I’ve been using Livestream for livestreaming for my non-profit client for about a year now. However, I’ve always found it frustrating and recently began looking for an alternative.
I discovered Google Hangouts on Air. I haven’t yet made the decision to switch, but here are some benefits that Google Hangouts on Air has over Livestream:
Participants do not need to download software. You simply invite them via email.
* Free.
* Automatically uploaded to YouTube. While it has only happened to me once, participants can forget to save the video which, for us, is the main point.
* Easily have more than one presenter. This is far more difficult on Livestream.
* Easily brand via “lower third.” While Livestream may have a similar feature, I haven’t come across it.
Issues:
* It is very difficult to run a preliminary video. I will be experimenting more with this today, particularly with using LeadPages to get this done. We’ll see. If anyone has a solution, I’d love to hear it.