The power of live streaming

Words by Julian Rogers

When Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner leapt from his space capsule 24 miles above earth and hurtled at over 800mph towards New Mexico’s desert, the daredevil stunt smashed records – including live streaming. More than eight million people concurrently tuned in to watch his nine-minute freefall live on YouTube, which was a record for the video-sharing site at the time (2012).

Since this watershed moment, live streaming has exploded with dedicated platforms and social media apps enabling individuals and businesses to broadcast unedited content to millions of viewers – all from a smartphone. Even Pope Francis, who has over 14 million Twitter followers, delivered his first-ever address via Facebook Live in October, while Donald Trump’s inauguration in January was the most watched news event streamed online ever.

The amount of video content we consume these days is quite staggering; in excess of 500 million hours’ worth is watched on YouTube each day, while more video content is uploaded in 30 days online than the three major US television networks combined have created in the past 30 years. Live streaming platforms like Facebook and Instagram Live, Twitter-owned Periscope, YouTube Live and Twitch have taken web video content that step further with real-time broadcasts adding a sense of urgency and interactivity you don’t always get with recorded videos.

Streaming hosts can participate in conversations with viewers, and these audiences can influence the content that is being produced. This engagement is why the leading bookmakers have been experimenting with streaming platforms as a way of reaching new audiences and boosting brand exposure on social media.

One advocate of live video is BetVictor’s PR representative Jack Milner who regularly whips out his smartphone and fires up live video streams from the firm’s Gibraltar HQ. These broadcasts on @BetVictorRacing and the main @BetVictor Twitter accounts are used to air breaking news, odds updates and betting discussions with head of trading, Chris Poole. For instance, when Expert Eye won at Glorious Goodwood in August, Milner live streamed the reaction from the traders and the team’s revised odds live for the 2000 Guineas.

“We have found video broadcasts to be useful in their engagement rates and their speed at getting up-to-date information out to the public,” he explains. “The ability to react to live, breaking news means recording and editing video is becoming obsolete with things now needing to be done in real time.”

For him, Periscope, which was merged into the Twitter app 10 months ago, is a “tremendous resource”. So far in 2017, BetVictor has shot 146 Periscope videos that have generated over 750,000 page impressions on Twitter.

It’s showtime…

This football season, Ladbrokes has been broadcasting its own half-hour football show – the ‘Ladbrokes #FanFriday Show’ – every Friday lunchtime on Facebook Live. Featuring a studio-like environment, football fans discuss key football talking points ahead of the weekend action. Viewers are encouraged to select one of the live reaction options (Periscope only has hearts) to vote in real time on various subjects in order to drive engagement and comment. For example, ‘who is going to win between Liverpool and Manchester United’ or ‘can England win the World Cup’? These videos typically attract thousands of views and hundreds of reactions and comments.

Meanwhile, rival William Hill has been using Facebook Live around sporting events and was particularly active in the run up to the Conor McGregor vs Floyd Mayweather Jnr fight in August. These video interviews drew views in the tens of thousands and, according to spokesman Rupert Adams, did “extremely well”.

Partypoker frequently streams live tournaments

Never one to follow the herd, Paddy Power recently used Facebook Live to stream what the bookmaker described as the “world’s first Paint Drying Championship” during England’s World Cup qualifier against Slovenia. The Irish firm was suggesting that watching paint dry would be more enthralling than the national side’s performance.

With a studio setup and commentators, viewers could tune in and bet on which of the four paint colours – red, green, blue and yellow – would be the first to dry. Paddy Power went 5/2 on each outcome, though all losing bets were refunded. Head of social and digital content Mícheál Nagle says the stream, which lasted two hours and 15 minutes no less, “exceeded all our expectations” with over 300,000 views and 9,800 interactions on Facebook.

“We had lots of positive reaction. Just the idea of two hours of paint drying is funny and any time we shared the idea with people, they laughed.” Nagle adds that incorporating a betting element helped with engagement. It is only in the last 12 months that Paddy Power has been experimenting with live video, including a regular ‘Challenge Paddy’ feature whereby customers send in dares for boss Paddy Power to complete live on social channels. This has included everything from drinking a pint of gravy to swimming in the sea in the middle of winter.

“On the back of that success, we’ve started to experiment more and we feel it’s an area where there’ll be much more growth in the future.” Every month the operator also streams live prize giveaway draws as part of its loyalty club. (This month’s top prize is a racehorse for a year). “I think people like the live element as they feel part of the show. They want to see what happens next and they know with a brand like Paddy Power that anything can happen.”

Bite-sized snacks

While video is easily digestible content, mobile audiences tend to dip in and out of social apps and don’t have the time or attention spans to sit through lengthy streams on their social apps. Viewers tend to want short, ‘snackable’ content that grabs their attention from the outset. BetVictor has found that viewers tend to stick around for roughly one-third of a Periscope broadcast and that the optimum length for live video is between two and three minutes.

“If the user clicks on a video and sees it is five or six minutes long, he is unlikely to sit through the entire video,” Milner explains. “The message should be swift, concise and to the point. The best time to film is straight after a race where the reaction is there among social media and a particular horse is trending on Twitter.”

Milner says BetVictor is exploring the possibility of using Facebook Live for Premier League matches, particularly during half time, though Twitter’s Periscope is better suited for racing-related content. “Periscope engages well with our racing audience and is our weapon of choice for breaking price changes after a big race.”

Yet regardless of the platform, creating live content does involve an element of risk. Comments in the chat box won’t always be complementary about the stream or the brand, and slip ups are an inevitable occurrence. A prime recent example is Apple’s embarrassing hiccup when the facial recognition software on the iPhone X failed to work during a live-streamed unveiling. Furthermore, the video quality of an impromptu Periscope or Facebook Live stream isn’t going to be the same quality as what it would be if filmed in a media room.

However, it works both ways as a live, uncut video feels less polished and much more raw and uncut. And according to Facebook, live is notably more engaging. The social media giant reports that, on average, people spend three times more time watching a Facebook Live video compared to a video that is no longer live. And users are 10 times more likely to comment on live video than regular videos. “Obviously, the longer a customer engages with your brand the better it is for loyalty, lifetime span and customer value,” says Random Consulting’s partner Aideen Shortt.

For Jasper Hoekert, co-founder and CEO of Amsterdam-based Revenue Engineers, bookmakers’ streams should be regular fixtures rather than a “one-hit wonder”. He says: “The big winners will be the guys who do it [live video] over the longer term and dedicate funds to it. It’s about claiming a timeframe and doing these videos over a period of time, making sure it’s not a one-hit wonder.

“You need to get the right people on board and understand that you need to learn from it and have a long-term vision.” Hoekert singles out Ladbrokes’ #FanFriday show for particular praise, highlighting how this unique broadcast targets football fans with its football-centric material rather than chasing bettors. “Your average punter will know where to find Ladbrokes, but I think for football fans to engage with a betting platform having live content is a very smart way to attract a new audience. And live video is just very engaging, dynamic and quick. Anything live that hasn’t been through the ringer two or three times and has a sense of authenticity resonates very well. It’s very real.”

Crossing streams

Of all the gambling verticals, poker has been the one to benefit most from online streaming. Many of the major brands, including PokerStars, partypoker, 888 and Unibet Poker, broadcast their live events on various platforms, while sponsored pros stream their online sessions and interact with viewers in the chat box. Market leader PokerStars was quick to harness live video a few years ago and has cultivated massive audiences.

In August, the PokerStars Championship Barcelona registered more than 1.2 million views across the event on various digital platforms including PokerStars.TV, Facebook Live and gaming streaming platform Twitch. Indeed, Amazon-owned Twitch, which boasts 9.7 million DAUs, and its dedicated poker channel has been a shot in the arm for online poker. “The platform remains very experimental and raw, which is one of the appeals for both viewers and streamers,” says Eric Hollreiser, VP of corporate communications for The Stars Group. He adds: “We live in a voyeuristic age filled with over-sharers. Twitch puts those two realities together in an immensely powerful way.”

Partypoker has been ramping up its live streaming of late as part of parent company GVC’s renewed focus on its online poker product and its land-based global events. The operator has gone from streaming to 20 to 30 viewers a year ago on Twitch to an average of 300 or 400 today for its live tournaments – sometimes 500 to 600 viewers if it’s a cash game involving popular pros. One live stream from Dusk Till Dawn poker club in Nottingham amassed over 1,200 viewers.

“Twitch is a great way to reach out to our players directly, interact with them via chat regularly and offer unique comps and promotions,” says Colette Stewart, partypoker’s social, community and Twitch specialist. Although partypoker’s Twitch channel (almost 9,000 followers) and YouTube channel (9,100 subscribers) have proved popular with audiences, Facebook hasn’t had quite the same ‘stickiness’. Partypoker’s Twitch audiences tend to watch streams for 25 to 35 minutes on average, yet those on Facebook Live will typically only hang around for four to six minutes.

“We have used Facebook Live before and it’s a great way to reach out to our players,” Stewart says. “However, they don’t seem to stick around as long – maybe it’s just too tempting to browse other content on Facebook.”

This makes sense when you consider how people use Facebook. When they have a spare few minutes, they’ll check their feed to see what’s going on and may stumble across a stream. With Twitch, users take the decision to visit the platform and watch streams.
“While the size of an available audience might be greater on Facebook, Twitch holds a considerable advantage with regards to retention,” says Corey Padveen, a partner at t2 Marketing International. Meanwhile, many of Twitch’s poker viewers will play poker online on their desktop or laptop and have Twitch open simultaneously. Stewart says most viewers are on desktop with only around 25% regularly tuning in from a mobile device.

Reels of film

However, it’s not just poker being streamed these days. Casino has its own dedicated channel on Twitch where you can watch various streamers, usually affiliates, play table games and slots. Not only are these streams useful for showcase games, but they can also acquire new users. “The casino channel is huge and has huge potential for casino operators,” says Hoekert.

“Watching someone else playing blackjack for €250 a hand is exciting, and when they win big, it makes you want to do the same. Seeing someone lose makes you think ‘thank f*ck I didn’t lose that money’. The casino industry has always struggled to find good quality, ‘snackable’ content, but this allows people to create great content around the most profitable channel in gambling. Within the next six to 12 months, it will explode – it’s already happening.” Hoekert also suggests Twitch is a good opportunity to acquire players who don’t have gambling accounts elsewhere. “You could be potentially dealing with 100% wallet share.”

But whether it’s slot streaming or previewing sporting events on Facebook Live, video is where social is headed. Its ability to capture audiences’ attention and engage with them is unparalleled. According to video solutions business Brightcove, social video generates 1,200% more shares than static text and images combined. “A few years ago, social media moved from text, or words, to being heavily image-based,” says Shortt. “Now, consumer behaviour has evolved even further in that direction with video and streaming being an integral part of social media consumption.”

She also stresses that operators need to be investing in producing video to reflect the inexorable appetite for this sort of content. “At present about one-third of online activity is spent with video and it’s predicted that by 2019, internet video traffic will account for 80% of all consumer internet traffic, so it’s verging on brand suicide not to have an appropriate plan to reflect this.” So go grab that clapperboard…