The complete guide to Live Broadcasting

An overview of Live Broadcasting for the modern consumer in the Retail Industry; how Live Broadcasting works, how it benefits brands, and how to implement it as a strategy.

What is Live Broadcasting?

Live Broadcasting is getting more and more popular these days. Netflix is now a verb, and FaceTime is a means of communication. In short: the digital world is changing tremendously. Therefore the question arises from businesses: ‘What is a Live Broadcast?’ According to us, it’s the best way to gain attention from your audience and generate new customers. Live Broadcasting is the distribution of video and audio content to an audience over the web in real-time. 

HubSpot claims that video is the number one form of media used in content strategy – overtaking blogs and infographics. Since video is on the rise and essentially the future of business, it’s a requirement for your marketing strategy. Read more about innovating with Virtual Events in our playbook.

How does Live Broadcasting work?

Live Broadcasting refers to online streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcasted in real-time. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but not live-streamed. You can livestream through any media nowadays, for example Facebook Live or Youtube Live. The difference with Whisbi is that through our platform it allows your viewers to watch your live broadcast anonymously. The rich analytics options in Whisbi’s platform allows you to easily track all kinds of metrics. Also, with our solution the live streams are hosted on your web assets and no competitor can advertise there.

The most important attribute for Live Broadcasting is that it digitizes your sales journey and brings the in-store experience online. This way you as a brand can connect with your customers in real-time. Because offline events seem to become impossible right now, businesses are expanding the reach of live streaming their events instead. Why? Because you can reach a considerably higher audience. So, let’s get started.

How do we implement Live Broadcasting at Whisbi? Our platform is designed for easy interaction: conversational sales. We will give you an example. With our Engage solution you are able to increase the customer experience on your website. With this solution you can for example launch new products live for your customers to see. This is how live & interactive video broadcasts by Whisbi work:

• Live video: Send your brand message to an unlimited number of viewers online through live video broadcast, using just a tablet. 
• Live chat: Your web visitors are invited to interact in real-time by asking questions through the chat function. Read more about our live chat function in this dedicated guide.
• Convert broadcast viewers: Send your engaged viewers an automated chatbot message that can redirect them to a landing page of your choice, whether it is a One-to-One session with a sales agent or a web form and increase the chances for conversion. 

What is the difference between Live Broadcasting and Live Streaming?

Live streaming is very similar to live broadcasting in the sense that they are both used to stream live events to a large audience. But, the concept behind live broadcasting is that only one signal is transmitted over a wide area. The idea behind live streaming is that it works on a one-to-one basis. It’s about speaking to your customers on your website, answering questions, and showing them what your products can do.

Let’s break it down. The process of broadcasting involves the use of one signal directed to many receivers. The majorly known broadcast mediums are television and radio. The connection speeds of broadcasting are superfast, to meet all customer needs. Live streaming on the other hand involves a one-to-one relationship. It sends different signals to different uses simultaneously. In a live stream, the provider will have to send various signals to all those different viewers – even if they started watching at the same time. 

This is why you need Live Broadcasting

In 2021 it’s essential to engage with your customers through digital channels, foremost if you’re operating in the retail industry. Despite the drastic drop in retail sales due to lockdown measures, retailers are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel with retail-streaming rapidly becoming the growing e-commerce channel of choice. In general, live video broadcasting is going global. Livestream-generated sales are expected to double to $120 billion worldwide in 2021, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB). They announce that the fastest-growing brands of 2021 will be storeless, data-rich, live, participatory, entertaining, localized, and streaming. The results of our clients that already implemented this trend are therefore impressive:

• Hyundai achieved a 3:1 return on investment with live video engagement and conversational sales
• The world’s biggest technology firm achieved a 5X increase in sales for broadcast viewers
• A USA Telecommunications multinational increased their online conversion rate by 161%

‘’Face-to-face is the best form of communication, and live streams are the next best option. Live streaming creates a sense of inclusion and connection that’s difficult to replicate through other forms of communication.’’

–  Audrey Plaskacz Global Director, Internal Communications & Engagement, Lululemon