Choosing from a range of live streaming platforms for your organization's webinars and live events can feel like navigating a maze.
With hundreds of options in the market, it has become a real challenge for content managers and communication professionals to find a suitable platform for their needs. The high investment costs of the platform make the decision-making process a bit more difficult.
The stakes are even higher since the repercussions of choosing the wrong platform lead to a disrupted workflow, hefty data migration costs, and security vulnerabilities. That’s why it’s crucial to select a solution that provides live video streaming optimized for reliability, scalability, and enterprise-grade security.
Given the risk of choosing the wrong platform, companies are looking for live streaming solutions with extra caution. Many live streaming companies now specialize in catering to business needs focusing on compliance, integration, and secure delivery for corporate events and webinars.
However, because of the wide acceptance of live streaming in recent years, businesses are becoming more confident in having a dedicated live streaming solution at their disposal.
Did you know that 70% of digital video audiences in the United States prefer watching videos on their smartphones? This highlights the importance of secure live streaming on multiple devices.
There are multiple requirements for live streaming platforms, which vary depending on the use case. In this blog, we will discuss finding the right live streaming platform, the criteria to evaluate a live streaming platform, and the pros and cons of the major players in the industry.
Choosing the right live streaming platform depends on your needs and goals. For business and professional needs, it is advantageous to have a dedicated livestream that gives you more control over your stream in terms of security, engagement, and viewer experience.
Certain requirements are crucial for small to large organizations that are looking for a secure live streaming solution for corporate communications, meetings, webinars, educational needs, or knowledge sharing of products and services. In such cases, enterprise video streaming solutions offer complete control, scalability, and compliance for global teams managing internal and external broadcasts.
For example, as the viewers are watching live content, organizations are concerned about safety and security. On certain platforms, you have the functionality to restrict access, while on others, you don’t.
Firstly, identifying your own needs is important to determine the right requirements. Although it is necessary to find a platform that ticks all the requirements, it is equally important to perform a cost-benefit analysis in terms of functionality, reliability, and scalability.
The trade-off between compatibility and integration effort, security and accessibility, scalability and specialized features is always running through the mind when you are looking for a platform.
Coming out of this dilemma is simply by understanding the functionality that you require from a live streaming platform. Let us look at the evaluation criteria for live streaming software in detail.
As an event manager or a corporate communication professional looking for a streaming solution, it is essential to understand your organizational needs and objectives while evaluating the live streaming platform capabilities. The best live streaming solutions align technical features—like encoding, scalability, and interactivity—with business goals to deliver measurable engagement.
Live streaming platforms should protect the stream at each stage, whether at rest or in transit, through encryption protocols. Security features like single sign-on (SSO) support help authenticate viewers, and IP and geo-restrictions prevent unwanted audience belonging to a certain region from becoming a part of your ongoing live stream.
All in all, secure live streaming platforms help create an exceptional viewing experience while protecting confidential information during corporate broadcasts, webinars, or internal events—safeguarding both data integrity and brand reputation.
Having a scalable live streaming platform is a must-have. After all, when you live-stream a virtual event or webinar, it is naturally expected that a large audience will follow. However, a sudden spike in Internet traffic can cause your live stream to crash or experience occasional stops.
Scalability is highly important for businesses and corporate professionals who anticipate rapid growth or expect to host large-scale events. The best live streaming video platform not only adapts to audience spikes but also ensures uninterrupted, high-quality streaming across devices and locations.
Advanced live streaming platforms should have storage capabilities for large volumes of video data. This means no matter the volume of data, you can fit all of it into one single platform.
Granular permissions should be available for each category and sub-category. The storage should ensure data integrity and long-term accessibility. Additionally, it should have efficient metadata management for quick search and retrieval of content.
Multiple deployment options, such as on-premises, SaaS, cloud, and hybrid, should be available to cater to various requirements. Each organization operating in a certain industry has its unique infrastructure, which results in different requirements and deployment preferences.
For instance, companies dealing with highly sensitive data might opt for an on-premises solution since the data is stored within the company's databases. On the other hand, less sensitive video content within a company can be hosted on a SaaS offering.
To make livestream engaging, we need to have options like live chat, social media feeds, and an interactivity pane to upload quizzes, surveys, or any other media. With a control room to moderate participants and run the live session from a centralized location, well-managed interactivity can be ensured.
For corporate livestreams, it is essential to monitor user engagement and live statistics, as well as review reports on how the livestream is performing, how users are interacting with it, and the media being shared. These extensive user and media-level statistics and reports will help identify any issues, enhance audience understanding, and pinpoint elements that lead to higher engagement.
Private corporations should livestream with their own branding and have a branded portal to enhance company identity and improve communication with the target audience. Few live streaming platforms provide a fully white-label platform with extensive branding.
Custom branding really helps by providing a familiar appearance that reflects the corporation's brand values and improves user trust. It also ensures a consistent experience across different touchpoints, reinforcing the same message. For organizations adopting live streaming for business, custom branding enhances professionalism and strengthens audience connection through recognizable corporate identity.
To know more about features, read our detailed blog on live streaming platform features to look for.
Since we have already highlighted the criteria required for a professional corporate livestream, let us quickly evaluate top-performing live streaming companies that offer enterprise-grade features and support across industries.
EnterpriseTube is a Gartner-recognized live streaming platform. It offers a vast range of AI features that enhance searchability and media accessibility. Some of the pros and cons of EnterpriseTube are:
Pros
Cons
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The Kaltura platform is the world's first open-source online video platform. Kaltura focuses on training and learning. However, it also caters to other business cases like corporate communications and virtual events.
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Cons
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No information is available on the website.
Dacast is a popular live streaming platform that offers its video streaming solution to multiple industries, such as media and entertainment, education, etc.
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Brightcove is an enterprise live streaming platform that caters to the media, broadcasting, entertainment, and sports industries.
Pros
Cons
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No information is available on the website, although Brightcove is known in the market to have a high price point.
Vimeo's live streaming solution is geared toward independent content creators. However, it also caters to enterprise use cases, such as corporate communications, learning and development, etc.
Pros
Cons
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IBM's cloud-based live streaming solution is powered by IBM Watson - its artificial intelligence (AI) technology. It addresses the need for video corporate communications, executive town halls, marketing product launches, and more.
Pros
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StreamYard is one of the popular live streaming platforms. It offers a multistreaming option to social media feeds and other platforms.
Pros
Cons
Pricing
No information is available on the website. According to SaaSworthy, the business plan costs $79/month with on-air webinars for only 1000 viewers and pre-recorded streams for only 4 hours.
In order to select the best streaming platform, we first identified the criteria that an excellent live streaming platform must meet for a professional corporate livestream experience.
We recognized that essential live streaming software features and capabilities include security, deployment capabilities, live interactivity, custom branding, analytics, integration, archival, category management, and access rights.
The future outlook of live streaming is promising because of its growth and adoption across various industries. Enterprise video streaming solutions are expected to evolve with ultra-low latency, AI-driven content management, and deep analytics to enhance engagement and accessibility.
Among many platforms, including Brightcove, Kaltura, and IBM, EnterpriseTube stood out based on its advanced features, high support, and focus on the use case.
Still have any doubts? Check out the EnterpriseTube portal yourself by signing up for a 7-day free trial.
What factors should be considered before choosing live streaming platforms?
The most important factors to consider before purchasing a live streaming platform include security features such as password protection, encryption, tokenized links, and single sign-on integration.
What are live streaming platforms?
Live streaming platforms are specialized software applications that enable organizations to broadcast video content in real time to large audiences. They are commonly used for webinars, conferences, virtual events, corporate communications, and educational sessions where immediate content delivery and audience engagement are essential.
How is critical information secured in a live stream?
Critical information during a live stream is secured through multiple layers of protection, such as encryption, secure streaming protocols, geo-blocking, and single sign-on authentication.
What are the best live streaming platforms?
Some of the best live streaming platforms include EnterpriseTube, Kaltura, Dacast, Brightcove, Vimeo, IBM Cloud Video, and StreamYard. Each platform has unique features, but EnterpriseTube stands out with its advanced AI-powered search, detailed analytics, multiple deployment models, and extensive white label branding options.
What software is used for live streaming?
EnterpriseTube is a leading software used for live streaming professional video content across industries. It enhances live streams with interactive features like Q&A, live chat, and surveys, while also providing granular analytics to measure engagement and optimize viewer experiences.
Why is scalability important in live streaming platforms?
Scalability is crucial in a live streaming platform because it ensures that the system can handle sudden spikes in audience size without disrupting quality. Adaptive bitrate streaming, strong server infrastructure, and load balancing allow businesses to deliver smooth, uninterrupted live streams even during high-traffic events.
How does custom branding improve live streaming experiences?
Custom branding in live streaming platforms enables organizations to stream video under their own identity by adding logos, colors, and custom domains. This not only enhances trust and professionalism but also reinforces brand recognition, ensuring viewers associate the content directly with the organization.
What is the future of live streaming platforms?
The future of live streaming platforms looks promising with advancements such as ultra-low latency, 5G connectivity, and artificial intelligence integration. These technologies will make live streaming more interactive, secure, and globally accessible, enabling organizations to engage audiences with higher-quality experiences.