There is no limitation to sports event consumers across the globe. More sports fans now turn to view live streaming services to watch and enjoy exciting sporting events. Watching live sports via large and small screens have become a worldwide phenomenon.
With the increased number of interested viewers, more media companies are taking interest in live streaming special sporting events. Emerging OTT platforms are taking steps to fulfill the global demand for live sports streaming.
If you are also thinking about launching live sports streams, make sure you are cut out for it. There are two major factors associated with live streaming. First is definitely the ability to reach the targeted fans with the quality they expect. And second is the plan created to monetize the delivered content.
Treat your live streams different than pre-programmed VOD
In pre-programmed video-on-demand service, the system asks for all the inserted ads upfront. That way, every time a user clicks on a video, the utilized ad insertion server already collects the pre-roll, mid-roll as well as post-roll advertisements. So, the system knows about all advertisements right from the beginning of a video.
On the other hand, live videos attain real-time ad requests. In case of a live sports event, it is not possible to know the end of a quarter, time-outs or inning in advance,which is why the breaks of a live stream become unexpected. Another example of this can be a sudden interruption to the game because of heavy rain. Hence, it is important for live video streaming to utilize dynamic advertising insertion in real-time to deliver the expected quality and experience of watching a live game.
Reach millions of audiences without compromising the quality
To make live streaming a success, the reach of ad delivery matters the most. While on-demand videos are available to viewers whenever they want to watch, live events require all viewers to tune-in to the stream together. Hence, the streaming service has to have the ability to deliver the content simultaneously to a vast group of viewers. Audiences expect the same level of smoothness in live streams as they on VOD. So, there is no room for degradation under pressure.
Content delivery, as well as the ad insertion, should be able to scale independently as per the requirements. This is why you need to ensure the flexibility and efficiency of your content delivery partner in advance.
With the use of digital ad insertion in downloadable videos, you attain additional insights associated with ad targeting. Just like online video ads, you can use downloadable videos to understand your viewers and their interests. These insights help to improve targeting capabilities, which increases your overall ad revenue.
Customize as per the interests of viewers and stream niche
With the advancement of live sports streaming, audiences in distant locations are able to watch niche events such as curling, cricket or any other. In such scenarios, OTT players need to customize the delivery of ads as per the sports niche. Advertisements have to be aligned with the demographic location of a viewer. That is the only way to effectively scale ad delivery on a large scale of live streaming. Learn how to stream on youtube with obs studio
Live sports have become one of the favorite events to enjoy at home, office or on the go. Using one-to-one ad targeting will make them successfully monetized.