Brands Are Using Live Streaming Video to Engage Fans on Facebook - Max Haot, Livestream

Over the last several years live video streaming has become a powerful marketing tool for artists and brands. For Max Haot, CEO and Co-founder of Livestream, it's been interesting to watch the growing trend of brands adopt live streaming to market their products. I caught up Haot at NewTeeVee Live 2010 where Livestream announced its new Livestream For Facebook application that allows anyone with Facebook pages to launch a live broadcast within Facebook. Livestream launched this service based on the demand they were seeing from the market and developed an easy way to integrate live streaming into Facebook. Livestream and its competitors had previously provided this service for a fee, but Livestream decided to launch it in a DIY way so that anyone could launch a Livestream channel and embed it in their Facebook page.

Facebook launched its own channel, Facebook Live, in August 2010 powered by Livestream, and has hosted numerous live video and chat with Hollywood celebrities, musicians other high profile Livestream events. Most notable is a recent Town Hall meeting with President Barack Obama that was streamed live from the Facebook headquarters.

comScore noted in a September 2010 study, that the amount of time American audiences spent watching video for the major live video publishers (USTREAM, Livestream, Justin.tv, LiveVideo, and Stickam) had grown 648% since 2009 to more than 1.4 billion minutes. While that's just a fraction of the amount of time Americans spent overall watching online video content, comScore said that the sharp growth indicates viewers’ growing comfort with watching live content. Additionally, the comScore report indicated that live video sites have not only been successful in building audience, but also keeping them more engaged, with the average live streamed video view is 7% longer than the average on demand video view.

"What's interesting for brands to realize," Haot notes, "is the engagement time is on average twenty to thirty minutes, versus if you post a trailer, it's only two or three minutes… and then they have a chance of really creating a viral buzz on Twitter and Facebook, and get a lot of eyeballs coming to the live stream because it's trended on Twitter."

Content brands like movie studios, use Livestream to market the release of a new movie within social networks like Facebook and Twitter through a live broadcast of the red carpet premiere. TV networks like HBO are taking advantage of the Livestream's ability to host live video Q&A sessions with celebrities and show exclusive behind the scene previews. Other brands like Ford used Livestream to launch its 2011 Ford Explorer and hosts regular live events on its Facebook pages with Q&A sessions with customers and fans. Restaurant chain PF Chang hosts a live cooking show to market its Pei Wei Asian Diner brand and takes questions from the audience.

Haot says that working with brands and content owners drives content quality and revenue and is core to Livestream's mission to build a next-generation live cable operator. But the bigger goal of Livestream is to unlock every event around the world, from major events like red carpet interviews at the Oscars or the Royal Wedding, to prosumer events from a church, a small baseball game, or even a smaller conference.

"If you look at the world of events today," Haot says, "a very small percent of these events are being live streamed, so we offer the technology, the tools and promotion to hopefully increase the amount events owners that realize that they can use Livestream to extend their event online and connect with audiences on Facebook and Twitter."

Another goal Haot says, is to increase the production quality and reach across the various platforms by offering HD quality and enhancing the mobile offering by live streaming to the popular mobile devices, and on the web by enhancing it with multi-bit rate encoding and HD. Haot says that connected TVs are another growing platform that event owners can reach and that 80% of all TVs sold today are "connected" TVs.

In a related post on Beet.TV today, Andy Plesser spoke with Kevin Delaney, Managing Editor of the WSJ.com, about the value of live video streaming at the Wall Street Journal. The news organization is creating value in process and audience by connecting with viewers through daily webcasts. This is yet more evidence that live streaming has become a mainstream tool for publishers to extend their reach beyond traditional outlets. As more content creators, publishers and broadcasters develop their mobile and OTT offerings, and with YouTube finally getting into the live streaming business with selected YouTube partners, it's clear that live video streaming has become an integral tool for artists and brands to connect with fans and that demand will continue to grow.



About Livestream
Livestream offers brands a complete solution for your live streaming project on Facebook - Including : Custom Facebook application development with integrated live streaming that gives you everything you need to launch your own 24/7 television station (including Like to watch), Live video platform (including CDN bandwidth from Akamai, social enabled chat and player) and on-side production/encoding services if needed. Livestream streams more than one billion video minutes each month to a growing community of 20 million monthly viewers (with some 50,000 watching at any given time) to audiences on the web, mobile devices, and connected TVs. Notable content partners include Facebook, The New York Times, ABC News, CBS News, Associated Press, HBO, AT&T, IBM, Burger King, Nike, The Academy Awards, The Foo Fighters, Maroon 5, Ralph Lauren, and Diesel.

Livestream was cofounded in 2007 by Max Haot, Dayananda Nanjundappa, Phil Worthington, and Mark Kornfilt, and has received $13 million in funding from private angel investors & Gannett Co. It now operates with over 50 full-time staff members in 3 offices - in New York, Los Angeles and Bangalore (in addition to a globally-available production team). The service is available for free (advertising-supported) or as a feature-rich, monetizable, premium subscription for business. In May 2009, Mogulus re-branded as Livestream. Become a fan of Livestream on Facebook and follow Livestream (livestream) on Twitter.

About Max Haot

Max Haot is CEO and co-founder of video streaming company Livestream. Max is an expert in user generated content, broadcast technologies and workflow. He previously founded ICF a media asset management platform which was sold to Verizon Business in 2005. He held positions as VP of Digital Media at Verizon Business and Senior Vice President at IMG Media - the television and interactive arm of the sport marketing giant (www.imgworld.com). Max is a recognized digital content industry pioneer and is regularly invited to speak and contribute at industry events/forums for the broadcast, broadband and mobile industry. Max is a Belgian national and lived in London, UK between 1995 and 2005 before moving to New York. Follow Max Haot (maxhaot) on Twitter.


Related:

• Broadcast Live on Your Website - Livestream.com
• Livestream on Facebook
• Livestream Blog » Blog Archive » Announcing Livestream for Facebook
• Livestream For Facebook Lets You DIY Live Stream Video On Fan Pages
• New Facebook Application Streams Live Video From Pages
• Beet.TV: Livestream Claims Average Video Viewing Time of Sixteen Minutes
• Live Streaming Video Jumps 600% in Past Year (comScore Voices)
• 1.4B Minutes of Live Online Video Watched in July Online Video News
• 5 Questions With…Livestream.com’s Max Haot Online Video News
• Beet.TV: The Value Live Video Streaming at The Wall Street Journal is both the Audience and Process

The Foo Fighters, Pure Internet Rock and The Future of Music

The Foo Fighters know how to rock. They've toured live for the last 15 years reaching a fan base that stretches across the globe. But last Friday, October 30th at 7pm (PT), they opened up the virtual doors to their Studio 606 in Los Angeles to put on their first live concert produced exclusively for their fans online.

The free live show was powered by Livestream and aired on the band's Livestream and Facebook pages to promote the release of their much anticipated Greatest Hits album on November 3rd.

The performance featured Facebook/Twitter chat integrations so that fans could interact with the band and each other live during the performance. The Foo Fighters' Facebook page incorporated a similar live stream+chat module that's been used in a variety of events over the last year, including CNN's live stream of Barack Obama's inauguration.

According to Livestream Co-founder and CEO Max Haot:

"As the Foo Fighters were playing, they were keeping an eye on the stream of Facebook status updates coming in, sometimes responding to comments and taking song requests. This is first time ever that a live concert was produced just for their fans online – it was not just a broadcast of an existing concert/event. The concert attracted more than 150,000 viewers and trended on Twitter (#2, #1 was Halloween), was #1 on Digg and was featured on Facebook Celebs. The event generated a lot of buzz in the music and social media industry."

Watch live streaming video from foofighters at livestream.com

The integration of live video and interactive chat helps build value on many levels by enabling artists to connect with fans, extend their reach through existing social networks and boost their video marketing, merchandising and promotion efforts. The cost to produce a live event using an online video platform like Livestream is significantly less than traditional broadcast television. Advertising and sponsorship deals will also help generate revenue for artists and music industry along with interactive elements and click-to-buy opportunities. The appeal for bands is obvious as Jason Kincaid noted on Techcrunch:

"Live concert streams seem to be a growing trend for the web’s most popular content and social sites. Last week MySpace streamed their Secret Show Weezer concert in San Francisco. And earlier this week YouTube streamed a U2 concert from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, CA. The event was a huge success, drawing a reported 10 million streams. YouTube also streamed San Francisco’s Outside Lands music festival in August. Hulu has also gotten in on the action, with a Dave Matthews Band stream May."

Liz Gaines at NewTeeVee thinks bands are not taking full advantage of real monetization opportunities through advertising sponsorship, and made this point:

"But I have to ask, where is the business model for these shows? The music industry, after all, is well known for its trouble grappling with the shift to digital. It wants to keep charging us for formats we don’t want to buy anymore. Here we are, introducing a whole new category of music product, and there’s been little more than a Google text ad monetizing any one of these examples. Granted, inserting ads into live recordings may be a little bit more complicated than for your standard web video, but when we’re talking 10 million views, it’s time to get a major sponsor, or at least link in real-time to where to buy an MP3 of the song that’s playing. Live concert audiences are an amazing monetization opportunity. Lots of people engaged for long periods of time simultaneously? You couldn’t ask for more."

For the Foo Fighters, this live interactive video event was performed exclusively for fans and was both a first and hopefully not the last, as the band plans to take a hiatus to pursue solo projects. Randi Zuckerberg, who is both the sister of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook's Marketing Director had this to say:

"I'm cheesy, but this Foo Fighters live on Facebook concert honestly makes me feel like I'm watching the future of music."

The Foo Fighters are:

Dave Grohl, Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel and Chris Shiflett

Also, in two weeks Max Haot will be a featured panelist at the Online Video Platform Summit speaking on Building Value with Real Interactivity.

Update 11/3/09 via @newteevee:

Foo Fighters Draw 440,000 Live Streams to Web-Only Show

"The Foo Fighters’ live show on Friday night came with little fanfare outside of the band’s core fanbase, but it delivered 2 hours and 45 minutes of greatest hits to more than 150,000 viewers around the world. The video drew 440,000 total live streams, with a max of 20,000 at any one time... (more) "

Related:

• Livestream Blog » Blog Archive » Future of Music : Foo Fighters Exclusive Live Concert on Livestream, Facebook & IPhone – On Demand Video and Behind the scene video available
• Foo Fighters To Stream Concert Tomorrow Night On Facebook, Powered By Livestream
• Foo Fighters Latest to Stream Live Show, But Can You Show Us Some Freakin’ Ads Already?

Livestream Launches Live Mobile HD Streaming with Livepack, Say Goodbye to Expensive Satellite Uplink Trucks

Today, Livestream launched Livepack, a totally wireless turn-key hardware solution for live mobile HD streaming. Through a partnership with LiveU, makers of hand-held video uplink devices, Livestream offers a unique bundled solution that combines a hardware device with their live streaming platform. This solution addresses the needs of video producers and video professionals who need to broadcast live anytime, from anywhere and on-the-go with video up to HD quality at 700-1000 kbps. 

Livepack is a portable device that fits into a backpack and includes six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems for redundancy over three carriers (AT&T, Verizon and Sprint) with data plans are that covered within the price. It allows you to go anywhere with a complete roaming camera setup and aimed to replace the expense of a traditional satellite uplink truck and satellite time. 

While live mobile streaming is not new with companies like Qik.com, Flixwagon and Bambuser having been on the market for a few years, according to Livestream CEO Max Haot, mobile phone streaming is not a viable option if you want to live stream an event. 

I spoke with Max yesterday and he pointed out that, 

"You're not going to stream a two hour event using a mobile phone due to the battery life, the quality of the lens, the zoom, but more importantly also the fact that's it's only one 3G network which is usually unreliable. So the other option that has been available to people needing to do wireless live streaming has been traditional broadcast satellite. This type of equipment is hugely expensive (up to $50,000 a day) and most live streaming events can't afford it. It's usually reserved for television."

Max added that if you're an event organizer and you want to live stream today you either have to make sure you have a wifi connection, laptop, camera or any sort of feed to encode reliably on the Internet using a platform such as theirs. But if you want to do it wirelessly where you don't have a connection available which is the case in most venues, or if you want to be on the move and create a roaming camera feed, there's been no solution out there at the quality you need to live stream something serious like an event. But now with their solution, Livepack is like having a satellite television truck in a backpack.

The technology was originally built by their partner LiveU really aimed to replace the satellite broadcast truck and the prime market was really broadcasters. LiveU has been building this technology for the last few years and have been selling it to NBC and others. So instead of bringing back an event feed from a truck they are bringing back the feed using a LiveU device. Max said that at Livestream they've paid attention to it and started to integrate it more and more over the last six to eight months. They actually announced the first relationship with LiveU at NAB in March and as both they and their joint customers used it more Livestream realized they needed to integrate it deeply into their service.

They way the service works is that Livestream bundles the hardware and service plan in either a monthly or annual rental fee. The Livepack device is easy to use and accepts a direct DV camera feed into the FireWire port. There's a touchscreen to control the box and three hours of battery life included or you can either have external batteries. Once you turn it on all you do is press the start button and it goes directly live into your Livestream channel. 

Max explained that their unique offering is possible through three real breakthroughs, 

"The first is the fact that it's fully integrated from one vendor including the CDN, the player and all the features of our (the Livestream) platform and the hardware. The second part is that instead of using a laptop at an event you now have a ruggedized piece of equipment with a touchscreen. There's really no moving parts, you can put it in a backpack which is pretty innovative instead of playing with laptops at an event. The third piece is the most important is the technology that we fully integrated with Live U which are six load-balanced 3G/EVDO modems over three carriers which are included, activated and the data plans are covered within the price."

Max noted that with a combination of these modems and the technology it takes the video feed internally from the encoder and splits it over all the available bandwidth on the six modems, sends it directly to their cloud where they recompose the feed and integrate into the Livestream's platform. It's a great application for red carpets, backstage at concerts, sporting events, town hall meetings, ceremonies, transmitting from a moving car, and a variety of enterprise applications. Livepack was recently used for coverage of the MTV Video Music Awards, NY Fashion Week, Harry Potter movie premiere and Pixie Lott Live.

So say goodbye to those expensive satellite uplink costs because wireless live streaming at HD quality just got better.

For more info visit www.livestream.com/livepack

Availability and Pricing

Livestream Livepack is available in the U.S. for monthly or yearly rental directly from Livestream, and includes the hardware unit, custom designed backpack, dedicated IP address for the Livestream channel, all 3G/EVDO network charges, and 30 hours of streaming uplink time per month. Neither a DV camera nor tripod are included. Month-to-month rental without commitment is $2,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. Yearly rental is $1,500 per month plus the cost of shipping. To order Livepack, email: getlivepack@livestream.com

About Livestream
Livestream (formerly Mogulus) provides everything needed to easily webcast live, build an engaged audience and monetize these efforts. Founded in 2007, the company is based in New York and includes Gannett Co. as a minority shareholder and investor. Producers can use Livestream to create live, linear and on-demand Internet television to broadcast anywhere on the Web through a single embeddable player widget. The service comes in two flavors: Free (ad-supported) and Premium (ad-free, white-label, higher-quality). Unique features include the ability to mix multiple live cameras, overlay graphics, and desktop streaming with 3D effects.

Streaming Media East: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

This video from Streaming Media East is moderated by pioneer video blogger Steve Garfield who opens the session talking about how he attended Late Night with Jimmy Fallon the evening before and got backstage for an exclusive interview with Jimmy, which he broadcast live on the internet with his Nokia 95 phone using Qik, the popular live mobile broadcasting platform. Steve has delivered this presentation at several Streaming Media conferences and it's always a treat since it's a mix of discussion and live demonstration. Over the years Steve has been experimenting with audio and video tools to increase the quality by using high fidelity microphones with cell phones and laptops. Steve teaches New Media Tools for Journalism at the Boston University, College of Communication Department of Journalism and recently authored, Get Seen: Online Video Secrets to Building Your Business. He's joined by Qik co-founder Bhaskar Roy and Max Haot CEO and Founder of Livestream, which had been formerly known as Mogulus until they recently rebranded, who also demonstrate their live streaming applications. Qik recently announced that Nokia's Ovi Store launches with Qik and Qik comes pre-loaded on the new Nokia N97. Livestream recently released a free desktop broadcasting application called Procaster, which is designed for use with its service which is easy-to-use and offers high quality video and production value with the ability to mix live camera and screen sharing in both 2D and 3D.

Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Track B (B101) 10:30 AM - 11:30 AM

While big media tests the waters of mobile broadcasting, many web video producers are already out there doing it live from the street with cell phones. Others are joining in and experimenting with two-way broadcasts via streaming video over cell phone networks and via Wi-Fi. Viewers can chat while the broadcast is going on and affect—and sometimes even direct—the content being produced. Steve Garfield will talk with other pioneers in the live mobile broadcasting space about their experiences at the forefront of this new technology for sharing their stories over the web.

Moderator:	Steve Garfield, Mobile Video Journalist, SteveGarfield.com
Panel:	Bhaskar Roy, Co-Founder, Qik.com Max Haot, Founder, CEO, Mogulus (now Livestream)

For more on live mobile broadcasting applications check out Robin Good's Mobile Live Video Streaming: Best Tools To Broadcast Yourself From Your Mobile Phone.

Mogulus Pro Launches Today: New Features Include HD Quality, White Label, Privacy, Analytics & More Available

From the announcement:
Mogulus Blog » Blog Archive » Mogulus Pro Launches: HD Quality, White Label, Privacy, Analytics & More Available Today

What is Mogulus PRO?

"Mogulus Pro gives you the same great, industry-leading features and functionality that you now enjoy with your Mogulus FREE account - and more! We've added a bundle of new features geared toward professional producers, so you can have even more quality, control and flexibility."

• Learn more about Mogulus Pro
• Preview quality and features at the Pro Channel Showcase

Hear Mogulus CEO Max Haot describe the features of Mogulus Pro:

Streaming Media East 2008: Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks

Here's one more Streaming Media East video from the collection videos available from the conference courtesy of Scribe Media. This panel session also focused on live broadcasting over the internet with demonstrations using both Mogulus and Qik. Several videos were recorded live during the session by Max Haot available here, Bhaskar Roy's are here and Steve Garfield's are here courtesy of SteveGarfield.com.

Another video by José Castillo is available here courtesy of ThinkJose who says, "Steve from stevegarfield.com moderated a great panel at Streaming Media East 08 on mobile video. Using both mogulus.com and qik.com to show off his Nokia N95 skills he surprised us all when he left the room mid-panel and went on a tour of the show. This was a highlight of the show for me!"Publish Post

Live Broadcasting Over Mobile and Wi-Fi Networks Track C: (C104) 2:45 PM - 3:30 PM While big media tests the waters of mobile broadcasting, many web video producers are already out there doing it live from the street with a cell phone. Others are joining in and experimenting with two-way broadcasts via streaming video over cell phone networks and via Wi-Fi, wherever they are. Viewers can chat while the broadcast is going on and affect and sometimes even direct the content being produced. Come to this session to hear Steve Garfield talk with other pioneers in the live broadcasting space about their experiences on the forefront of this new technology for sharing their stories over the web. Moderator: Steve Garfield, Mobile Video Journalist, SteveGarfield.com Presenters: Max Haot, Founder, CEO, Mogulus Bhaskar Roy, Co-Foudner, Qik.com

Mogulus Launches Google Overlay Ads Today

Starting today at 3pm EST, Mogulus will begin inserting overlay adverts in all Mogulus Free channels. A May 28th email to Mogulus channel producers along with a post the Mogulus blog said, "The adverts are provided by our partner Google and are content and viewer location targeted text adverts. They will be shown on the Mogulus channel page and all embedded Mogulus players (for Mogulus Free channels only)"

This Beet.TV video by Andy Plesser was recorded last week at Streaming Media East, and is an interview with Max Haot, CEO and Founder of Mogulus who discusses the launch of Google overlay ads.




The email/blog post continued, "We hope you will agree that the ads are not too intrusive and, particularly in this first phase, we sincerely hope that you will leave them enabled. Advertising on Mogulus Free channels will help us to offset some of the high hosting bandwidth costs we are incurring every month and allow us to keep the free platform exactly that...free! We'll also be evaluating just how effective the ads are and this will help us plan a future release of advertising revenue share programs for selected Mogulus producers."

To see the adverts in action visit "The Digital Lifestyle".

http://www.mogulus.com/tdl
http://www.thedigitallifestyle.tv