Live Streaming Apps

The Best Live Streaming Apps for News Publishers

If you’re anything like most digital news publishers, you’re always on the hunt for tools to make your workday better. These are the best live streaming apps for news publishers.

Local news sites don’t always have the largest budgets or the largest staffs. What they do have is feet on the ground in the communities they serve. In order to capitalize on that advantage, local news publishers need a way to get content up fast.

When time is of the essence, live streaming video is the way to go. Live video generates better engagement than nearly any other type of digital content. According to Social Media Today, viewers watch live video 3x longer than pre-recorded video.

Live streaming aligns perfectly with what digital news publishers do best — covering breaking news at the hyperlocal level. So why aren’t more publishers posting live stream videos on a regular basis?

It really comes down to the platforms, or the apps, that publishers are using. Traditionally, local news publishers have been stymied by streaming video apps that were either glitchy, slow, or overly expensive. Most publishers have gotten used to there being a tradeoff between quality and speed when it comes to video content. You can spend hours uploading high quality video using expensive editing software, or you can quickly upload content to social media platforms. Free solutions can be pretty fast, but they usually result in degraded video quality.

Latest Updates in Streaming Video Apps

If you haven’t been researching the best streaming video apps recently, you might not realize how much has changed in just the past few years. Several online platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, have invested in live streaming technology. Digital news publishers can use that same technology to stream breaking news coverage online. However, each of these streaming video apps works slightly differently and you may find different tools to meet different needs.

We’ve sorted through the best streaming video apps that news publishers are using right now and come up with a list of some of the solutions you’ll want to check out.

Top Live Streaming Video Apps for News Publishers

1. Facebook Live
Buzzfeed, Vox, and The Verge are just a few of the digital publishers using Facebook Live to post live video content across their social media channels. Facebook Live has a huge audience, so beyond being one of the top streaming video apps for news publishers, it’s also a promotional tool. Vox Media uses Facebook to stream live reports of news events, as well as Q&A sessions and product demonstrations. These videos generate anywhere from 100,000 and 200,000 views each, which is well ahead of what Vox is seeing on other channels.

2. Broadcast
When Arc Publishing introduced Broadcast one year ago, it was the first mobile app of its kind to allow journalists to stream high-quality live video to multiple sites and social platforms. Almost immediately, publishers began using Broadcast to post breaking news events, as well as public meetings, debates, and other newsworthy gatherings.The live coverage has paid off, as digital news publishers are seeing greater engagement with live streaming video now than ever before. The Broadcast streaming video app was developed in a collaboration between Arc Publishing and Graham Media Group, leveraging AWS Media Services to deliver on-demand video streams using cloud technology.

3. Instagram Live
Instagram Live is probably the trendiest of the streaming video apps on this list, having won over the social media influencer set, as well as larger media organizations like Hearst. More than 20 of Heart Magazine’s titles now host regular Instagram Live streams. Streaming on a social media platform like Instagram presents a different value proposition for publishers, compared to other standalone video players on this list. What publishers lose in control and video quality they make up for in promotion. Younger publishers who are still finding their footing can use Instagram Live to grow their audience. With the right conversion strategies in place, publishers can bring Instagram’s viewers over to their own digital properties.

4. Connatix
A relative newcomer to the space, Connatix’s live stream player has quickly become one of the top streaming video apps for news publishers. Unlike some other streaming video apps, Connatix’s solution is ad-supported. That means publishers can stream ad-supported live video across multiple devices, and they can engage with readers through live broadcasts. Connatix’s live stream player is available as part of Elements by Connatix, an online video platform for publishers. It’s integrated with an ad server and exchange to help publishers maximize revenue while delivering real-time video experiences.

5. YouTube Live
Like Facebook Live and Instagram Live, YouTube Live has a massive built-in audience that publishers can tap into when they broadcast on the app. Sky News has broadcasted its television channel on YouTube since 2019, but you don’t have to be a global media company to use the service. Digital news publishers of all sizes can use YouTube Live. All you need is a connected smartphone to start streaming video to your online audience in real-time.

6. Livestream
A market leader in live video broadcasting, Livestream is primarily used for professional purposes. That makes Livestream very different from streaming video apps like Facebook Live and Instagram Live. Publishers will also find that Livestream caters to their need for more high-quality content, with the ability to connect to professional cameras and webcams. With full control over their streaming video, publishers can do things like enable/disable comments or upload pictures and text to give information about the events they’re covering.

If you’d like more information about integrating live streaming into your website, our team of development experts at Web Publisher PRO can help.