News

Everyone’s Talking About It. Is it Time to Act?

On our website, WebcastAndBeyond.com we don’t spent much time pitching the value of live streaming for business, partly because so many other business-oriented blogs do such a great job conveying the benefits in a truly neutral, unbiased forum.  From time to time I run across some really great articles that succinctly explain the application, benefits, and value proposition that live streaming brings to your business.

Check out this article: Live-Streaming for Business: How, When, and Why You Should Use It which appears in the SalesForce.com blog. It’s an easy read filled with useful facts and infographics. If you are ready to act, then we invite you to download our free Live Streaming Cheat Sheet which will help you figure out how to proceed, whether you decide to do it yourself or hire a professional webcast company like Webcast & Beyond.

Facebook Live is more relevant now that the FB news feed priority is shifting away from Brands & Business

CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced that the Facebook News Feed algorithm has been altered to favor personal posts at the expense of business, brand and media content. Zuckerberg explained that this is a long term strategy to enhance the well being of members. Although this will have an immediate negative impact on non-advertising posts, the work-around according to Zuckerberg is to promote community engagement via live video feeds or discussion groups. This is consistent with his push to stream live video since the introduction of Facebook Live in April of 2016. Going forward this recent modification will likely incentivise brands to create more campaigns centered on Facebook Live in order to maintain exposure on Facebook’s News Feed.

According to Social Media Today:

Facebook says that one-fifth of the videos posted to their platform now come via Facebook Live, and that users spend 3x longer watching video when it’s live, compared to pre-recorded or saved video.

This trend is a strong indicator that the Facebook Live platform  is ubiquitous among Facebook’s 2 billion users; a compelling incentive to start live streaming on Facebook.  Of course there is a significant amount of planning and preparation needed to put together a successful Facebook Live campaign.  It is important to engage with your audience especially with the interactive tools available on your Facebook page. You should also consider using a professional live streaming service to provide broadcast quality and reliability. However, please do your homework before you dive in. A poorly devised live stream strategy can do more harm than good for your brand. On the other hand, an intentful, authentic, user-focused live event has great leverage potential on the world’s largest social media platform.

Your Event on Your YouTube Channel

Our expertise and high-end broadcast equipment can now be utilized to captivate a whole new audience on the YouTube Live platform. Imagine the leverage and extended reach your event will have on the world’s largest video platform. We can help you set up your own live feed channel, or use one of ours. YouTube live streaming can also be embedded on your own web page. Call us at 818-456-1052 or Send Message to find out more about this exciting new opportunity.

Professional Live Streaming Now Supported on Facebook!

Webcast & Beyond has the latest software app allowing us to broadcast your event with our professional audio/video equipment to your Facebook page! This is good news for those who want to leverage their message using live video. Get started now.  Live stream to your Facebook page!

Webcast utilizing Skype Group call. Video feed on the left / Skype call on the right.

Lately there has been a lot of interest to incorporate Skype interviews during live webcasts. In this situation, Instantly Inc. wanted to have all of their field offices from around the world participate in the opening segment of their global meeting. This was accomplished using our Skype integration system while taking advantage of Skype’s new and improved group calling feature. The local audience could view all of the remote participants on a projection screen and their audio was piped into the house sound system. The webcast audience saw a dual feed of the headquarters on the left and the Skype callers on the right. The Skype participants were able to see and hear the corporate officers who were on camera in front of the live local audience.

Admittedly this is somewhat tricky to pull together. We had a rehearsal/test call a few days before to make sure all of the participants had their Skype systems set up properly. The day of the webcast, we had everyone connect an hour early and remain on standby until they went live. We had their video and audio muted while on standby except that there is a push-to-talk microphone to allow private communication with them. Skype has an IM chat feature which is useful during this standby period, especially when someone is experiencing internet bandwidth restrictions.

In the end the effort of linking the whole company together live really paid off.  The remote participants had a much stronger sense of “being there” and the home office had a chance to feel like they were one united team.

Dick Gregory addresses the onlookers with his wife Lillian at his side

Comedian, activist, civil rights leader Dick Gregory received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 2nd, 2015. Webcast & Beyond was hired by the Dick Gregory Foundation to document the event including the ceremony and interviews with celebrities, family and friends. The 82 year old honoree addressed the audience with his wife of 56 years, Lillian Gregory by his side.  Mr. Gregory is revered by comedians, musicians, actors, and political leaders as a strong voice and leader throughout the civil rights movement.  On this day many celebrities were in attendance including Stevie Wonder, George Lopez, Nick Cannon, Rob Schneider, and Roseanne Barr to name a few.  To see more pictures check out our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/webcastandbeyond

Chris Knowlton, VP of Wowza

Here is an excerpt from a recently published article on Techzone360.com entitled, “It’s Time Your Business Jumped on the Live Streaming Bandwagon: Here are Five Reasons Why.” by Chris Knowlton, VP of Wowza Media Systems. Wowza is a leading software developer specializing in streaming media server technology. According to Knowlton, there is a case to be made for embracing live video streaming as it has unique advantages over pre-recorded on-demand video streaming. The 5 key reasons are:

1. Streaming extends reach – Streaming a live event provides an opportunity to connect in new ways, whether we are talking about sports matches, church services, concerts, company all-hands meetings, or university lectures. You can reach people who could not otherwise attend in person, which, depending on your goals and business model, typically translates either to positive membership impacts or new customers.

 

2. Streaming boosts engagement – Live events are compelling for users. There is an immediacy to them that can’t be matched with on-demand viewing, especially for live games. According to Ooyala, the average live-streamed video is viewed as much as 10 times longer than on-demand. Social media only bolsters the engagement, making us part of a larger real-time conversation around the event.

 

3. The live experience has drastically improved – Live streaming now provides a better user experience than ever. Over the last 15 years, we’ve gone from low-resolution, stuttering, postage-stamp sized viewing experiences on desktop computer monitors to HD (and even Ultra HD) streaming on computer screens, mobile devices, and connected TVs. Thanks to increasing bandwidth, more-scalable Internet infrastructures, improved streaming technologies, and a plethora of devices that support HD playback, our streaming experiences now can rival or surpass those of traditional television delivery.

 

4. Cost is no longer an excuse – The prices for computer hardware, storage, and bandwidth continue to drop. Cloud-based infrastructures and services make streaming even more affordable for many people, providing the flexible low-cost computing and scalability you need, and for discrete events, only when you need it. As an example, you can stream an hour of high-quality video to 100 users for about the price of a latte.

 

5. Higher quality is now possible with less complexity – In just minutes, you can be online and streaming live events globally. The more advanced your requirements, the longer the first-time setup may take, but streaming products and services continue to abstract away more of the complexities and reduce the learning curves.

 

Live streaming has come a long way, and it will only continue to advance; however businesses that continue to wait for the next best thing will likely find themselves playing catch up to those embracing it today. We’ll likely see these types of battles ensue across industries in the years to come.

I would add to this that a live-streamed event that is archived and available for immediate viewing is the best of both worlds. The fact that a video was streamed live gives it a sense of authenticity that a pre-recorded video can’t compete with. We have seen viewership of a live event increase by a factor of 10 within the first week after its initial broadcast!