how to start live streaming Blog Posts

This post provides an overview of the various aspects of live streaming for those broadcasting for the first time. It’s the main post in our series on How to Start Live Streaming.

Our team at BoxCast has been helping organizations start streaming since 2013.

In the early days of the company, live streaming options were limited and complex. Since then, live streaming has become more approachable for organizations of all kinds.

While live streaming is now easier than ever, understanding the right live stream setup is more difficult. The hardware, and software, and platform options available seem endless. Everyday, members of our team consult on the live streaming setups of beginners and experts alike.

This post is aimed to help those who have little to no experience with video or broadcasting.

This post addresses the different ways that live streaming platforms like Facebook Live, YouTube, Periscope, and BoxCast measure viewership. It's part of our series on How to Start Live Streaming.

Since the beginning of television, the most important metric for broadcasters has been viewership. In the days before the internet, live video audiences were measured, in the form of television ratings, by precise calculations from outside groups.

Fast forward to the digital age and you find a wild world of unregulated measurements. In the internet age, companies can measure viewership however they want.

As a broadcaster, you may find the lack of consistency in reporting frustrating, especially if you simulcast to multiple destinations. What does it mean to have 543 viewers on Facebook Live vs. 245 on YouTube Live? How can you compare across platforms and measure your true reach?

In this post, we breakdown the different platforms and considerations for measuring your live stream viewership.

In this post we will cover how to add basic production elements like a second camera, a presentation, or graphic overlays without a video switcher. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

Some organizations live stream their events from a phone. Some use one camera setups. Others have entire AV production teams with multi-cam setups worth tens of thousands of dollars. There's an entire spectrum of production options.

This graphic obviously is an extreme oversimplification. There are endless levels and variations of live stream set ups.

This post covers the differences between live video streaming tools like BoxCast and live video meeting (or conferencing) tools like Webex, join.me, Google Hangout, Skype, GoToMeeting, and Zoom. It's part of our series on How to Start Live Streaming.

Everyone knows the value of using the right tool for the right job. You wouldn't use a push mower to cut the grass on a 5 acre farm.

In the fast-paced world of live video, it can be tough to recognize the differences in separate types of tools for organizations.

Besides differences in individual platforms, there are actually two completely separate categories of live video tools:

1. Live Video Meeting Tools
2. Live Video Streaming Tools

If you're beginning your search for a live video platform for your organization, this post will help you understand which type of tool you need.

This post talks about the price of starting to live stream. It breaks down different things to consider when beginning to look at your budget. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

If your organization is thinking about live streaming its events, one of the first questions that will undoubtedly come up is “So, how much does it cost?”

Let's break it down. This post will outline three main factors to consider when determining your budget.  

This post defines some of the key words and acronyms that you hear when you talk about live streaming. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

Now that you’ve started to stream, you may have run into a few words or terms that you’re unfamiliar with.

Having a solid grasp on industry vocabulary will help you navigate the technology available to you, troubleshoot potential issues and improve the overall quality of your streams.

Below you’ll find definitions of some of the most frequently used and important streaming terms.

This talks about the steps to makes sure that you have a successful stream each time you broadcast. It breaks down different things to consider when beginning to look at your budget. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

If you are trying to increase the production quality of your broadcast instead, check out this guide. Otherwise, read on to learn about the checklist you should create to ensure that your broadcast goes off without a hitch.

Below are eight ways that you can really take your stream to the next level.  

This post talks about five steps you can take to reach more people with your live stream. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

For any organization looking to grow and expand its reach through live streaming, increasing viewership is paramount. Some people may expect viewers to flock to them just by streaming their content and walking away, but unfortunately there’s no overnight success to virality. You have to make people aware of your live streams, and you have to let them know where to access it.

In this blog post, I share five tips that can help you combat low viewership. Keep in mind that it's a process, and it does take some time to see results. However, I promise that if you put all five to use, you’ll see your numbers increase.

This post addresses five steps to take before each stream to ensure you have a quality broadcast. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

Before you start producing incredible live broadcasts, I want to make sure you create an easy-to-follow, repeatable process you can execute before every stream.

In this post, I quickly take you through the five steps you should take before streaming live. If you prefer to learn via video, I've included the Tech Tips episode toward the bottom of the post where I break these five suggestions down for you in more depth.

This post addresses how to go about finding the best live streaming solution. It's part of our series on how to start live streaming.

The secret’s out: There’s immense power in live video streaming.

When organizations like schools, sports leagues, churches, or municipalities, decide to stream, they no longer confine their events to the spaces in which they're held; instead, streaming allows people to watch from wherever they are.

There are several different streaming providers to choose from. Evaluating each one and navigating the differences between them can be overwhelming. This post outlines six key features to consider when evaluating different streaming solutions.