Live streaming offers event organizers unique opportunities to increase their reach, market event content and harness additional monetization potential. We reviewed 5 providers for you which can provide easy and quick LIVE stream solutions (for your events).

Livestreaming – Why is it so Relevant?

Today, events are expected to create a live experience that feels genuine and to offer participants not only added value in terms of content, but also in terms of lasting impact and brand recognition. That’s why event organizers are looking for an all-inclusive, carefree package to meet all of their guests’ requirements. Unfortunately, events capacities tend to be limited by budget constraints, seat numbers and/or space (such as seminar rooms). There are also external (environmental) circumstances — e.g. participants cannot travel to the event. These are the main reasons why virtual events are becoming increasingly important. 

What’s the deal with video content? First, you can monetize video content. Thanks to live broadcasting or video content streaming/sharing, you can address a “secondary” audience and thus expand your reach beyond your traditional list of participants. This creates not just an opportunity for people to virtually join your event from anywhere in the world but also for your event to showcase your brand to potential leads beyond your current market. 

Secondly, you can use these videos for marketing purpose. If you decide to offer them for free, then you can maximize their visual impact and reach to bring further attention to your events. You could post an entire talk or lecture or short clips via social media to attract potential new participants with interesting and relevant content. This way you create incentives for people to get a ticket for your events at the next opportunity. You can also publish these videos as a learning tool on your website or blog or provide them to your participants instead of presentations.

B2B or B2C?

An important challenge is to find the right streaming provider for your event. One of the most important questions you have to answer is: which target group should your streaming be directed to? Consumers or businesses?

One can understand why some companies initially choose free B2C streaming services. However, most popular B2C streaming solutions, such as YouTube Live, automatically get the rights to your video content and can monetize it themselves. This approach can be beneficial for some broadcasters. However, many companies that operate in the B2B sector want to avoid this, as well as third-party advertising and comments. 

Therefore, we are going to show you different providers from across the B2B and B2C sectors.   

YouTube Live

The world’s most famous video platform has long been offering not only beauty blogs, tech reviews, and vlogs, but also extensive live-streaming of music, news, sport events etc.

ADVANTAGES:
360° videos
huge user base
embedding on your own website
various monetization options
promotion by Google

DISADVANTAGES:
account verification and video encoding software required
use of Google services forbidden/blocked by some companies’ policies

PRICES:
free of charge

Facebook Live

In recent years, Facebook Live has made live streaming of events possible for everyone.

ADVANTAGES:
huge user base
direct integration into Facebook
defined range and visibility
video is available after the event with the timeline
live marketing for every budget
video length up to 8 hours

DISADVANTAGES:
frequent technical problems and streaming crashes
Facebook is often forbidden/blocked by some companies’ policies
occasionally low quality of the stream

PRICES:
free of charge; upgrades from 1 EUR per day

FURTHER B2C PROVIDERS: Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Periscope, StreamShark

Vimeo Livestream

The strength of Vimeo is primarily in its excellent video quality. In addition, the platform offers the Mevo Plus, a purpose-made camera as well as various interesting monetization options. For a rental fee or a purchase, interested viewers can either watch the video for a certain period or if bought, have it available permanently. This platform focuses on professional (business) customers and offers many additional marketing tools.

ADVANTAGES:
HD (1080p live) +4k streaming
streaming of 3 parallel events
embedding on the own website
Live Q&A, graphics and surveys
public chat

DISADVANTAGES:
not suited for streaming via Smartphone

PRICES:
70 EUR per month

IBM Watson Media Video Streaming

In 2016, the company Ustream was acquired by IBM and merged with other companies specializing in various streaming processes. Ustream was originally developed for communication between soldiers and their families.

ADVANTAGES:
cloud-based solution, available on multiple devices
possibility of monetization (paywall)
lead generation
high safety standards
Live polls
chat room

DISADVANTAGES:
HD 720p streaming only
maximum 5,000 spectator hours

PRICES:
from 99 to 999 USD per month for different packages (Silver, Gold, Platinum)

dacast

In contrast to consumer-oriented platforms like YouTube or Facebook Live, dacast works with B2B customers.

ADVANTAGES:
integration on websites and social media
white label
video hosting
analytics
flexible prices (suitable for one-time-use)

DISADVANTAGES:
paywall possible with a package starting at 125 USD
storage up to 500 GB, expansion possible against an additional upgrade

PRICES:
from 19 to 289 USD per month for different packages (Starter, Premium, Enterprise) also one-time use per event possible

FURTHER B2B PROVIDERS: Wowza, brightcove, vplayed, boxcast, StreamingVideoProvider

Summary

Live-streaming of events offers organizers great opportunities to monetize their event content or to strengthen marketing activities. In this article, we have introduced 5 providers of live streaming in detail and pointed out the difference between B2C and B2B platforms.

The post Event-Livestreaming – The 5 Top Providers 2020 first appeared on LineUpr Blog.

Recently, Facebook announced a major change to its News Feed algorithm. The adjustment will have far-reaching implications for all Facebook users. In order to amplify social interactions between people, the visibility of external content will be decreased. Organic reach for most companies will decline and costs for advertising will increase. But if you’re prepared and do the right things, you can even benefit from the adaption.

At the beginning of every new year, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg gives the world a glimpse of his short-term visions. For 2018, Zuckerberg puts the focus on the News Feed and promises far-reaching changes. We tell you what you need to know as an event organizer now.

What do we know

The News Feed is the heart of Facebook: Users see posts and updates from their friends mixed with paid advertising content and recommendations. The News Feed algorithm determines which content to show you when and in which order.

Originally launched as an intimate and private news stream from your circle of friends, nowadays you get flooded with public advertisements and posts from publishers and companies. The formerly “social” network between your friends and family has become more and more a commercial, short-lived stream with a high concentration of viral content, news, and advertising.

Facebook’s proclaimed goal is to go back to its roots and become the social network again, where you spend your time “well” with human and “meaningful” interactions. Of course, the underlying motivation could be more of a business nature. There are no official statistics, but various estimates show, that users’ interaction rates decrease. During the fourth quarter of 2017, the number of daily users in the USA declined for the first time. With lower interaction rates, the likelihood of users eventually abandoning Facebook rises. Sean Parker, a Facebook investor, provides interesting insights in this video.

Implications for Organizers

As usual, Zuckerberg rarely talks about concrete actions, but about visions. Also, the News Feed algorithm is already a black box today. It is therefore difficult to say how it will change in concrete terms to achieve the objectives mentioned. Irrespective of that, we can expect the following implications:

1. Organic Distribution of Articles and Fan Pages
The News Feed algorithm has constantly changed during the last years. Nowadays, we all see seemingly random posts of people and fan pages which we do not know. Posts of friends are displayed further down the stream or later than originally published. Thus, more and more organic content from your friends gets pushed back.

Facebook’s goal is to limit the number of posts from fan pages, companies and advertisements and to focus more on direct interactions between people. As a result, the organic reach of fan pages and articles will continue to decline. However, we can also expect that in total, advertisements will suffer the least from the reduced reach, because this is, where Facebook ultimately earns its money.

2. Paid Content and Advertising
Zuckerberg’s statements make clear that the number of advertisements shown to the users will decrease. At the same time, there will be significantly less organic reach from pages and external content in the News Feed that is pushed by viral effects. However, some sources want their content to continue to be displayed as before, and this is why they will have to make use of advertising.

These effects will ultimately lead to an increase in the price for advertising. Still: Depending on how important it is for you to reach (potential) visitors and customers on Facebook, you should take advertising into consideration.

3. Reduced Video Reach
Videos in the News Feeds are one of the main reasons for the declining interaction rates, as they inevitably lead to passive consumption. The reach of videos will decrease significantly this year again. Facebook has already started to show less viral videos at the end of 2017 and therefore accepted a heavy drop in usage time: In the fourth quarter of 2017, the daily usage time dropped by a total of 50 million hours.

So, if your current communication strategy heavily relies on video content, it’s about time to consider different types of content in the future!

4. User Votes on Content
Through users’ direct votes on content and publishers, Facebook will gain a higher quality of information which is “trustworthy, informative, and local”. Zuckerberg has already announced this change. Using quality surveys, users should now evaluate which news sources disseminate high-quality data and which do not. So far, this only affects news sites, but Facebook could extend these mechanisms to additional types of sources in the future.

Winners and Losers — and How to Become a Winner

Although only a few concrete actions are known so far, it is clear who will lose massively with the upcoming changes: The reach of news and media publishers who use Facebook as a tool for distributing their content will suffer. This applies in particular to producers of video content.

If Facebook’s strategy works, the winners might be the regular Facebook users who are using Facebook for its original characteristics of a social network. And this is exactly what you — as a publisher and event organizer — will have to address in the future: Establish a close relationship with your audience. This gives you a good chance that your organic reach will increase.

Learnings of the Day

Facebook will massively revise its News Feed algorithm. It will significantly reduce the amount of external posts, advertising, and video content. Direct interactions between people will become the focus again. Facebook wants to be the social network which it was originally. This is bad news for publishers who use Facebook solely as a content distribution channel. But those, who can establish a sustainable relationship with their readers, with many interactions, have a unique chance to benefit.

What’s your opinion of Facebook’s upcoming changes? How would you adjust the algorithm?  Are you prepared? We look forward to your feedback.

“Facebook” Icon created by Maria Maldonado from “the Noun Project“.

The post Facebook‘s New News Feed – How It Will Affect You and Organizers first appeared on LineUpr Blog.