If you are a smart video marketer, you have probably published your explainer video on YouTube and/or Vimeo and maybe even used your animated explainer video to create a pre roll for use on YouTube as an in-stream ad or as a pre roll on your YouTube channel. But there are a few video giants out there where video advertising and branding is applicable that you might have missed.
Internet broadcasting is growing in popularity as people become more interested in watching “reality” broadcasting and broadcasters become more interested in pushing live content to viewers. Even Google is acknowledging the power of live broadcasting (if it wasn’t already apparent with Google Hangouts); the search engine giant (YouTube) is rumored to pay $1 billion to acquire video game live-streaming titan Twitch.
Although Twitch is a niche broadcasting community, it touts 45 million unique viewers monthly and its viewership is global. And Twitch isn’t even the largest live streaming service.
If you are not broadcasting live, maybe you should be. Live streaming connects you to your viewership in real time; that creates a unique opportunity for you to interact with a community interested in your show’s subject matter. Pretty cool.
But how does this apply to your explainer video, you ask.
Many of these live streaming sites make their money through advertising. Twitch does. Ustream does as well (and their viewership is upward of 50 million per month). And visitors to these sites are in the video-viewing mindset. You have the opportunity to reach millions of viewers who are ready to watch videos; advertise on video sites and your pre roll has a better chance of being watched. So where can you find a live stream network to advertise? Here are just a few.
Ustream
Overview Quick Facts
- Ustream’s advertising platform is called LiveAd
- Over the last 7 years, Ustream’s socially-fueled video platform has powered more than 85 million live streams (more than 2 billion viewer-hours of content!) across the globe.
- Services include video production, event management, live video encoding services, distribution and promotion.
Justin.tv
Overview Quick Facts
- 1 new broadcast starts on Justin.tv each second
- 50 million hours of video watched each month
- 300 million videos watched each month
- 100 million chat messages each month
- Over 100,000 Facebook fans
- Over 100,000 Twitter followers
Livestream
Overview Quick Facts
- 1 Billion video minutes monthly video-minutes
- 26 Million monthly viewers monthly-viewers
- 50,000 average concurrent viewers concurrent
- 175,000 Facebook fans
- 2.7 Million Twitter followers
These are just three options that video broadcasters have to live stream their events or channels, but the future is bright for live streaming channels. Proof is in their growing popularity and increasing niche markets.
