Live Streaming events, Who cares?
20th March 2017
Live streaming has been the latest implementation of many popular social media platforms and is becoming one of the key part of business models as brands seek to reach a larger audience, this new concept is ground-breaking and can potentially change the entire events industry with how events are participated in. The value of events and the participation is the ‘benefits or value a brand offers to customers in its products and services’. With Live streaming being a service that the brand can offer it has the potential to completely shape how events are run and be a huge factor. This movement was predicted by the futurologist named Toffler and was called ‘future Shock’. It was anticipated the dematerialization of the economy and within it the prominent role of experiences. This shows a prediction to a more technological future. This theory has been capitalized on by the events industry and live streaming of the events are taking place, there are many issues that the events industry is facing with live streaming at present time, these are the cost, the safety, and the event experience.
When it comes to live streaming events, the hosts of the events should set a budget aside, as the costs of live streaming events can be relatively high. However, this depends on the quality and level of streaming that the event wants to use. By setting a healthy budget for live streaming, it will allow for higher quality of video being streamed, which in turn will provide a better brand image, as 62% of people are more likely to have a negative perception of a brand that has used low quality videos (KZO). Although it can be expensive to have high quality streaming, the benefits of this can be seen, as 30% of people who watch a live stream event will attend the same even the following year (Digitell). This can be seen in the music event Coachella which sold out their 2011 concert in 3 days, then after live streaming their event in 2011, it only took 3 hours to sell out in 2012 and currently in 2016 they managed to attract 9 million live stream views which is a significant increase to their live attendees of the event. This shows that although the costs can be high, the return on investment is high with 52% of worldwide marketers saying videos are the content type with the best return on investment (Hubspot). By being able to reach large numbers online, this can potentially benefit the event greatly, as although the costs can be high, the return on the investment can also be very high, with extra sources of income coming through pay per view, subscriptions, sponsorships, adverts and many more.
Live streaming is an investment many brands like to venture into, as it is arguably one of the most considered methods of interacting with the audience. It is widely accepted that live streaming can assist a brand in connecting with the community and become a more accessible brand. Although live streaming can assist a brand in connecting with its audience, it is important to provide both the live attendees at the event and the audience viewing it online with the best experiences possible. As the live attendees at the event are one of the main sources of income through ticket sales, it is important to provide them with the best experience possible to allow the attendees to feel like the event was the best value for money. However, if the event is being live streamed, then event planners also must find a balance which allows the online viewers the best experience possible as they are potential future customers that might attend the event.
Online security is an area of concern when it comes to live streaming events such as pay per view streams will require viewers details and information, such as credit cards, to remain safe and secure. Other security issues can be seen with other sites streaming your event illegally, which can lead to a decrease in revenue. However, if events hire professional companies in to do the live streaming, this should significantly reduce security risks, as they should have the measures in place to prevent them.
Overall, we believe that live streaming events will become a norm in the future, as it is a way of reaching a larger audience base, which in turn can help generate more income for the event. As consumers and event professionals what are your thoughts?
Interesting, however, is this live streaming likely to negatively affect income from attendees? Is there any evidence that it can be used as another revenue stream?
When it comes to live streaming, it is unlikely to affect the income from the attendees as the event will still happen regardless to it being live streamed or not. Essentially, live streaming is a secondary tool that event organisers can use in order to promote the event which in turn should generate some extra income, with the main source of income still coming from the attendees. However, the online viewers must still be provided with a good experience, as they are potential attendees in the future. This could potentially negatively affect the income of future attendees if the quality of the stream and experience is poor as live streaming should encourage future attendees rather than discourage them.
According to Invodo, video viewers are 1.7x more likely to buy which shows that it can be used as another revenue stream as the event can directly target its audience through the live stream.
Interesting read. I personally don’t think it is comparable attending an event, and sitting at home streaming it online. Do you think the efforts of event managers caring about the quality of online streaming is really necessary? It could potential affect their ticket sales from attendees so what’s the point?
The quality of the online streaming is still very necessary, as the event managers want to provide the viewers with a positive experience. Although you are right in that fact that attending the event will be a more exciting experience than watching it from home. However, by live streaming events it can reach a much larger audience, especially viewers who are unable to attend the event whether it is due to tickets selling out, location, or people being unable to afford the prices of tickets. So by providing high quality streaming, it provides the audience with the next best thing, as these are possible future attendees of your event.
Yes true. It will be interesting to see if live streaming becomes the norm in future events and whether event managers can make a worthwhile ROI from it.
Thank you once again for your comment Lisa. Yes, it will be interesting to see where live streaming goes from here on. By looking at various forms of research and recent trends celebratory events (particularly weddings) are becoming the so called “norm” most likely due to the factor of cost and capacity having an impact on number of attendees able to be at the venue. Sporting events are also increasingly being live streamed across the globe. I’m sure businesses and events managers will find ways to turn live streaming into one that brings in a healthy form of revenue.
Although the advance in technology has spurred live streaming to increase in popularity, is it possible this is just due to it being new and exciting meaning the novelty may eventually wear off?
Live streaming could offer perks for aspiring event goers who struggle to access tickets for high demand events such as Glastonbury. Thus, still allowing them to have an intangible experience. However in such a digital age where users rely on their tangible experiences which they can later post about on social media and brag to friends, will live streaming really affect attendance numbers?
This could maybe be something which is invested in by businesses which run event venues, through buying the rights to live stream in order to create their own event opportunities? Such as a venue showing Glastonbury. Is this the direction this industry is going in?
Thank you for commenting and you bring up some excellent points. It’s hard to say if live streaming is a “novelty” or not one example being Ben Rubin the creater of Yevvo (which was a form of live broadcasting on the iphone) watched the first version of this product, spread rapidly in places as disparate as South America and Michigan after launching in August 2013. However just as quickly as it caught people’s attention, it died out. Rubin said. Just because everyone signs up for a product doesn’t mean it will continue to grow. It can be tough to tell what will stick around. We are now in 2017, 5 years on from Rubin’s first idea and livestreaming is still very much alive.
For example, 2014 Glastonbury only 120,000 tickets went on sale with 1million people registering for them this obviously left 880,000 disappointed and unhappy customers, plus the standard ticket costing £210 plus booking fee. Livestreaming has no hindering affect on the number of attendees attending an event but it allows those who weren’t lucky enough to be there the chance to be able to watch the event and still enjoy the experience. For the next Glastonbury, the BBC have promised to increase its livestreaming coverage, being on television, red button iplayer. Plus, Glastonbury itself now offer Glastonbury live.
I do think that livestreaming is a new form which businesses are beginning to understand and realise the importance off. We are seeing an ever-increasing growth in this technological age.
This is an interesting read as live streaming is a very new concept to the events industry and therefore the question is, is it here to stay? I have experienced live streaming before and if it is not of good quality then the audience engagement will not be high and therefore people will become disinterested and will stop watching the live stream. You have stated that companies can pay for high quality streaming but what is the return on investment for the company as viewers may wish to not attend the event at all due to additional costs? What are event managers doing to ensure that viewers attend the event the following year?
If we look at one company “Livestream “for example. In 2015, 374M people watched video content on Livestream. There is now technology to share live video with anyone at any time. But we’re also living in a time of unprecedented access to content
To answer your question if livestreaming “is here to stay” it isn’t something we can guarantee however what we can do is base our theory on the figures and trends that have come out of livestreaming events. By 2019 there is expected to be over 28M cord cutters (homes without paid TV services) and this is just in the United States alone. Audiences become more accustomed to watching video content from a mobile device or computer, they will expect televised awards shows, concerts, and sports events that have cultural significance in their life to be available live and on-demand as well. The quality of live streaming is something that companies and event companies will need to look into and produce the best quality for the events as possible because you are right when you say poor quality will pose a lack of audience engagement however no matter how good the quality being produced it will remain on a screen and will be a completely different experience from the actual event that is tangible and you won’t get the same atmosphere that comes with an audience.
The way that companies can ensure that they will get a large footfall year in year out and grow is to make sure that customers know the experience of attending an event is more appealing than live streaming it. This could be down to giveaways, meeting celebrities or even as simple as an event wristband that you get to keep like they do at festivals. The live streaming is a great way of attracting an audience for the following year because if someone was to watch the event and really enjoy it, they are more likely to want to make the effort and part with the cash to come and attend next year, growing the audience and potentially thew live streaming audience.
Thank you for answering my questions. It has now broadened my knowledge on live streaming and I will consider it as a promotional tool when organising events.
Amelia
From a professional point of view should I have any concerns on live streaming? .. for instance if the stream is of poor quality or is unsuccessful will it have a negative affect on the business
Well written ! What happens if the live streaming gets interrupted, most live streaming videos nowadays go through connection errors or the connection being lost mid streaming. Would there be any back up video? Are you equipped to deal with such issues?
Generally live streaming works better through pay per view services as they provide better quality streaming in comparison to platforms that provide live streaming for free. Once the stream is finished, it is uploaded to youtube for example.
Live streaming is a great and innovative concept spreading fast through the industry. Your blog seems to be well researched and goes through most points concerning live streaming. I personally feel accessibility has started to become a problem as many websites now require you to download softwares or sign up with lots of information to just access that one stream. How easy have you made your accessibility? Is there a particular software needed to access these live streams? Would they be easy to access through my phone?
When it comes to live streaming, there are a number of platforms that event organisers can use, these include websites such as youtube and facebook which can be easily accessed through computers and phones. However some of the paid streaming sites might require customers to sign up and download extra software in order to run the stream.
With technology advancing, most streams you can watch on your phones.
From a professionals point of view, how much of an impact of a bad quality stream affect the audience engagement?
Lower quality streams affect the audience engagement greatly, as lower quality videos can discourage viewers who watch the stream and therefor might not attend the event as their experience online was poor. So by providing high quality streams, it will provide the best experience for the audience.
You say live streaming can cost a lot of money, but cant you live stream on your phones to facebook and youtube?
Yes there are several apps which are widely available which easily allow livestreaming from mobile straight to online, Mobile is sometimes the preferred option mainly due to the sheer easy accessibility as near enough everyone has a smart phone. However streams from mobiles aren’t as of a good quality as those from cameras and professional equipment.
How can event organisers prevent people from stealing your streams? Should we be worried about this issue?
Hello Live Streaming Events. I think this blog raises some really interesting points and has been great to read. After reading your response to Amelia’s comment, I post the question- are people actually more likely to make the effort and part with cash to attend an event they can effectively watch for free? Especially if streaming high quality videos is a priority for events managers.
Although we are seeing the money in consumer’s pockets slowly increase, the referendum to leave the EU is still leaving consumers price-conscious as the value of the sterling is depreciating and commodity prices rising. Albeit an extreme possibility, it’s still important to consider that live streaming may negatively affect ticket sales in the near future.
Despite this, I still agree that watching an event through live streaming has no comparison at all with physically attending a live event. However, if broadcasters are not receiving the ROI they desire from an increasing number of ‘cord cutters’, this may increase the popularity of live streaming at event’s. I do agree that live streaming of events is a great tool to promote events, however I think event managers should be doing more to reduce the number of live streaming videos in order to preserve the exclusivity of the event.
Thank you for your thoughts Lottie,
I do 100% believe that the number one focus for event managers and events is to push for tickets sales as this is the number source of income for any events. As you agree with me you too would much prefer to go to a live event rather than watch online, down to you having a better experience. We shouldn’t show any concerns with fall in ticket sales. However with the continuous growth of technology becoming a greater trend across the globe can the events industry truly afford to neglect this idea of livestreaming?
A very thought-provoking blog! It joins the theory of having an online and offline event which a lot of event managers are now striving to achieve for the attendees that can’t be there, however, when do event managers need to stop with their online event presence, will that have a negative impact on ticket sales? Will events deplete as it’ll become all about live streaming and attendees won’t attendee the event if they can access it online for free?
From a B2B events perspective, live streaming does not work well at all, very few people will watch the live streams, however it has grown dramatically within B2C as more consumers are likely to watch due to high demand. I would raise the question, is there a need for it within the industry and is it ruining the industry by taking away ‘event experience’?
Thank you for your thoughts,
The whole aim of livestreaming is not to take anything away from ticket sales, with all events their is a capacity to how many tickets are available. In most cases the demand for tickets is greater than the capacity available. Livestreaming is allowing those who were unsuccessful in requiring tickets the chance to still experience the event.
I wouldn’t say that livestreaming is ruining the industry at all, however technology is a continuously growing trend across the globe, consumers are becoming more dependant on technology and are in some way addicted to smart phones and computers.The events industry needs to keep up with continuous consumer demands and livestreaming is one way that it can do so.
Of course on some occasions the streaming may be unsuccessful but could this be because it wasn’t undertaken correctly?
You make some great points. However, surely an event loses its authenticity when watched behind a screen? Events are about experience and emotional responses, but surely these will be entirely different to those watching the event on a screen?
Also, it raises the question of who will be buying a ticket and who will be choosing to live stream? Not everybody who partakes in the live stream will be doing so necessarily because they could not gain a ticket. They may have just had the thought that it would be cheaper and easier to watch a live stream than buy the ticket, get transport to and from the event with possible accommodation to be booked to.
But again, that is part of the experience of an event, is it not?
We also should definitely see it from the point of view of the attendees who have bought the ticket and made the effort to go to the event. Would they feel cheated? Less valued?
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks for reply.
When it comes to events, you are correct to say that attending events will provide the experience and emotional response which you wont get when watching behind a screen. The live attendees of the event should still be the event organisers main concern to providing the best experience as they are still your main revenue stream.
The way that we see live streaming advancing in the events industry, is to be used as a secondary tool that event organisers may wish to use, as it is able to reach a wider range of audience who may be potential attendees in the future. And that it should be used as a tool to encourage people to attend the event rather discourage them.
Would live streaming events be just as memorable to the viewers when they are not at the event itself in person? It is still highly beneficial for people who are unable to attend in person though.
When it comes to events, attending the event in person would still be the most memorable part in comparison to live streaming. However, if event organisers are able to provide the viewers with the best experience possible online, it will hopefully leave a good impression on the viewers and in turn hopefully they might attend the events the following year.
We believe that live streaming is a secondary tool that event organisers can use to help promote the event and although it might not be as memorable as attending the event, it allows people who cant attend the event the next best thing.