Twitter’s live video platform still winning with publishers

TWITTER’S focus on its live video platform is beginning to pay off, with numerous publishers beginning to migrate to the microblogging site after getting disenchanted by Facebook Live.

The microblogging giant has been working on and refining its live video platform for a while now. Earlier this year, Twitter announced a new live video service in collaboration with Bloomberg Media, which the firms dubbed as the industry’s first 24/7 breaking news network with global, live, and social streaming features.

A number of new live shows from prominent content creators such as Buzzfeed, The Verge and the WNBA have also been announced recently for the microblogging giant.

In a statement to Digiday, The Verge’s editorial director Helen Havlak stated that Twitter’s live video platform carries several advantages over Facebook Live.

Havlak pointed out that Twitter’s live video has several features, such as the capability to cut programs into smaller segments, with each portion being published independently from each other. By doing so, the shorter videos could get monetized individually with pre-roll ads.

The shorter segments also enable users from areas with relatively poor internet connections to load videos faster. Such a feature is completely absent from Facebook Live.

The @verge's @anotherhelen spoke with @Digiday about the new #CircuitBreakerLive Twitter show- live Tuesdays at 4pm!https://t.co/wpBrBhWwfI

— Vox Media (@voxmediainc) October 11, 2017

Bloomberg Media’s global head of digital Scott Havens also described the advantages of Twitter’s live video platform with regards to revenue. According to Havens, Twitter’s live video business model is far more flexible than Facebook’s, with the microblogging firm giving creators more control over the sales process and revenue outcome.

Havens said, according to a Digiday report:

“Twitter has the scale and the platform; the publisher has the content and brand trust. It’s a nice marriage.”

In a lot of ways, Twitter’s emerging prominence in the live video market is great news not only for established content creators such as Buzzfeed and The Verge, but also presents a lucrative opportunity for various SMEs and large-scale enterprises as well.

Twitter, after all, still commands a formidable user base, with 328 million monthly users worldwide as of reports from mid-2017. While nowhere close to Facebook’s two billion-strong user base, Twitter’s most avid users tend to be very engaged and interactive, making business-related strategies such as marketing and customer service in the platform incredibly effective.

SMEs would be wise to capitalize on Twitter’s live video platform, especially considering its creator-centered business model. Live videos, after all, are among the online marketing world’s most progressive formats, capable of boosting engagement, building a community and fostering transparency at the same time. In the world of online marketing, such a combination of advantages is pretty difficult to find.

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