Tag: live streaming

Facebook Ramps Up Live Content With Weekly MLB Games

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook continues its aggressive push for more live video content as it signs a new streaming deal with the Major League Baseball (MLB) to stream 20 games this season. The broadcasts, drawn from a feed from one of the participating team’s local broadcast rightsholders, mostly consist of nationally telecast games and will go live weekly on Friday nights, starting with the match between the Colorado Rockies and the Cincinnati Reds tonight.

What Brands Need To Do
Rumors of Facebook talking with sports leagues and media owners to get more live sports content have been swirling around since this February. This MLB deal confirms the social giant’s play for live sports, which mirrors Twitter’s sports-focused strategy for live video as well.  Facebook has started to monetize its live video content by adding mid-roll ad breaks, which provides brands with a valuable channel to reach sports fans who are not reachable via traditional TV ads.

Live sports are widely regarded as the last bastion against the declining live TV ratings, but with more and more sports leagues signing deals like this one to make their content available on digital platforms, more and more viewers are migrating to those new platforms as well. Therefore, brands seeking to reach sports fans will need to follow along by adjusting their media mix.

 

Source: The Verge

Moët Champagne To Sponsor Vogue’s 360-Degree Livestream Of The Met Gala

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
The Met Gala, one of the biggest annual events in the fashion industry, is scheduled for next Monday, and Vogue magazine will be hosting a 360-degree livestream on Facebook this year to offer all fashion enthusiasts a front-row view of the red carpet. This will be the first 360-degree broadcast of the Met Gala, and it will be exclusively sponsored by champagne brand Moët & Chandon. During the broadcast, Moët-branded bubbles will appear periodically as interstitial ads between footage.

What Brands Need To Do
Live streaming has been quickly gaining momentum across social platforms, especially on Facebook. Earlier this month, Facebook reported that one in five videos shared on its network is now a Live video, with the daily watch time for Live broadcasting quadrupled in the past year. The rise of live streaming gives marketers a valuable channel to engage with viewers in real time, with brands such as Bud Light and Tiffany’s successfully leveraging live streaming to congregate an online fan base and spread their brand messages. More brands should start exploring live videos by finding the on-brand events to sponsor, as Moët did here, or simply hosting your own live events, as Popeyes has done recently.

 

Source: AdWeek

Tumblr’s New Video Chat App Is For Watching YouTube With Friends

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Tumblr is built around the idea of bringing strangers together on the basis of shared interests. So it is a bit surprising to see the Yahoo-owned social network to come out with video chat app designed for bringing real-life friends together. This new app named Cabana enables a group video chat of up to six people at the same time to watch YouTube videos. After joining a Cabana chat, anyone in the room will be able to browse through YouTube and select a video, which will start playing for everyone in the group chat. There is no direct link to Tumblr at the moment in the Cabana app, which launches on iOS today in the United States and will come to Android in a few weeks.

What Brands Need To Do
This new Cabana app, along with the Houseparty app created by the team behind Meerkat, is ushering a new casual mode for online video chats. Both apps are designed for facilitating group chats and allow users to jump in and out of chats with ease, replacing the comparatively formal, one-on-one Facetime sessions with an interaction that is more spontaneous and closer to a two-way live streaming experience.

There is currently no ad products available on either of those two apps, and few brands have explored them to reach their young-skewing users. But if this type of casual video chat apps starts to take off, brands may consider adapting to this new mode of live interactions by taking a more of-the-moments approach and hosting their own YouTube viewing parties for either branded content or sponsored influencer content.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of Cabana App in iTunes Store

Carl’s Jr. Updates Its Ad Creatives With A Twitch Livestream Of Explosions

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Carl’s Jr., notorious for some of its provocative and exploitative ads, is looking to update its brand image by promising its future commercials will focus on “food, not boobs.” The fast food chain chose to broadcast that creative transformation on Twitch with a tongue-in-cheek demolition session of the props featured in its previous ads. The branded livestream took over Twitch’s homepage on Saturday, April 8 from 11 a.m. – 1 p.m. EST, and featured the chain’s fictional founder Carl Hardee Sr. and his son obliterating bikinis and tanning oil with the help of YouTube stars “The Slow-Mo Guys.” The experience also takes advantage of Twitch’s interactive features, allowing the audience to chime in during the live broadcast to help the characters choose their methods of destruction.

What Brands Need To Do
This is not the first time Carl’s Jr. has leverage Twitch’s platform to reach consumers in its online campaigns, as the company has hosted branded gameplay sessions with influencers and teamed up with Vice to create live commercial breaks. With 9.7 million daily active users, Twitch is a formidable force in online media that most brands have yet to tap into.

In recent years, the competitive gaming industry has grown into a media opportunity that brands should not ignore. Some early-adopting brands, such as Coca-Cola and Geico, have been sponsoring eSports events to reach its young, male-skewing audience. More brands should consider leveraging sponsorships and branded live streams to reach the growing number of viewers on eSports streaming sites.

Source: Creativity Online

Amazon Prime Wins Streaming Rights Of NFL Thursday Night Games

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Amazon has reportedly shelled out around $50 million to livestream ten NFL games of the new season, five times more than what Twitter paid last year. Interestingly, Amazon won’t stream the games to anyone who wants to watch online for free as Twitter did. Instead, the NFL Thursday night games will be a new addition to the ever-growing list of perks for Amazon Prime members.

What Brands Need To Know
On a larger picture, this deal signals the continuing shift of live sports viewing from TV to online streaming. Amazon reportedly beat out the likes of Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube for the bid, which underscores how determined the ecommerce giant is about growing out its streaming offering. The decision to only allow Prime members to stream this also points to the company’s core strategy that positions the membership program as the lynchpin for fostering customer loyalty.

This marks a very different approach than Twitter, who bought the rights last year to raise its profile as a live-streaming platform and generating revenues from selling the ad slots allocated for local TV ads at a high price. In comparison, Amazon wouldn’t necessarily be interested in selling ads (although it could very well use those ad slots to promote its services and original shows.) Researches have shown that Prime members on average spend two times more than regular shoppers on Amazon every year. Therefore, it makes sense that Amazon would pay the big bucks to secure the live-streaming rights of NFL games and use it to drive signups and retain subscriptions for Prime. Other brands should learn a thing or two from Amazon’s strategy and start thinking about ways to improve and integrate their loyalty programs so as to establish a long-term relationship with customers.

 

Source: Re/Code

Twitter Adds Pre-Roll Ads To Periscope Content

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter announced today that it will begin selling pre-roll video ads before some Periscope live streams and Periscope videos that are no longer live but still on Twitter. The company first started experimenting with monetizing Periscope content last September when it started doing sponsored live streams and allowing brands to play a short clip before the live video starts. Now, this pre-roll option is available for a number of select publishers and high-profile broadcaster to leverage to monetize their live content.

What Brands Need To Do
As viewers increasingly turn to live streams for immediate connections and updates, more brands are embracing the live format to connect with consumers via sponsored events.  This announcement underscores Twitter’s aim to monetize its live video content and attracting publishers and content creators to join the platform. It also offers brands another new ad unit to piggyback on popular Periscope content to reach viewers.They can partner with publishers and broadcasters whose content or live events aligns with the interests of their core demographics.

 

Source: Re/code

Header image courtesy of Periscope’s promotional image

Chase Enlists Eric Clapton For Its First Facebook Live Event

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Chase has jumped on the Facebook Live train with a plan to live stream performances from rock legend Eric Clapton’s upcoming tour on its Facebook Page this weekend. The bank is sponsoring Clapton’s North American tour and plans to broadcast four songs from the concert at in Inglewood, California this weekend exclusively on its Facebook page. Like most brands using Facebook Live, Chase will rely on push notifications to drive tune-in for these live performances.

What Brands Need To Do
Brand marketers looking to enter the livestreaming arena should take a cue from this partnership and learn to amplify their sponsored events. Branded live streams during big media events offer brands a great shortcut to get their content in front of a mobile audience in real time. Previously brands such as GE and Toyota have leveraged live-streamed events to amplify their sponsorships. Therefore, brands that wish to stay connected to consumers need to figure out what content their customers would want to see and find the right live-streaming platform to reach them.

 

Source: AdWeek

Header image courtesy of

Facebook Live Challenges Twitch By Adding Support For Gameplay Broadcast On Desktop

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Facebook is one-upping Twitch by expanding its live video capabilities to all desktop users. Previously, only Page owners can start a live broadcast from a desktop device. Now, any Facebook user can go Live directly from Facebook’s desktop website via their webcam, or hook up their professional equipment and software to the desktop devices for a more polished livestream. This also means users can now broadcast gameplay from their computer, which will put Facebook Live in direct competition with Twitch.

What Brands Need To Do
As formidable as Facebook’s massive user base may seem, Twitch doesn’t have much to worry about in the short term as it will take considerable time and efforts for Facebook to cultivate a vibrant gamer community that Twitch has already locked in. Nevertheless, this move signals Facebook’s recognition of esports and the big media opportunity it presents. If it can continue to improve its Live video product to accommodate gameplay broadcasts, the social network might just carve out a space for itself amongst the fierce competition between Twitch, Ustream, and YouTube Gaming.

As companies race to capture the young, male-skewing eSports audience, brands, especially those seeking global recognition, need to start leveraging the massive reach of eSports events and platforms via sponsorships and ads.

 

Source: The Verge

 

Taco Bell Rings Wedding Bells For Its Next Live Streaming Event

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
To promote the grand opening of its Las Vegas Strip location, Taco Bell has launched an ambitious social campaign that will culminate with a real wedding in the fast-service restaurant’s new Las Vegas flagship store.

Aiming to stage a spectacle that will drive traffic to the restaurant location, Taco Bells is asking prospective newlyweds to share their love stories on social media with the hashtag #LoveAndTacosContest. The entries will then be able to public votes, and the company will select a winning couple on March 1st for an all-expenses-paid trip to Vegas to get hitched in its restaurant. Taco Bell plans to live stream the ceremony for fans worldwide, and Taco Bell customers who voted in the contest will be invited to attend in person.

What Brands Need To Do
While this is certainly a bit on the side of “out there” as far as branded events go, this campaign is illustrative of brands’ increasing need to come up with bold and creative ways to stage live events so as to grab consumer attention in today’s fragmented media landscape. This campaign cleverly ties the event to a physical store location to drive local traffic while also incorporating live streaming to amplify the reach of the event. As live videos quickly become a crucial component of social media marketing, brand marketers need to think outside the box to come up with share-worthy events that can capture the mobile audience and get them talking.

 

 

Source: GeoMarketing

 

Twitter Replaces “Moments” With “Explore” With A Focus On Live Videos

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter has revamped its app layout, replacing the “Moments” tab with a new “Explore” section that brings together trending tweets, Moments, and live videos in one place, with recommended live videos front and center in the tab. Twitter says it will also use this tab to display important broadcasts, particularly the ones from its content partners such as NFL and Bloomberg. Earlier this week, the company reported its livestream of the presidential inauguration amassed a record-breaking total of 6.824 million unique views and a peak of 377,000 concurrent viewers. In comparison, its NFL streams averaged 265,800 viewers per minute across ten games.

What Brands Need To Do
Twitter was one of the first social networks to launch livestreaming capabilities, but recently it has been eclipsed by rival live video products from Facebook, Twitch, and recently, Instagram. This revamp is an evident move to push live video in front of more casual users as Twitter continues to simplify its platform. With the major social platforms steadily improving their respective live video products, brands will have more and more channels to disseminate their live content and reach a wider audience.

Early adopting brands such as Birchbox, Popeyes, McDonald’s, and GE have experimented with Facebook Live to reach customers while brands like Carl’s Jr, Coca-Cola, and Geico have sponsored livestreams on eSports sites. All these examples showcase the versatility of marketing opportunities that live streaming offers, which more brands should leverage to connect with their audiences in innovative, exciting ways.

 

Source: VentureBeat