At first glance it sounds like a contradiction. Live but recorded? Let me explain.
Video content on internet has been booming over the past few years. Higher Internet bandwidths, excellent smartphone cameras coupled with higher internet penetration have created a plethora of video content on internet. It is no surprise that according to reports by 2019 a whopping 80% of internet traffic will be video.
Live streaming is growing fast
This humongous demand of video content has given rise to the latest social media trend: live streaming. Social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, snapchat and YouTube have invested huge sums of money to enhance their live streaming platforms. Brands, Social media stars, media outlets etc. are increasingly using live videos to interact with consumers, increase their market presence and grab as bigger a chunk as possible of the current 30 billion dollar live streaming market. Internet audiences are viewing more live content that ever before. Every market research done in recent past indicates substantial growth in live streaming market over the next foreseeable future.
Live streaming generates higher user engagement and revenue
In terms of add revenue growth live streaming dwarfs other types of video content
Live videos viewers feel more connection, intimacy and excitement compared to video on demand viewers. According to this research 80% would rather watch live video from a brand than read a blog. In the same research 67% audiences who watched a livestream purchased a ticket to a similar event. These result are fantastic news for livestreamers and digital marketers.
Advertisements seen during live content drive greater emotional engagement from viewers. This leads to higher revenues per video with live streaming. The authenticity and feel that a live video adds, translates into 4 to 5 times higher monetary gains for the content creators. Live video has by far the highest return on investments compared to any other form of advertisement.
Moreover live streaming generates higher level of curiosity among viewers, who are more likely to use multiple ways to communicate with the content provider. For example viewers while watching live content will search about the content creator on a search engine. Viewers are 3x more likely to watch a live streamed content on Facebook than a normal video. Interestingly Live video is more likely to appear higher in your news feed according to Facebook.
But Why Pre-recorded?
Now that you know how important live streaming can be for your business, the first question that pops up is why stream a recorded video and what does it mean.
The first thing to understand is that for social media sites to live stream a video all it needs is a video source. The source can be a video file (pre recorded) or a video feed from your camera. Live streaming platforms treat both the same way. They receive a video chunk by chunk and display it to users as “live”.
You can create your own social media TV
If the concept is hard to grab, think about your favorite weekly TV show. Is it live? It appears to be live, but it is pre-recorded (most of the times). You cannot rewind (or forward) it, you cannot skip advertisements but the episode was recorded earlier. This is exactly what a live streaming of pre-recorded video can do. For viewers it is just a live video with everything happening at that moment.
You can schedule it
With normal live streaming you have to be present and ready with a camera at the moment you want to start the stream. What if there is a power glitch? OR your laptop malfunctions? Or your internet connection breaks down? Or your neighbors start shouting over something? That could be a PR disaster or at best draw very negative reactions from viewers who have been waiting for the feed. You can see where I am heading, the point is you have to be very careful that everything goes perfectly as planned in a live video. To avoid any mishaps you have to invest money and buy expensive equipment or rent a proper studio. This is not very feasible for an average person trying to build an audience from his room. With pre-recorded videos you can create a video content beforehand, edit it to your liking and schedule it to go live at a predefined time. You never have to worry about anything going wrong. Moreover you do not even have to be present when the video is live. This allows you to schedule your live streaming videos at important events e.g. New Year, Thanks giving, without having to disturb your own schedule.
No buffering, flickering or pauses in a live stream
Streaming with pre recorded videos has another huge advantage. High quality streaming. Even with a high speed internet connection viewing live streaming is never a smooth experience. There are always unwanted glitches, screen pauses, sound issues. Most of the times it is due to the fact that video from you camera is not being sent at a constant rate i.e the video source is not stable. With prerecorded video there is high likelihood that the video being sent for streaming is more stable and the send rate can be controlled via streaming software, leading to a smoother, cleaner experience for the viewers. This small but key difference can be a real competitive advantage.
You get higher content rating with less stress
As mentioned earlier live streaming is rated higher by social media platforms leading to higher views and more advertisement revenues. With pre-recorded videos you reap all the advantages of live streaming without having to be stressed up about producing a good quality live content. You can put all your attention on interacting with your viewers during the live stream session. This will, in turn, lead to a significant increase in viewer’s engagement, increase brand/channel loyalty among viewers and overall higher growth of your online video content.
Conclusion
Using Prerecorded videos for live streaming is a very new concept. It will take sometime before it gets wider adoption. Before you might ask, using prerecorded videos for live streaming is completely legal and allowed by all major social media outlets like Facebook Live, YouTube Live or Periscope. Depending on your use case it might be a good idea to let your viewers know that the video was recorded earlier. Using OneStream you get all the benefits of a live stream with amazing user experience and minimum fuss. It is a cloud based solution which means you do not need to install any software or require any advanced technical skills.
If you have any questions about OneStream please feel free to email us at care@onestream.live