1. Introduction
In recent years, live streaming has become an increasingly popular way for content creators to reach their audience. However, it’s not always easy to get a live stream up and running – and that’s where professional live streaming production services come in. These services offer a range of features to help produce high quality live stream content, and they’re used by everyone from independent content creators to major media organizations. This section will provide an overview of the benefits and features of these services, and discuss how they can be used to achieve and maintain high quality, engaging content. The first step to understanding the benefits of live streaming production services is to get clear on what is meant by the term. At a basic level, a production service offers the process of using technology and creative ideas to change an idea or concept into a finished product. So, in the context of live streaming, live streaming production services effectively refer to using a service provider’s technology and expertise in order to bring a high quality, polished, and multi-featured live stream to life. Looked at another way, using such a service enables the content creator to move away from having to use their own, or generally more basic set-ups – like a single camera and a streaming app on a phone or tablet. Instead, production services generally provide a range of features and levels of technical and professional input that allow the creator to make a much greater impact with their live streaming content.
1.1 Benefits of Live Streaming Production Services
The benefits of live video are many and access to this service has never been easier. Increased social engagement, brand exposure, and customer reach are on the top of most business owners’ wish lists, and live streaming production services can help elevate the potential of a variety of content offerings. Incremental revenue streams: As a service provider, offering your expertise is a direct path to increased revenue. Nowadays, almost anything can be turned into a service. Creativity through trying new projects and working with new and existing clients is the byproduct of having services available. Marketing professionals across the spectrum are adapting cloud-based solutions as the demand for live content increases. These turn-key web platforms offer a suite of live event production services, from branding to real-time data analysis. Hosting multiple channels in any number of formats, such as podcasts or live web streams, fosters a valuable niche or a one-stop-shop solution for any industry. Creating video with live streaming productions in mind: For video marketing professionals, beginners and experts alike will agree that live streaming has increased in popularity. Eye-catching, real-time content has become a must for engaging potential customers. But every project starts with the seed of an idea. How to get that idea from paper to the web is a process that can be boiled down to five manageable steps. By making the right decisions when considering a live streaming production, each step from script writing to video promotion can be executed more effectively, resulting in better content and a more fulfilling experience for both the creative team and the end viewer. The social dilemma: Social media engagement is a crucial measurement of a company’s influence on the internet. When trying to target specific markets or garner the maximum amount of exposure possible, live streaming onto platforms such as YouTube, Skype, or Facebook can make the difference between lost in the crowd or the newest sensation. The real-time nature of live streaming means that customers are more likely to interact with the content and subsequently engage with the company itself. In a society that values individual voices, open discussion, and always having access to the latest and greatest, live streaming capitalizes on those preferences and delivers in a clean and efficient manner. Research has shown that the popularity of interactive live content is growing every day and is projected to exceed 15 billion dollars in 2022. Work smarter not harder: For professionals in the digital marketing industry, time management and targeted outputs in content are key. With the upward trend of live video and meeting its increasing demand, live streaming production services open several doors to company marketing strategies. Whether it be new client acquisition or retention of existing base, this technology provides an avenue to express the power and energy of a solution. By nature, being ‘live’ with a product fosters an organic connection between the creator and the viewer, and this personal touch leads to increased traffic on social media and other online platforms. Coupled with chat systems or social media integration on UI, customer engagement is effectively being monitored in real time. The ability to employ user-generated comments, likes, or subscribes on the stream itself means professionals can harness immediate feedback to great effect. By being selective and properly representing user statistics, it is entirely granted that a business or a proposal can capture and maintain the viewer in a cloud service. This high level of customization available in live stream marketing has never before been possible thanks to live streaming production services and this cutting edge in advertising technology. Companies not already exploring live stream marketing are encouraged to consider this point of digital engagement as both an emergent trend and a reliable future. With the proper lampent of a live burning industry such as this, it is certain that those companies who seize the potential availability and customizability from the cloud will flourish in the years to come.
1.2 How Live Streaming Production Services Work
Live streaming production services work by logging into the platform, much like you would for any other program or application on your computer. However, these services typically require the use of an additional tool called an “encoder.” An encoder is a program that allows you to capture video and audio content, compress the media into a format that can be streamed live over the internet, and send it to online platforms such as YouTube or Facebook. When you begin setting up a live stream on a platform like YouTube or Facebook, you’ll be prompted to enter the stream’s title, description, and (if the platform supports it) set the live stream to a particular age restriction. Most streaming services will provide you with a “stream key,” which is a special code that you will need to enter into the encoder program that authenticates the connection between the encoder and the streaming service. Unfortunately, if someone were to get a hold of your stream key, they could potentially stream whatever they wanted to your channel, so it’s very important to keep your key private. Once you’ve saved the key and started the stream in the encoder program, a successful connection will be indicated in the program interface. At this point, you’ll be able to go back to the web page for the streaming platform, where you’ll find a preview player for your live stream. As soon as the encoder begins sending data to the streaming server, the preview on the platform’s website will reflect your live stream. When you’re ready to go live, you simply start the live stream in the platform’s interface and your content will be pushed out to all your viewers on the web. You’ll use the encoder program to manage your video and audio sources for the live stream, switch between different views or scenes with a seamless transition, and monitor the live chat feed from your viewers all in real time. Learning to effectively manage your live stream production is critical to offering a high-quality, engaging viewing experience for your audience.
2. Choosing the Right Live Streaming Production Service
It is important to choose the right live streaming production service for your content. Before you start comparing options, it is helpful to first assess your content needs. By understanding what features you need, like multi-camera live streaming or on-screen social media integration, you can narrow down the search to production services that offer what you require. There are many live streaming production service providers out there, so it is a good idea to spend some time researching your options. When evaluating different providers, consider these factors: experience and reputation, supported platforms, and additional features such as high definition streaming, cloud recording, or customized graphics. Make sure to check online customer reviews and ratings so you have an idea of what each provider is like to work with. Lastly, be sure to evaluate the pricing and packages offered by different services. Many providers offer tiered service plans, so it is important to take stock of the features offered under each plan and consider whether the costs fit into your content budget. Some providers may also offer flexible pay-as-you-go plans. However, keep in mind that while these plans offer more flexibility, they may end up being more costly than a monthly subscription depending on your content schedule.
2.1 Assessing Your Content Needs
When assessing your content needs, it’s important to consider what you are live streaming and what your goals are. Part of that consideration is the type and level of interactivity with your audience, as well as the look and feel you want your live stream to have. For example, if you are live streaming a large event or a message from the head of a company, you may want to incorporate live polling or Q&A features, and you may want a more polished, professional look. On the other hand, if you are live streaming a behind-the-scenes look at life in your office or a casual interview, then you may want to have some fun with audience interaction and your live stream look can be a bit more relaxed. Additionally, if you are planning to live stream an event, you need to consider your audience. Maybe some people who would like to attend the event cannot do so because of proximity, travel costs, or prior commitments. Live streaming the event makes it more accessible to those people and can help to bridge the gap between your audience and the content of the event. This can also help to guide your live stream promotional strategy and inform what kind of content you want to capture during the event. All of this information will be crucial as you begin to shop around for the right live streaming production service provider to help meet your needs.
2.2 Researching Live Streaming Production Service Providers
Once you have a good understanding of the type of live streaming production service you need, what you’re looking to get out of it, and a list of potential providers, it’s time to start doing your research. Look for customer reviews and recommendations, as well as examples of previously live streamed content from each provider, to get a feel for the quality of the finished product. Pay special attention to things like production value and stream stability on live streams, as it can be a big red flag if the provider’s own content doesn’t meet your expectations in these areas. Also, look for signs of professionalism in each provider’s public image: things like a detailed and up-to-date website, positive customer feedback and high profile company partnerships can all demonstrate a good work ethic and solidarity. Knowing that a provider is well established and has a good track record can be a key deciding factor when researching professional live streaming production services. It can be a very big decision when it comes to picking a provider to work with if you’re unfamiliar with the world of live streaming and the associated production services, but remember: don’t be afraid to ask for advice or more information. Many live streaming production companies will be more than happy to help guide you through your options for service, and many online communities exist specifically to provide help and support to those looking to break into live streaming as well. Just take your time, have a clear understanding of what you need and what you’re getting, and finding the right service will be a piece of cake.
2.3 Evaluating Pricing and Packages
When looking at pricing and packages for live streaming production services, it is important to understand what you will be paying for and how pricing is structured. There are a number of common pricing models to be aware of. Many service providers offer packages where pricing is based on the number of live streams you plan to produce each month and the features offered in each package may vary based on the number of streams, with higher priced packages offering more features and lower priced packages offering fewer features. Some providers offer pricing based on the length of each live stream. Typically, prices are based on one minute of live streaming time with variations depending on video quality and other factors. This can be useful if you plan on streaming for an extended period of time but may be less cost effective if your live streams are on the shorter side. Another common model is offering services a la carte, where you pay for access or use of specific features or package add-ons in addition to a base subscription cost. Prices for a la carte features and add-ons may vary depending on the provider and the type of feature. Some live streaming production service providers offer things like professional graphic design and live chat moderation as part of a subscription package while others may offer those services a la carte at additional cost. Be sure to research all the options available to you and consider the type of features and services that your content will benefit from most before making a decision regarding what pricing model works best for your needs.
3. Maximizing the Impact of Your Live Streams
For example, a company may choose to launch a product or service on a live stream event, rather than just putting up a pre-prepared video. This is because live streaming can help to create a buzz and a greater sense of anticipation, as people know that something exciting is going to happen at a certain time. Also, live streaming can be more accessible and engaging for your audience – and this is backed up by statistics. For instance, research has shown that people watching a live stream tend to stay more engaged than when they are watching a pre-recorded video. Live streams can also be a good way to generate leads and to get more people to sign up to your company’s mail outs. If you are asking people to sign up to be able to view your exclusive live stream, this means they will need to enter their contact details before they can watch it. This can be an opportunity to start building a mailing list and to get your new products or services ‘out there’. Also, a live stream can help to create a ‘community’ feel around your brand. This is because live streams often have a chat function, which means people watching can leave comments and speak in real time to the person who is streaming. This is particularly important if you run a small business, offering a personal service or a unique product. Live steam events can encourage people to interact with you in a more immediate way than with other forms of advertising or marketing. By having viewers interact with your event, it means that your audience can feel like they are actively involved and are being listened to. This in turn can help give a better impression of your company, as it shows that you are relatable and are willing to provide a service which is tailored to the needs of your customers. Also, it means that people that have watched the event are far more likely to remember your brand – especially if the live event was particularly entertaining or informative. This can make it much more likely that they will seek out your products or services in the future.
3.1 Preparing Engaging Content
Another crucial aspect of running and managing a successful live stream on a professional level is to prepare and create engaging content that your viewers will find interesting and will want to engage with. One of the ways in which you can prepare engaging content is to form and create a story for the audience to follow. This keeps the audience engaged for longer periods of time, similar to a television series or a film. If you are creating a live stream for a business or a product, it is important not to make the live stream into an infomercial. While the aim of the stream will be to promote and sell the product, the key to a successful live stream is to keep the audience engaged for the entire live stream. Engaging content is also content that is not predictable, where there might be a chance that something could go wrong. This doesn’t mean that your content should be unprofessional, it means that the audience has the chance to be a part of something and that something exciting might happen. Lastly, preparing engaging content also means that there are opportunities for audience participation. This can be key to a successful live stream. Not only does it maintain a dialogue between the broadcaster and the audience, it means there is something else going on and it reduces the pressure on the broadcaster to keep a constant stream of dialogue flowing.
3.2 Utilizing Professional Equipment and Technology
The article also discusses how cameras and capture devices can contribute to an improved live streaming experience for both the content creator and the audience. It explains the differences between webcams and digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras and why using a DSLR camera can have advantages such as better picture quality and the option to purchase different lenses. Finally, the article points out that using Ethernet connected capture cards will provide better performance compared to USB connected capture devices.
When looking at microphones and audio mixers, the article outlines that different types of microphones are used for live streaming, including condenser and dynamic microphones. It is stated that condenser microphones are very sensitive and therefore suitable for recording vocals or musical instruments. On the other hand, dynamic microphones are less sensitive and can be used in a variety of live sound applications. The article also highlights options for audio mixers used in live streaming, based on the number of input channels and whether a digital or analog mixer is preferred. It is stated that audio mixers are used to balance and modulate audio signals.
The article discusses why using a computer with fast central processing unit (CPU) and graphics processing unit (GPU) is necessary for high quality live streaming. It explains that the CPU is essential as it runs the live streaming software, while the GPU is used to render the graphics in the live stream. However, the article also comments that using faster and more powerful CPUs and GPUs will allow for more complex and higher quality live streams. For example, the article explains that multicore processors are well suited for live streaming because they are able to divide tasks between the different cores.
In order to take full advantage of professional live streaming production services, it is important to use high quality equipment and various forms of technology throughout the live streaming process. The article identifies some key pieces of equipment including high performance computers, microphones and audio mixers, as well as cameras and capture devices. It is also emphasized that using wired internet connections can further increase the quality of a live stream.
3.3 Enhancing Viewer Experience with Graphics and Effects
Another popular way of enhancing the viewer experience with graphics and effects is to make use of virtual sets. Virtual sets are animated, 3D backgrounds that can be used as the backdrop for your live stream. With virtual sets, you can create a professional and high-quality viewing experience for your audience, even if you are broadcasting from a small or confined space. You can choose from a range of virtual set designs to complement your content or target audience, or you may even have a custom virtual set designed to reflect the style and personality of your brand. Virtual sets can be customized to include motion tracks and accelerator effects, linking your camera motion to the background movement for a really immersive viewing experience. Some virtual set designs even feature advanced, built-in stinger transitions, allowing you to switch between different virtual camera angles and scenes with a smooth and sleek animated effect. With the ability to incorporate your own virtual set designs and customize transition effects, you can really make your live streams stand out from the crowd. As a presenter or live stream host, you may also want to consider the use of a teleprompter display in your live stream production. A teleprompter display is a hardware device or collection of software that presents scripted or easily spoken words in large, easy-to-read font sizes, allowing the presenter to speak directly to the audience while maintaining direct eye contact with the camera. This can help to create a more engaging and natural experience, as well as reducing rambling or the tendency to go off-topic. Teleprompters can be linked to the camera or to digital video playout systems, allowing the text to automatically scroll at the same rate of speech, or be manually controlled by a separate operator, giving the presenter flexibility to adjust their speech pace as needed. By utilizing virtual set technology and teleprompter displays, you can transform your live streams into sleek, professional and highly engaging productions that are sure to captivate any audience.
3.4 Promoting and Marketing Your Live Streams
How you promote and market your live streams can greatly impact how many viewers you have. More importantly, if you are using live streaming as a way to promote your brand and business, the quality and professionalism of your promotions can impact how your brand and business are perceived. The first and most important thing you can do to ensure you have a successful live stream is to promote it before you go live. You should be utilizing your social media platforms to generate a “buzz” around your upcoming live stream. Creating a Facebook event and inviting friends and followers is an effective way to get people to turn up and watch your live stream. If your live stream is going to be a regular occurrence, for example if you are live streaming a webinar each week, it might be worth creating a specific social media account or group for your live streams. This way you can create a community around your brand or business and it will make it all the easier to share your live stream with people who are interested in your content. Another way to encourage people to watch your live stream is to setup and schedule your live stream ahead of time. This way, your followers who visit your live stream page on your platform of choice will be able to see when you are next going live and can choose to “follow” your page. This means that they will receive a notification when you actually do go live, which is a great way to help promote your live stream. When you go live, the live stream platform of your choice will usually put you on a “recommended” or “featured” list, making all users currently browsing live streams aware of your content. Of course, being featured can greatly increase the amount of viewers you get. One way to increase your chances of being featured is to go live at a specific time or as part of a regular schedule. If your live stream covers a trending or popular topic, it may also help to write a tailored title and description for the specific section of your live stream you are broadcasting. This will help to make your live stream more appealing to users who are searching for a specific type of content and, as a result, will increase the chances of being featured. It is also worth noting that a high quality and professional looking promotional image for your live stream can greatly increase how many people decide to watch you. This is because the thumbnail of where your live stream appears will be one of the first things potential viewers will see. A high quality, informative image can make your content stand out and you will find far more people clicking on your content and deciding to watch. This may not be as important if you are going live at a specific time and are relying on being featured in the “recommended” or “featured” list, but it is definitely still something to think about when trying to promote your live stream.
4. Measuring Success and Analyzing Data
The success of your live stream is not necessarily measured by the number of live viewers. Instead, you should take into consideration both people who watched your live stream and those who viewed as videos on-demand. The engagement over time is an important factor to consider and should be part of your strategy growth in each project. Also, you must measure the conversion rate. As a professional video marketer, it is important to understand which of your videos are converting. During the live stream, monitor the following: concurrent viewers, playbacks, chat messages, peak concurrencies, social media shares, and duration. Most live streaming platforms provide you with statistics. You should be familiar with the output of each running campaign. Always analyze the success of each live event in such a way that the data gathered from each project can be used to develop the next streamed piece. Analyzing the statistics allows you to develop better strategies on increasing your engagement rate. By understanding your audience’s viewing experience, such as where and when they were dropping off, you can make informed decisions to help retain your viewers in future live events. Be open to change, since not every brand or client is the same. However, by using data and feedback, you can tailor your approach to achieve the best result. Always perform better than you did yesterday and never stop learning from the data.
4.1 Tracking Viewership and Engagement Metrics
Despite the popularity and importance of live video and live streaming, all comes to naught if content producers could not succeed in tracking the number of viewers and how viewers engage with the content. Over the years, many studies have cited the importance of tracking the viewership and engagement data, often providing insights to grow. There are quite a number of strategies and specific methods to engage successfully with the live stream viewer. Before the advantage of the modern technology, viewership and engagement data can only be roughly gauged by monitoring the number of viewers and take a straw poll on how good the event is… wow that is rudimentary but workable. Well, quite some time ago, there were people toting the idea that all the broadcast viewer metrics were based on extrapolation, estimation and bar minimum confidence level typical of maybe 80%. This school of thought was based on the argument that it was not possible to literally count a substantial part of the TV viewers… guess and extrapolate methodology was good enough. However, things are totally different with live streaming on the internet now. The viewership can be monitored on real-time basis and virtually all live streaming platforms provide performance data like the number of play, play time, geographical location, etc. Such data not only could provide feedback on the content and the broadcasters but also being used as a tool for performance analysis from the marketing point of view. Viewership and engagement data is often used by digital marketers to make recommendation for targeted advertising. These are made possible by the geographical information embedded in the viewership data and the data itself has been relied on as a valuable resource for developing marketing strategies. For example, by knowing when the highest number of viewers are and where are the locations they are from, targeted advertisement or teaser trailers can be inserted for maximum effect of sale conversion. Like all market studies and marketing strategies, the quality of the data is important and making use of proper tools to analyze the data is essential. Thank to new technology, not only that viewership and engagement data is now readily available, interactive responses from viewers during the live events or at every specific moment in the video can be also captured and analyzed. These ‘video heat maps’ can show how many interactions occur at any particular time in the video, providing valuable insight into the content attractiveness and promote viewer interaction. We have covered that tracking viewership and engagement metrics is important for assessing the efficacy of given content. On my next topic, I shall discuss methods and thought process that goes into analyzing the data for the purpose of making data-driven decisions for future live stream.
4.2 Analyzing Audience Feedback and Interactions
After the completion of a live stream, it is important to take time to read through the live chat and any comments that were left during the session. The viewers themselves will often provide the clearest signposts about what went well and what was less successful about the content of the stream. Conversations and interactions might give ideas for future content that you might not have thought of, addressing topics and themes that are of particular interest to your audience. Polls, surveys and collecting data from interactions and feedback can be invaluable when planning and designing future content. Conducting polls and surveys on social media encourages viewers to engage with you outside of the live stream and allows them to shape what you produce based on their own preferences. Every time that you receive feedback or interactions from a live stream, it is important to keep a record. It can be all too easy to forget past comments or viewer discussions but these can be incredibly useful when demonstrating progress over a period of time. Also, as your audience grows or changes, comparing and contrasting feedback from different streams can help to highlight how successful content might have been in terms of engaging different groups of viewers. On professional live streaming services, such as OBS Studio or Streamlabs, there are a range of feedback tools and interactions that are available to you. You might want to consider using YouTube’s Super Chat feature, where viewers can pay to pin their comments to the top of the chat or use animated emotes, or enabling the Twitch Extension Crowd Control which allows in-chat currency to be used to train behavior or events in your live stream. These tools not only have the potential to enhance the viewer experience, particularly for those who might subscribe or donate to your channel, but they can also provide the means for more detailed qualitative data collection – subs or regulars using onscreen tools to change events in the live stream is a form of participatory action research!
4.3 Making Data-Driven Decisions for Future Live Streams
The first step in making data-driven decisions for future live streams is defining clear, achievable goals. For example, are you trying to reach a wider audience, or improve engagement? Do you want to increase sales, or gather funders and sponsors? Each of these goals requires a different kind of data to measure success. To increase sales, you’ll likely focus on conversion rates – that is, the percent of viewers that make a purchase. To reach a larger audience, you might look at total views, or where those views came from. In addition to this, it is also important to keep key performance indicators in mind when analyzing data. Viewing figures may indicate success, but it is worth considering other measures, such as shares or likes, to help you understand the true impact of your video. Whilst making data-driven decisions, flexibility is an important point that can sometimes be overlooked. By analyzing the data, it may be clear that a live stream did not get the desired results. This gives the valuable opportunity to learn and this can then lead to future test ideas and removal of unsuccessful tactics. Experimenting with tutorial-style content, live Q&A sessions or even 360° video can be the perfect way to keep live content fresh, and to encourage viewer engagement in the future. Lastly, make use of problem-solving and idea generating tactics. If something is not working – change it! In fact, using data to convince colleagues of necessary changes can be a great way to unify opinions and channel planning into a set structure that is likely to succeed. In addition to this, data-driven decisions can inspire new ideas, or help to open up market trends that may have previously gone unnoticed. All in all, by using data effectively and with a clear focus, you are more likely to invest resources in a way that is guaranteed to produce results that will go on to support and inform your future live stream success.
