Live-to-VOD- The Ultimate Guide for Professional Broadcasters
Live streaming is a very pertinent marketing game plan for many businesses today. Live streams are helping in augmenting business and capitalizing on direct communication not just with customers but also with other community partners.
It has the advantage of being able to congregate a group of people at a time and engage in interaction with them more passively. But there are others who may not be able to attend the stream due to scheduling conflicts like work. As a consequence, to make these events accessible to those who could not participate, live-to-VOD archiving is used. Live-to-VOD is used by broadcasters to present the event to the viewers on-demand after the live stream is over.
This blog brings to you more about live-to-VOD archiving, it’s functioning, and how it helps professional broadcasters to make the most from it.
What is Live-to-VOD?
People like to watch events ‘ as it happens’ and live streams give them a video experience. But what happens if the user wants to rewind or pause? This is why the live-to-VOD function was devised.
Live-to-VOD streams or auto-archiving means generating video-on-demand streams out of your live stream. It simply means that as soon as your live event is over, you can deploy this VOD stream to your website so that users can watch the replay and you can monetize it. Live-to-VOD also gives chance to replay the video content while the event is being live streamed.
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How Does live-to-VOD work?
On the surface, live-to-VOD streaming produces a copy of the video from the live stream and saves it for playback on multiple devices. While this seems simple, there is a lot of technical processes involved behind the scenes. But a good video platform makes this process simple by making it as easy as switching the settings to “On.”
Firstly, you need either an online video platform that has an auto-archiving tool or a live stream recording app. A video platform simplifies this process. But with an online video platform and an app, you need to download the stream recording from the app and then manually upload it to your VOD library.
Next, after having chosen the streaming setup, create a live channel on your video platform. Set up live stream encoder, and other tools to normal. If your platform does not facilitate “On” and “Off” toggle for live stream recording, configure your ingest. For different platforms, this step could be different for setup. Like in the case of AWS, an HLS or DASH ingest is required.
Then a harvest job should be configured, which will get the copy of the live stream and save it to the VOD library. All the complex procedures go on behind the scenes, and for you, the process is seamless if you choose a complete streaming solution.
Why do you need to convert a live stream into VOD?
Live streaming videos can be repurposed by making them available for future viewing. Broadcasters can create batches of videos, upload them and make them available in the video library. These videos can be replayed and used as promotions, replay videos, video-on-demand, podcast episodes, blog posts, etc. They can also be used to make:
· teasers
· call-to-action broadcasts
· screenshots for presentations (Slides, GIFs)
· market it as video email copies
· short videos for social media, and
· other engaging content
What are the Benefits of Live-to-VOD Archiving?
Live-to-VOD archiving gets substantial benefits for broadcasters and audiences both. For the audience, it gives search options for convenience and can offer the attendees many features and functionalities during the stream.
Navigation control function to run the Videos
Users may want to leave the live stream in the middle due to various reasons. Live-to-VOD archiving lets the users come back to the online video streaming platform and pick up the video from where they left off.
Viewers Interaction
The participants in the live stream can communicate and intermingle with the broadcaster and each other through various modes. There are options to chat and call so that they can get in touch with the experts for their queries.
Content Sharing Benefits
With an open VOD, participants can also share the content with whoever they want to share it with. The viewership, therefore, rises for the video asset with such kind of free publicity and word of mouth. Content sharing gives the opportunity to make more money from the video.
Remodeling the Content for Different Uses
The live stream can be repurposed into different content forms. The video stream can be used further to make graphics, GIFs, short clips for social media platforms, marketing purposes, visibility and brand awareness, etc. It can also be used and merged with other content to produce programs like documentaries etc.
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Live-Stream Recording for Later Use
An important benefit of recording a live stream for on-demand playback is that, it can be used for profit maximization. The content can be monetized to generate larger revenue compared to when you only stream something once. The audience gets to watch the stream at a later point at their convenient time.
Monetize Live-to-VOD and Earn More
Monetization is the most important reason broadcasters stream video content online. Most views for a given content happen only after they have been streamed and are made available for VOD streaming. The recorded stream of the live streaming video can be monetized using different monetization models.
They can also be made available to closed communities that owe such exclusive content or to donation platforms.
Final Thoughts
We hope that this blog helps professional broadcasters to make informed decisions with more understanding of the live-to-VOD archiving function and its working.
It is a powerful, white-labeled video streaming platform that supports the live-to-VOD function for content delivery. With a number of features built-in for professional broadcasting, video monetization, and high-quality streaming services, you can leverage the benefits and maximize profits from your video assets
