The Door for Live Video is Wide Open
Just ask the Oscars.
Sunday night, pre-rehearsed live television failed. Two film legends, who’ve done more than all of us will, incorrectly read a piece of card stock that subsequently lead to six of the most awkward moments I’ve ever watched on television. Don’t trust me? Have a look for yourself.
What The Oscars showed us is something anyone who’s ever been apart of anything live knows above all: s**t always happens. You can literally check every single pre-production box, dream of the script you’ve practiced so much, and still, something unique happens with every live production. In this case, an incredible mistake of human proportion. This illustrated that even with live delay (not all that dissimilar from what we experience on the web,) and two of the most camera-trained professionals on earth, you can still fail in front of millions.
Human error gets us all. And that is a beautiful thing. Live is a close to real as entertainment gets. This raw exposure to the lens creates a real connection between viewer and talent. Turns out, it’s also the story we want.
The Storytelling revival is upon us
Live-streamers, vloggers and self-producers unite. Our moment has arrived. It’s not yet okay to be SnapChat-sloppy but it is now okay to be fallible live. Warren and Faye confirmed.
Brands, take a deep breath. This isn’t like SnapChat, it’s what SnapChat should have been. It’s going to be great for ROI too. I would even argue the future of your community rides on live video. Let me tell you why:
Audiences prefer live video that gives them access
80% of brand audiences would prefer to watch live video than read a blog or any other type of social post.
Viewers spend 8x more time on live content. Compelling Content is the number one driver for viewership.
87% of your audience would prefer to watch live online versus on a television if means they get to see to more behind-the-scenes content.
Mobile video watching goes up 100% every year, according to YouTube.
People prefer to watch videos about products versus read about products 4x.
Video is shared 1200% more than text and images, combined.
Livestreaming does not cannibalize IRL interaction or monetization
45% of people would pay for exclusive live content from a creator or performer.
67% of us are more likely to purchase a concert ticket after watching a live performance online.
Companies using video see a 49% revenue growth year-over-year compared with those who don’t leverage video.
Forrester recently published a report that including video in an email leads to a massive 200–300% CTR increase.
1 minute of video= 1.8 Million words, according to estimates by Forrester researcher Dr. James McQuivey.
If that’s not enough to convince you it’s time to play in live video, here’s a list of 62 reasons it matters from Livestream.
There are teams eager to help
The cross pollination of traditional media, youtubers, evergreen content creators and technical innovators is creating some awesome content. Speaking of, I shamelessly encourage you to check out my show, Secret Sauce: Get the Recipe where we tell the unexpected stories of everyday leaders around the globe, live on Tuesdays. We’ve already talked the female VR lead at Ford Motor Company, “Pocket Man” and a professional sword-fighter. The team here at Savvy Millennial would love to hear your personal story for the show, and learn more about your community goals as a company. The geniuses at Aftermarq and Enlighted Audiovisual make other excellent shows happen as well that you should check out.
Al Roker is the most famous player in the space currently, and has a team dedicated to live social production, Roker Labs. Summit Live just brought streaming powerhouses to LA, and many of us met through blab back in the proverbial day. The brands and teams optimizing live are still small and agile. Take advantage of all of us while you can.
Let’s all bring great content to the surface that deserves to shine. Let’s fact check live. Let’s tell the untold stories and sing the unsung heroes. Tune in to new shows in new formats. Engage with creators. We’re here, doing it for you, just with significantly smaller budgets than our Hollywood peers.
In closing, and faux pas aside, hats off to the La La Land team for the way they graciously and humbly passed the torch. That was also live improv, and far more impressive than Kimmel’s “can’t they all just have an Oscar,” feeble attempt to save the moment. Always be ready for the unexpected, my friends.
Most importantly, the show highlighted the diversity of the entertainment industries creative, and that’s a big win for us all.
