What is Live Streaming and Why Use It for Corporate Live Streaming

by Rafay Muneer on Oct 31, 2024 7:38:05 AM

An image of a man streaming live

Master Live Streaming: Benefits, Types, and Tips for Corporate Success
26:19

Thanks to the technological advancements of the past few decades, live streaming has become a popular medium among audiences. According to Statista, 28.5% of all internet users worldwide enjoyed a live stream in the last quarter of 2023. It's safe to say that live streams are here to say.

But what is live streaming exactly? And more importantly, why should you use it? Well, if you're a content creator, it helps you broaden your audience and engage them in new ways. If you're a viewer, it lets you participate in real-time events from the comfort of your home.

However, live streaming is not all it's cracked up to be. It can help achieve goals that go well beyond simple entertainment. Corporate live streaming has become a powerful tool for businesses to connect with their audience in real-time.

From hosting a product launch event that reaches a global audience simultaneously to conducting interactive training sessions for employees across different locations, live streams offer an alternative way to attend in-person events that help to stream to a broader audience and eliminate geographical limitations.

However, getting started with corporate live streaming may seem challenging at first. Unlike regular streaming, organizations have to consider scalability and security when streaming, making the process slightly different.

This blog will cover the essentials of live streaming, its benefits, and how you can start live streaming for your organization. But first, let's understand what live streaming is.

What is Live Streaming?

Streaming is all the rage these days, and the days of downloading media to view are behind us. However, there are multiple ways of streaming content, which may lead you to think, "What is live streaming?"

Simply put, live streaming is the process of broadcasting audio and/or video content in real time to an audience. This is done over the internet using a variety of streaming protocols that make caching, content delivery, streaming optimization, and playback possible. It helps adjust the video quality based on the viewers' internet connection to avoid buffering, ensuring a smooth experience.

Going live is particularly useful when the interaction between the broadcaster and the audience needs to be quick, such as during a webinar, when viewers need to ask their burning questions and have them answered by the presenter or guest speaker.

Say a large marketing agency wants to host industry conferences. They can use live streaming to reach and interact with a global audience.

Live Streaming vs On-Demand Streaming

Live streams aren't the only type of video that can be streamed. Thanks to the rise of fast internet speeds and the popularity of HTML5 players, on-demand videos can be streamed on any device without downloading them.

On-demand streaming and live video streaming share striking similarities in the way that content is packaged, distributed, and delivered to users over the Internet. Given that fact, you may wonder how the two are different.

As the name implies, live streams occur in real time or as close to real time as possible. Even with the most ideal conditions, a few seconds of delay can occur as the stream reaches users across the world.

During a live stream, content is stored in the content distribution server (also known as a CDN) in chunks that are a few seconds long and delivered accordingly to the viewer. For on-demand streams, the entire file is cached on the server and streamed as the viewer demands it.

Here are some of the most significant differences between streaming video on demand and live streams:

Content Availability

Viewers can start playing live streams almost as soon as they are broadcast. However, once the live stream ends, the content typically disappears unless the broadcaster chooses to record and archive it. This may sound like a significant drawback, but it also makes live streams unique.

On the other hand, on-demand videos are recorded, edited, and published in advance, allowing viewers to access them at any time. Because of this, on-demand videos can be polished depending on the requirements and can even become part of a content library of similar videos.

Playback Control

When viewing an on-demand video, the viewer can pause, rewind, fast forward, and control the video as they wish. This is particularly helpful for training videos where viewers may need to pause to take down notes, rewind to replay information they may have missed, or skip sections that they are already familiar with.

As you can expect, live streams can't offer the same level of control. The stream will continue to play until the broadcaster stops broadcasting or the viewer stops streaming. Once again, the way to get around this is to record the video and make it available on-demand. This allows viewers who miss the live broadcast or want to revisit specific moments to catch up on the action later.

Interactivity

Both on-demand and live video streaming offer viewers some form of interactivity. However, the difference lies in the kind of interaction they offer.

Live streams have interaction capabilities that are—well—live. That means they can interact with their viewers using live chat, FAQs, and social media feeds. These features are tailored to provide more immediate engagement and interactive possibilities like asking questions, participating in discussions, or sharing reactions with others.

In contrast, on-demand videos have interactive options that, like the videos themselves, are there to stay. Typically, you can expect interactive options like comments and likes that allow viewers to leave their thoughts on the content for others to see and react to. But sometimes, on-demand videos can also be integrated with additional interactivity features such as quizzes and surveys to allow viewers to offer their insights after they've had time to reflect on the content.

Types of Live Streams

While live streaming offers a powerful mode of engagement and communication, there's more than one way to do it. The specific format you choose can significantly impact the viewing experience.

Here's a breakdown of the three main types of live streams:

In-Person Live Streams

In-person live streams are where a host, presenter, guest speakers, and other important figures are physically present on stage but talk to a virtual audience.

It's like bringing a front-row seat directly to a remote audience. It has all the buzz of a live event and the excitement and experience of the conference floor without any logistical hassles.

Virtual Live Streams

Virtual live streams offer even more convenience than in-person live streams. These live streams require no physical presence from anyone—not the audience, guests, or broadcasters. Everyone joins from the comfort of wherever they are, and it gets hosted on a virtual stage.

The benefit of virtual live streams is that they offer a hassle-free experience for everyone. All the time and cost considerations of traveling, setting up an event, or accommodating large unanticipated audiences.

Hybrid Live Streams

Hybrid live streams try to split the difference between in-person live streams and actual physical events. The broadcasters and hosts appear on stage, and a few rows of seats are filled with physically present audience members. However, the rest of the audience joins the livestream virtually.

The most significant benefit hybrid streams offer is that they give viewers a taste of the energy and excitement they could have experienced in an on-site event. Remote viewers can still feel connected to the live event through the reactions of the physical audience when they raise their hands or applaud.

Uses for Corporate Live Streaming

Believe it or not, live streaming is a popular medium of choice in the corporate world. 53% of all organizations broadcast a live stream at least once a year. This widespread adoption is driven by live streams' unique ability to connect with audiences in real time. It helps organizations reach out to customers, community partners, and employees in ways that on-demand video can't.

But how exactly do businesses leverage live streaming to achieve their goals? Let's explore some of the most common types of corporate live streams:

Executive Communications

Modern organizational leadership always requires a robust internal communications strategy to create a culture of transparency, communicate organizational goals, and align employees with the company's vision.

As a medium of communication, live video streaming offers companies a practical way to conduct executive communications. It helps senior leaders and communication professionals reach out to their employees and disseminate critical information as soon as it comes out.

This is particularly useful for emergency communications or time-sensitive announcements as it helps prevent misinformation and rumors from forming or spreading. It's also helpful in maintaining transparency when communicating major company announcements like mergers and acquisitions so employees don't feel out of the loop.

Product Launches and Demos

Live streaming helps organizations generate the excitement necessary for a successful product launch. It eliminates the logistical and financial hassles associated with hosting large launch events in person and helps them reach significantly more people around the world.

Companies can simultaneously showcase their product launches to viewers worldwide in real-time. They can generate pre-stream anticipation and even nurture this engagement after the event on social media.

The same goes for live product demos, where a company unveils its product's features and functionalities in real-time. Live demos allow viewers to witness the product in action, ask questions through chat functions, and get a firsthand feel for its capabilities. This interactive element fosters a sense of engagement and builds trust with potential customers.

Employee Training and Learning

Videos have always been leveraged as a medium to train and educate, whether through pre-recorded lectures or online courses. Educational institutions have always looked to interactive ways to engage their learners.

But they're not the only ones. Corporate professionals utilize videos for training and learning to make the process more flexible and engaging for their employees. This approach has seen great success from giants such as McDonald's, Walmart, Chick-fil-A, and others.

Similarly, live streaming helps organizations hold live training sessions for their workforce. The live nature of the training sessions makes it easy for trainees to ask questions and interact with the instructor or fellow learners.

Of course, the live stream can also be recorded and provided for on-demand viewing once it ends. That way, it can be repurposed for future training sessions.

Town Hall Sessions

Organizations regularly host town hall meetings to address employee concerns, discuss company updates, and promote a sense of community. Live streaming these sessions allows for broader participation and real-time interaction.

Employees can submit questions beforehand or use live chat during the live event. This helps the company and upper management promote open communication and a sense of connection with the organization. Additionally, live town halls can be recorded and shared for those who couldn't attend in real-time, ensuring everyone stays informed.

Webinars

Organizations are known for hosting webinars to educate, inform, engage, and interact with customers, partners, and industry experts. This can help them generate leads, host product demos, extend their marketing reach, etc.

Webinars also help companies establish their credibility in the industry by bringing on a subject matter expert (SME). These SMEs can be industry thought leaders, renowned authors, or even experienced employees from within the organization.

The discussion of valuable industry trends and the participation of SMEs lend legitimacy to the webinar and position the hosting company at the forefront of the field. That makes webinars a beneficial form of corporate live streaming.

Live Events

It's not uncommon for organizations to host events as part of their outreach activities. Live streams help them offer a similar but unique experience that's a bit more flexible and convenient.

Live events create an unparalleled sense of energy, connection, and immersion that cannot be achieved by streaming video recordings alone. Audiences can experience what the experience might have been like in an on-site event.

While in-person events create a unique atmosphere of energy, connection, and immersion, live streams can still capture some of that magic and deliver a captivating virtual experience for those who could not attend.

Why You Should Consider Live Video Streaming

By now, we've explored the various types of live video streaming and their applications across different sectors. But the real question is, what is live streaming good for? For that, we'll need to delve deeper into the key benefits that make this format so powerful for interaction and engagement.

Let's take a look at the key benefits of live video streaming:

It Helps Create a Buzz

The inherent ability of live streams to generate excitement and anticipation is undeniable. Think about a product launch countdown or a sneak peek behind the scenes before a major event. This real-time element creates a sense of urgency to avoid FOMO and compels viewers to tune in and be a part of something special.

This buzz can generate social media engagement and spread awareness about a certain message or event. They're beneficial for marketing and promotion activities to build excitement around your brand and attract new customers.

For example, companies like Apple are infamous for their live-streamed product launches, which showcase an upcoming product from their lineup. This strategy has worked well for them to generate engagement and get more eyes on their products. For its iPhone 11 launch stream, Apple saw over 1.8 million viewers during the peak of the live event. As you can imagine, it managed to generate a lot of traction for the company on social media and get the word out.

It Facilitates Immediate Communication and Engagement

No matter how well-produced a pre-recorded video is, it lacks the immediacy and engagement of a live stream. Live streams foster a two-way communication channel, allowing viewers to interact with the presenter or other participants in real-time, which is impossible by simply streaming video.

After all, what is live streaming if not an interactive way, to engage with your audience in real-time?

Through immediate interaction using live chat, viewers can feel like they have an equal stake in the stream. Research has shown that messages typed by users in live chats tend to be highly emotional and expressive, indicating that live videos capture viewers' attention and emotional investment.

This heightened emotional connection can significantly make live streams more memorable and impactful than pre-recorded content. Viewers can walk away from a live stream saying that they didn't just passively consume it but actually participated in it and became a part of it.

But how does that translate into results? What is live streaming achieving by keeping viewers engaged? Well, they can accomplish many outcomes, such as creating a positive association with the broadcaster or even influencing a buying decision. According to a GWI report, people engaged in a live stream are 39% more likely to buy the premium version of a product.

It Has a Global Reach

Traditional events like conferences and seminars require that the audience be physically present to attend. However, this is not always possible due to scheduling issues, tight budgets, or other limitations. In fact, 50% of event attendees are no-shows due to a lack of travel budgets.

Regardless, live streaming solves this problem entirely. It removes geographical barriers, allowing anyone with an internet connection to participate in real time, regardless of location. This opens up a global audience for presenters, speakers, or entertainers. It can transform even the humblest of local events into a global phenomenon that reaches a vast and engaged audience.

For instance, Nintendo regularly live streams its Nintendo Direct event, which showcases company updates, product announcements, and upcoming game launches for its console lineup. On June 18th, 2024, they managed to amass a whopping 2.96 million peak viewers for their stream. This would, in no small part, have been possible without the conveniences and flexibility afforded by live streaming.

It Comes with Detailed Insights

The success of businesses and large-scale organizations hinges on big data. Whether it's gauging the success of a company event or training program, organizations can often feel like they're operating blind.

This is where live streams can present a strategic advantage. Live streams provide a treasure trove of valuable data. Unlike traditional events, organizations can walk away from a live stream with a wealth of metrics such as content interaction, audience overview, interactivity trends, and much more.

These metrics can be analyzed to understand viewer engagement, demographics, and preferences. Performance analytics can also help organizations identify areas where the service may be slow or experiencing technical issues.

It Can Be Easily Repurposed

Live streams are a great way to reach an audience, but their reach doesn't stop the moment the stream ends. Unlike traditional events that disappear once they're over, the content from your live stream can be easily repurposed into various engaging formats, extending its reach and value.

There are several ways to reuse a live stream, from offering it entirely on-demand to posting bite-sized highlights on social media or creating posts and articles from the recorded transcription. Any decent content marketing strategy within an organization will require diversified content, and repurposing a live stream provides a golden opportunity to reuse content freshly.

What's more, it offers organizations a way to avoid significantly investing in creating entirely new content. Repurposing a live stream leverages the time and resources already poured into the initial creation, transforming it into a content library to fuel marketing efforts for days or even weeks to come.

What Tools Do You Need for a Live Stream

Going live does require some planning and the right tools, but luckily, it's not rocket science. In fact, these days, it's easier than ever with out-of-the-box tools, such as live streaming platforms, to help the process along.

Here are some of the basic tools you'll need to start your first professional livestream:

Camera

Your camera is by far the most critical piece of equipment you'll need for live streaming. While it's tempting to pull out a smartphone and think it is sufficient, you might need something better to seem professional.

Consider using a dedicated camera for your live stream. Remember that it doesn't necessarily have to be a professional streaming camera. You can even get away with using an old webcam as long as it can record with sufficient quality.

The better your camera is, the better your video quality will be to your viewers. With a good camera, you'll get a sharper image without worrying about blurriness or pixelation.

Microphone

Microphones are usually second in line after cameras, especially since many cameras come with built-in microphones. However, their importance shouldn't be understated. Research suggests that audio quality is more important than video quality for viewers assessing the quality of a video stream.

This makes intuitive sense since the idea of a live stream is for broadcasters to engage and interact with their audience. So, if your voice is muffled or riddled with background noise, it can be frustrating and difficult for viewers to engage.

That's why it's important to opt for a dedicated microphone. Although having one microphone for every speaker is advisable, you can get away with using one just at the start. For a beginner setup, you can opt for an entry-level dynamic mic that's popular for podcasting purposes.

Encoder

An encoder is the next important piece of equipment you need. Encoders essentially package the raw output from your camera and microphone into a format that can be easily streamed and played back.

Encoders come in many shapes and forms. You could go as basic as a software encoder running on a computer, a cloud encoder, a dedicated hardware encoder, or even a capture card. Which encoder you choose will depend on your needs. If you're only looking to live stream an HDMI input, you might get away with just using a capture card. For more demanding streams, you might consider a computer or hardware encoder. However, this also depends on how hefty the stream is and the number of viewers. You may have to depend on using extensive hardware resources to get the job done.

Software and cloud encoders are the most convenient and scalable solutions. They allow you to scale your stream depending on its demands. They handle the encoding process seamlessly in the background, allowing you to focus on other areas of the streaming process.

CDN

While having a CDN is not a requirement, it can benefit your live stream. Streaming to users across the globe sounds like a viable option. However, the process is not always perfect, given the number of viewers and their distance from the streaming server.

Traditionally, live streams travel from the source directly to the viewers. This can cause issues for viewers in faraway locations, resulting in buffering, lag, and a frustrating viewing experience.

A Content Delivery Network (CDN) solves this problem. It acts as a network of servers strategically placed around the world. When you stream using a CDN, a copy of your live stream is cached (stored temporarily) on these servers.

This means viewers in different regions can access the stream from the closest server, significantly reducing lag and ensuring a smooth viewing experience, regardless of location.

Learn more about content delivery networks and how they deliver smooth streaming experiences.

Live Streaming Platform

Finally, the last piece of the puzzle is your live-streaming platform. This is the last stage, where your livestream will be broadcast and viewed by your audience. You can set up your live streaming platform to ingest a stream from your encoder, specify the publishing point, leverage CDNs, and start streaming.

Live streaming platforms simplify the streaming process by providing a user-friendly interface that allows you to easily set up your stream, manage your broadcast settings, and interact with your audience.

What's more, they offer additional features that go beyond live video streaming. Using these platforms, you can add interactivity to your streams, generate and view detailed analytics, embed the stream on web pages, and much more.

Reap the Benefits of Live Streaming with Enterprise Tube

Understanding what live streaming is can open up new opportunities for real-time engagement and interaction for you and your organization. But that's just part of the equation; you have to understand how to do it and how you can leverage it to meet your needs.

If you're curious to read more about how live streaming works in depth, you can check out our blog on how live streaming works.

If this is your first time streaming live, it may seem a bit complicated at first. But it's surprising how simple it can be. The only caveat is that the output will only be as effective as the tools of the trade used.

For organizations that can't rely on contracting live production teams every time they want to release a live stream, it makes much more sense to start investing in the time to understand the process and invest in the right equipment.

Luckily, live-streaming platforms make the process so much simpler. Recognized by Gartner, EnterpriseTube is a complete enterprise video platform with on-demand and live video streaming capabilities. With EnterpriseTube, you can stream to limitless audiences with comprehensive video analytics, interactivity options, extensive security capabilities, secure stream sharing, and more.

Ready to give EnterpriseTube a try? Sign up for a 7-day free trial, or contact us to learn more.

People Also Ask

What is live streaming?

Live streaming is broadcasting video and audio content over the internet in real time to an audience.

What is corporate live streaming?

Corporate live streaming is the use of live streaming for business purposes, like showing product launches, training sessions, or virtual events. You need a professional enterprise live streaming platform to ensure effective corporate live streaming.

What are live streaming platforms?

Live streaming platforms are software tools that let you set up and broadcast your live stream to your audience while providing additional functionality, such as interactivity, analytics, etc.

What are the benefits of live video streaming?

The benefits of live video streaming include increased engagement, wider reach, real-time interaction, detailed insights, and much more.

How do you stream video?

To stream video, you'll need a camera, microphone, computer, live streaming software, and a platform to broadcast on.

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