Live Event Streaming (webcasting) is a huge & rapidly growing field. By 2021, the live streaming industry could reach $70.05 billion. The live video industry is exploding & progressive organizations & businesses are mobilizing their resources and getting involved and this article will share some useful, professional tips for successful, live video monetization.
Despite the proliferation of free content on the internet, premium paid content continues to grow. For the first time since the Internet came into being, distribution has been democratized. Anyone who creates great content can get it in front of an audience of millions and profit from doing so.
That’s not to say that it’s easy to to monetize live video. A recent report from Streaming Media finds that live video monetization is one of the larger challenges for content publishers in 2018. However, there are a number of excellent methods to help you monetize effectively.
How To Monetize Video Successfully in a World of Free Content? Live Streaming!
The key to succeeding in this market is publishing great material that people want/need to see. Despite the dearth of content available on the Internet, people are still willing to pay for content they find valuable and compelling.
Overall, 52% of marketing professionals worldwide, name live video as the type of content with the best ROI. In fact, marketers who are using streaming video are seeing 49% faster growth in their revenue. In this article, we’re going to look specifically at how to successfully monetize video content and ensure viewer engagement, as compared to free content.
The Science of Pricing
There are well known psychological factors around pricing that could influence your video sales success. One of them is employing the tactic of Premium Pricing…
It’s a well recognized fact in business that people are very willing to pay for goods or services based around the value they perceive and this is something that you can influence. Will it increase my efficiency in the workplace? Will it make it easier for me to do my job? Will it allow me to add value to my own products and services? Will it make me look better and enhance my business image?
Once you have figured out the “purpose” of your video product, you can then market and price it much more effectively.
In this world of Free Content, how would you monetize your live video content? Utilize the principle of ‘Anchoring‘.
What is Anchoring? It is determining the implicit value that your target audience might put on your goods or services.
Here’s the rule: the pricing of the most popular, well-known content determines the “anchor” by which we judge whether other, similar content is “cheap” or “expensive.”
Forbes published an article where they gave an example comparing desktop software applications to mobile apps. Photoshop or Microsoft Office cost hundreds of dollars. Mobile apps are often $5 or less. So why does the public still purchase Photoshop or Office? Its because of their perception of value.
You can also use this effect to your advantage by anchoring a less expensive service with more expensive content. For example, you may plan to offer only one pricing option—say, a $100 fee to for an annual subscription. However, it may be more effective to first offer a $750 lifetime subscription which could “anchor” the customer’s perception of pricing at that level and lead them to perceive the $100 annual option as a fantastic deal. This is just a simplistic example and if you want to learn more about pricing, just do a search on the web for “pricing psychology”.
There are three main methods of monetizing video: pay-per-view (which is transactional), onscreen advertising, and subscriptions. There are pros and cons for each and what suits you best can depend on a variety of factors.
Pay-Per-View
PPV is the simplest pricing scheme. You watch, you pay. Each piece of content costs money. Pay-per-view has long been a staple of professional sports and these broadcasts have been some of the most lucrative events in sports history. However, Pay-per-view is also well suited to events like conventions, symposiums, trade shows, conferences, workshops and similar events. Any one-time event that can generate significant interest is a great candidate for PPV.
Advertising
Another method for live video monetization is ads. Ad Monetization is increasingly popular as audience sizes grow. Advertising, as you might expect, is most lucrative when audiences are large. That makes it ideal for popular events. In 2016, analysts estimated that mobile ad revenue represented a $16 billion revenue opportunity in the US alone.
Subscriptions
Subscription monetization, also known as SVOD, is when the customer pays a single fee for ongoing access to a library of archived content or a succession of live streams. There are some estimates that more than 35% of professional content broadcasters monetize their content via subscription models.
SVOD makes the most sense for ongoing, regular content released on a schedule. Watching subscription-based OTT (Over The Top) video services is a daily habit for 60 percent of adults in the US, showing that this model is gaining more popularity all the time.
So how to achieve effective video monetization?
Whatever method you select for monetizing your live video content, you’ll need to implement the appropriate technology to make it work. Usually that means working with an Online Video Platform, or OVP like ours, which provides a service for hosting and delivering both Video On-Demand (VOD) and Live Video Streams.
In Conclusion:
Hopefully, this article has helped educate you about video monetization. It’s an exciting and potentially lucrative time to be involved in this field.
After reading this article, you may be looking for an online video platform with robust video monetization tools. Our platform, at Webstream.ca offers support for pay-per-view, subscriptions, and video advertising that can enhance your Live Webcasts and make them profitable.
For more information on the Live Streaming service we offer, visit our main website at Mediastreams.ca or visit Webstream.ca for hosting your one-time or ongoing Live Event Webcasts.
Call 604.970.5055 or send us your Event Details for a free quote