Live Streaming: 10 Numbers You Can’t Afford to Ignore
Long before COVID-19 made Zoom a household name, live streaming was a multi-billion dollar industry. Live streaming encompasses a wide variety of video and audio content broadcast in real-time over the Internet. Virtually anything can be live streamed, from weddings on Facebook Live, to video game tournaments and e-sports leagues, fashion tips from Instagram influencers, and weekly live concerts from music legends in quarantine.
Now that the pandemic has forced millions to stay close to home, the appetite for video content is exploding, creating new opportunities for businesses to capitalize on a powerful medium that creates close and profitable connections with new and existing customers.
How Big is Live Streaming?
91 Million people will live stream by 2024
1.1 Billion hours were streamed in 2019
Businesses Large and Small are Embracing Live Streaming
82 % of people are using self-serve video creation platforms
73% of businesses report positive ROI from live video
Consumers Prefer Live Streaming Over Other Types of Media
80% of people would rather watch a live video from a brand than read a blog
82% prefer live video from a brand to social posts
64 Million are more likely to buy a product online after watching a video
3000% increase seen in click-through rates when video is used in email
39% of executives call a vendor after viewing a video
59% of executives would rather watch a video than read
How to Start Live Streaming
As consumer preferences shift rapidly to live streaming, how can your company break through and capture more screen time with your customers?
Follow these steps to create high-impact video content:
1. Quality over quantity is what matters, so be sure you’re creating high-quality video content that your audience will relate to, enjoy, and remember. That doesn’t mean it has to be of the highest “production” quality. Rather, your live streams need to be highly relevant and provide a clear advantage or benefit to the viewer, offer opportunities for your audience to participate via Q&A, and as with any content, make sure there is a clear call-to-action so your audience knows what to do next.
2. Promote and distribute your live video on platforms your customers are already using, so it’s easy for them to find and watch your content. There are many cost-effective solutions that enable you to stream your videos across the most popular platforms including YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Live, and Periscope. Leading platforms that cater to startups and SMBs include:
BeLive (www.be.live)
Switchboard (www.switchboard.live)
OneStream (www.onestream.live)
3. Use new top-level domain names to drive traffic specifically to your live streaming content. This can be done in two different ways. First, you can create a URL that drives your customers directly to your live streaming content on a social network such as Facebook. The TrueName™ domain extension .live is a smart choice because it clearly communicates to your audience what they’ll get when they click on the link. Austin City Limits use the domain ACL.live to drive music fans directly to their Lounge music series on Facebook. Or, if you host live streaming content on your own website, use a deep link domain name to drive your viewers directly to the live content on your website. The Prestonwood Baptist Church uses newlife.live to send users who cannot attend services in person directly to the livestream page on their website.
There is no question that live streaming content–whether for education, business or entertainment–will continue to permeate our lives for the foreseeable future. Staying up to date and implementing the latest streaming trends will help ensure that your content gets noticed and your customers are happy.
TrueName™ domains, including .live, are memorable, descriptive, and secure domains used by thousands of small businesses to represent their true online identity.
Find your ideal live streaming domain by searching for your brand name, top keywords or phrase, and “.live”.
Learn more and find your domain name today.
Data sources: Promo.com, Livestream.com
