Livestreaming is the techno talk of the moment.
With the launch of Meerkat earlier this year and Twitter acquiring its own livestreaming app, Periscope, soon after, many people are getting excited about its possibilities.
Will it shake up the events industry? Will privacy and copyright issues create an almighty headache? Or will it simply be a quickly forgotten gimmick?
Here are 5 examples of industry use of this new technology, which show that it might be more than a flash in the pan…
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Amplifying experiential activity
When online entrepreneurs Formisimo won a place at a busy US start-up event, they wanted to grab as much attention as possible. They created a fun mascot character shaped like an online form.
“At the event we asked people “are you sick of online forms?” Almost everyone answered yes, and we gave them a boxing glove so they could take out their frustration on our mascot,” says Al Mackin, the founder of Formisimo.
To tie together online and offline activity, the company used Meerkat to broadcast the mascot being used as a punch bag or walking around high-fiving people on Twitter.
Reveals Mackin: “The hours we spent encouraging people to engage with our mascot led to hundreds of tweets and retweets, and traffic to our website went up 49.30%. We got eyeball time from thousands of people, signups to use our software went up 92.31% and we were interviewed by press and broadcasters at the event. Mascot advertising is an old way to grab attention, but mixed with digital it was a great success for us.”
Story via theguardian.com
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Virtual venue showrounds
Visiting venues can be a time consuming task for event organisers, but The Concerto Group has found a new way to showcase its properties by using Periscope.
Each week it delivers a five-minute live site visit of one of its venues on Twitter, presented by the venue manager. The showrounds take place on the same day at the same time each week so that event organisers know when to tune in.
Says Teresa-Anne Dunleavy, Concerto Group CEO: “Our new Periscope site visits will give event professionals the freedom to explore our venues without even leaving the office, because we all know how busy this industry can be!”
Story via meetpie.com
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Providing a peek behind the scenes
US department store Saks Fifth Avenue allowed mere mortals in on the exclusive shows and parties of New York Fashion Week by broadcasting live Meerkat feeds using the hashtag #SaksAtTheShows
“Real-time content is essential during New York Fashion Week, and we aim to give our social media community an insider perspective that they can only get from Saks,” says Qianna Smith, Director of Social Media at Saks Fifth Avenue, New York.
“Meerkat Streams allows you to aggregate multiple view points at once,” she said. “Our goal was to give our audience a 360 fashion experience – front row, backstage and inside the photo pit – and Meerkat proved to be the perfect partner to execute this with.”
The retailer has broadcast 23 shows including Givenchy, Carolina Herrera, Jason Wu and DKNY.
“We’re seeing real-time engagement from viewers during our Meerkat streams,” says Smith. “From comments to hearts that favourite the content to emojis, there’s non-stop interaction, so viewers are part of the experience, not just silent spectators. Being part of the conversation allows for viewers to want to come back for more.”
Story via luxurydaily.com
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Generating excitement around an event
Pop star Katy Perry has already established herself as one of the most social-media savvy entertainers, clocking up 67.8 million Twitter followers, so it figures that she’d be an early adopter of livestreaming.
She harnessed Periscope, which she redubbed #PerryScope, to connect with fans before the premier of her concert film ‘Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour’. The singer broadcast live from the red (pink) carpet, documenting arrivals, and again after the screening, with a Q&A session. Followers were encouraged to tweet along with the #PerryScope hashtag.
When asked about concertgoers using livestreaming apps to broadcast footage to non-concertgoers, Perry told Mashable she did not see it as a threat.
“You’ve got to embrace the future or you’re left behind,” she says. “I’m with it. I think that, when you see a phone, that is like the new applause.
“So people used to applaud; now the more phones you see, you can just count it as the amount of applause that there would be. … I embrace them mostly as long as they’re not obtrusive.”
Story via mashable.com
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Connecting with new audiences
The Myrtle Beach World Amateur in South Carolina is the world’s largest golf tournament, however there are many golf fans who have never heard of it – especially younger enthusiasts of the sport.
This year the organisers set out to change that by deploying Periscope at the event and broadcasting highlights on Twitter. They decided to capitalise on the involvement of well-known golfing champion (and all-round character) John Daly by filming some of his antics. This included him doing a Q&A session and then also playing the guitar on stage at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.
As well as helping to promote the tournament to a new, online audience, the livestreaming also gave some added value to Daly’s cocktail brand that was being launched at the event and was a major sponsor.
“We used Periscope for the first time at the Myrtle Beach World Amateur Handicap Championship and are bullish on the possibilities it offers,” says Chris King, Myrtle Beach Golf Holiday spokesman. “We didn’t reinvent the wheel, but the interaction we received was encouraging, and I believe it offers the possibility of exposing the tournament and the game of golf to a new, younger audience.”
Story via examiner.com