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Nowadays, you’d be hard-pressed to find a service or product that you can’t now access or use online, with many of these having convenient apps. For a long time, however, there was a distinct difference between the online experience and the “traditional” way of engaging with something there and then, in person.
Now, live streaming is taking over, and innovative platforms are bringing it into a surprising range of classic activities. Here are some of the ways in which streaming platforms are delivering you the goods in an instant.
Selling eCommerce in real time
Real, in-person shopping for things like clothes, home décor, and the like will almost certainly never fully fade as people want to see and try what they’re getting, and for some, it’s a social experience in itself. It’s why eCommerce retail sales in the US only amounted to 16 percent of total sales in Q2 2020. Given the time of those figures, one would have expected a far greater share for online retail.
Still, the experience is vastly different, or rather, it was. Raising the eyebrows of onlookers around the world, Alibaba in China kick-started its Taobao Live online marketplace in May 2016, specializing in live stream broadcasts for eCommerce stores.
It has proven to be a colossal success, even though some markets restrict the platform outside of its native land. The greatest adopters of this so far have been Asian markets – even Amazon Live in 2019 didn’t quite get western markets going – but there’s enough interest to normalize the method, such as with Bambuser’s live video shopping platform.
In any case, the experience of engaging in an online community, chatting with sellers in real time makes it more personal, enjoyable, and engaging. It’s the additional engagement that leads to live commerce’s increased sales conversion on standard eCommerce.
Making the classics convenient
If there is one industry that the internet and mobile devices have opened up, it’s entertainment. It’s now as potent as it is convenient via a mobile connection, with just about everyone having at least one entertainment – especially a mobile game – app, from Surf Attack to PUBG Mobile.
That’s all well and good for entertainment products that are and always have been digital, but replicating the experience of non-digital games is far more difficult. Take playing cards: they have been around since the 14th century, becoming accessible games thanks to the straightforward rules, the communal aspect of playing with others, and their only requirements being a pack of cards – and sometimes a bit of cash.
Digital card games have been around for a while, but the excitement of the reveal and playing against the house is lost. That’s why associated entertainment platforms have integrated live streaming.
You can read more here, but through some high-tech applications of live streaming technology and a game control unit, you can play Andar Bahar across from a human croupier in real time.
So now, the classic playing card game can offer a communal, authentic experience even when the player is on the go or at home. As it’s streamed in via the website or its app, you don’t even need to activate game turbo to improve the experience, with the internet connection doing the heavy lifting.
Acquiring new skills from experts
We’ve all been drawn into so-called expert blog posts that tell us the unequivocal best ways to cook a healthy meal, save money, or get fit, but how do we know that they can actually be trusted? It used to be that you not only had to conveniently live near someone offering a class, but also attend.
This can be a problem for some as it can be embarrassing to go through the early stages of learning something new with others. These reasons are powering the eLearning market to new heights, with it surpassing $250 billion in 2020 and set to grow at 21 percent CAGR through to 2027.
Live streaming is becoming a huge part of this. You can connect to an expert somewhere in the world and take lessons with them one-on-one or in a small group. Verbal Planet is a platform that hosts native tutors to help you learn the language, but perhaps the biggest entrant to this scene so far has been MasterClass.
⏩Read More: Is 200 Mbps Good For Streaming and Gaming?
With the header image alone featuring Alicia Keys, Gordon Ramsay, Samuel L. Jackson, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Natalie Portman, the skill-learning site offers lectures and lessons, videos and live streams from some of the biggest names across sectors to teach you new skills.
The live element allows for the learning experience to feel more real even though it’s via a computer screen, enriching the learning.
Whether you’re shopping, playing classic games, or wanting to learn a skill, there is a live streaming platform that has made the experience far better than merely reading text and watching standard videos online.
