Streaming Video Blog

Get product updates, tips for video, news on industry
events and discover trends about live streaming,
video production and video on-demand.

Revolutionizing Live Video Streaming for Enterprises: robust features, affordable price

In the age of digital transformation, businesses are constantly seeking innovative solutions to connect with their global workforce, streamline training processes, and engage audiences in real-time. The launch of IBM Enterprise Video Streaming new Silver, Gold and Platinum pricing plans marks a groundbreaking moment in the world of enterprise video platforms, offering secure live video streaming and on-demand content delivery to large global audiences, at an affordable price point.

Designed for a myriad of uses, including employee town halls, training classes, and digital events, IBM Enterprise Video Streaming is set to redefine the way organizations communicate and collaborate.


Virtual Event Enhancements Include Registration Form Logic

We’re excited to announce some new event registration features that have been added to IBM Enterprise Video Streaming! Theses virtual event enhancements for registration form logic and improved editing make it easier and more efficient for you to manage your digital events and get the most out of our platform.

Enhancements include advanced form logic to control what fields are displayed for specific attendees as well as increased flexibility for editing a form once it’s been published and there are active registrations. With the new Enterprise Video Streaming registration form features, customers will be able to more easily efficiently manage events and get the most out of IBM Enterprise Video Streaming.


Secure Virtual Event Platform Enhancements

We’re excited to announce a new solution for Virtual Events that allows customers to host events online on the highly secure and reliable IBM Enterprise Video Streaming platform. This secure virtual event platform provides an out-of-the-box solution for creating customizable event websites, replacing a lot of manual work and dramatically reducing lead times.

With the new Enterprise Video Streaming – Virtual Event solution with Microsite, customers can now easily create a fully functioning event website with built-in registration and event management capabilities in just a few minutes. This virtual event product can be used again and again for events of all sizes, easily scaling up or down depending on the scope of each subsequent event. Each virtual event has a start and end date, can span one or many days, and can support one or many online stages (live channels) at the same time. The new solution builds on Watson Media’s existing expertise in channel-based live video streaming. 


Live Playlists for Simulated Live Events Are Better Than Ever

Simulated Live, Simulive or Semi Live – whichever name you prefer, refers to an online digital event that is broadcasted to a live audience watching and interacting in real time, but the video presentations they see are actually pre-recorded.

From the attendee experience, a simulated live event looks just like a live presentation that is scheduled to occur at a set time of day and can be added to their calendar ahead of time like any upcoming live event. If an attendee logs in late or after the presentation has started, they will not be able to rewind to watch the content that they missed from the beginning because the event appears to be happening in real-time – and in some ways it is! In fact, some argue that simulated live events can be more engaging because the speakers can actually focus on actively reaching out with participants continually throughout the event to keep them engaged. And all sessions are automatically archived so attendees who miss any portion will be able to watch again on-demand after the event.

There are many reasons why you might consider pre-recording the video presentations for your upcoming event ranging from cost considerations to risk avoidance to speaker preferences and availability. These include:


World Jousting Championship: Think Game of Thrones Without Stunt Planning

Would Jousting Championship Online

“If you haven’t seen jousting before, picture your worst nightmare come true,” says Luke Campbell, chief operating officer at Epicentre.tv, which is streaming the first World Jousting Championship this weekend on IBM’s live streaming platform. “It’s two guys running on horseback, down a tilt line, 60 kilometers an hour (about 40 miles an hour) using wooden lances with metal tips to knock each other off. It’s insane, actually. You have to witness it to believe it.”


Mazda video case study: Driving 100x more viewers to a product launch using IBM

A new Mazda video case study shows how live video can achieve spectacular results.

A big hook for Mazda is the appeal of its designs. The Mazda Miata, for instance, has become  the best-selling two-seater open sports car of all time. The Mazda design philosophy is called “Soul of Motion”, and it seeks to capture “the power and elegance of a wild animal in the instant when it pounces on its prey.”


Video is the Leader of Content Marketing

When content marketing first came on the scene, text-based content was the norm: white papers, email promotions, and e-newsletters were crammed with words, words, and more words.

Today, with terabytes of text being published online every minute, consumers have had their fill. They’re craving a more interactive experience. And now that video technology is more accessible than ever, marketers have no excuse not to give it to them.

Still think video content is just a “nice-to-have?” Check out the latest statistics from HubSpot:

  •       55 percent of people watch videos online every day.
  •       Video takes up 57 percent of consumer Internet traffic.
  •       Online video now accounts for 50 percent of all mobile traffic.
  •       Using the word “video” in email subject lines boosts clickthrough rates by 65 percent.
  •       52 percent of marketing professionals point to video as the content type with the best ROI.

“Too expensive?” Not anymore.

Not so long ago, only corporations could afford to create and publish professional-looking videos. Fortunately for small businesses, video content marketing no longer requires a five-figure budget. Today, even the smallest businesses can record videos (of good quality) with a low cost HD camera, edit them with cost-effective apps, upload them to a video streaming platform, and easily embed them on a blog, website, or a social media account.

Streaming’s gone mainstream

When we look back on 2015 in the future, many of us will remember it as “the year streaming went mainstream.”

With the growing popularity of video streaming mobile apps (including Ustream), more businesses than ever are using live video. Why? It helps generate a buzz among current and potential customers through:

  •       Live product launches
  •       Virtual conferences
  •       Brand exposure
  •       And more!

So if you’ve been holding back from adding video to your content marketing mix, there’s never been a better time to jump in. Your audience is demanding it. Video content has never been easier to create and publish. Streaming video lets you capture the excitement of live events.


Engage! Using Live Streaming Video to Build Employee Involvement

Researchers from Deloitte recently asked more than 2,500 business and HR leaders to rate the urgency of numerous business issues, ranging from workforce capability to diversity and inclusion. No less than 79 percent of respondents rated the issue of employee retention and engagement as “urgent” or “important.”

And how are they doing on that front? Not so great, according to a separate survey by Gallup:

An alarming 70% of American workers are not showing up to work committed to delivering their best performance, and this has serious implications for the bottom line of individual companies and the U.S. economy as a whole.

What’s a CEO to do?

Smart leaders are realizing that, if employees are going to be engaged in their work, they need a direct line to top management. From the mailroom to the boardroom, employees need to know the organization’s mission, they need to know what success looks like, and they need to know that management cares — and they don’t want to read about it in an email.

That’s where live streaming video comes in.

Live streaming video offers employees real-time engagement with top leadership, whether those leaders are delivering prepared presentations or answering questions off the cuff at a virtual town hall. It builds a personal bridge that can fuel a whole new attitude toward the organization and the employee’s role within it.

Take a look at what Ustream client Zuora did when its employee base grew to span across nine time zones. By taking the company’s weekly meetings online via live video, Founder & CEO Tien Tzuo was able to bring Zuora’s workforce “under one virtual roof,” where employees could interact and ask questions in real time. “Ustream has been a big part of helping us keep that small company feel,” says Tzuo. “[It] allows us to create a really rich, interactive experience.”

How can live streaming video help you create a more engaged workforce? Learn more from by registering for our webinar “Business Use Cases for Live Video Streaming” here.