video on demand content is that you can produce videos in large batches and create a video library with the content your audience would love. If you want to use VOD to power your marketing activities, you can consider creating VOD service in any niche of your choice.
Corporate training is a good example of when VOD might be a better choice to adopt. You can also use VOD when you are running a business like an online fitness class, or running an online teaching business, or looking for streaming church services, or simply you want your audience to access your pre-made videos.
For example, Fiit is a fitness VOD platform which brings you high quality fitness experiences, regardless of where you are.
With easy integration and security, you can create a video on demand platform that offers the best quality video streams for all types of enterprise solutions.
When to use live streaming
Now that you know the difference between VOD streaming and live streaming and when to use VOD, let’s see when you must use live streaming for your business advantage. Live streaming suits scenarios when you have to establish a personal and authentic connection with your viewers in real-time. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, people would rarely watch a live video again as the second time is not as exciting as the first time. However, the Coronavirus pandemic has changed how people consume live streams.
Online viewers enjoy watching live streams live and again to kill time. Moreover, as most businesses have shut down their services, most of them are shifting their business operations and activities online. As the setup is easy and cheap, more businesses are adapting live broadcasting.
Live streaming or VOD: Deciding factors
Video on demand services set the basics for video streaming for any business, whereas live streaming solutions help to enhance the viewing experience and engagement considerably. Most successful streaming businesses leverage both live streaming and VOD to power their business operations. Use both to create extra layers of value for your business.
An ideal online video streaming business makes use of both types of content. This is how you can utilize both live streaming and video on demand.
Use live streaming to create a premium viewing experience.
Build a foundation of the video library with VOD content.
When your live broadcast ends, you can save the content to repurpose it later and use it for on demand streaming. However, make sure you choose the right type of live streams that have long-term value like interviews with important personalities, Q&A videos, product information, etc. that can be repurposed for future viewing.
Using a combination of both will help you to create a reliable core offering to grow your business, and emotionally connect with your customers for better customer experience and engagement.
Conclusion
Live streaming is the best way to take your business online and reach out to a global target audience for better connectivity and engagement. Whereas, streaming video on demand holds equal significance if you want to ensure better performance of your marketing efforts and build a long term asset which you can count on.
While both live streaming and VOD comes with its own advantages, the best option is to use a combination of both live and on demand streaming for your streaming business that excites your customers, generates more money, and will help you grow your business through the challenges that come on your way. Both live streaming and VOD can be great ways to support your video streaming strategy, it just depends on who your audience is and what you are using your videos for. Regardless of the type of streaming type you choose, the content you create must always be exciting and niche relevant.
Deciding between VOD vs live streamingrequires a detailed analytics of your businesses and its unique requirements. Get in touch with us to know what suits your business the best and how to proceed with business idea execution. We have the expertise of helping businesses to realize their requirements and offering the right video streaming solution that suits them the best.
Communicating and collaborating with people has become much simpler today with the popularity of modern technology and social media. Live streaming is quickly gaining momentum and that is why visionary businesses are creating live streaming platforms and these businesses have high chances to succeed with the right planning and approach. It has never been easier for streamers to stream the live content of their choice and generate revenue.
Thousands of streamers are flocking to social media platforms and exclusive live streaming platforms like Twitch for the same. While these live streaming platforms offer immense opportunity to grow their brand and make money, changing payment structures and less stable income makes it difficult to reap success. Well, whether you are a business or live streamer looking to create your personal brand, it is time to get ahead of the curve and create an exclusive live streaming website.
With thelive streaming industry expected to hit $70.5 billion by 2021, there is no wonder that more businesses are looking for effective ways of building a streaming platform. So the question arises- how to make a live streaming website. In this blog, we will discuss the importance of creating a live streaming website, must-have features, business model, cost to create your own live streaming website, and a lot more.
Powerful advantages of live streaming
Live streaming is quickly gaining momentum among people who are always looking for brand new and innovative ways of delivering content.Social media platforms are the key source of live video content and live streaming is becoming a daily activity that facilitates social interaction. The number of viewership accessing live streaming is set to grow further and is changing consumer behavior to a great extent.
When it comes to the type of content live-streamed, here are the common types of content that are broadcasted live.
Currently, more brands are experimenting with live videos and the advantages that it offers is not just for businesses, but for users as well. Let’s quickly discuss the real power of live streaming and its effectiveness.
Viewers consume live content on your time
One of the biggest benefits of live broadcasts is that your viewers consume the live streams on your time as opposed to when it is convenient for them. This implies that you are engaging with the audience who care about your brand and find your content extremely helpful. This helps to automatically target people who are more likely to follow you further or convert.
Reach highly targeted niches
As we said just now, as users consume live content on your time, it is a deliberate choice that they make. It takes more commitment from your viewers as they must tune in at the time you decide regardless of whether it is convenient for them or not. Hence, this interest and dedication applies an automatic filter that opts out random audiences away.
Requires less production time
Live streaming takes less production time when compared with any other form of content like on demand videos, podcasts, or even blogs. While it might take hours to write a blog post and a lot more than that to create on demand videos, live streaming takes very little time to produce interactive and engaging content. If you want to produce a 5-minute live stream, it just takes 5 minutes and that’s it.
Better user engagement, that too in real-time
One of the primary reasons why live streaming is continuously making waves in content marketing is due to its capability to provide real-time user engagement. The real-time nature and the engagement factor makes live streaming interactive and a great way for you to engage in direct conversation with your users.
It’s cheap
Considering the costs to produce live streams, it is quite cheap compared to on demand videos. If you are doing it in a small set up, you just need a smartphone with a good camera and an internet connection, and an active account with a chosen live streaming platform to stream your content live. Whereas, if you need more of a sophisticated set up to produce professional-styled videos, you might need a few more additional equipment.
Analytics tracking
It is important to be able to track live streaming in terms of viewership and behavior of your users. Most professional live streaming services come with analytics dashboards and tracking tools to help you evaluate the outcome of your live videos. This data will help you identify more clearly who your audience really is. Assessing the performance of your broadcasts will help you refine your overall content and strategy.
Video monetization
Another advantage of live streaming is that; it is a great way to make money. One way is to charge your users to watch your live videos just like they would pay for a live show ticket. If you are building a streaming platform, you will have more control over choosing the monetization strategy that works for you and your goals. Whether you are a business looking to promote their brand or improvise marketing efforts or an independent streamer interested in making some extra money by cashing in on their hobby, monetizing live streaming is an excellent idea.
Repurpose your content
Live streams can be easily repurposed to other forms of content one the broadcast ends. Once transformed it can be published as on demand videos and uploaded to video streaming platforms like YouTube, the choices are actually limitless. Hence, it is always recommended to repurpose live content to broaden the reach of your message even long after your live broadcast ends.
Why you need to create a live streaming website in 2020
Facebook Live, YouTube Live, Periscope, Instagram Live, Periscope- there is no shortage of live streaming websites to select from, but they all share a common problem. They come with a lot of restrictions for users. When you make a live streaming website of your own, you gain control over the experience and the audience.
Having your own live streaming platform allows you to:
Build an interactive community of users
Secure the long term future of your brand
Keep the revenue generated with yourself
Having your own live streaming platform stops you from being at the mercy of some third-party platform and allows you to take complete control over the activities you do.
Building a live streaming platform- Must-Have Features to build a live streaming website
How to make a live streaming platform that is appealing and functional at the same time? The platform must have a lot of features to make the users satisfied and engaged.
When it comes to must-have features of a live streaming website, there are mainly 2 types- Basic and advanced. Basic features are the essential features that must satisfy the expectations of users from the site. It is common to release basic features and get the user’s feedback after which you can upgrade your website and go forward with adding advanced features. The web functionality and the features you add to your live streaming website affect the final cost.
Let’s look into some of the must-have features to build a live streaming website.
Signup/SignIn
Signing in up via email id, the phone number is a must-have feature for all live streaming platforms. Once registered, users must be able to login and create user profiles. To make it more convenient for your users, integrate social login sign-ups, too.
Search
A search is another essential feature that will help users filter and find relevant content. Integrate a content recommendation algorithm that will offer recommendations based on user interests and previously viewed videos.
Seamless Live streaming
Integrate functionality of seamless live streaming without buffering for a great viewing experience.
Peer to Peer Comment/ Real-time Chat System
The feature helps your uses to chat with each which helps to increase your brand value.
Multi-screen compatibility
Ensure your live streaming platform is compatible with various digital devices of different screen sizes.
Follow users
After creating an account, users can create user-profiles and follow each other. When the users you follow attend a live session, you will be notified about the same.
Settings
Integrate the functionality of modifying settings for users to make your live streaming website more user friendly. For example, users can set the account to public or private, turn message alerts, block users, etc.
Security
When you want to make a live streaming website, security is one of the most important aspects you need to consider. Integrate multiple security strategies to make sure you protect the videos in your platform and the payment information of your users.
Dynamic Admin Panel
An efficient admin dash is necessary to manage users effectively. Admin panel makes editing videos, moderating, and deleting content, banning users, etc. easy.
Analytics
Analytics is an essential feature that must be an integral part of the streaming platform. With the right analytics tools, you can understand the user behavior and the performance of your live videos based on the information you get.
Payment Gateways
Integrate secure payment gateways to make payments to access your live streaming. You can integrate payment gateways like Stripe, PayPal, or Braintree.
Notifications
Push notifications can be used to alert your users about the new video releases, discounts on membership, live stream reminders, and other important information.
Native Apps
Develop scalable live streaming apps, both iOS, and Android that meet the tech and business requirements.
How To Create A Live Streaming Website
If you are planning on how to start a live streaming business, the first thing you need is a full-fledged streaming platform to power your offerings. To put your own live streams and attract other streaming in the industry to broadcast on your platform, you must build a live streaming site around a specific niche. It can be a personal platform for your personal brand or a platform for other streamers as well.
Using ready-made scripts that are easily available in the industry to create your live streaming platform is the best development approach. Ready-made solutions allow you to customize the script to integrate unique features and functionalities to your live streaming platform according to your needs in simple steps and affordable cost.
How does a live streaming video website make money?
Live streaming is not only streaming videos live and inviting other people to watch you, it is a great revenue stream to make money. How to create a live streaming site that is lucrative and brings in a significant amount of revenue? The money you can make from your live streaming website depends on the monetization techniques you adopt. In addition to the business models of your streaming platform, your live streaming platform must have good content as well.
Here are some of the monetization strategies you can implement when building a live streaming platform.
Subscriptions
Most live streaming websites make money through subscriptions. The subscription monetization model works in a way where your viewers can access your live streams by making quarterly, monthly, or yearly payments. You can combine a subscription business model with a free model where some live streams are offered to viewers for free but they need to pay to access exclusive content unlimitedly.
Pay-per-view
Pay-per-view or transactional revenue model is where your viewers have to pay for individual videos they want to watch.
Revenue from ads
Advertising revenue is a great way to fund your live videos. You can integrate ads to your live streaming platform to start earning the advertising money. To get the best results, you need to exercise more control so that you don’t go overboard with advertisements during your streaming, annoying your customers. It is not the best idea to place ads as the sole monetization option for live streaming especially when you are starting out.
Brand deals and sponsorships
Brand deals and sponsorships are another great way you can engage with other brands in a mutually beneficial arrangement where you can generate revenue as well. If you have a large following on your live streaming platform and you have established a brand name for yourself, brands will come in search of you with offers. You don’t have to wait for people to approach, you can reach out to them as well.
Some of the ways you can make money through brand deals and sponsorships are:
Sponsorships– Where your entire live streams are sponsored by a particular brand.
Banner ads– You can display advertisements during your streams on your live streaming platform.
Sponsored content– You get paid by sponsors when you live stream their content.
However, when you choose the sponsorships, make sure it directly resonates with the interests of your audience. If your audience doesn’t like your content and if you lose them, you will lose the sponsors as well. When selecting the live streaming provider to partner with, ensure they offer support for the monetization strategies you want to implement.
Join an affiliate program
Affiliate programs have become a standard component of most online businesses. Affiliate marketing is when you promote products and make money as an affiliate. It works this way- You place the affiliate link in your live streams and whenever a viewer of yours purchases from the link, you get a share of the revenue. Instead of posting links, you can integrate a coupon code that your viewers can use when they shop from the brands you are promoting.
Cost to create your own live streaming website
Now, it is time to consider the most important aspect, what would be the cost of creating a live streaming site or how to start a live streaming business cost-effectively. As we have already seen, building a live streaming site using a clone script is an affordable and cost-efficient approach. Choose a live streaming provider with a blend of expertise and proficiency to customize services according to your requirements.
Besides software charges, here are some of the costs you have to bear when looking for how to create a live streaming website.
Domain name
When building a live streaming platform, you need a unique domain name for your live streaming site. Having a simple and relevant domain name makes it easy for your users to find you. You can buy your domain name from sites likeGoDaddy and the price would come around $10-$30 annually.
SSL
When looking for how to start a live streaming website, one of the most important aspects you need to consider is the security of your website. You need tosecure your live streaming site with an SSL certificate to show your visitors your site is authentic and trustworthy. You can purchase SSL certificates from Go daddy or from Wildcard which would come around $50-$75 annually.
Hosting server
To host your live streams, you need the service of a reliable hosting service provider. Consider reputed cloud solutions like Digital Ocean that would cost somewhere around $20 per month.
App Developer Account (Play Store and App store cost)
Along with your live streaming website, you also have to launch mobile applications. To submit your live streaming app to the Apple store and Google play store, you need to create app developer accounts that come for a price. The price ofcreating an account for the Apple store comes around $99 annually and the Google Play store is $25 which is a one-time fee.
How StreamHash can help you create a live streaming website
StreamNow from StreamHash is the live streaming software with which you can create a live streaming website of your own. It is a fully responsive one-stop solution that includes all the features and functionalities that servers as a UStream or Twitch clone. The flawless live streaming software comes with both advanced and unique features for fastest and bufferless live streaming. It comes with features like social login sign-ups, seamless live streaming, real-time chat system, monetization, payment gateway integrations, profile settings, admin panel, push notifications, native apps, and other features.
Here are some of the reasons why StreamHash makes a great live streaming provider for your business.
Customization to any degree
If you want to create your own live streaming websitewith the basic and advanced features customized according to your unique business requirements and goals, there is no other better solution than StreamNow from StreamHash. StreamHash offers complete customization over the features you need in your live streaming platform.
Valid expertise
With adequate expertise in the video streaming industry and reputed client base, StreamHash has the experience to create professionally styled live streaming websites in different niches including entertainment, fitness, online teaching, religion, and astrology.
Affordable solution
If you wonder how to createmy own live streaming website on a budget, StreamNow makes an excellent cost-effective live streaming solution. The price varies from $499 to $999 for a deluxe and premium version respectively which is quite cost-efficient when compared to the total cost to develop your live streaming platform from scratch.
Great customer support
StreamHash offers your excellent technical support and assistance both during the initial consultation time and once the product is delivered to you. Our expert team will be at your service to assist you with the customizations and the guidance you require even after the product delivery.
Conclusion
Live streaming is quickly gaining momentum and becoming more popular year by year, and so is the live streaming website. Live broadcasting is expanding into every industry like entertainment, education, online retail, religion, sports, and a lot more. With the immense popularity the technology enjoys, the number of entrepreneurs looking for how to start a live streaming business is increasing as well.
However, creating a live streaming platform requires an excellent business vision, a well-prepared business plan, and advanced technology to offer a highly live streaming experience to your viewers. If you need expert assistance and guidance on creating a live streaming website, do not hesitate, get in touch with us. We are here to guide you through the entire process of creating a professional and functional live streaming website to power your business.
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.
The wide acceptance and global adoption of live streaming have introduced huge opportunities for businesses that have given rise to various trends. The live streaming industry is booming constantly at a high pace and emerging as a highly sought- after technology and a big trend that is going to take off video content business after video marketing. It started a couple of years back when engagement was the most important aspect of a business goal. The growth of live streaming is incredible and that is why the entire world is moving live.
People love it when they experience live videos that are engaging as compared to the pre-recorded videos. Live videos offer a lot of engagement, interactive elements, and versatile content ideas. This, in turn, will help to gain more reach and increase the conversion rates. Almost all popular businesses have started using social media platforms like Instagram Live, Facebook Live, Periscope, YouTube Live to promote their brands. All these live streaming platforms offer a unique user experience according to the content type and business requirements.
What Will be the Future of Live Streaming?
Live streaming, in fact, is a big industry and highly influential and useful for businesses. Statistics show that live video is more appealing to brand audience to an extent that 80% of them prefer to watch live videos from a brand than reading blogs. Audiences like to watch live videos from their favorite brands as they can directly interact with the business. Statistics show that a typical online user spends 3 times longer watching live videos compared to normal videos. Hence it comes as no surprise that many brands and marketers are adhering to current live streaming trends to increase their brand awareness and to claim success.
Here are some of the recent live streaming trends 2020 prevailing in the industry.
Social Media is Driving Live Streaming Adoption
The increasing popularity of social media networks is driving live video adoption by businesses. We mostly see that live videos are breaking viewership records. Live video applications like Periscope, Facebook Live, IGTV, etc. have skyrocketed in popularity especially among young audiences. Social media live streaming gathers the audience together for a common purpose. From the launch of a new product to an inside look at your company’s work culture, live streaming gives your brand immense opportunities to build a strong community.
Broadcasting live on social media can bolster anticipation amongst your audience. Additionally, social media channels offer plenty of features to reach the live streaming announcements right on the feed of your customers.
360-Degree Videos Will Pick Up the Steam
A 360-degree video is captured with a camera with a lens on both sides to shoot everything around it.360-degree videos will be the new trend in live streaming as a full-on view makes videos completely immersive. Viewers can see everything within the range of cameras whereas the traditional video is limited to wherever the camera is pointing. Along with 360-degree videos, augmented reality and virtual reality also will gain momentum.
This current video trend provides a fully interactive experience where the audience can immerse themselves in a new viewing experience, which is a huge marketing opportunity for any brand. Keeping up with this trend can be a smart way to highlight how your company is favoring new technologies and innovations. Even though 360-degree video craze is still in its infant stage, adopting the trend before anyone else will give you a jumpstart amongst the competition. Additionally, virtual reality powered 360-degree live videos is great in allowing viewers to experience a whole new digital world by putting at the center of your live sessions. So instead of simply watching the video on their screen your viewers will be placed inside an incredible virtual world and become a major part of it.
More Industries are Adopting Live Videos
With live videos being extremely easy to access, many industries are adopting live streaming to power their internal and external environments. Enterprises, governments, education institutions, healthcare providers, and other organizations are all live streaming for a variety of reasons. Ranging from patient care in holding real-time training sessions to an offshore panel of doctors guiding surgical treatments, live streaming technology is gaining momentum in the healthcare industry and enabling patients to have direct communication with healthcare professionals. When you take the educational industry many education organizations have already started using live class strategy to stream lessons.
Live streaming has much to contribute to different industries to bring both brands and customers closer. You can also leverage live streaming to enhance the internal business collaboration of any organization through live meetings. Short live discussions, remote employee training, and communication will bring ample engagement of business with employees and clients. Through ideal live streaming strategies, businesses can amplify their marketing efforts, create more authentic interaction with the audience, and drive sales.
Live Video Experiences Will be Automated
Like now, both artificial intelligence and machine learning will continue to shape the live streaming trends 2020. They hold the key to offer outstanding outcomes when it comes to managing content production and distribution, streamlining encoding workflows, and personalizing the viewing experience. AI will help to create, organize, and distribute content to an audience with less human intervention. AI will detect certain cues in the videos like face and speech recognition, lighting changes, etc. to automate live video production including recording and switching overlays.
8K Videos will Gain Momentum
It has not been very long since 4K has entered the market but audio and visual companies are not carting out 8K computers, TV panels, and cameras. In the coming years, 8K will enter the mainstream but the true adoption of 8K is not very near. As 8K cameras are yet to become affordable, it will take some time for 8K live videos to become the norm. However, considering its current growth rate, in a matter of a few years 8K live videos will become a standard for live streaming. With 5G speeds delivering 8k content to devices, broadcasting top-quality videos will be easier than ever. You will be able to view the power of8K streaming at the 2020 Olympics in Japan where 8k screens around the world will be streaming the event in the highest quality available today.
Influencer Marketing
Influencer marketing has laid new inroads in both online marketing and live streaming. The increasing popularity of influencer marketing has given brands a new way to meet the growing demand for offering exceptional customer experience to their audience.
For example, Mashable collaborated with America’s Test kitchen to live stream a cooking show on periscope which increased the exposure and reach.
As influencer marketing thrives on interactive content, live streaming will indeed become a powerful weapon for influencer marketers to reach their loyal audience in real-time on the spot with engaging content. Allowing a popular influencer to take over the live stream for brands is a great way to promote an event, a new product, or to each a group of the target audience in particular. Influencer marketing paired with live streaming can be a valuable resource to create content for promotions and ads. Leveraging affiliate marketing is also a great option for businesses that are new to influencer marketing.
Live Streaming is an Integral Part of any Marketing Strategy
Live streaming is reinventing the way brands plan their marketing strategy. Live videos have already proven to be an essential marketing tool that helps brands engage better with their audience. Today we see brands heavily investing in live streaming set up and content delivery networks to ensure a smooth lime streaming experience to the audience. With its element of authentic real-time human interaction, live streaming helps brands to emerge more approachable and transparent. 95% of businesses consider live videos to be a significant addition to their marketing mix for 2020.
Proven Ways to Use Live Streaming to Build Your Brand
Since 2016, we have been seeing a lot of brands joining the live streaming bandwagon as Instagram unleashed live video, snapchat gained steam, and Facebook introduced video ads. Live streaming has become one of the best ways to forge an authentic and personal connection with customers in real-time. Brands are using live streaming to build and establish a strong presence in the industry and to reach audiences like never before.
If you are a business looking to build a large and better presence, there is no other tool effective than live streaming. Given that 72% of customers engage with personalized marketing messages, you must strongly consider integrating live streaming into your business strategy.
Regardless of whether you are new to live streaming or a seasoned pro, there are some tips that will help you to broadcast successful live streams. Here’s how you can use live videos to build and grow your brand.
Make your Live Broadcasts Personal
When it comes to presenting information on your live videos, there are a lot of ways to do it. You can either narrate things in “first-person” or personalize it in a way that you directly interact with your viewers by addressing them and talking to them. This helps in building a personal relationship with your audience and works great in building your personal brand. Every time you broadcast live, make sure you address viewers by their user name, make eye contact with the audience as if you are speaking to them directly.
Don’t Script it but Prepare a Plan
If you are not used to the idea of live streaming, you might need a little help before broadcasting live. Plan your live videos but don’t make the mistake of trying to script your videos because reading from a script ruins authenticity. It is okay to be prepared and plan but ensure that the video feels natural and real. Reading from a written script creates an off-camera glance and leads to unnatural delivery. To be on the safer side, prepare yourself with a list of main points to guide your content delivery. Recall the written points and practice a few times before you go live.
Go for a Professional Live Streaming Setup
There are plenty of options to broadcast live videos, you can even go live with a quality smartphone. But, if you are a business using live streaming as a marketing tool, it is very important to go for a professional setup. Focus on the video and audio quality and to achieve a good set up, invest on a good camera and microphone. Use a good live streaming solution as well to ensure that there are no delays or lag in your streams. Always do a test live to check the camera, sample the sound and make sure the setup works before you go live.
Diversify your Content
Even though your goal to leverage live streaming is to build your personal brand, you don’t have to rely only on one content strategy. When it comes to content for live videos, you can choose to do product launch coverage, Q & A sessions, interviews, create webinars, show behind the stage, quick live tutorials, etc. For example, when Birchbox collaborated with Benefit cosmetics to showcase its new product BADgal mascara, it bagged in more views and engagement.
Likewise, you can use live videos to broadcast about your new product launch or to explain the working of a product or a service.
Build Your Audience to Promote Your Videos
When you start with live streaming, you might not see much traffic in the initial days. This is why it is important to build a community early on. Once you build your audience, you can promote your live streams through social channels to drive in traffic and increase engagement for your videos. Most importantly, make sure to actively engage the people joining your live videos. This keeps the engagement up, spreads the visibility of your videos and encourages sharing.
Maintain Authenticity
When broadcasting live, make sure you don’t go over the top to drive a point just for the sake of gaining views. You don’t want to grow your brand in a direction that doesn’t reflect the true personality of your business. When you try to portray something that doesn’t match with your brand personality, that will have a negative effect.
Maintain an Entertaining Tone
Although you are a business broadcasting live, it doesn’t mean that you have to maintain a formal tone. By its very nature, live videos are engaging, and hence it is very important to maintain an entertaining tone throughout your live sessions. The content you share will be more memorable when its entertaining and encourages viewers to share what they have watched. You can also add a humorous touch to your videos but with a purpose. The right type of humor, when used at the right time, can keep viewers entertained and will help to improve your brand.
For example, Best Friends paired with Laura Clery to promote the release of their app and Laura infused her live videos with her characteristic humor which turned out to be a huge hit.
Broadcast Live Consistently
With live streaming, it is important to create a schedule and stick to it if you want to build your brand. The more often your stream live videos, the easier it gets, and often your viewers will remember you. This will also ultimately help to improve the quality of the videos you share. Sticking on to a schedule will help your audience to visit your channel to expect regular videos.
Conclusion
Live streaming is one of the fastest-growing marketing tools out there as it is incredibly easy to set up and doesn’t require a lot of investment but it can do wonders for your business growth. When you facilitate a personal interaction with your viewers, you are creating an authentic connection with your target market.
The future of live streaming video is quite bright. By 2021, videos will account for over 82% of the whole internet traffic and live videos will make up 13% of it. For channeling effective business growth along with live streaming trends, brands must ensure to avail the technology in the most efficient way to increase profitably.
What happens when the members of your church cannot make it for a service but still want to attend the service? Thanks to technology that allows church members to tune in to church services online with live streaming. Church live streaming is transforming the way congregations practice their faith. Live streaming is an excellent way to connect your worship community across the globe and hear the same message wherever they may be.
What is Live streaming
You probably would be familiar with live streaming, in simple terms, live streaming refers to broadcasting an event in real-time online. So why churches must adopt live streaming? As we already said, there is a limit to how many people can physically attend a service but that finite number can be multiplied exponentially through live streaming.
Even though your church will be attended just by thousands, it will be viewed by millions. It might sound extreme, but such is the power of live streaming, it ensures your sermon reaches millions across the globe.
Why Your Church Must Live Stream?
In 2016 over 166,700 church services were broadcasted live across 59 countries. As we head to 2020, more and more congregations will join the trend and leverage live streaming to grow their reach worldwide. Observing that their community is spending more time online, churches across the world have started to take advantage of the high tech era by live streaming their services to meet the viewers where they are.
The outreach potential of live streaming is pretty great. While your church members may not find it difficult to attend the church, not everyone will be able to make it. Many people are restricted by location or some reasons. Live streaming efficiently allows reaching people you have never reached before.
Not just people who are willing, you can also reach seekers and their family that has never known god. Church live streaming allows people to join your community in real-time. Watching a church service online is a convenient option for many including old people, sick ones, and a lot of other categories of people. The best thing about live streaming is members can participate even when they cannot attend the church physically.
Strengthen the Church Community
Social media at its very foundation is meant to encourage and establish connections and communication with people. Being a powerful tool to build and connect community church leaders who are serious about strengthening roots within the community prioritize live streaming to spread the message worldwide.
Greater Engagement for Church Members
Watching a church live streaming leads to greater engagements because viewers will be able to clearly see and hear the sermon. Moreover, it is interactive, a live stream on the church’s page gives member’s opportunity to play an active role by asking questions and commenting. Church members who are traveling can tune into the broach and be a part of the community.
Potential Church Visitors Can Discover You
Church live streaming turns every sermon into an opportunity for potential church visitors to discover your church online when someone in your community considers attending your church, your website is going to be their first stop. Live streaming g your church services allows new people to tune in and experience your workshop and listen to your messages. This helps them to know what to expect when they show up in your church. Live streaming helps to increase exposure to your church messages both for people who are intentionally looking for your church and those who stumble on your service online.
Opens Channel for Collections, Donations, and Giving
These days’ online transactions are preferred methods for making and receiving payment. Churches’ can request encouraging viewers to make a donation or contribution to the collection. It is also possible to offer live stream content for online subscriptions. It is much easier to give when they are on your church website.
Connect with the Youth
Besides the committed churchgoers, church live streaming helps to reach people from outside the church community. There are many people who search for churches online that can make them feel a part of communities. It is also a great way to connect with the youth and help them feel connected and supported.
Social media is also a great way to promote your church services and activities. You can embed your live streams directly on Facebook and your website as well. It is the best way to get in touch with younger people and an increasing number of elders who are on social platforms as well.
Share Important Events
Every church, a church hosts lots of important events and moments like holiday concerts, weddings, Easter services, thanksgiving, Christmas celebrations, bible studies, and more. Sometimes, the people who want to be there just can’t make it. Being able to watch the event live allows your church members to share those important moments with the church family despite their physical distance. Your church plays a big role in the lives of your members and live streaming helps them share that with the people they love.
An Excellent Way for Multi-Campus Churches to Thrive
If you have a multi-campus church, church live streaming allows all your campuses to benefit from the same service. This is a great way to share valuable resources ensuring that your limited staff and team members are making the biggest impact possible. If you have enough staff, live streaming is not a necessary element, you might just want to share the sermon across campuses. But, the benefits of live church broadcasts for multi-campus churches with limited resources can be great.
Church Live Streaming Basics
Before you start church live streaming, it is important to think where live streaming is right for your church, how to do it and the costs involved. While the cost varies greatly depending on many factors, it doesn’t cost much to get started.
Something that people never talk about is how church leaders, band members, choir members, and church members, in general, feel about having themselves streamed online.
It is also important to discuss this with everyone to ensure that live streaming suits you.
Your church must invest in live streaming only if
You want to expand your church to reach worldwide
Church members find it beneficial
It doesn’t strain your church budget
It helps you reach specific church goals
While some churches see an increase in reach and online giving after implementing live streaming, every church can’t expect the same results. In fact, a brand new church might find it more beneficial to simply upload sermons on their website to build a following before starting with live streaming. The key to success with live streaming is setting goals and knowing how to measure the results to see if live streaming is effective and if not, how to improve it.
Setting your Expectations and Goals
Before you even invest in your first price of equipment required for church live streaming, set realistic expectations and goals. Why because you need realistic ways to measure how good live streaming is for your church services. For example, do you want to expand your reach form 100 members to 1000 online viewers every week? Or do you want to increase online tithing by 20%? Or are you looking to increase engagement amongst your current church members? Whatever your goals are, make sure you set them before starting with live streaming. In this way, you can determine how valuable live streaming actually is for your church’s needs.
How Much you Must Invest
This is the hardest question to answer- How much should you invest in live streaming to broadcast your church services live. The truth is that you can actually start with a smartphone and a free live streaming platform. If you are new to live streaming, you shouldn’t make a major investment. Starting out, you can start live streaming your church services for less than a few hundreds of dollars.
Choosing the Right Camera
If you want to start church live streaming with a camera, you can either choose webcams, camcorders, action cameras, DSLRs, or even cameras that are specifically listed for live streaming. While webcam is one of the cheapest options, it can be tricky to work with as it needs to be connected to a laptop or a desktop. If you have an exclusive team to take care of live streaming, it is a great option to start with.
As camcorders are designed specifically for capturing videos, they are also an ideal choice but make sure you choose one with HDMI capability and WIFI for best results. DSLR is also designed for capturing high-quality pictures and videos. Actions camera is the ultimate choice as it is designed for more active live streaming in case if you need more stability. Pricing for the above-mentioned camera can range anywhere between $100-$2000 or more. You don’t have to go with the fanciest or expensive options, make sure you get what is right for your needs.
Other Must-Have Equipment
Besides the best quality camera to shoot videos, you may also need to invest in audio equipment. If you are streaming in a small set where there aren’t many people talking at a time, you can just do with the microphone on your camera. Otherwise, you will want to invest in microphones that feedback to your camera. For a more complex live streaming setup, you will need multiple wireless microphones that connect back to your camera via the main audio and video controller which can be a laptop with the right software installed.
Live Streaming Platforms
Once you have got all the basics sorted out, it is time for the most critical step- choosing the right live streaming platform. You will need a live streaming platform to broadcast your live church sessions for people to view your church services online. If your church has a website, you can integrate live streaming on the same website or can choose a separate live streaming platform that suits your requirements.
Spread The Word Through Social Media
If your church service is broadcasted live on the Internet and there is nobody to hear it, it doesn’t make any impact. People can only follow your live streams if they know where to find it. Hence, it is important to spread the word that you are going to live through social channels or platforms where your church members or viewers engage. Put in some work in the days leading by sharing the information on your website, newsletters, and social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
Include Your Online Audience In The Sermon
You have the right set up, have selected the best live streaming platform, announced ahead on social media and you are ready for action. But before your sermon begins, don’t forget to address our online audience as well. The occasional nod to the camera and acknowledging your church attendees online can go a long way.
Conclusion
The goal of any church is to reach people, share the good news, and touch lives. By live streaming your church services and other events, you will be able to take your ministry beyond the walls of your church. Church live streaming makes it more accessible for church members and visitors to gain access to services and events alike. It opens up convenient ways to reach potential visitors. And ultimately, it can increase the impact of the gospel you want to share with the world.
