Live streaming VS video conferencing: what's the difference?

With the event industry still in lockdown, COVID-19 has thrust day to day business into the virtual (streaming) world.

From board meetings and AGM’s to industry briefings and virtual events, it’s all online.

Before COVID hit, Newcast Studios were live streaming experts specialising in streaming major events such as TEDx, sport and a range of industry events. Today, even the smallest event is being delivered virtually via our configured studio. However, when potential clients contact us there seems to be some confusion between live streaming and video conferencing. Both are very different, and both have pros and cons.

In a nutshell, video conferencing is a virtual meeting solution that allows groups and teams to collaborate in live, multidirectional video communication. And live streaming can scale to distribute high quality video with no loss of video quality and no negative impact on internal systems. Both platforms can stream professional, studio produced video content, it just comes down to quality, how interactive you want the audience to be and how many eyeballs you hope to attract.

Video conferencing apps explained

A video conferencing platform is a virtual meeting solution – think Teams, Skype, Zoom, or WebEx – that allows groups and teams to collaborate by engaging in live, multidirectional video communication. These platforms enable participants to see, hear, speak, and share documents and screens – just as they would in an in-person meeting – from a desktop computer, mobile device, or properly equipped video conferencing studio.

What are the pros of using video conferencing apps for an event?

Video conferencing solves the primary challenge of collaboration by remote teams and globally distributed workforces, minimising the impact of participant location. From an event perspective, it provides real time video and audio interaction between multiple users and allows hosts to see a live audience.

Some platforms have excellent producer tools which can set rules for audience interaction, allow for remote panellists, breakout rooms and spotlighting video feeds. Extra features include sharing of documents, videos and screens.

What are the cons of using video conferencing for an event?

Video conferencing solutions begin to lose effectiveness from a performance standpoint when events and presentations include more than a few dozen participants. As every video conferencing platform is different, each has different capabilities when streaming video. For example, some have poor video and audio sync quality, pixelated or hacking video playback and delay issues.

Additionally, options for recording, sharing and embedding video conferences are limited. In cases where events can be recorded and unless a fully capable studio solution is adopted, there are few if any accessibility features (translation, transcription, phonetic searchability, user analytics) that can be applied to the recorded asset before publication.

Case study: event using Zoom Webinars platform

Newcast was engaged to host a Zoom webinar which had an MC host from Sydney and multiple panellists and panel discussions over a three-day period. Zoom Webinars have the ability to brand event invitations, set invitation reminders, set panellist and participants permissions as well as mute all participants or invite them to participate.

Whilst this was a very effective platform, the were limitations on-boarding new panellists if their cameras and microphones were on (as they would join and take over the existing panel accidentally), the quality of their connections and the interaction between multiple connections.

The producers tools allowed us to add or remove participants and set their access privileges, however we required to use a third party streaming app to push video as zoom’s video desktop sharing quality was poor.

Live streaming apps explained

A video streaming platform is software technology that allows organisations to distribute live and on-demand video over a dedicated content distribution network such as YouTube, Vimeo, Twitch and Facebook. Just like a TV broadcast, this is one-to-many scale with no loss of video quality and no negative impact on internal systems. A streaming platform typically includes solutions for low quality connections, video asset storage, security, management, distribution, and customisable portals – as well as searchability, interaction, translation and closed-captioning.

What are the pros of using live streaming for an event?

In short, live video streaming platforms are purpose built to stream high quality video that can be easily shared and distributed via social media platforms. Video streaming platforms tackle the challenge of scale, allowing companies to deliver professionally produced video content to internal and external events to a large audience. This allows events to reach thousands of participants – even tens of thousands – across the globe, to any device, including mobiles and can be simply shared on social media platforms to increase views.

And as robust content management and distribution systems, streaming platforms can not only stream without video quality loss but also scale the quality of the video depending on the end user’s connection. They can also capture, archive, and securely distribute recorded events with any number of accessibility features including translated captions, phonetic search capabilities, and rich user analytics.

What are the cons of using live streaming for an event?

Video streaming platforms do not add enough value to be useful for small events or meetings with 20 or fewer participants. And because they’re designed for large-scale live events, they don’t provide the interactivity, sharing and dialogue inherent in video conferencing.

As the content delivery is primarily ‘one-way’, users may only watch the stream rather than participate in the event using their own device. Whilst interactive tools such as chat and Q&A are available, to operate they must be made public and open to any comments and require moderation.

Case study: event using a live streaming platform

A client recently requested to use live streaming over video conferencing to increase the potential reach of the event they were hosting as well as an open chat and Q&A. They also required the event to be easily shared. We recommended Vimeo as a platform as it offers excellent in-stream functions such as name titles and the ability to have a Q&A feed on screen.

The benefits of Vimeo as a live streaming option is that it can simulcast to multiple platforms in real time, allowing events to be feature on each social media account they own as well as their own website. The client in this case wanted the event to stream through their own website to capture the views and analytics.

We provided the embed code which was shared by the client to media organisations and several shared the stream via their Facebook accounts. Once the event had concluded the stream was instantly available as on-demand for catch up. As chat and Q&A were open it required moderation.

Live streaming VS video conferencing; which is the right choice for your event?

It all comes down to what you want your audience to experience, the outcomes that are important to your organisation and the goals you are hoping to achieve holding an online event in the first place. If you want to provide full interaction to a closed, smaller audience, then video conferencing is the best choice.

If you want your audience to watch high quality video and share the content on social platforms with a higher view count, richer on-demand and analytical tools then live streaming is for you!