How to Stream Live Video on Your Business’s Website

Nowadays, we have endless options to share a live video on the internet. We can, for example, go live on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, among other social networks quite easily without needing any advanced equipment. We can also use platforms like Twitch if you are streaming live videos for a certain niche.

However, if you are really serious about streaming your live videos, you should do it on your website or your own app, and with your own branded player.

In this post, we will share the essential guide on how you can stream live video on a website, and although it might seem like a daunting task at first, it is actually easier than you think.

The Benefits of Streaming Live on Your Website

As we know, nowadays we have a lot of pretty reliable and accessible platforms where we can easily share our live videos online, like YouTube or Twitch. However, streaming your content on your own website has various important benefits and is certainly a thing we should consider if we are really serious about the live streaming business.

Having your own website or app as your own platform will allow you to:

• Have the utmost freedom in controlling your live stream, both in creativity and financially
• You don’t have to rely on the platform’s algorithms and can reach your ideal audience
• Have a fully-customized live streaming channel that is truly your own (with your own branding)
• Control your income and promotions

In a nutshell, streaming your live video on your own website stops you from relying on the streaming platform’s guidelines, algorithms, and limitations. You have more control over what content you’d like to be streamed, and by doing so, you can maximize your live streaming channel’s performance.

Stream Live Video on Your Website: Step-by-Step

Step 1: Choosing a Platform 

The main mechanism of streaming your live video on your website is to choose a video hosting/streaming platform that allows you to embed its player on your website. Alternatively, you can also build your own video streaming player, and so generally we have three different options:

1. Completely DIY: if you have the programming knowledge, you can, for example, build your own website with WordPress and embed your own player. This can be a cost-effective approach, but typically will require a longer time to accomplish.
2. Hire a developer: if you have the budget, you can hire a web developer to build a website and/or app capable of live streaming. This can get very expensive if you are not careful but certainly is a viable option.
3. Use a video hosting platform: for example, with Viloud you can start live streaming on your website at affordable pricing.

The third option is typically the most accessible, and also often the most affordable. So, for the sake of this guide, we are going to assume that we are using a video hosting platform to build our live streaming website.

Step 2: Preparing your setup 

Now that you’ve decided on a platform, we have to prepare our live streaming equipment.

While the live streaming setup might vary greatly depending on your needs and live streaming objectives, in general, there are four basic elements of a live streaming setup:

1. Video/Audio Source: a video camera is a video source, as well as a computer screen, image files, etc. On the other hand, microphones are typically the main audio source in a live stream.
2. Encoder: an encoder will encode your video data from a stream of continuous image files into a compressed, single file of video data. This provides a web-friendly format for the streaming destination to ensure a reliable, low-latency stream.
3. A streaming platform: which we have discussed above, we should simply connect the encoder with the streaming platform for the live streaming to start.
4. Internet connection: since it’s live streaming, your internet is effectively the one ‘serving’ the content to your viewers. So, a fast and reliable internet connection is a must. As a general rule of thumb, your internet speed should be at least twice your chosen bitrate (i.e. if your bitrate is 3Mbps, then you’d need a stable 6Mbps of internet bandwidth). More on bitrate later below.

Step 3: Connecting your audio and video sources to the encoder 

This step will vary depending on whether you are using a software or hardware encoder.

If you are using a hardware encoder, then you can connect your camera, microphone, or any other audio/video sources to this encoder. You can then connect the encoder to your PC or laptop.

If you are using a software-based encoder, however, you might not be able to connect the camera and microphone directly to your computer. Instead, you’ll need an intermediary device called capture cards. Nowadays, however, there are USB microphones and cameras that you can directly connect to your computer without needing a capture card.

Step 4: Configuring the encoder

Again, this might vary depending on whether your encoder is software or hardware, and the brand of the encoder. However, you should at least configure the three most important settings:

• Resolution: the size of the video player (and the served video), which will dictate the video’s quality. 1280×720 pixels is the standard HD resolution, also known as 720p, but try to serve 1080p (1920×1080) or even 4K (3840 x 2160) if your bandwidth allows.
• Bitrate: bitrate refers to how much data is being uploaded to the streaming platform every second, measured in Kbps (kilobits per second) or Mbps second and Gbps. The higher the bitrate, the smoother the video quality.
• Framerate: how many frames are displayed per second in your live video stream. 30 fps is considered pretty decent, but try to serve 60 fps when you can.

Step 5: Setting up your streaming destination and encoder 

A key to ensuring your live streaming success is that your encoder and video hosting/live streaming platform must be properly integrated with each other.

The encoder needs to know where to send the video data, while the video hosting platform needs to receive and verify the data so it can start serving it to viewers.

While this might vary depending on the encoder and the video platform, typically you can do this by copying the stream URL and stream key/stream name (a secret code provided by the hosting platform) to the encoder.

Step 6: Embedding video player on your website

Last but not least is embedding the video player on your website, and this step might vary depending on which video hosting platform/video player you use. For the sake of this guide, we will use Viloud as an example. In Viloud, you can use the following steps to embed your player on your site:

1. Login to your Viloud account
2. Go to Channels in the navigation menu on the left-hand side
3. Click the Embed button, should be clearly visible
4. Configure your player: size, display options, and playback options
5. You should see an embed code in the text box, copy this code
6. Paste this code in your site’s HTML code

Voila, your website now has a functional video player that you can use right away to stream both on-demand and live video.

Conclusion

As you can see, streaming live video on your website or app is actually pretty easy to do nowadays, thanks to the advancements in technology that have allowed the equipment needed to launch live streaming much more affordable than ever, and also the availability of affordable and reliable hosting platforms like Viloud, that make adding a video player on your website much easier than ever.

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