July 19, 2023
8 Best Event Live Streaming Platforms
Ever since COVID-19, adopting event live streaming platforms seems to be a no-brainer to many businesses these days. If your company is looking for a platform tailored to live streaming events, read on as we will discuss key factors to consider while selecting event live streaming platforms and walk you through some of the best event live streaming platforms.
Key factors to consider in event live streaming platforms
While choosing the most suitable event live-streaming platforms for your business, consider the following in relation to the objectives of your events:
- Equipment compatibility: Make sure that the platform is compatible with all the devices and software that you use to stream the event.
- Quality and reliability: Choose a platform that offers high-quality video and audio, as well as reliable uptime, to ensure smoothly streamed events.
- Ease of use: Pick a solution that is not only easy to use for you, as the streamer, but also for the intended audience.
- Livestreaming features: Look for a platform with features that you’ll need for your events, such as multi-destination streaming, monetization, chat box, etc.
- Cost: Set a budget, then pick an affordable and suitable live-streaming solution within your price range.
- Customer support: Consider the level of technical support offered by each platform, especially in-stream support.
The 8 best event live streaming platforms
Before we begin with the best solutions to live stream events, keep in mind that there is no perfect solution, but there is definitely something out there that is for your events and organization. Consider the following live-streaming solutions selected by us that might just be the platform for your professional events.*
*All information on features and pricing is as of June 2023.
Dailymotion
A part of the 15-billion turnover group Vivendi, Dailymotion is a global video distribution platform with the best video solutions on the market, including high-quality live streaming of professional events.
Dailymotion offers an easy-to-setup and user-friendly event live streaming platform, with an HTML5 cross-device player that supports adaptive streaming and allows 24/7 high-definition streaming. The platform also allows users to create one main and one backup livestream, which will be fetched in case the main one encounters any issues.
Besides adopting top-notch streaming technologies, Dailymotion also provides smarter livestream monetization through ad detection technology and mid-roll insertion, as well as 24/7 technical support to ensure a seamless user experience for event live streaming.
Key features
- Public and private streaming
- Unlimited streams**
- HTTP Live Streaming
- RESTful API
- Live embedding control
- Player customization for branding
- Concurrent backup live streams
- Instant video-on-demand (VOD) from live streams
- Multi-destination streaming
- Real-time analytics
- Ad-free** or ad-supported live streams
- Dedicated 24/7 technical support**
- Exposure to Dailymotion’s global audience (400 million active users as of the end of 2023)
**Contingent on the plan that the user chooses
Pricing
Dailymotion Enterprise pricing starts at €500/month, and is billed annually. Ad-supported pricing has no upfront payment; instead, users will have to share in-stream advertising revenue with Dailymotion. This model is suitable for organizations that are already familiar with video monetization and have a sizable audience.
YouTube Live
YouTube, a household name in the video distribution industry, has also tapped into live streaming since its very first “YouTube Live” in 2008. YouTube Live is easy to use and user-friendly, and it allows event live streaming through webcams and mobile phones as well as encoder streaming. Live chats, chat moderation tools, and monetization are also available on this platform.
Key features
- Live and VOD hosting
- Digital Video Recording (DVR) to pause, rewind, and continue watching live streams
- The trailer showcased before the event
- Live chat moderation tools
- Real-time performance data
- Livestream monetization through Ads, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Membership
- Exposure to YouTube’s audience
Pricing
YouTube Live is free to use. However, with live streaming using mobile phones without the audience cap, users must have a minimum of 1,000 subscribers.
JW Player
JW Player, a New York-based video solution company founded in 2005, besides its video hosting service, also offers 24/7 streaming, 12-hour event streams, full event DVR and instant VOD content from streams, and ad support to help users achieve monetization goals.
Key features
- HTTP Live Streaming
- Multi-bitrate transcoding
- Full event DVR and instant live-to-VOD content
- 24/7 and event-based streaming
- Simulcast to Facebook Live
- Real-time analytics
- Monetization support
- 24/7 in-house support
- Digital Rights Management protection on/off
Pricing
JW Player offers a 30-day free trial with 75GB streaming before users decide to go with the paid plans. Users will need to contact JW Player to check the prices for their paid plans.
Brightcove
Brightcove launched Brightcove Live in 2017, in response to the increased demand for event livestreaming and 24/7 channels. The platform supports live streaming with server-side ad insertion (SSAI), cloud DVR, content encryption, on-the-fly clipping, and live-to-VOD creation.
Key features
- SSAI
- Live content into VOD
- Instant replay with Cloud DVR
- Live redundancy to prevent downtime
- DRM-encrypted live streaming
- Streaming live to social channels
- Interactive features with audience
- Real-time analytics
Pricing
Brightcove’s pricing plans are only available through direct contact with the company.
Vimeo
Vimeo began its live streaming services in 2015, with streaming of 4K content and adaptive bitrate streaming support, then acquired Livestream in 2017 to create its current live streaming solution, Vimeo Livestream. The platform offers ad-free, full HD, customizable streams, allows streaming from any device (mobile, desktop, and API), and launches multiple streams concurrently. Back-up streams are also available to ensure a seamless viewing experience.
Key features
- Public and private streaming**
- Ad-free, full HD streams, and stream to social
- Brand control for players and apps
- Concurrent backup live streams** and Fail-safe Streaming solution
- Unlimited live events**
- Auto-archiving and video management
- Multiple streams at once
- Real-time stream performance
- Viewer engagement through registration forms, moderated Q&A**, polls, and audience chats
- Email, chat, and phone ** support available
**Contingent on the plan that the user chooses
Pricing
Vimeo allows live streaming in their Advanced and Enterprise plans, specifically:
- Advanced: US$65/seat/month, billed annually. Regarding live streaming, Vimeo offers simulcasting, viewer engagement tools, stream health with real-time data, up to 2 concurrent streams, 7 guest speakers, 1 licensed studio encoding software, CSV uploads, CRM and marketing integrations, and user-level analytics. Each stream is limited to 12 hours.
- Enterprise: No fixed price. Regarding live streaming, this plan includes all features of the Advanced plan, in addition to private streaming, live and webinar API, advanced CRM, marketing integrations and user-level analytics, and fail-safe streaming.
Dacast
Dacast is a business-to-business live-streaming platform launched in 2010 and headquartered in San Francisco with offices in London, Beijing, and Manila. Dacast provides ad-free and white-label live streams, in addition to a video paywall, password protection, referrer restriction, and an analytics dashboard.
Key features
- Public and private streaming
- HTTP Live Streaming
- Player API and Video API
- White label and branding control
- Livestream recording
- Real-time analytics
- Ad-free live streams
- 24/7 tech support with all plans
Pricing
Dacast has four pricing plans, specifically:
- Starter: US$39/month, billed annually. This plan is suitable for businesses that are new to live streaming, limited to 2.4 TB of bandwidth per year and 500 GB of storage per month.
- Event: US$63/month, billed annually. This plan is suitable for organizations that want to live stream an event without signing a contract. It offers 6 TB of bandwidth upfront and 250 GB of storage.
- Scale: US$165/month, billed annually. This plan offers 24 TB per year and 2000 GB of storage and includes everything in the Starter plan, with some additional services like phone support and ad insertion.
- Custom: No fixed price. This plan is suitable for businesses with high streaming needs.
Restream
Restream is a live streaming platform that is famous for its ability to simulcast on 30+ different social platforms. It also allows users to stream their recorded videos live, engage with viewers through multi chats, and gain performance insights across multiple platforms on a single screen.
Restream has seamless integration with Dailymotion, allowing users of Dailymotion player to effortlessly leverage Restream’s advanced multistreaming technology.
Key features
- Multi-destination streaming
- Fallback to backup live streams
- Amplifier to stream reliably to platforms outside users’ regions
- Monitor to track bitrate, FPS, and frame drops
- Metadata updates in a single place
- Streamed recorded videos
- Streaming chats in one place
Pricing
- Basic: Free, with 2 platforms for multi-streaming.
- Standard: US$19/month, inclusive of everything in the Basic plan, increased storage, and upload limit, and added services, such as 5 platforms for multi-streaming and 6 hours of recording
- Professional: US$49/month, with everything in the Standard plan, increased storage and upload limit, and added services, such as 8 platforms for multi-streaming, 10 hours of recording, streaming pre-recorded videos, and full HD streams.
Cincopa
Cincopa offers multimedia solutions to large enterprises and organizations, including live streaming of videos and webinars. It has all the necessary features for a professional streaming experience, such as monetization, stream recording, DVR, and over-the-top (OTT) streaming. Livestreaming is included in all plans with no added cost, including a trial subscription.
Key features
- Public streaming (webinar) and private streaming**
- Paywalled and single sign-on streams available**
- Passthrough and Transcoded streaming technologies are available
- Integrations for customization**
- Autosaving live streams
- Powerful player with on-video annotations, multilingual auto-generated subtitles, trimming, call-to-action, etc.**
- Livestream monetization
- Reliable customer support
**Contingent on the plan that the user chooses
Pricing
Cincopa offers a 30-day trial inclusive of a 2-hour livestream experience. They offer four paid plans, specifically:
- Plus: US$30/month. Users will have one livestream feed, 30 minutes of streaming per month, and receive support via emails only through Support Page.
- Corporate: US$119/month. Users will have one livestream feed, 120 minutes of streaming per month, and receive support via emails and one 15-minute call with a customer success professional every month.
- Enterprise: US$420/month. Users will have three live stream feeds, 180 minutes of streaming per month, and one dedicated Account Manager with one 30-minute call every month.
- Custom Enterprise: Pay only what users need with Cincopa Custom, which starts from US$249 for Online Course/Publisher Solutions and US$650 for Enterprise Solutions.
Conclusion
Livestreaming is no longer an option but a necessity for event organizers and managers. Given all the abovementioned information, you can compare event live streaming platforms and select the one that suits your business needs, budget, event goals, technical capacity, and overall organizational strategy. You may even want to try out some platforms for a more practical and hands-on experience with them.
If you are still unsure of the most suitable platform for your events and organization, we at Dailymotion have a team of experts that are always willing to assist you in your decision-making process. With over 18 years of knowledge in the video industry, we are happy to support you to navigate through this search and introduce our comprehensive solutions to you for your consideration.
If you have any comments regarding the best event live streaming solutions nowadays, or if you are curious about our live-streaming platforms, do not hesitate to contact us and let us know what you think!