You’ve put in all the work—not to mention, invested a great deal of time, energy and money—to live stream an event, now you might be wondering: What’s next?
Assuming you want to maximize the return on your investment (and really, who doesn’t?), then it might be in your best financial interest to offer your video once the live stream has ended. Not only does content repurposing create a steady revenue stream going forward, it also reduces the expense of unnecessarily producing new, expensive content.
Supplement Revenue
Although repurposing existing videos doesn’t have to entirely replace the production of new content, it's a strategic way to supplement revenues.
That’s how CBS can continue to make millions of dollars from Everybody Loves Raymond repeats in syndication, even though the show ended fifteen years ago. Despite the success of their current original programming, their television executives understand the value of distributing popular content.
Even if your video doesn’t have the popularity of a network sitcom, there’s nothing preventing you from picking your highest performing live events and turning them into money.
Video-On-Demand (VOD)
The easiest way to repurpose a live stream is to record the event, encode the video, then convert it to a video-on-demand. Following these 3 easy steps with a video hosting platform that supports such processes, can make the seamless transition from live to on-demand:
- Record: From top-of-the-line filming equipment to your personal cell phone, a recording device is usually within arm’s reach—depending on your budget.
Although the device may influence the quality of your video in the end, you have the freedom to choose how much production value you’d like to put into your staging.
- Encode: When encoding your live stream, make sure that your video hosting platform supports the most popular encoding software and hardware for your convenience.
These essential pieces of equipment configure the recorded content into a format required to live stream. If your expertise lies on the creative side of video production and the thought of fumbling with tech devices makes your head spin, try not to be deterred by this technical step because there are qualified professionals out there who are happy to lend a helping hand (more often than not for a fee).
- Convert: Once your event is recorded and encoded, then it’s only a matter of converting the content into a VOD so that it’s available to viewers at any time.
It’s important to find a video hosting platform that has the capability to automatically convert your live stream so that you have one less step to make. This prevents any human or technical error from occurring during the conversion process.
Live to Subscribe
As we have mentioned in previous blogs, there are many ways to monetize your videos so that you can profit from your hard work.
Once you have at least one VOD available to viewers, one particularly profitable monetization option is to offer your content within a fee subscription model. Within this model, you can also add a second layer of monetization, namely selling ads to outside companies who’d like to capitalize on your reputation as a source for quality content.
Even if making money isn’t your goal, a subscription model can be offered free of charge and simply allows your fans to join your community to receive updates on new content you release. Committing viewers to your video library encourages repeat viewing and loyalty to your channel.
Repurposing your highly acclaimed videos gives you the opportunity to preserve your content for later viewing pleasure. If nothing else, it offers reassurance that you can archive a live stream in a safe place until you need it—it’s the video equivalent of money in the bank!
Visit our website to learn more about preserving your live stream or read our blog on 10 Effective Steps to Live Stream for Optimal Viewing to get the most out of your video.
