by Live streaming for marketers is no longer a novelty live video is changing the way brands interact with their audiences. A live video strategy engages viewers in immediate and authentic ways that other social media formats cannot.
Scope:
Rise of Smartphones: Secondly, we all know more people with a smartphone than people without, right? With smartphones so common these days, people can watch live streams whether they’re commuting to work, on their lunch break, waiting for an appointment, or even just on the sofa at home.
Huge Audience: Firstly, with all the different live streaming ideas, brands have an opportunity to reach out to people that haven’t yet come across their name. Rather than hitting a set list of people with email marketing, live streaming can attract people you didn’t even know could be interested.
New Opportunities: Thirdly, as we’re going to see later, there are great ways to interact with an audience regardless of your niche. Don’t assume that live streaming isn’t an option for your industry or audience; you might be surprised.
Advantage:
Instant Playback
In the early days of the Internet, if a webmaster wanted to add videos to his website, he had to post it as a link. Web site visitors then had to download the file completely before playing it back. This all changed with streaming video. Content is served in a way that allows files to play almost immediately after the file begins to download. Special streaming media servers also allow viewers to jump forward and backward through a video file.
Piracy Protection
Allowing your Web site visitors to download video files especially copyrighted material makes it much easier for your content to be pirated. Your downloaded video files could be shared with others through file-sharing networks and other methods. Streaming video technology is harder to copy and prevents users from saving a copy to their computer if you don’t want them to. While it’s not perfect, it may give you better peace of mind about distributing your content online.
Disadvantages:
Bandwidth Use
Streaming videos require sufficient bandwidth to play, especially at higher quality. For example, Netflix’s streaming service requires a Internet speed of at least 5 Mbps for HD quality, 7 Mbps for “Super HD” quality, and 12 Mbps for 3D streaming. While these speeds are generally available with most cable/DSL connections, those with slower connections may experience issues with playback and/or poor quality, since some services will reduce video quality in order to ensure uninterrupted playback.
Online Only
While the advantage of giving your users instant playback and yourself protection from content pirates might be attractive, these can also work against you as streaming video works only when there is an available Internet connection. If the viewer’s Internet connection is cut during playback or they need to watch your content offline, they will be out of luck. In these cases consider offering the user an option to both stream and download the video file, and using copy protection to prevent piracy.
