LinkedIn, the professional social network platform, is preparing to launch a live video service that will allow its users to post real-time video content to selected groups, according to reports this week. The service is called LinkedIn Live and it will be launched in a beta initially available to US users alone on an invite-only basis.
LinkedIn is aiming to provide organisations and individuals with the ability to host real-time conferences, Q&A sessions and product announcements on their pages. LinkedIn hope that the service will be used to cover launch events, graduations, award ceremonies and even be used by organisations to release their earnings calls.
According to reports by TechCrunch, LinkedIn has selected third-party live broadcasting developers to help deliver video content in conjunction with creators.
So far Switcher Studio, Wowza Media Systems, Wirecast and Socialive and Brandlive have been reported as involved in the project. Microsoft will, through the use of its cloud platform infrastructure Azure, provided the encoding for the video content.
Based in California LinkedIn has over 14,000 full-time employees and offices in over 30 countries. More than 5,000 of its workers are based in San Francisco. The platform itself has over 600 million registered members.
LinkedIn Live Brings Video To Busy Market
Many have commented that LinkedIn is late to the video party following on the heels of other platforms such as Twitter, which introduced live video streaming after its acquisition of Periscope in 2015, which was also the same year that Facebook launched Facebook Live. Last year Instagram launched its own video channel and an attempt at an online TV service with IGTV.
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LinkedIn has been facilitating video content on its platform since March last year when it rolled out video for sponsored content and company pages.
While the service was not a completely live offering it does allow users, mainly advertisers, to post sponsored content adverts live directly into post on their news feed.
A major component of this was the ability for advertisers to track how their content is doing in a meticulous manner.
Phil Spitzer Product Writer at LinkedIn wrote in a blog at the time that: “With video for Sponsored Content, you can measure your campaign’s success through insights and detailed breakdowns about the types of professionals watching, engaging with, and even converting on your video ads. LinkedIn’s proprietary Conversion Tracking tool is also integrated, enabling you to measure the number of leads, sign-ups, website visits, and other valuable actions that your video content generates.”
If the new service has the same capabilities on show as their existing video offering, the ability to run live content while also tracking engagement in a meaningful way could be a major draw for organisations and influencers alike.
