Live Video Most Often Used to Deepen Interaction With Viewers

There's something intimate about live video that makes it more useful for creating a relationship with consumers. That's one takeaway from a report on live streaming video released today by Brandlive, a cloud-based live video platform for brands.

When executives were asked about the benefits they got from going live, 78 percent said it lets them achieve a deeper interaction with viewers. Next up, 66 percent said live videos were more accessible, 59 percent said going live adds a human element to digital marketing, and 57 percent said live streams engage social viewers.

"The research shows that live video is becoming a top priority for executives from varying departments with brands and retail, and that more than 60 percent of those companies are using live beyond social media find significant value beyond simple social audience engagement," says Fritz Brumder, CEO and founder of Brandlive.

Brandlive partnered with IBM Cloud Video to create the report, which questioned over 200 brand and retail executives about their companies' live streaming habits.

The report also looks at how companies use live video in-house. The top use there was training retail associates, which 56 percent of those surveyed had done in the previous year. That was followed by training sales reps (50 percent), streaming CEO town halls (48 percent), and training customer service workers (47 percent).

"Training salespeople and retail associates are among the top-rated use cases for live video ROI. Companies who have adopted live video in this way plan to increase these efforts moving forward," the report notes.

Companies are increasing their budgets for live streaming, said 53 percent of those surveyed, while 23 percent said those budgets would rise by a significant amount. Companies showed a stronger interest in live video than pre-recorded video, as only 51 percent said their budgets for pre-recorded video would increase and 19 percent said they would rise by a significant amount.

For more, download the full benchmark report for free (registration required).

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net