How To Create a Live Streaming Website in 2023

adminMarch 5, 2023

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Live streaming has an enticing promise – that you can get close to your audience and earn their trust. However, making good money is a challenge.

Popular streaming platforms like Twitch account for between 50-70% of streamer revenue. TikTok also takes a 50 percent cut in earnings if you get access to the Live Gifts feature.

Reading: How to create a live streaming website

With live streaming hitting all-time highs and attracting over 163 million US viewers by 2023, sharing all that revenue makes less sense. As a creator, you have other monetization options than just sharing your earnings.

At a time when people are signing up for subscription services, a membership model can help you make more money. With your own live streaming website, you can get recurring fees from your subscribers and earn a steady income while doing what you love.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to build a quality live streaming website and build a sustainable creator business using video.

How to create a live streaming website in 7 steps

Consider project requirements
Decide on your monetization strategy
Set up your technology
Choose a streaming video platform for live websites
Set up your streaming software
Build your own Video Library
Promote Your Streaming Website

1. Consider the project requirements

The first step is to consider the creative and technical requirements when setting up your live streaming website. The approach you choose and the equipment you need will depend on it.

Here are some important questions to answer:

What type of content will you be streaming? For example, if you are streaming live aerobics tutorials, the process is different than streaming live concerts.
Who are your target groups? Decide who you reach with your live streams. Consider their language, location, and ideal times to watch a live stream.
How much bandwidth do you need to stream? You need the right equipment to stream at least 1080p with an internet upload speed of 10Mbps.
How will you interact with viewers? Some creators like to answer questions and talk to viewers in live chat.
Will you monetize your stream? There are several ways to make money from your live streams. The most profitable option is to set up a membership, where viewers pay recurring fees and get access to all of your live and past streams.

Think about these questions. They will help you determine what type of video streaming solution and video hosting service is best for your needs. Plus, it helps you stay on budget while ensuring that your own video streaming site meets everything you and your viewers need.

2. Decide on your monetization strategy

There are two ways you can monetize your live streaming website:

Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD)
Transactional Video on Demand (TVOD)
Hybrid

SVOD

🥇 Best for: Full-time content creators building a membership business.

With a subscription service, viewers pay a monthly, quarterly, or annual fee to access all of your video content. This is the most common business model for live streaming websites. Platforms like Netflix, Hulu, Disney and HBO exclusively use this business model.

Our data shows that streamers who use Uscreen to build their live streaming website make an average of $5,800 per month.

Benefits:

Provides the greatest value for your customers
Provides you with a stable, predictable income
Can be easily scaled and expanded
Proven to work time and time again

Check out High Vibe TV for example. They are a subscription-based video streaming service. They create high quality lifestyle content for people interested in spirituality and astrology.

People can sign up for a monthly, quarterly, or semi-annual membership fee:

People can access the content as long as they pay their monthly fee. High Vibe TV wins big here. You can:

Predict income easily.
Predict growth better.
Build stronger bonds with members.

Whether you’re a gamer, talk show host, astronomer, DJ or any other type of live streamer , SVOD gives you the best chance of success.

TVOD

🥇 Best for: one-off live streaming events.

With TVOD your viewers pay per view. They buy or rent individual videos to watch anytime, anywhere.

Benefits:

You get paid every time someone watches one of your videos.
It’s great for one-time events like concerts, conferences and sports competitions.
They can charge a high fee for exclusive events.

Cons:

Getting people to pay for each video can take a lot of work.
It doesn’t generate any recurring income.

Besides that Selling subscriptions, creators also monetize live streams by promoting their own products, finding stream sponsors, or accepting Patreon promises.

Hybrid

🥇 Best for: Upselling unique viewers to subscribers.

You can make money from one-time purchases and recurring fees by combining SVOD and TVOD. Suppose you sell live streams individually or in bulk, but also offer a large catalog of future and current streams for a monthly fee.

Imagine someone buying access to a live stream. They love it so much they visit your membership site and join your email list. Or they subscribe immediately.

Benefits:

Gives viewers a “try before you buy” experience that builds trust.
Helps you build an email list faster.
Allows you to reach a wider audience with your live streams.
Can sell TVOD viewers for your membership program.

Cons:

May not generate as much revenue as a single revenue stream focused business model.
Managing multiple revenue streams can be difficult.

A hybrid model can benefit developers with the right technology. With Uscreen, you can accept multiple payment options for your live streams – whether you’re using SVOD, TVOD, or both – and track earnings in one place.

3. Set up your tech

Instead of streaming to social media platforms like Twitch, Facebook and YouTube Live, stream to your domain where you have complete control over what gets published and who gets to Show your content.

Domain. This is the address of your website on the Internet, e.g. B. example.com. You can buy a domain name from a web hosting company like Namecheap for as little as $13 per year.
Web hosting. This is where your website files and data are stored. Hostgator and Bluehost are the most popular web hosting providers among developers. You can also DIY and build your own live streaming server.

4. Choose a Live Website Streaming Video Platform

5. Set up your streaming server

The process is easier if you stream directly to social media platforms. They take care of everything from capturing your video input to distributing the video to viewers’ devices such as mobile phones and laptops in different locations.

There is a massive technical infrastructure running in the background!

But once you start streaming to your own live streaming platform, you need to choose the streaming protocol, an encoder and a CDN.

Explore encoder options

Your streaming encoder is the software that captures your video and audio input and converts it into a digital format that can be streamed online. There are many types of encoders on the market, ranging from hardware devices to software applications.

A hardware encoder is a physical device that you plug into your computer. It is typically more expensive than a software application, but more reliable and secure.

If you choose to use a software application, there are many different ones to choose from. Some popular options are OBS Studio, Wirecast, and vMix.

The most popular and easiest option is to use a cloud-based solution like Restream, Streamyard, Ecamm. If you’re an experienced streamer, you’ve most likely used one or all of them.

That’s the great thing about using Uscreen because you can still use these tools to create your live stream. The only major difference in your process is that instead of targeting Facebook, YouTube, or Twitch, you select your own website.

To schedule a live stream on Uscreen:

Log in to your Uscreen account.
Navigate to Content and then Live Events.
Get the stream key and stream url.
Go to your software encoder. For example, if you use Restream, create a broadcast there.

Add a channel and select Custom RTMP.

Once you have this setup, you can start streaming right away or during your scheduled stream.

When you start building your own live streaming software from scratch now , you can I need to think about streaming protocols.

Create your streaming protocol

A streaming protocol is a language that your encoder and media player use to communicate with each other communicate. The 2 most popular streaming protocols are RTMP and HLS.

If you want to create a live streaming website, you need to support both protocols because different devices use them. For example, computers primarily use RTMP while mobile devices use HLS.

RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol): This is the most commonly used protocol for live streaming. Most encoders and media players including YouTube Live, Facebook Live and Twitch support it.
HLS (HTTP Live Streaming): This is an Apple-developed protocol designed for low-latency streaming. Many OTT platforms like Hulu and Netflix use it.

To learn more about streaming protocols and how video is transmitted over the internet, read this RTMP post.

Choose a CDN

A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a global network of servers that deliver content to viewers based on their location. A CDN can improve your video quality and reduce latency by caching your stream content on servers closer to your viewers.

The most popular CDNs are:

Cloudflare
Akamai
Fast
Amazon CloudFront
Google Cloud CDN

You must have A few things to consider when choosing a CDN for your live streaming website.

Want a self-service platform where you can manage your account and CDN settings yourself? Or do you want a managed service where the CDN provider takes care of everything for you?

Another thing to consider is pricing. Most CDNs charge based on traffic usage, so you’ll need to estimate how much traffic your live streams will generate.

In summary:

If you want complete technical control over your website, the best way is to build it from scratch by choosing your encoder, streaming protocols and CDNs.
If you want to focus more on making money, Uscreen is a good option since all of these technical requirements run in the background. You can also continue with your existing process and use tools similar to your cloud-based live streaming software.

6. Build your own video library

You’ve set up your website and know your pricing model. Now it’s time to build your video library.The easiest way to do this is to use what you already have.

Upload past live streams

A full playlist of past streams can add a sense of depth and weight to your platform.

This is especially important for new users, who want to make sure they are investing in an established platform. Your subscribers are likely to engage with past streams when they see a large library of content on their favorite topics.

For example, XR embeds past live streams from the library to get more plays dating back to 2012:

This helps give users more than you is worth money and they can connect with the emotional moments in a live broadcast whenever they want. Uscreen’s categories feature can help you label these videos to make them easy for users to navigate.

Schedule new and paid live streams

Once you view your past live streams uploaded , it’s time to create new ones! Once you have your own platform, you have to come up with a new process.

Ideally, use social media platforms to drive traffic to your website. For example, you can stream short livestreams and give followers a sneak peek at your full-length livestream.

Fitness influencers have a great funnel for this. They post 2 minute workouts on their Instagram feed. But to access the full workout, such as For example, the entire yoga sequence for more flexibility, they need to subscribe to your platform where they can:

Pay for a single live class, webinar or live event.
Or pay for a monthly or annual subscription to access a specific live stream and all other live streams in the library.

Once you plan Your new live streams, it’s time to find a regular program.

Create your streaming schedule

Live streaming is an emotionally driven experience. People want to be there in real time when you turn on the camera and start creating. they love live streams because it makes them a part of the user experience.

Plan your streams in advance and have a clear schedule to work on, this gives your viewers a firm date when that you can put in your diary. We recommend doing this for at least the next 4 weeks.

Take Forward Space for example. They offer dance classes and have a rolling monthly schedule that allows students to book a class up to a month in advance.

This helps both the student and Forward Space. Students know what to expect and really engage; Forward Space can ensure and prepare for a certain number of viewers.

Take some time to plan details for your streams, e.g. B. when you will be online and what the content will be about.

7. Promote Your Streaming Website

Now that your live streaming website is up and running, it’s time to promote it! If you want to attract more viewers to live streams, you need a marketing plan.

Here are some ideas for marketing your streaming business:

Tell your friends. This one is a little more dated but still works, especially if you’re just starting out. Just let all your friends and family know about your new website. Ask them to share it with their friends and help spread the word!
Inform your email list. If you have a list of email subscribers, email them to let them know about your new live streaming platform. Your email list is one of the best places to start promoting because your subscribers already know and love your content.
Collaborate with other creators. Are you friends with other influencers in your niche? Working with them is a great way to reach new audiences who may be interested in accessing your amazing live streams.
Talk about it on social media . Create awareness for your streaming website on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn – wherever your audience is.

If you want to take your live streaming website to the next level, you should consider creating a live streaming app. We like to call a live streaming app the interface between choice and emotion.

It allows you to deliver your live video streams to any customer, anywhere in the world, on any device; Apple TV, iOS phone, Android TV or Android tablet, you name it!

A screenshot of Live streaming OTT solutions for mobile, tablet and more.

Creating your own app might sound too complicated! But with Uscreen you can easily add OTT to your live streaming platform. Read more about OTT live streaming.

This adds value to your subscribers as they can access your videos and live streams from any device they own, you also increase the likelihood of subscribers watching your videos as you can send them notifications on their phones .

This is something to think about for the future, once you’ve mastered the basics of building your own live streaming platform.

Why create your own live video streaming website?

We’re not saying live streaming platforms like Twitch and YouTube are bad, they are incredible platforms that can help you connect with billions of people around the world.

But live streamers realize they create their own Live -Streaming website is the only way to ensure the long-term future of their business, especially when they depend on the revenue e from their content.

A standalone platform owned by you that allows you to:

Keep your creative freedom.
Control your income.
Reach more people (away from algorithms).
Have something that is yours (with your own branding).

You have the complete Control over the content you publish, the message you want to share with your audience, and how you monetize your content.

If you plan to make a living from your live streams, you need to have complete control over how you make money centrally.

You might think that setting up and maintaining your own live streaming site is a lot of work. And in many ways this is true. But we believe that if you want to build a sustainable business around your live streams, it’s worth it in the long run.

Turn your video streaming website into a lucrative business

The live streaming industry will continue to grow. Now it’s time to build your own video streaming platform so you can control what you stream, who sees it, and how much you earn.

With a platform like Uscreen, you can build a stable and recurring income from your live streams and provide subscribers with a user-friendly experience.