ProAV: How corporates are leveraging streaming and socials to deliver high-impact content

Perfectly summarising the impulses driving many companies’ approach to the production and dissemination of content at present, Steve Wind-Mozley, Chief Marketing Officer of live video transmission and video streaming solutions provider LiveU, proffers: “Content is a vector of value, and whether it’s audio, visual or video content forms – I’m going to call them all ‘stories’ – they can be massively powerful communication tools. Put the right piece of content in front of the right customer at the right time, and good things happen.”

But as Wind-Mozley also notes, there is more competition for eyeballs than ever before, not least on smartphones where “the attention for the audience tends to shrink in direct correlation with the screen size”. All of which means that the content has to be distinctive, memorable and extremely well-crafted if it is to be successful.

Fortunately, the democratisation of professional-level production and streaming technologies – as well as data-driven decision-making enabling the choice of platforms and channels to be finely calibrated – means this is within closer reach than ever before.

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INDELIBLE VIDEO ASSETS

“Tools and technologies that are really resonating are those which make it simpler for corporations to emulate the production values” Steve Wind-Mozley, Chief Marketing Officer, LiveU

It should be remembered that there is actually a great deal of crossover between the requirements of corporate media and “traditional” broadcast content.

“Many of our corporate customers have the same challenge that a sports broadcaster or news crew have, which is that they want to impart some information, generate an impact, or engage with somebody who doesn’t happen to be immediately available to them – either because they’re not geographically close to them or they’re in another time-zone,” says Wind-Mozley. “So the ability for [companies to serve as] visual storytellers and create a really indelible video asset that is information-rich and engaging to an audience that might be disparate is really important.”

Mindful that audiences are “very adept and expert” at sifting through ever-increasing amounts of content, corporate customers are also paying greater attention to production values. Accordingly, the “tools and technologies that are really resonating are those which make it simpler for corporations to emulate the production values” typically found in TV and film content.

For LiveU, this has translated to sustained interest in solutions such as LU800, a multi-camera field unit that bonds up to 14 connections with up to eight 5G/4G internal dual SIM models. Supporting up to 60 Mbps, the unit can transmit a maximum of four high-resolution, fully-frame sync feeds from a single portable unit.

As well as being suitable for a range of corporate media production, such as live streaming of product launches and corporate events, the LU800 makes it possible to bypass altogether potentially complex permanent network infrastructures. “Being able to do that thing which video wants you to do – [e.g.] stable, sufficient and uninterrupted network access – can become quite problematic if you have a corporate network that is being used by lots of people trading, for example. [With the LU800] you can turn up at a corporate environment, or even a venue doing conferences week-in and week-out, and have the option of simply relying on 4G and 5G.”

Looking ahead, Wind-Mozley indicates that the increasing volumes of customer relationship management (CRM) data available to customers will allow them to hone their content even more effectively. “I don’t think you could say there is an optimum length to [a piece of video] being transmitted across the network because the use cases which our corporate customers are deploying are so vastly different,” he says. “But the customers who seem to have the most success are the ones tailoring the video creation, length and form based on their CRM data-set.

“The other thing we have seen grow hugely in recent years is the use of marketing and sales teams within the corporate customer base to try and join up the dots more. They want to view video as another piece of their campaign communication architecture, which means looking at video open rates, start/stop/finish and click-through, as well as the possibility of providing HMTL5 overlays to try and drive V-commerce.”

DEEP LEARNING

Ease-of-streaming over 5G is also a preoccupation for Sony Professional Solutions, which recently announced details of the PDT-FP1 portable data transmitter for creators. Described as a “camera companion” with an external viewfinder, the unit enables low-latency live streaming and high-speed video and still image transfer over 5G, rendering it suitable for a variety of corporate production needs.

Pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) cameras with auto-framing technology – as featured in the Sony SRG-A40/A-12 camera from Sony – are also proving popular. The appeal of automated functionality has obvious appeal to business-related applications, suggests Claire Lam, Network Cameras Solutions Product Manager at Sony Professional Europe.

“Sony’s PTZ Auto Framing is an advanced, AI-based tracking function,” she says. “It employs deep learning to increase the accuracy of human recognition and better identify subjects and capture more of the details of their appearance. This allows the camera to maintain the composition that the content creator intended, with the kind of camera movements you would expect from a professional operator. The high-precision function opens up smarter PTZ content creation for the business and education sectors.”

Corporate interest in cloud-based solutions is also on the rise, and Sony is addressing this demand with the M2 Live Cloud Switcher, which allows content producers to handle everything from live video switching to audio mixing, graphics and captions without the need for ‘traditional’ broadcast facilities such as OB trucks or physical desks.

DEMOCRATISING ACCESS

Indeed, the concept of ‘democratising’ access to professional-grade production and streaming technologies without significant outlay is a recurring theme when exploring this aspect of pro-AV – and it’s certainly one to which Livepeer can relate. Launched in 2023, the Livepeer Studio solution supports both WebRTC and HLS protocols within a single workflow, enabling low-latency live streaming and real-time delivery for dynamic experiences, in-stream audience interaction, and advanced viewer engagement and performance analytics.

Read more ISE review 2024: The age of AV Broadcast

Several primary features have helped Livepeer Studio carve out a customer base in the much-changed post-pandemic video landscape. “With the backdrop of Covid, a lot of businesses were forced to use online native means to reach their audience, and a lot of that came through video streaming,” recalls Eric Tang, Livepeer CTO and Co-Founder. “Post-Covid, a lot of that requirement has continued, but it has led companies to look at the infrastructure [involved in doing so].”

For a lot of organisations, implies Tang, this has included a realisation of the “tremendous cost that can occur with cloud streaming. Maybe if you’re a [major streaming service] you can stomach those costs because you have a really well-thought-out business model that includes how you recuperate those expenses down the line. But for many businesses that cost structure does not make sense, which is where Livepeer Studio really shines as we’re able to drive the cost down.”

In contrast to ‘traditional’ cloud giants, Livepeer Studio allows content providers to take advantage of a secure, decentralised blockchain marketplace for transcoding and distributing live video, while a partner integration with distributed cloud storage provider Storj provides secure and cost-efficient media storage. Consequently, growing businesses can “cost-effectively build and scale” new stream products at lower financial risk, while established companies who want to experiment with new strategies or content can do so “on the fly without incurring heavy video delivery costs”.

As corporate video requirements evolve and surely become even more nuanced, it’s probable that a direct-to-viewer model – as in several primary areas of traditional broadcast – will increase in popularity. “There is definitely an appeal to a corporation that wants that autonomy over what they create and how they deliver it,” notes Tang.

DIRECT CONNECTION

Mitchell Rosenthal, Director Business Development Production and Enterprise at live video production and distribution company The Switch, also has clear ideas about corporate expectations of media – both now and in the future. The Switch works with corporate customers requiring various levels of input and assistance along the range of their service offering of “glass-to-glass production; everything from capture through transmit and archive on the back-end through our cloud services. Whether you’re producing a TikTok video or going to [stream a major event], we have the tools and production bits in order to go and power content creators to do what they need to do. So that could just be a production with two cameras or one with up to 20-30 cameras.”

“Some companies will be more willing to take risks than others, but they all need to work on content that engages” Mitchell Rosenthal, Director Business Development Production and Enterprise, The Switch

In particular, Rosenthal indicates that the changing demographics of social media consumption are having more influence on the tone and nature of the content being delivered, although the approaches of individual companies continue to vary.

“I’ve got children as young as eight, nine years old, and they’re constantly on their phones,” he says. “It’s a global explosion that has happened and corporations are absolutely paying attention to it and literally going to their customers where they are. [At the same time] there are more traditional brands that are aiming to engage with people in their 60s and 70s. Some companies will be more willing to take risks than others, but they all need to work on content that engages [fully with their different audiences].”

Inevitably, the ability to make creative and commercial decisions steeped in data will only increase as automation accelerates. “Everything is so trackable now from an analytics standpoint, so you actually do know exactly who your audience is and who’s watching down to the second. And there are also lots of guides out there to help corporations find their audience,” notes Rosenthal.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that there won’t still be missteps – even by some of the world’s largest and most resource-rich companies. The recent Apple ad for its latest iPad – in which items including musical instruments and books were crushed by a hydraulic press – is an obvious example. It was widely condemned as being ‘tone-deaf’ and dismissive of physical creativity, prompting an apology from Apple VP of Marketing Communications Tor Myhren.

So it’s evident that human decision-making – and fallibility – will continue to play an influential role in the way corporations interact with their audiences. Nonetheless, the tools of the production and delivery ‘trade’ are certainly there and ready to be used – by companies of all sizes and sectors.

Don’t miss the AV User Group Speed Pitch Event at IBC2024

A new element being introduced at IBC2024 is a special audio-visual (AV) buyers’ event on the eve of the show. Working with the AV User Group, IBC has created a Speed Pitch Event for 40 of its members on September 12th. The event offers media technology companies the opportunity to promote their products, services and brands directly to major AV purchasers, including Arup, AstraZeneca, Bank of America, Barclays, Deliveroo, Schroders, UBS and WPP.

Find out more about how you can pitch your product directly to more than 40 key buyers, here.

Read more IBC2024: Innovation, talent and growth initiatives launched to drive global media industry