Live streaming video platforms are gaining a lot of traction today. The Internet currently is all about “going live.” You see it most commonly right now on Facebook Live, and YouTube Live. Let’s look at some other options too, including Persicope, Ustream and DaCast if you’re looking to add live events to your business model.
Some services offer white labeling, where you can remove the branding of the hosting company and use your own. However, the larger live video platforms like YouTube and Facebook do not. If you want to monetize your videos with advertising, the various platforms also have options you may want to look at.
Let’s take a look at 6 of the most popular live video platforms…
Facebook Live
This powerful tool enables you to conduct a live feed event right on your Facebook Page. Your followers will be told that you’re live and then you can speak directly to your audience right where they are. You can stream almost anything you want to, within the terms of service, which is basic. Don’t do anything that is illegal, sexual, involves drugs, hate speech, etc.
If you can’t find your audience on Facebook, you don’t have an audience. Facebook’s members cross all segments of society and encompass many countries. If you work to build your audience on Facebook, they’ll want to engage with you in this manner. Most accounts now can go live with additional add-on software.
Facebook Live gives you the ability to report live right from where you are, whether you’re out on a hike, or you’re in your office, to your audience. Your viewers can share the live feed on their pages to help you get more viewers.You have control over who sees your live feed. You can go live to only your friends or make it viewable to the public. You can stream from your personal profile, your Page or even your Group. If you go to Facebook right now, you can look on the left side and scroll down to find the video camera under “explore” it says “live video.” Click it to see videos that are going live right now.
Facebook live is simple to use if you follow the step-by-step instructions for doing it using a third-party system like BeLive.tv to help you with easier technology.
YouTube Live
Everyone loves watching videos on YouTube and now YouTube has a new way to engage with your subscribers. YouTube live requires a software download and install to help you go live, as well as agreeing to the terms of service on YouTube. You can do it with a mobile device or on your computer.
Your fans really want to get to know you and YouTube Live is a great way to help them do that. When you build closer relationships with your audience, they’re more likely to buy from you and more likely to tell other people positive things about you – okay, hopefully positive. Going live on YouTube is yet another way to ensure a connection.
If you’re okay with raw footage, creating a live YouTube video can cut down on the time it takes to get content up for your audience. Since the Live video is also interactive in that you can view and answer questions on the chat feature, it’s going to feel more authentic to your viewers.
You can go live up to 4 hours at a time. The downside is that ads will show up in your live feed and in the recording that is posted automatically afterward. You can go live from your desktop or mobile. You must download and install special software to go live on your desktop.
YouTube live is a great option for anyone who wants to get involved with live events. With software like Open Broadcaster Software which is easy to work with.
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Periscope TV
This live streaming option works with iPhone, Android, or tablet. However, people can view your live stream at Periscope.tv. It’s a lot like streaming a TV show, or a radio show with a camera.
People really love Periscope due to the ease of appearing live before their audience. Since it integrates with Twitter, which owns Periscope, you can easily share and get more viewers for your show. If you want to have live, interactive discussions with your audience, Periscope must be on the table.
When a live broadcast is over, a recording is saved to view for 24 hours. However, you can also save it to your device for uploading and sharing later. Whether you’re doing insider “behind the scenes” or a Q & A, your audience will love viewing the live and the recorded versions.
When you go live, using Periscope, people who follow you will be notified. However, if your broadcast is public anyone can click on a tab to see a list of other public live broadcasts happening at any time.
Once you download the Periscope app, you can be live in literally minutes. You will just need to enable your camera, your mic, and your location, which can be hidden during your broadcast.
LiveStream
You can broadcast to millions using LiveStream in a very professional way. Using the various levels of the platform such as producer, broadcaster and studio products will help you along the way to create a high-level professional looking and sounding show. While this can be a pricy option, it might be something you need to up your game.
If you want an advertisement free experience with live chat, moderation, event and video-on-demand archiving, this is a solution for you. You won’t get analytics with the least expensive version but you can with the other two options.
The Enterprise version allows you to get analytics, password protect your events, add monetization through Google Ads and Mid-Roll ads, disable viewer chat and commenting, and more. The other accounts don’t have as many features but they are still useful as well. You can upgrade whenever you want to.
Every account level:
- is ad free
- has a video on demand archive
- cloud recording
- chat moderation
- the ability to have your own URL (vanity account)
The solution is feature rich and will let you create a professional program that you’ll be proud to promote.
Livestream has telephone support that you can call on pre-sales and post-sales to get questions answered and even schedule a demo with them to find out all the features inside the software that you can’t see if you’re not a paid member.
Ustream
Ustream.tv broadcasts over 2 million live video events every single month. They can scale your video to any size of audience globally. What’s great about it is that you can test-drive it for 30 days, using all the features the pro plan offers. That makes it a truly useful trial period.
Ustream is a professional level broadcasting, cloud-based system you can use to “go live” and ad-free.
You can:
- customize your audience size
- create custom branding
- get live analytics
- use advanced social features
If you want to produce a “TV” worthy show, this system can do it with:
- 1 terabyte storage
- dedicated event support
- custom branding
- enterprise content management
- audience generation
- live analytics
- advanced social features
- multi-device compatible
- stream from PC, Mac, Android, and iOS systems
You can upload prepared videos as well as perform live broadcasts. They use in the cloud transcoding and then translates the stream so that separate streams are created for multi-device compatibility.
As one of the largest live streaming services, it’s a great choice because you can include your own branding and add monetization to your live and recorded streams. You have much more control on Ustream than you would on YouTube live, for example.
DaCast
This online video streaming service is a complete SaaS system. You can use many features through the cloud such as high-def broadcasting, on-demand video with paywall integrations which makes DaCast easy to monetize.
This broadcasting software can be used for small and medium sized businesses and individuals with a following to broadcast quality live and on-demand videos that can be monetized, shown simultaneously on Facebook and embedded on your website. They also have white label options.
Every plan includes:
- high-quality streaming
- no viewer limits
- unlimited channels
- water marketing
- paying on Facebook
- playlists
- integrations
- analytics
- and more
In addition, other than your normal fee they don’t charge a startup fee.
Bandwidth you don’t use is rolled over to the next month and saved until used or you cancel your account – this is a big deal for me. For example, if you have accrued saved bandwidth you can’t cancel your payment plan and then keep using it. However, it will last for up to 12 months. DaCast also has a unique embedding feature so you can “go live” right on your website.
One of the greatest things about DaCast is the paywall feature so that you can charge per viewing for your videos. This is great for courses and other information that requires expertise to present.
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