So you’ve decided that you want to try your hand at video but you aren’t sure where to start. The good news is that you no longer have to spend a large amount of money to create your own broadcast channel. Thanks to the advances in technology you can easily make your own broadcast channel with a video camera or even a smartphone and an Internet connection. Gone are the days where you needed an expensive video camera, satellite truck and an entire film crew to record video. Today the Internet has bridged this gap and allows literally anyone to stream content to viewers around the world.
The Future of Video Content
While the cable monopolies have long had a strong hold on video content, this is no longer the case. Thanks to a variety of streaming providers such as Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other independent providers, users can access a wealth of content on the Internet for a relatively small amount of money. Viewers can access this streaming content from their computers as well as their phones or tablets and on their actual televisions by utilizing various set top boxes from manufacturers such as Roku.
Benefits of Your Own Broadcast Channel
If you’re still trying to decide whether it makes sense to create your own broadcast channel, we’ve outlined a few benefits that may sway your opinion.
- Full Creative Control: One of the complaints that many artists have when it comes to working with others is that you often lose creative control over your project. This can be very discouraging especially for those who have a set vision as to what their video content should look like. By creating your own broadcast channel you have complete control over the look and feel of your content without any outside input from others who may not have your best interests in mind.
- Relatively Low Risk: In the past it was extremely expensive to create your own video channel. This is no longer the case thanks to cheap Internet access and the drop in equipment costs related to video cameras and computers. For a relatively small amount of money you can have your content broadcast online to your followers in just a few short minutes. Even if your content does not take off like you would hope, you will not have invested a large amount of money into fleshing out your idea. Don’t be the person who never tries to follow their passion based on fear. Providers like TikiLIVE offer a number of affordable monthly plans that allow you to inexpensively publish your content.
- Build Your Brand: What better way to grow your following than with your own video channel. Creating high quality video content that is in line with your brand’s goals can quickly help to grow your audience. Video is a great way to build rapport with your users compared to bland email or website copy.
Choosing A Streaming Provider
After you’ve decided that you actually want to create your own video channel, choosing a provider can be tricky. Sure you may think that it’s ok to choose a free provider that promises to easily handle your needs – but is this okay? Free providers often force you to cut corners when it comes to a variety of key points, some of which are listed below:
- Advertising Control: If you choose a free video streaming provider you are almost guaranteed that your videos will be riddled with advertisements. This is a huge disadvantage, especially if you are just starting out. Why would you want to show your users advertisements for content from other providers? One of the primary pillars of effective marketing is to engage the customer as long as possible. Free video providers go against this principle by constantly bombarding your users with advertisements for other content.
- Limited Monetization Opportunities: Free video providers offer very little when it comes to ways to monetize your content. This is much different from paid video streaming providers, which offer options such as charging for your live content through digital tickets or even utilizing a pay per view business model to create passive income long after your live video is originally broadcast.
- Bandwidth Issues: With a free streaming provider bandwidth limitations will always be an issue. It is in the free provider’s best interest to recruit as many users as possible to their service to increase ad revenue, which is the primary method that these companies use to make money. The problem with this approach is that the more people that use the free service, the slower the content becomes for everyone.
How to Make Your Own Broadcasting Channel
We hope we’ve already convinced you that “free” may not be all that it’s cracked up to be. At TikiLIVE we offer a variety of plans that can help you create your own broadcast channel on a relatively small budget. To create your own channel with TikiLIVE simply follow the following steps:
- Setup an account with TikiLIVE: TikiLIVE does offer a free account, but if you are looking to create a broadcast channel that will stream significant amounts of video, one of our paid plans is probably a better fit. Browse our plans for more information.
- Click on Live Channels: Once logged into your TikILIVE account, click on “Live Channels” under the Channels menu.
- Create a New Channel: You should now be on the Manage Channels page where you can click the “New Channel” button to create a new channel.
- Enter Channel Information: Once on the new channel page you will need to enter the channel name, a logo if necessary, a short description and a category.
- Click Save Channel
- Click Start Broadcasting: After you have saved your channel you can begin broadcasting all of your content to your very own broadcast channel.
Partner With TikiLIVE to Make Your Broadcast Channel A Reality
As you can see, creating your very own broadcast channel with TikiLIVE is extremely easy. If you have any questions along the way, feel free to contact us and we’ll be happy to help you!