Live Streaming Platforms are in demand nowadays. With the shift towards the digital era, most audiences are searching for better and more reliable options to enjoy events through entertainment. Similarly, online webinar platforms are also benefiting businesses through the creation of brand awareness.
This blog will show you some of the key differences between both platforms. In addition to this, we’ll also briefly discuss the importance of both platforms in the current scenario. So, without wasting any time, let’s dive deeper.
Live Streaming: Creating Strong Networking Opportunities
Live streaming is nothing but the transmission of real-time data over the internet. However, the data is not recordable or downloadable. There exist lots of live streaming service providers which segment the data in a shorter form for smooth transmission at the user end.
Live streaming involves real-time interaction between the presenter and the audience. No editing or polishing of the content is allowed while live streaming your event. Similarly, the bond or connection is stronger in the case of live streaming as it is a purely real-time experience. In addition to this, live streaming of the event involves multiple inputs and a large-scale setup process. With the inclusion of features such as a chat box, live Q&A sessions, etc., live streaming is the way to go when you’re thinking of hosting large-scale events.
Online Webinar Sessions: Need For The Businesses
Webinars are one of the best ways to interact with the audience. With the help of these online presentations, you can easily make connections with the global audience out there. It involves sharing the content in the form of audio and visual formats, notes, handouts, and other ways.
As the setup requirements are quite low to host these sessions, it is one of the favorite choices for growing businesses. There are many online webinar platforms that provide tremendous services at very low costs. The communication between the audience and the presenters is made in the best possible way through “one on one interaction” on these platforms. With features such as live polling, handouts, real-time feedback to the audience, etc., webinar sessions are extremely useful for learning purposes.
Live Streaming Vs Online Webinar: Key Differences
Though both of the services are meant for different functionalities, however, there are many similarities and differences between them. Below are some of the parameters which will help you in finding differences –
Technological Requirements
- The choice of presenters can be the same in both cases but the setup process is quite different from each other. Both of them run with an active internet connection and laptop screen. However, in the case of webinar sessions, the choice of software thus is a matter of concern for the audience.
- Similarly, most of the live streams are delivered over the web browser which requires no app downloading and other modifications.
- The webinars are very easy to create and host. On the other hand, hosting a live streaming session requires lots of hard work and research work for the creation of the best engaging atmosphere.
Audience Count
- This is the major difference when it comes to choosing a platform for hosting an event. Webinars are made for the global as well as the local reach of the audience. But they have the limitation of the audience depending on the type of platform you choose. On the other hand, in the case of live streaming an event, the audience can join limitlessly because it is a part of the broadcasting.
- There are webinar platforms that support more than 1000 viewers but believe me, it’s far more difficult to manage all at one go. It depends on the target audience and the budget of the planner or businesses before choosing any platform.
Sharing Options
- While hosting any live streaming session, you can share the event on multiple channels. In fact, with the creation of customizable landing pages, you can actually make your event popular. In addition to this, you can share the event on leading social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, etc.
- On the other hand, webinars are mostly held in virtual meeting rooms. That makes it an even more customizable option than live streaming. Webinars have a great advantage over live streaming as they can be recorded for viewing later.
Interaction With Audience
- Both services overlap each other in this scenario. While hosting a webinar session you can easily interact with each and every participant of the event. It is very to ensure the active participation of the audience in the case of webinar sessions.
- However, in the case of live-streaming events, the chances of interaction are quite less or in most cases down to zero. It is basically one way of consuming content.
- When it comes to feature comparison of these platforms, webinars are loaded with a handful of features alongside live streaming In addition to this, I just want to make it clear that it ultimately depends on your choice of yours.
Streaming Quality Online Webinar quality
- Streaming quality plays an important role in engaging your target audience for long hours. The better the quality of your stream the more the chances of getting viewed.
- Most of the webinar sessions are done with optimum video quality due to less technical setup requirements. However, with the help of any professional service platform, you get satisfactory quality but it comes up with a specific price.
- Similarly, in the case of live streaming sessions, the quality of the video is high for getting maximum viewership. Most professional service platforms use low latency streaming for better performance even with lower bandwidths.
Picking Your Best Choice
There are many factors that can affect the selection of any particular service. The prime factors involve the type of target audience, objectives of the session, features you want to include in your event, and many others. Both platforms are best in their own ways, so with the right homework and the right platform, you can get fruitful results.
Summing Up
As I told you above, if the requirement is to get the maximum audience count, you can blindly rely on any professional live-streaming service. On the other hand, if the content is of prime importance, then webinars are the best way to deliver it globally.
Meanwhile, no matter which type of platform you choose for your event or session, it will surely create strong networking opportunities for you as a sponsor.