The choice to live stream or not to live stream your house of worship services can be a controversial topic. Some believe that the choice to live stream will decrease in person attendance, which we’ve found to be a false assumption. You can even use live streaming to grow your church or synagogue.
You will have the opportunity to reach more people.
One thing that we’ve heard from our clients is that live streaming opens up endless opportunities for their house of worship.
What does that mean?
Live streaming has allowed them to reach people beyond congregants that can physically attend their services. One of our clients, Bayside Church, found that people in 113 different countries have streamed their live services. Campus Pastor, John Volinsky, mentioned that “most people that come to Bayside actually first watched our services online.”
Small churches and churches that have recently been planted can take advantage of live streaming by giving future congregants a feel for what your services are like. This might increase your church’s online viewership, but it could also be a catalyst for new congregants to start attending in-person services if they feel connected and engaged with your live streamed services.
You will be able to use your recorded videos for other purposes.
Another opportunity that our clients have found through starting to live stream has been the ability to repurpose recorded live streams. Our clients have access to any of the videos that they live stream with us through the LiveControl dashboard. They can use recorded videos of their services and share them via their websites, Facebook pages, or YouTube channels to make sure that congregants that were not able to attend the live service are still able to watch their services.
Posting recorded live streams to these social channels allows houses of worship to engage with their existing congregants and reach new audiences to grow your house of worship’s community.
We also have clients that use LiveControl to live stream weddings, bar mitzvahs, or funerals. These recorded videos can be distributed to relatives that were not able to watch during the live stream, or can be sent to the family involved so that they can experience their special moments whenever they want.
You will have the data to see what your congregants are engaging with.
Once you start live streaming, you will have access to metrics and data that tell you exactly where your house of worship is able to grow. You’ll be able to track where your viewers are located, how much you are receiving in online giving, and whether you are getting new viewers each service.
One example of how you can use the metrics from your live streams to grow your house of worship is by looking at your live viewership vs. your on-demand viewership (if you are recording your live streams). You can use this information to figure out whether the time that you regularly stream your live services works or does not work for your congregation. If you find that you are getting significantly more on-demand viewers, maybe it’s time that you change the time of your live services, or stream pre-recorded videos (or simulated live streams) instead.
If you’re looking for some help to get started live streaming, or to improve your current live stream, you can schedule a free demo with the LiveControl team here!
