Where and How Often Do Consumers Watch Live Video? [New Data]
By 2027, the live video market is expected to exceed $ 184 billion. And brands take note of it.
By the end of 2018 Marketer used live videos as part of their social media strategy. Since then, that number has likely increased as brands continue to use a number of online platforms to stream virtual events, questions and answers, and other content that their target audience will appreciate.
Although brands are betting on the live video train, you may still be wondering whether it is really worth investing in live video. After all, creating videos costs your company time and money. In addition, measuring the ROI of a live video can be difficult.
Before you decide to implement live video planning and production in your strategy, you need to learn more about the consumers of this content, how often they watch this content, and which platforms they mainly use to stream it.
As you learn more about your potential audience’s live video behavior, you can consider a strategy that offers them valuable content as you meet them on the platforms they’re already on.
To give you an insight into how often and where general internet users watch live videos, I conducted a survey of more than 400 people using Lucid software. In the poll I asked two questions: “How often do you watch live videos?” and “Where do you watch live videos most often?”
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How often do consumers watch live
When I asked consumers how often they saw live video, I didn’t expect a large percentage to say they consumed it more than once or twice a week. As a marketer and social media user, I expected that few people would stop everything regularly and spend time watching streams on fast-paced online platforms.
However, when I looked at the results, I was surprised at how often consumers actually saw live video.
According to the data, 57% of respondents watch live video at least three times a week, while only seven percent say they never see live video.
While the above result is intriguing, you should keep in mind that this is just a survey of a small group of consumers and not a representation of the global internet user population. Just because our customer pool regularly watches live content does not necessarily mean that they are viewing branded content.
Although you should take this result with a grain of salt, the above data is combined with it increasing research This shows how the live video is growing. This means that this format can be more than just a trend. .
Although you should consider your budget, audience, and time spent on a live video strategy before creating or planning content, this result suggests that you may want to keep this tactic on your radar.
Where consumers see live videos
Now that you know that live video can generate solid viewership, you may be wondering where the best place to actually stream your first video is.
You want to choose a platform with a high user base, but you also want to make sure that the website you choose has an audience that matches the audience you want to target.
By choosing the best platform for your brand and audience, you can learn what it takes to get involved with this website and customize your content from there.
However, simply choosing a platform can be easier said than done.
Almost all of the top social media platforms right now – including Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Redditand now even Tick tack – Have live streaming features. They also like emerging platforms Twitch.tv Have become popular because they mainly host live content.
To help you identify some platforms that are worth a look, I asked the same Lucid participants. “Where do you watch live videos most often?”
While the results of how often consumers watched live video surprised me, I wasn’t so shocked to find out where they saw their content.
The platforms with the largest audience and the most sophisticated live streaming tools took the lead. These platforms were YouTube (48%), Facebook (20%) and Instagram (13%).
One thing that surprised me was that fewer people saw live videos on Twitter. Although the platform is not primarily known for live streaming, Twitter’s company was one of the first to invest in it with the takeover of Periscope in 2015.
Although some platforms were less popular than others in this survey, you shouldn’t necessarily rule them out. For example, if your most engaged audience is already on Twitter or your followers love your B2B content on LinkedIn, you can test these platforms first, as you may already have a good sense of which target groups these target groups will be dealing with.
When you sell a B2C product, you may want to focus on the larger, broader networks like Facebook or YouTube, as they have a wide range of audience demographics.
When planning your next live video event, see what other brands are doing on popular live video platforms.
The three main platforms on which consumers stream live video
Youtube
As the second largest search engine in the world, YouTube is more than User base of 2 billion people is incredibly wide. This means that almost everyone logs into YouTube and searches its content for various reasons.
YouTube is not only one of the oldest and largest online platforms, but also offers a live stream function called YouTube Live. since 2011.
YouTube Live Allows users to broadcast live content to viewers. This live video feature allows you to share unfiltered moments and allow the audience to participate with real-time comments and reactions. Live videos on YouTube are recorded, displayed in profiles and feeds like any other video upload and can also be viewed after the stream has ended.
Below is a great example of a live video that Adobe launched as part of its Sketch Party series. During each Sketch Party stream, Adobe films a graphic designer who uses Creative Cloud software such as Adobe Illustrator to sketch or design something. While the artist is sketching something visibly on the screen, he reads comments and answers questions from viewers.
With this stream, Adobe can connect with the audience, highlight the raw talent of graphic artists and at the same time show how the software works.
Today more than a quarter of the videos uploaded to facebook are live. This, and the fact that one in five of the consumers we surveyed most frequently watch videos on Facebook Live show that this platform may be incredibly useful for live video strategies.
Like YouTube, Facebook has the advantage of having a huge global audience that represents different age groups, interests, and cultural backgrounds. While this broad audience has enabled B2B and B2C brands to effectively increase audience on the platform, many companies have also developed successful Facebook Live tactics.
In the following Facebook Live example, a clothing store called By Alexa Rae Boutique shows some of the clothing products that can be purchased on the store’s website.
The video is formatted like a show you would see on the Home shopping network When the camera host shows each item of clothing, he explains the benefits of each item of clothing and determines when the items of clothing are almost sold out to encourage urgency
According to our survey above, 13% of people say they watch live videos on Instagram most often. This makes it the third most popular live platform in the group we surveyed.
Instagram has been growing in popularity for years, especially at Millennial and Gen Z audiences. The success of the entire app is partly due to stories, live videos and IGTV.
With Instagram’s live feature, you can film streams that appear in your followers’ stories feed for 24 hours before disappearing.
These videos are often rotated vertically, but have functions similar to YouTube Live. For example, those who record live video can see and answer questions from viewers.
Before you invest time and effort into creating an Instagram live video, there are a few things to keep in mind.
Although Instagram shows followers that you are live through the stories feed and app notifications, as shown above, the live icon can be very subtle and easy to miss. This is different from Facebook, where a live video may be prioritized in your followers’ news feeds.
Also note that your content disappears within 24 hours. However, you can send your recorded streams to the IGTV tab of your profile when you’re done with them Although these videos would no longer be live, they could be obtained through the presentation on IGTV More additional views after the broadcast.
Unverified users can post a video to IGTV between 10 seconds and 15 minutes while Users being checked or more than 10,000 followers can post videos or streams up to an hour long on this tab.
At this point, some brands have already gone online on Instagram and later added this content to their IGTV tab. Below is just an example of a live post that was later shared on IGTV. In the video, a representative of Bolt Coffee from Providence, R.I., leads the audience through the preparation of iced coffee with the brand’s products:
Other platforms for live video streaming
While Twitter allows you to connect with friends on his social network, many use the platform to Follow news, trends and current discussions. Because of this, a lot of the live video you see contains coverage, videos of current events, or someone talking about a hot trend.
Although much of the live video is dedicated to news or trends, some brands have experimented with streaming content on Twitter. An example of a brand that did this is Coinbase – a platform for storing and selling cryptocurrency. In a recent live stream, Coinbas’ CEO hosted an AMA or Ask Me Anything session to answer questions submitted live by users.
I did a live AMA yesterday to answer people’s questions on Twitter / YouTube https://t.co/Ifq7naVlA6
Let me know what you think. Maybe next time someone else from the Coinbase team can be added to improve the conversation. Or just walk around the office and talk to people!
– Brian Armstrong (@brian_armstrong) April 4, 2019
Although Twitter has Periscope, a live video streaming app, you can go live directly through the Twitter app. To do this, tap the “Compose” button and then the “Upload” icon, which looks like a camera. As soon as you are in camera mode, you can switch from “Capture” to “Live” mode.
If you want to add a second video box where other Twitter users can stream with you at the same time, tap the two smileys icon in the top right corner to invite guests.
Before going live on Twitter, keep in mind that the platform is not about live video. While it can algorithmically display your content in a follower feed, Twitter has no specific home for pre-recorded live videos like Facebook Live or YouTube Live. This means that users have to go to your profile or search for it to see your video after streaming.
You should also consider whether one of the other platforms mentioned above may be more suitable for your target groups. While Twitter has a large audience, consumers – like those who participated in our survey – might view Twitter as a general social media network rather than a live video platform.
While Reddit later came to the game Start of the live video in 2019Brands still used it quite a bit to deal with the platform Niche communities or subreddits.
One way that brands can use live streaming is hosting Live AMAs with celebrities, company executives or thought leaders. The AMA format was originally started as a text-based discussion thread in subreddits. For example, to promote Microsoft and its nonprofits, Bill Gates has released a number of threads in technology-related subreddits asking his fans to ask him something. From there, the fans added their questions and he tried to answer as many as possible.
Since the launch of the live video on Reddit, brands have reformatted conventional AMAs into video streams. For example, Audi recently released a number of live streams titled “Think Faster”. In every live stream, celebrities race around in one of Audi’s latest cars and answer Redditor questions. Here is a screenshot from one of the events with actress Olivia Munn.
Twitch.tv
Twitching is one of the newest platforms on this list. However, the live streaming site does especially gone viral as video gamers have used it to stream their sessions.
But Twitch is no longer just for gamers. At this point a number of Marketers and brands have identified ways to use the platform.
A big brand that won a clio for its Twitch-based campaign was the fast food chain, Wendy’s. In 2019, a mission in the popular video game Fortnite asked players to harvest beef and put it in freezers at nearby restaurants to collect coins.
Because Wendy claims to sell “Fresh, never frozen beef” The marketing team decided to launch a nine-hour Twitch stream in which a Fortnite avatar, dressed like Wendy, ran through the video game and tried to destroy freezers. As a Fortnite player, you can join Wendy and help her smash the device.
According to the Clio sizzling rollWendy’s stream went viral as more people signed up to see it and post it in the comment thread. Players also started attacking freezers to help Wendy’s avatar.
Create a live video strategy
While live video seems like a great opportunity to connect with your audience, planning and producing it can still take time and money. As with any marketing strategy, you should research the tactic before you look at it.
When you determine whether live video is right for you and identify the platforms on which you start experimenting, it is important to determine what goals you want the content to achieve.
For example, if you are interested in getting views or attention from a broader, more general audience, YouTube or Facebook may be the perfect live platform for you. If you want to target a younger audience, consider Instagram that has a slightly younger audience.
To help you learn more about live video platforms and strategies, Check out this list of live video statistics. If you’ve determined where to publish but don’t know how to format your content, Read this post to find out what types of live videos appeal to consumers the most.
