Economically and culturally we have gone through some seismic shifts lately. But in our lifetime we may see even bigger changes. We experienced the end of the industrial revolution as we moved into a communications revolution. We’re now a world without borders. From Kansas City to Katmandu, there are telephones in every ear and video screens in every pocket. The economic engine that drives us shifted from manufacturing to information technology and the major breakthroughs that created these shifts include the transformation of media from analog to digital, and the free flowing streaming of that media over a global communications backbone called the Internet.
Now there is a self-imposed seismic cultural shift to online living and working remotely powered by live streaming of video. Welcome to a new world, a new normal where broadcasting giants are now on an even playing field in the competition for eyeballs with you as content creators. Both economically and culturally media streaming has already transformed the planet and it has only just begun. With incredible rates of growth, live video will be streamed globally, cheaply and portably. Culturally, the change live streaming will bring in the coming years looks to continue to be driven by the younger generation and it will change how we see the world.
To give these notions credibility, we only need some context. Many behemoth economic and cultural change agents have only recently appeared. Facebook launched in 2004. Youtube was founded in 2005. Twitter formed in 2006. In 2008 we first saw Youtube Live and CNN delivered 25 million live streams during the Obama inaugural. In 2010 Apple released Facetime. Ten years later, streaming video accounts for over two-thirds of all internet traffic and it is on it’s way to being a $70.5 billion industry in 2021.
Today there are live mobile video streaming technologies, platforms and devices that are being born that will change society more than we ever imagined and it is taking on different forms. Streaming is exploding as a viewing habit and simultaneously; the democratization of video production has lowered the costs from the hundreds of thousands to the hundreds, period. We are entering an age were anyone can create their own broadcast network with a global reach. 80% of brand audience would rather watch live video than read a blog, and 82% prefer it to social posts.
I repeat all these statistics, with the somewhat obvious conclusion that live streaming is bigger than ever and growing at astronomical rates. But why are there still so many brands that do not tell there story through regular streaming of content, and developing their own loyal brand audience by connecting directly. Well if there ever was a time to invest in a video streaming platform that regularly engages it is now. Shift budgets and nimbly adjust to the new normal by creating a unique streaming platform. It is the lemonade to the bag of lemons the new normal presents every day.
More eyeballs are online, for longer than ever and it will be that way for the foreseeable future. As profit centers and buying habits may have changed forever, how is your brand, or your clients brand adjusting? Have you considered a unique repeatable streaming format that engages your audience, especially your younger one, and keeps them coming back because you are relevant? I don’t mean talking heads or influencers plugging products. (All feasible options though) but something unique that really stands out? Let me know what you are streaming and how it’s working out? The new normal can either be a problem or an opportunity. It’s up to us to chose.
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