The past couple of years have brought to attention, the vast scope and potential of using live streaming in the many aspects of life. Be it educational, cultural or business, live videos have made a niche for themselves in all sectors possible. And why not? Live streaming videos are a great mass communication tool with added benefits of engagement, instant feedback, marketing for brands and making money too.
When the pros of live video streaming add up, it becomes evident that the number of viewers of a live webcast should be higher for it to be more relevant and profitable too as many people as possible. With its value ever increasing in business and other related endeavours, live streams need a broader viewership. This can be done in two distinct ways – firstly, by improving the quality of streaming video and second, by promoting it through all means possible.
How to Improve the Quality of Your Live Streaming Video?
There are several factors to be taken into account when you go about improving the quality of your live stream. Some of the main methods are:
Use Better Equipment
In these digitally enabled times, anyone with a smartphone can also do live streaming. Despite this ability, the product is usually undesirable due to its blurry and poor quality. Try to use the best possible equipment for you to live webcasting to have a more professional look and quality. Single or multiple camera set-ups for live streaming are used by professionals along with dedicated audio mixing infrastructure as well.
Higher Speed Internet
The quality of a live stream depends on the internet speed too. Have a higher bandwidth than your streaming bitrates require and faster speed connection to have a better quality live webcast.
Choose Streaming Platform Carefully
While the idea of free live streaming is tempting, it also has many disadvantages. Apps that provide such video streaming services usually have little security, too many ads, poor SEO options and contains links to other sites/pages. Rather than dealing with this hassle, choose more professional streaming service providers.
Record The Live Stream
The Video On Demand (VOD) service often takes a backseat in competition against live streaming, but it is not without its uses. Record your live stream to later broadcast through VOD to increase overall viewership of the video.
Live Video Transcoding
Making different versions of the same video at different qualities, commonly known as transcoding, allows your live video to be viewed best as per the different internet speed of your many viewers. Primarily, this accounts for increased completion rates and satisfied viewers.
Video Stream Provider Latency
In live streaming, the time gap or delay between video recording and when it appears on screen is usually 30-60 seconds. , and you need to find the one with the lowest latency rates.
Use Video SEO
Improve your search engine optimization with better video titles and keywords so that viewers can find your video easily. Having your website rather than using other social platforms to host your video also adds to it.
Test Before Going Live
When everything is set up and gearing to go, don’t forget to do test runs of all your equipment and software before actually going live. Make sure that camera batteries are charged, the internet is working fine, and everything is in excellent working condition. This way, there are minimum chances of errors in live webcasting.
How is Promotion Done to Increase Viewership?
Your live stream is only as successful as the number of people who watch it. Even the highest quality video fails if people don’t know about its existence or it does not generate enough interest in the audience to view it.
Here are some ways to increase the viewership of your streams:
Tell People About It
One of the easiest ways to increase viewers is by telling people about your stream. This can be done by posting about it on your social media accounts, websites, blogs, through emails, messages, etc. you can even ask the masses to register beforehand and make stream event hashtags to have conversations about it.
Interesting Titles and Descriptions
Your live video streaming titles and descriptions should be compelling enough that viewers will want to click and see for themselves. A boring title can easily repel audiences, something that can be disastrous for your live stream. So write it with care and precision.
Use Teasers
Tease your audience about the content of your stream with short snippets, behind the scenes or preparation process clips and highlight moments that can be shared through different platforms. With added time and date of your stream, your viewers’ curiosity is sure to be roused.
Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement in the form of rewarding your viewers works wonders in getting repeat loyal viewers as well as getting new ones. Giveaways, raffles, lucky prize winners, exclusive and secret content etc. are ways to lure audiences to your streams.
Use Cross Promotion
Promote your live stream on all available channels so that all your different audiences know about it. The combined viewership from all the platforms is more extensive than any single one.
Longer Webcast
A critical factor in video streaming solutions is that a live stream should be longer than VOD or other online videos because viewers join your stream at different times, thus are counted differently too. A longer webcast allows more viewers to join even if they are late.
In Conclusion
A lot goes into increasing the viewership of your live webcast including creating good content, better production and streaming processes, promotion of streaming and lastly, choosing the correct live streaming services from all those available in the industry. Dreamcast, with its history of great work, provides high standards of live streaming services. Accomplish your goals with the best in the business!
