The Evolution of Live Streaming Production Services in Event Broadcasting
Live streaming production services have been rapidly evolving for live event broadcasting, driven by the increasing prevalence of live streaming across the web. As an alternative to traditional television or video conferencing, live streaming for events has gained more popularity due to its low cost, free access, real-time involvement, global reach, and inherent interactivity. In the early days, event live streaming was commonly achieved using custom applications or by directly embedding third-party social platforms on event websites. With the rise of content management systems, general solutions and middleware plug-ins have been developed to enable simple integration of live streaming into live events. Live streaming has now become a feature of any video-hosting site, reaching millions of viewers for each live event.
From a producer’s perspective, we are facing a new set of production challenges when the focus of event broadcasting shifts from the live event space to online platforms. Properly adapting to this new environment, we must understand the underlying production processes and technology, as well as how audiences interact with a live stream. The content streaming industry was already the most efficient form of online distribution platform for the second year in a row, with more and more broadcasters choosing to live stream their own content to online social platforms. Enterprises are branding not only the intended broadcast content on multiple simultaneous platforms, but also content from behind the scenes of the broadcasts to community platforms, both of which are presented in a raw, non-professional way that appeals to a younger generation. So, how have we transitioned from this to full-fledged online live streaming production? The following sections will attempt to give an overview of the multitude of technologies and services that digital platforms, third-party software, and technology have developed to facilitate these services.
Key Components of Event Live Streaming
Live streaming refers to the process of delivering live video footage and audio from a remote location to an online platform where it can be broadcast to the public. There are several key components required to make an event available to online audiences. At the most basic level, live streaming involves a camera or capturing device and a means to encode the audio and video stream. Additionally, it requires a method to transmit the encoded data to the online platform, and a means to manage and distribute the stream to viewers. These four elements can be described as hardware, software, network infrastructure, and content management. In addition, the quality of the experience will depend on the quality of the audio and video streams at their source.
One or more cameras, including any associated lighting or audio equipment, are used to capture an event. The encoded content can be created in dedicated hardware like a hardware encoder, or it can be created in software running on a personal computer. The encoded content is then transmitted from the source to one or more ingest points on a content delivery network, using protocols like Real-Time Messaging Protocol Secure, which is the most secure, Real-Time Messaging Protocol, or various flavors of SRT. The ingest or point of entry is the first entry point in the distribution network of the platform that supports the streaming. From this point on, the content delivery network infrastructure will manage the movement and delivery of the live content to servers that can transcode or transrate the video in real time to support adaptive bitrate and facilitate efficient distribution of the content to large groups of viewers. The resultant variations of the content are distributed across the numerous edge servers in several data centers in the content delivery network for caching and delivery. In addition to geographic redundancy, these servers are equipped with tools for mitigating network issues like latency, packet loss, route changes, and server load. Once the content is ready to be made available to viewers, the link to the live stream is published and viewers can begin watching.
Emerging Technologies in Live Streaming Production
Emerging technologies play an important role in the evolution of live streaming production services. First, advancements in connection technologies have introduced the application of 5G in broadcasting to provide higher throughput and decreased latency. This enhances the quality of a live stream and lowers the time taken for data packets to travel from the source to the destination. Second, artificial intelligence is utilized in automating various elements of the production tasks as well as providing advanced audience segmentation solutions. Through this innovative approach, AI has the ability to analyze whether a user is enjoying a specific element and can propose customized solutions. Virtual and augmented reality technology is being used to create extremely immersive views of live broadcasts. Several experiments have also demonstrated the business potential of this proprietary extension of the event broadcasting application. Technologically, there have been numerous enhancements in terms of compression and encoding that have led to great benefits in the video transmission and delivery process. The more complex the compression process becomes, the higher the bandwidth savings that can be achieved, which significantly affects costs.
Furthermore, cloud technology widely affects the services related to live streaming production because certain services require high-quality computational resources on a small scale. Scalability and adaptation to a virtual environment are necessary for these technologies. Currently, the way events are broadcast and made available to viewers has changed quite dramatically. There have been several enhancements in the technologies and methodologies that include broadcasting capabilities. In live streaming production services, various sections can inform how an event is broadcast, including willingness to engage in discussions with the presenter, the type of content shown, and how content depends on event listings. These service enhancements are driven by scientific breakthroughs and are adapted to the establishment of service providers of different packages. Increased interest means more potential business transactions. Given all these recent developments, the likelihood of scientific breakthroughs and the emergence of new business-related transactions has provided modern business paths for established service providers, especially for broadcasting events.
The Role of Broadcast Partners in Event Live Streaming
What are the benefits of a partnership between an event organizer and a broadcast partner in live streaming? There are two key elements to this partnership: the distribution of the program through different platforms and the potential reach, and the expertise behind how to do these two elements using technical and aesthetic techniques. While an average person may have access to streaming, they may not have access to the broadcast partner to understand the techniques and promises behind converting an experience into live television. The realized promise by the average person is that in partnership, a partnership can grow the opportunity. It is usually for audience reach. But the true partnership also lies in the distribution and promotional advantage that this comes with. Avoid challenges in collaboration by fitting into their role in conjunction with yours. One practice that is widely recognized is to come up with your own rules in a collaboration framework. People who engage in an effective partnership have a signed and designed document that contains personal responsibility to carry out the guidelines. For event organizers, this can be elaborated into a license agreement which includes guidelines for said events. A fitting opportunity to combat contract issues is to have an existing relationship with a broadcasting company that can pick up the event and decide on the crew according to needs and wants. Once established, relationships are an advantageous thing; communicational problems connecting the two parties are just a consultation away. Why is the quality of a live streaming session important to both the event organizer and the broadcast partners? One of the purposes of employing a broadcast partner agency is the possibility to make a profit. A TV corporation is aware that a sold event is a feature that will bring in advertisement and potentially attract a new audience to future shows. In a recent instance at the Calgary Performing Arts Festival, their live streaming partner made a suggestion and decision on the call that allowed more than 40 cameras to be featured on their stream when previously that wasn’t something they took into heavy consideration. The new multi-camera angle stream increased pre-sold tickets and was the second most profitable event of the Festival. In return, the Festival is an annual event. Every broadcast of said event is completed through their broadcasting partner and nationally televised to many viewers. The partnership was advantageous for both because the Calgary Performing Arts mentioned that they wanted a panel discussion of various individuals regarding a book, the event of which would be live streamed. The TV partner had interest in making a documentary on the same topic, so they offered funds to make a difference.
