If hosting high-quality virtual events is your thing, you’ve probably already heard about Livestream by Vimeo.
The video giant has released its live streaming service to enable businesses to reach more people virtually in so many ways, and it has a whole lot to offer.
What is Livestream Vimeo? Livestream is a platform for creating and streaming virtual events, including hosting webinars or communications for remote workforces.
The platform offers solutions for all purposes and industries, including conferences, government, education, brands and agencies.
Before you jump in and sign up for Livestream, you need to know what it’s all about.
We’ve crafted a detailed review on the virtual event platform including its pros, cons, and pricing, giving you everything you need to make an informed choice.
What is Livestream?
Livestream is the latest contribution from the world-famous Vimeo, the digital platform that was founded in 2004 and offers services for its users like streaming, sharing, and hosting videos.
The Livestream offshoot was launched in 2017 and serves as a business-friendly stage for virtual events, webinars, business meetings, and more.
In addition to offering somewhere to host and share these virtual events, Livestream comes with a load of other features that help with marketing, tracking, and promotion.
If your business is looking to deliver high-quality virtual events, they’re among the most trusted names on the market today.
The Top Features of Livestream
As one of the most extensive virtual event platforms available, there are a whole lot of features accessible when you sign up to Livestream.
Across each of their solutions, these are the most notable features on offer:
Interactivity and marketing
Make use of a range of features like live Q&A polls, graphics overlays, audience chat, and the ability to have up to seven speakers at an event.
Check on the stats of each event with analytics, varying in complexity depending on the plan you join.
Solutions for all
Whatever business or industry you’re in, you’ll find a dedicated solution from Vimeo that can meet it.
According to their website, their tailored solutions include houses of worship, education, government, music, and brands and agencies.
Ad-free streaming
One of the biggest selling points of Vimeo is that your videos will be streamed to an audience without ads.
There’s no interference and it helps everyone to stay engaged with the event without feeling as if they’re being sold something.
Brand control
Vimeo Livestream lets you put your stamp on every event so that nobody forgets your name.
You’ll have access to features like a customizable video gallery, video branding, branded landing pages, and adding logos to every stream, ensuring that everything you create has your mark.
Variety of plan types
This service isn’t just about giving you somewhere to stream videos, you can also join a plan that helps you create a monetized subscription service or an enterprise-friendly virtual event platform.
Access to production assistance
Whether it’s the Studio 6 live production software or help from their in-house production services, you can create the most professional events possible.
Compared to other platforms where you go it alone, you get lots of assistance to ensure everything you create is of the highest quality.
Pricing and Plans
Vimeo Livestream has a few options for how you can subscribe to their platform but there are not a lot of choices within each of them.
The Premium plan is their starter package and it costs $95 a month which is billed annually, otherwise, they have an Enterprise plan that is more expensive but customized to your business’s needs and you’ll have to create this with a sales representative.
The Vimeo OTT plan is another option, but this is better suited to brands that are trying to build a subscription channel.
As expected, it’s another one that doesn’t come with a price and it has be discussed with a salesperson and after viewing a demo, so you can’t just click and purchase.
Every plan comes with the basics you need to get started with streaming, including 1080p quality, brand control, unlimited live events, and audience engagement tools.
However, their Enterprise plan and OTT have a lot of extras that could be useful in building a brand, like corporate communications and advanced security control.
The Good and the Bad
The best way to tell if a virtual event platform is a good fit for your business is by looking at its best and worst features.
To find out if Livestream will work for you, these are the good and bad points you need to know.
The Pros
- Fully customizable: There’s virtually nothing you can’t change on Livestream, including branding your videos and getting the exact design you want on a landing page. It can take more time to set up but it gets you a perfectly customized result that looks and feels professional.
- Goes beyond just streaming: Rather than just giving you somewhere to host webinars, Vimeo goes above and beyond. You can set up a subscriber channel, monetize your videos, hold expansive virtual conferences, and make use of expert production services.
- Exceptional quality: The quality of the virtual events you create with Vimeo is exceptional and hard to beat. If you’re looking to seriously scale up and make a high-quality video, it’s one of the best.
The Cons
- Minimal analytics for lower plans: Unless you’re willing to commit to one of the higher tier plans, you’ll receive little in the way of analytics. There are some basic features but not enough to get the real picture.
- Expensive: The most basic plan from Vimeo starts at almost $100 a month and that doesn’t include all of the premium features. This might make it out of reach for smaller businesses.
- Monetization only with OTT: There’s no way to monetize the virtual events, although updates are being made all the time. Currently, the OTT plan is the only one that offers this type of service.
Vimeo Livestream vs The Competition
Each business has unique needs for digital communication, so comparing Livestream with some of the other popular options can help.
Here’s how the Vimeo offering rates against the top competitors in virtual events today:
- Livestream vs Zoom: Zoom is an all-in-one business communications platform that lets you host webinars, meetings, and online calls. Livestream also allows the hosting of virtual events but is designed to help you reach a wider audience beyond your workplace.
- Livestream vs YouTube: Livestream was originally started as a competitor to YouTube, giving people somewhere to host their videos without the need for advertising. Today, the key difference is that Livestream is higher quality and business-friendly, whereas YouTube is more accessible for everyone and easier to use.
- Livestream vs Dacast: Dacast is an affordable live streaming platform designed for basic virtual events. Livestream is more expensive and has premium features for businesses that are looking to expand their growth.
The Legend of Livestream
Livestream is regarded as one of the highest quality virtual event platforms on the market, and although it can be costly, it’s the best choice if this is the goal for your business.
Whether you test the demo or have a free trial, you’ll soon see just how powerful Livestream is in helping your business achieve its virtual dreams.
Related Questions
Virtual events are the way of the future for many businesses but it’s not as easy as setting up your webcam and reaching out.
To learn a little more about the basics of popular virtual events, check out these commonly asked questions that might be able to help.
What is Adaptive Streaming?
Adaptive streaming is a technology that allows you to deliver a video to your audience, with each user being able to view it in the highest quality and most efficient manner, including on a smartphone or computer.
This type of streaming means attendees to virtual events can view them in the most suitable way for them and with the highest quality stream possible.
What is a Virtual Conference?
A virtual conference is an online event that operates and functions just like a regular conference.
Participants in the conference are able to interact with each other, network, share ideas, and attend various sessions and presentations that occur during the conference, but do so in a virtual space.
Can You Record Video Meetings?
Depending on the video meeting platform you’re using, you should be able to change the settings so that meetings are recorded, otherwise using a screen recording program will work.
You should advise the other attendees that the meeting will be recorded before doing so, as people will want to give their consent.
