2013年10月11日
By 1月时特约编辑
专题文章

跟上Vs. 转播画面: Which Is Better for Online Events?

I recently kicked off six streaming-specific webinars. 我的动机? 来卖我的新书. Rather than market through book reviews and bloggers, I decided to reach out directly to potential buyers with content.

From a technology perspective, I had two options. 首先是网络广播服务，比如在此地或MediaPlatform. This option became a reality when I was assigned to review the 在此地 service. The other was a live streaming service provider such as 转播画面、Ustream或YouTube. So far, I’ve held two webinars: one through 在此地 and one via 转播画面. 都很顺利, but each approach has its pros and cons for product marketing, 这篇专栏的重点是什么. 让我们首先考虑数据收集.

在此地 provides a lobby page for viewer registration. You send an email to prospects with a link to the registration page, which they visit to sign up and download a calendar reminder. Registrants receive a confirmation email with a link to the viewing page and optionally a reminder email on the day of the event.

在转播画面, you create an event page where prospects can download a calendar reminder, 但你不能强迫他们注册. Note that 转播画面 will launch an enterprise edition this fall with registration functionality, 虽然每月的费用要高得多. 作为变通办法, I sent prospects an email describing the webinar, asking them to sign up to receive a link to the webinar on the day of, 还有一份讲义.

与在此地, on the other hand, you can force the viewer to register for the event. While comparative attendance numbers provide limited value because the content was completely different, here are the raw numbers: 在此地 produced more registrations, 131 to 80, 而转播画面则吸引了更多的观众, 124 to 70. 与在此地, I get analytics that let me track how long each registrant watched the video (or who never did). 使用转播画面，你无法获得这些数据.

内容

Both services have their content-related pros and cons. You send 在此地 a single video that it transcodes to multiple streams as needed in real time. 在转播画面, you encode and transmit multiple videos to the service, increasing the outbound bandwidth requirements. 在此地提供测验和投票, which help qualify prospects and increase engagement, 但转播画面两样都不提供. 在此地的问&A facility produced many more questions than using 转播画面’s comments function for questions, 什么是用户粘性的关键.

其他的差异? 通过设计, 在此地 is a managed service with a technical coordinator holding your hand before and during the event, which costs you but provides a nice safety net for nontechies. Though 转播画面 offers excellent technical support, 你负责整个制作, so you need more technical expertise in-house. For a fee, however, both companies can supply turnkey production.

转播画面 lets you embed the webinar into your own website. 与在此地, 您只能嵌入视频组件, though you can brand either player to your heart’s content. 转播画面提供了更好的社区, with many viewers “following” my account after the webinar, making it easier to reach them in the future, 产生了更多的总观众.

在所有条件都相同的情况下, the cost per lead for a webcasting service will be much higher, 但你会捕捉到更多, better-qualified leads than via the 转播画面 service as it existed this summer. This makes a webcaster better for higher gross margin sales where prospect qualification and management is critical and you have the margins to support the cost. 相反, if you’re selling a low gross margin product -- such as books through Amazon -- 转播画面’s ability to deliver more eyeballs starting at $49/month make it the better, 如果不是唯一的话, option.

This article appears in the October/November 2013 issue of 流媒体杂志 as "网路广播和. 直播服务."