Over the past couple years, the shift to live video has been hard to ignore. According to research from Livestream, 81% more people watched live video in 2016 than 2015 and 82% would rather watch a live video than your standard social media post. 56% of Millennials watch live content on their mobile device, and brands are starting to notice.
Companies such as ESPN has poured billions into live production because they know that’s why their audience turns into their networks. But high quality livestreaming isn’t something that’s exclusive to bigwigs like ESPN anymore. Thanks to agencies like CenterTable Studios, you can make your live content look top notch. We now have the ability to reach people on multiple platforms simultaneously and interact with our audiences who are thirsty to be engaged with.
Brands have become hyper-local broadcasters
Live streaming has become an instantaneous way to reach your audience and spread real time work that you are doing in the community, a talk with a leader, or to make an important announcement. This is what audiences are looking for. 56% of audiences watch content with breaking news in it. 43% of viewers watch conferences and other related content. We’ve had our successes with livestreaming that boosted the brands of our clients.
Over the summer, CenterTable helped Noble Energy promote their great work with the Greeley Stampede by live streaming their annual Independence Day Parade on Facebook Live. The results were very positive. There were over 3,000 views on the stream and as the day progressed, our stream was shared by various community members who tagged people they recognized on our live stream. Followers were thanking Noble in the comments for putting on this stream. We helped show a real time commitment from Noble Energy to give back to the community that a lot of employees live and work in.
Livestreaming is the future of video
Live video is here to stay. As viewers become more mobile, desktops will become a secondary source of content viewing. According to a study by Cisco, 80% of all online traffic by 2019 will be video, and the the percentage of that number being live content will only get bigger as brands shift their resources in that area. With the proliferation of fake news and the increasing number of ways the internet can trick a consumer, viewers are looking to brands for genuine connections and one the surest ways of gaining their trust is through live video.
A big part of acquiring that trust is the maintaining a high quality to the video you provide. Two-thirds of viewers look for quality as their top factor when sticking with a livestream. Put yourself in their shoes. Would you watch a grainy live smartphone video with audio that cuts out constantly? Obviously know. And the moment you publish a video with low quality, your audience, wrongly or not, will associate you with those low standards.
When you are considering your budgets for the rest of 2017 and beyond, please be sure to keep an opening for live video. It can be a more powerful marketing tool than your standard brand story. Live videos can have more personal touch than a regular video. Instead of telling a story to your audience, try telling one with your audience.
