Tips & Tutorials

Looking for some tips to perfect your video content? How about 15 streaming tips for live and on-demand content?

This article covers 15 different pieces of advice to improve your live broadcast or on-demand content. There is a larger emphasis for live streaming on this list, as more preparation is involved, although some advice covers aspects after the stream is done that fall into on-demand territory.

If you are a bit more interested in the live studio side of things, it’s recommended to also check out our Video Studio Recommendations white paper. This guide lists not just techniques to use in your studio, but also gives specific gear recommendations from microphones to lighting systems.

1. Familiarize yourself with your equipment
2. Test early
3. Plan around lighting
4. Don’t downplay your audio
5. Know your upload speed
6. Secure a stable connection
7. Backup Internet source
8. Stay organized
9. Promote your live event
10. Start your stream early
11. Make the live stream interactive
12. Utilize a CDN or CDNs to deliver your video
13. Prepare for an on-demand version
14. Record a local copy
15. Create post event highlight clips

Looking for Single Sign-On (SSO) authentication for online video in order to support your corporate communications strategy?

According to Wainhouse Research, who surveyed over 1,500 executives, 46% see corporate directory integration as a priority influence in choosing a streaming platform. Using SSO authentication as part of your corporate communications strategy offers a way for users to login through familiar credentials. In addition, it can also offer some value ads from both the user and management experience. This article talks about the advantages of SSO for corporate communications and the strategy around tying this to a video portal. This also includes how Watson AI can enhance this experience, leveraging processes to help put the right video in front of authenticated employees.

• SSO authentication for video
• Using SSO for corporate comms
• Creating a video portal with SSO
• Viewer tracking through SSO
• Benefits of SSO authentication for online video

Video is an engaging medium. While it can be associated with entertainment, its use for training, executive town halls and other forms of corporate communications can’t be understated. However, it’s easy to overlook how valuable video content is longterm. Part of this is attributed to difficulties in utilizing larger archives. This is something that was brought to light by Wainhouse Research in the report Unlocking the Hidden Value of Business Video. Of the 1,801 executives surveyed as part of that report, an alarming 79% noted that: “One frustration of using on-demand video is not being able to quickly find the piece of information I am looking for when I need it.” As a result, traditionally people have approached video differently than they do a written report, which is seen as already searchable.

…but they don’t have to. Video can contain a rich depth of data and be searched against to discover this information. This article talks about approaching content libraries with the video is data mindset, traditional challenges in this methodology and technological advances that overcome them.

• The hidden value of video
• Video is data methodology
• Challenges in using the hidden value of video

Curious on adding text to your video content? Unsure on if you should do closed captions or subtitles, or even what the differences are between them? This article discusses what are subtitles and compares closed captioning vs subtitles to assist you on which to go with and why.

If you are curious on technology around automating closed caption generation, register for this How to Add Closed Captions Powered by IBM Watson webinar.

• What are subtitles?
• What are closed captions?
• What’s the difference between closed captions and subtitles?
• Which is better: closed captions or subtitles?

State governments have a lot of opportunities around video content, and are taking advantage of it. Meetings, from committees to interim task force debriefings, can be streamed to expand reach and participation from communities on a broader level. However, when presenting this content, the question of accessibility comes into play, and with it the inclusion of closed captions.

Late in 2016, the U.S. Department of Justice was looking to revise the Americans with Disabilities Act Title II regulations. A possible outcome was to establish requirements for making services, programs or activities offered by state and local governments to the public via the Web accessible. The reason for this belief was that the 2010 update stated: “The Department intends to engage in additional rulemaking in the near future addressing accessibility in these areas and others, including next generation 9–1–1 and accessibility of Web sites operated by covered public entities and public accommodations.” However, this was not reflected in the 2016 update, putting an indeterminate timetable on captions possibly being required in the future. However, some states have already adopted regulations on their own requiring captions for online video on state web sites.

For those paving the path toward captioning now, before a requirement goes into law, this article presents closed captioning best practices for state governments. This entails formatting and judgement decisions, along with ways to scale the actual creation of captions as well for both live and on-demand content.

If you would like to learn more on this topic be sure to download this white paper on AI Closed Captioning Services for Local and State Governments as well.

Out of 1,512 corporate executives, 81% describe online video as an effective tool for communicating work-related information. That’s an undeniable movement toward video within the enterprise… but what are they using it for? What manner is video being deployed that executives are seeing value in?

This article spotlights prominent enterprise video use cases to explore inside your own company. It also highlights major case studies for several of them for further inspiration.

If a downloadable version, focusing just on use cases, is preferred, download Using Video for Internal Corporate Communications, Training & Compliance white paper.

• Internal training and enablement
• Employee spotlights
• Town hall meetings
• Onboarding
• Department updates
• Compliance training
• Event coverage
• Employee generated content: UGC

Interested in attracting huge audiences with your video content, be it a sports game or a large scale enterprise town hall? Worried about how a delivery infrastructure might handle it?

The live streaming market has continued to mature. We’ve come a long way from 1995 when RealNetworks streamed the first baseball game or when Seattle’s Paramount Theater placed the first symphony online. As that market has matured, the desire for improved performance has increased in tandem. One method of achieving that is moving beyond a single point of end viewer distribution. Rather than rely on a single network or CDN (content delivery network), organizations can achieve mass scale through utilizing a multi-CDN approach.

This article addresses the benefits of utilizing multiple CDNs for video delivery, use cases and discusses an enhanced software defined approach for improved delivery. If you want a deeper dive on this topic, download this Scaling Video Delivery to Reach Massive Audiences white paper.

• What is a CDN?
• Benefits of using multiple CDNs
• Deployment of multi-CDN strategies
• Software defined delivery approach
• Use cases for multi-CDN delivery
• Optimizing for internal audiences
• Additional assets

As smartphones have advanced, more and more people are reaching for their phones to record and share video content — even in the business world. From capturing some trade show footage to an impromptu interview with a product expert, there can be a variety of use cases that might prompt something to be captured from a smartphone for enterprise use.

But is it possible to create quality videos using just your iPhone or Android device? We’ll cover some tips to help you shoot better enterprise video with your phone. As a result, this will set up you or others in your company to be better prepared to capture something that looks high quality right from your phone. If you are planning to use your phone to do a live broadcast, also be sure to download our 5 Pro Tips for Live Video Production datasheet as a guide.

1. Location
2. Light it up
3. Frame it up
4. Adjust the exposure
5. Make it sound good
6. Remember, content is still king

The live stream video begins, and the carefully prepared speaker begins addressing an audience of thousands of viewers. The presentation is going smoothly until, just a few minutes into the opening keynote, the video freezes. Some viewers sound the alert in the chat window, others try checking their own connection. But many viewers have left: On average, one in five viewers will immediately stop watching a stream with poor video quality and never return.

Most of the time, common live streaming video mistakes—poor sound quality and a broken (or unattended) chat function, among others—are easily avoided with careful advance work. Organizations new to streaming video should heed this advice from Jeff Irwin, customer success manager for IBM Watson Media. In the process of helping customers implement and manage streaming video, Irwin has identified common mistakes that stand in the way of streaming events and their viewers. So follow these 13 tips to avoid any unlucky mishaps on your next broadcast.

Note that this list assumes that you are using a platform that is scalable, able to reach large audiences without crashing, and is mobile friendly, having adaptive bitrate delivery. If not, these would be priorities as well.

1. Failing to account for variables
2. Ignoring audio quality
3. Not checking your audio
4. Forgetting to confirm adequate bandwidth
5. Discounting the importance of your location
6. Having no lighting plan
7. Failing to promote the event
8. Being late
9. Not running pre-show content
10. Making a weak first impression
11. Not engaging your audience
12. Skipping the chat moderators
13. No follow up, CTA or post event strategy

There’s a gold mine of data in live video streams — data that can guide communications programs and help organizations refine future presentations. Important engagement clues are buried deep in the data: How long are viewers actually tuning in to company video? Are they responding to calls to action? How often are they engaging?

During any live stream, metrics are key for assessing performance, spotting trends and honing everything from a video’s message to its quality. Here are four impactful (and often overlooked) data points to collect from your live video analytics to get a complete picture of the event’s success.