


The opportunities run the gamut from partnerships between brands and these artists, sponsorship of certain events with a ticket fee, or featuring products during an artist’s stream. This trend has continued on through the new year, and with an expanded audience at their disposal, brands have ample room to experiment with campaigns. These streams, like Coldplay’s Chris Martin playing simple versions of the band’s classics at the start of the pandemic, tap into Instagram’s existing audience while also bringing non-users to the platform. Many music artists have turned their attention to live streaming on platforms like Instagram to play virtual concerts. Traditionally, in-person events are transitioning to live streamed experiences, reaching massive audiences and opening the door for a wealth of opportunities for brands. The volatility of 2020 has been a catalyst for live streaming use cases in more than just our digital lives. Not only did the athletes and influencers provide a sense of excitement and normalcy, but they encouraged viewers to connect with their own friends through online gaming instead of in person.
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Using AI to determine the best partners for the campaign, EA ultimately teamed up with 13 NBA stars and three professional gamers to stream EA’s sports titles on their Twitch and Caffeine channels. In 2020, when people had just started isolating at home and professional sports games were on hold, EA Sports launched its “Stay Home, Play Together” campaign to foster a sense of community amongst sports lovers. Other organizations, like video game developer Electronic Arts (EA), a client of ours, have seen similar ROI on live stream campaigns. Thanks to the periodic mentions of KFC’s chicken throughout the stream, Lupo organically integrated KFC into the content. At the beginning of the stream, Lupo announced that every time they won a round in the game, viewers should type the phrase “winner winner” in the video chat to enter to win a KFC gift card. Lupo and another Twitch influencer played a game while running a live stream contest. For example, KFC teamed up with Twitch streamer Ben Lupo (known on Twitch as DrLupo) to promote its chicken wings. These numbers suggest that live streaming in the gaming space is going strong, with no signs of stopping.įor some brands, gaming influencers offer a powerful vehicle for driving awareness and sales in a live streaming setting. On YouTube, 100 billion hours of gaming content was watched in 2020 - twice the number of 2018’s viewed hours, and Facebook’s daily watch times for broadcasts grew four times over the course of the year. But other platforms, like YouTube and Facebook, are catching up. Twitch is the clear market leader, and in Q3 of 2020, the platform saw an overall year-over-year growth of 96% in terms of hours streamed. Live streaming has deep roots in the gaming space, where creators have long turned to platforms like Twitch and YouTube Live to broadcast their video game play-throughs to audiences. The Twitch Phenomenon: Live Streaming in Video Games As we’ll explore in the examples below, brands that execute targeted, authentic campaigns can drive awareness and achieve maximum ROI. Live streaming is growing rapidly and, if brands hope to capitalize, they’ll need to act quickly and purposefully. From live stream shopping - where users can sell products in real-time - to social media, music, TV and gaming integrations, live streaming offers brands numerous ways to drive awareness and sales. This growth, along with new and expanded live streaming capabilities across social platforms, allows brands to capitalize on endless monetization opportunities. We’re already seeing the beginnings of this: live stream platform Twitch saw 1.7 billion hours of content watched in November 2020 alone. Other companies are taking note - I believe 20 will be pivotal years where these trends, with millions of dollars being passed through individual live streams, will become prominent in the West. Its streaming platform, Taobao Live, drove billions in sales over the 2020 holiday shopping season. Alibaba, in particular, has demonstrated the huge potential for e-commerce via live streams. Since tech giants like Alibaba joined the influencer marketing game, the industry has grown rapidly. This live streaming boom follows in the footsteps of Eastern social media.
