With Ecamm Live, you can quickly and easily roll pre-recorded videos during your live stream broadcasts. There are tons of ways that you can leverage this feature, but also lots of questions around it.
When should you be using pre-recorded video? Can you roll video ads during your live stream broadcast? Can you post a pre-recorded video as a live video?
In this episode of Go LIVE Now, Luria breaks down all of the ways you can use pre-recorded videos while live streaming (and things you should avoid).
In this post we’ll cover
- When can you use pre recorded videos in your lives stream?
- What types of videos you can (and can’t) use?
- How to add a pre-recorded video to your live stream using Ecamm
Watch the full episode
Go LIVE Now! is a weekly live video show hosted by Luria Petrucci of LiveStreamingPros.com. You can catch new episodes weekly on Facebook and YouTube.
Want to know what gear Luria is using? Check out the full Go LIVE Now! gear guide.
Today we’re talking about pre-recorded videos in your live stream broadcasts. We’re going to dive into the benefits of using pre-recorded videos in your live streams. We’re also going to talk about what you can’t do.
Why would you want to use a recorded video inside of your live stream?
Well, you just saw me push the button on my Stream Deck to roll my intro video. It’s a consistent thing that we do for Go LIVE Now. That way you know you’re in the right spot for the show. You kind of get to know it, you maybe jam out to it a little bit. It’s a little intro. It doesn’t take long, but it helps us identify the show. It also gives us a chance to get you in and comfortable and ready to rock and roll. Intro and outro videos are a great way to incorporate pre-recorded video into your live stream.
Another big benefit to pre-recorded videos is that you can use them to tell stories. An example of this would be adding in a testimonial video from a customer or maybe you a demo that you recorded earlier. These are typically edited videos that you can use to help illustrate a point you’re making while you’re live or enhance the live content.
You can bring all of these kinds of brief videos into your production easily. They help to engage your audience and also serve to add a little bit more TV-quality production to the mix.
OK, now that you have an idea of what you can include, we should also talk through some of the details of what you can’t include.
Don’t do these things with recorded video
If you have a sponsor and you want to roll a video advertisement during your live stream broadcast, it’s important to know that you can do this on YouTube, but cannot do this on Facebook. Facebook’s Terms of Service for live streaming does not allow advertisements in your production. So whether you’re opening with an ad or it’s in the middle of your production, running ads on a Facebook live stream is a big no.
And if you’re simulcasting, you’ll need to prioritize the Facebook Terms of Service over YouTube just to make sure you’re not breaking any rules.
Why can’t you roll ads in your Facebook live streams?
Well, Facebook has their own ad platform that they’re integrating so they don’t want your ads butting up against theirs.
One way around this is to consider doing host endorsements or partnerships instead. Like this show is a partnership between myself at Live Streaming Pros and Ecamm. It’s an integrated partnership because I use Ecamm Live for all of my live streams and so I’m constantly talking about the live streaming app anyway, so there’s no need for me to roll an actual video ad during these episodes. I’m advertising for them organically just by using their app and showing you all how it works.
I’d urge you to think about how you can integrate sponsors and partners naturally and organically into your content rather than just rolling an ad clip. Even if you can (like on YouTube), it may still not be the best way to share the information with your audience.
Do not roll a pre-recorded video and pretend that it’s live
Another important thing to be aware of is that you cannot go live and roll a pre-recorded episode and act as if it’s live. Again, this breaks the Terms of Service for all platforms, including YouTube and Facebook. It also breaks trust with your audience who are expecting that you’re actually live and hoping to interact with you.
There are definitely those out there who do this and run the risks, but I’d encourage you not to be among them. It really does damage your relationship with your viewers and can result in your being barred from platforms like YouTube and Facebook.
The only exception to the above would be if you were doing a live stream where you came on and gave an intro live and then rolled a pre-recorded video (maybe an event or a lesson/demo) and then came back at the end and did a live Q+A. The key to remember is that you can’t “pretend” to be live when you’re not. just make sure that you’re always super super super clear with your audience about what you’re sharing.
How to roll a video in Ecamm Live
The best way to set up a video in Ecamm Live is to create a Scene. Once you’ve created the Scene and labelled it, then you either drag and drop the video from your computer into the Scene or you can upload it as a Video Overlay.
Once you have your video set up in your Scene, you’ll want to check the settings and select whether or not you want it to go immediately to the next Scene once the video ends or perhaps do nothing so you can control the next step.
As you can see above, you can also create a last Scene that includes an outro video and simply select “End Broadcast.” This action will let you play your outro video and let Ecamm Live end the broadcast for you the moment the video ends. Easy!
We’re here to help!
Wherever you are right now with your business, you’re not alone and we’re here to help. Go LIVE Now! is a weekly live show on YouTube and Facebook. If you join us live, you can ask your questions at the end of each episode. If there’s a subject you want us to cover, let us know in the comments below.
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