Three Rules for Live Video Success, Courtesy of Ustream

"Live" is the buzzword of the moment when it comes to online video, and many companies are now experimenting with creating a live broadcast, whether it's for a concert, meeting, or one-time stunt.

But what separates an average live event from a spectacular one? To find out, we sat down with Alden Fertig, senior product marketing manager for Ustream, at the recent Streaming Media West conference in Los Angeles. Fertig offered these three rules for live video success:

"First is make it interactive," Fertig said. "Traditional TV was sort of like, it happened somewhere else, there's no connection to viewers, but what you can do on the web is you can make it interactive. So, for example, we have a chat module that goes next to the video called social stream and you can bring in Twitter feeds there. And so, the on-camera talent can say, ‘Hey, tweet at us while we're talking on camera right now.' And then people can actually interact.

"The second thing is to realize that your time window is different. So, people are going to show up early, and they'll actually stay late. So, before your event make sure that you actually turn on the stream early with some sort of preshow content."

The idea here is that people will check in early to make sure they're set up correctly, and once they do they'll message their friends to get them watching, as well. Keep these early birds entertained so they'll stick around.

"The last thing is after the show," Fertig said. "There's a very important window of time where you can turn around the VOD very quickly. One thing we like on our platform is that we make the video available almost immediately. Get that workflow so that you can have the video-on-demand available immediately after the live, because there's going to be a lot of people that show up late, and that's when you'll have the best opportunity for them to watch that VOD content."

For more on live video success, watch the full interview below.

Troy Dreier's article first appeared on OnlineVideo.net