2014年3月17日
By 1月时特约编辑
专题文章

实时流媒体服务买家指南

So, you’ve decided to stream a live event, and you’re considering your options. You definitely need a streaming server to reach your target viewers. You could buy and install your own server (or rent a cloud instance), but then you’d have to create the player and configure and manage the server yourself, which requires lots of technical expertise that you may or may not have. 或者，您可以使用服务提供者来提供此功能.

There are multiple classes of service providers that can get the job done. 例如, 如果您目前正在使用在线视频平台(OVP), it’s likely that it has support for live streaming (or soon will). 如果是这样的话, you can use the player and all other features you’ve created for your on-demand video and your existing analytics, and your live events are converted to on-demand streams and added to your library right after the event. 这种便利程度是很难超越的.

如果你没有OVP, another class of services called live streaming services might be the best option. 你可以免费开始流媒体直播, 在分辨率(高清或标清)方面进行了各种权衡, 第三方广告, 品牌, 以及不同服务提供商之间的可伸缩性. 随着你的直播活动蓬勃发展, you can opt for different levels of service that remove these limitations and provide much more control over security, 货币化, 和品牌. Since most of these services, which include popular sites such as 转播画面, Ustream, 贾斯汀.tv，最近 YouTube, 受欢迎的网站是否有许多浏览者在寻找内容, these sites may also deliver viewers that you wouldn’t reach if you only displayed the video on your own website.

尽管这些公司大多只有6年左右的历史, 这个市场相当成熟, and you’ll find more similarities than disparities among the contenders. 例如，它们的工作原理都很相似. You use a live encoder to send a stream (or streams) to the service provider, 谁在服务的专用页面上显示视频, 我称之为频道页. 这取决于供应商和你选择的计划, you may also be able to embed the live stream into a page on your own website. 事后, you can usually trim frames from the start or finish (if necessary), 创建了, 下载视频，这样你就可以把它部署到其他地方. You can also check viewing analytics to see how many viewers tuned in and for how long.

到这里为止, 大多数服务都非常关注社交媒体, with easy links so viewers can tweet and like and otherwise spread the word. 他们也意识到观众的互动是关键, 所以大多数在某种程度上支持评论和聊天. Otherwise, with all this similarity, how do you choose the best service for your live events? By focusing on the topics identified here, starting with what you want most from the service.

寻找眼球?

If you’re looking for eyeballs, you definitely want to know which sites have the most traffic. 根据Compete(使用2013年11月的数据), 在非youtube参与者中, 转播画面的流量最大, 虽然有一个潜在的重要星号. 具体来说，Twitch是贾斯汀.电视姊妹网站专门直播游戏玩家，记录约2条.2013年11月的独立访问量达到2300万, 除非你是想接触这些玩家, 从眼球的角度来看，这无关紧要.

然而, 从规模的角度来看，这是相关的, 也就是说Twitch和贾斯汀的总收视率.tv是该集团中最大的(除youtube外), so the combined entity should have lower delivery costs and more users to spread development costs over. 我还要指出的是，根据comScore的统计数据，贾斯汀.tv shared with me (but that I wasn’t able to independently verify from comScore), 贾斯汀.tv的观众比转播画面和Ustream都多, and much better ratings in metrics such as minutes-per-viewer and videos-per-viewer.

当然, none of these numbers are relevant if the viewers these sites attract aren’t likely to be desirable viewers for your content. 如果你的目标是吸引眼球, it’s best to spend some time looking at the existing content on the site and assessing whether existing viewers are good candidates for your content.

YouTube怎么样?? 好吧, YouTube显然是最大的, 但这是点播视频和直播的结合, 我们知道，在这个阶段，前者使后者相形见绌, 这可能会让你的直播内容更难找到. 这将在后面讨论, there are also some important features that YouTube lacks from a live perspective. 仅仅因为它是最大的，并不意味着它是最好的.

白色标签:有多白，在什么价格水平?

All live service providers except YouTube offer a “white-label” version without the service’s 品牌. 问题是，失去这个标签要花多少钱? 例如, 通过转播画面和Ustream, you have to commit to the $999 plan to remove the respective company’s 品牌. 贾斯汀.tv’s plan costs $399, while Stockholm’s Bambuser costs $599 per month.

除了删除服务的品牌, 您可能还希望能够添加自己的品牌, which could include options such as choosing the background color for your player and adding a logo to the page or a bug over the video. 同样的道理, you may also want to disable the channel page (so viewers can only watch the embedded player on your website), 密码保护或限制嵌入您的视频, 甚至在某些地理位置阻挡观众. 并不是所有的服务都提供这些功能, so get them on the table early if they’re important to your intended use.

哪个网站提供最好的用户体验?

这绝对是主观的和特定于内容的, 有两个极端:一个以转播画面为代表, 另一个是Ustream. 具体地说, 转播画面在单独的页面上呈现每个事件, 具有广泛的实时博客功能，可以添加视频, 图片, 以及对经验的评论. This is great when you’re attempting to present a complete experience as opposed to simply a live stream.

The other extreme is exemplified by Ustream and is also used by most other services. 在这个范例中, each publisher has a separate page with live videos (or formerly live) shown in a window on that page with a defined chat area, 通常在视频的右侧. Surrounding the live video are other videos from the same publisher, which is a great way to retain a viewer once you have them on your page.

在研究各种选择时, visit some live events on all candidate services and assess the channel page for each service. 虽然这是我的主观意见, 在一般情况下, 转播画面优化事件, 也许以牺牲频道页面为代价, while other services optimize the library of events but don’t deliver as rich an experience for each event.

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