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Why Netflix, Amazon and TikTok Are All Betting on Live — And What That Means for You
Jul 23, 2026
Live streaming isn't just for gamers and musicians anymore. In this episode of Build With What You Know, I sit down with John Petrocelli, founder of Bulldog DM and one of the most experienced live streaming executives in the world, to talk about why every major platform is racing toward live video — and why the opportunity for entrepreneurs and brands has never been more accessible.
John has produced live streams for Apple, Netflix, AT&T, Coca-Cola, Samsung, and Qualcomm. His work spans Coachella, the Grammys, the Oscars, and a Coca-Cola product launch on Twitch. He's spoken at CES, NAB, SXSW, and Harvard Business School. We cover why live video unlocks sustained watch time that no other format can match, how TikTok Shop is set to generate more e-commerce revenue than Target or Best Buy, and what any entrepreneur needs to know before going live for the first time.
🔗 Bulldog DM → https://bulldogdm.com
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#LiveStreaming #TikTokShop #LiveCommerce #ContentMarketing #BuildWithWhatYouKnow #VideoMarketing #OnlineBusiness #LiveVideo #StreamingStrategy #DigitalMarketing
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0:02
Okay, John. So, you are an expert in
0:04
live streaming and
0:08
let's start with the first question.
0:10
Why is it so much better to live stream
0:14
than to publish recorded videos? I see
0:17
so much hype about live streaming. A lot
0:19
of people are probably making a lot of
0:22
money. I don't know if the figures are
0:24
true, but what what makes it better?
0:28
Yeah, interesting time to be having uh
0:30
this conversation for sure. And what uh
0:33
we have our belief based on multiple
0:37
years of of executing this is that the
0:41
ironically the general human or the
0:45
consumer really desires collaborative
0:50
participatory experiences that they can
0:52
enjoy from their device with their their
0:55
friends, colleagues, uh relatives, you
0:58
know, you name it. And I think we're in
1:00
an interesting time right now where
1:03
you've got, you know, kind of two major
1:05
dynamics happening. You've got a
1:07
platform like Netflix
1:09
has committed fully to live video after,
1:13
you know, years of trepidation and kind
1:15
of dipping their toe in the in the
1:17
water. Now they're operating the NFL,
1:21
WWE. You're seeing uh there was a major
1:23
BTS concert. uh you know some of their
1:27
title programming is having the the
1:29
final final uh episode airing as a live
1:33
broadcast and I think Netflix has
1:35
realized as a subscription based
1:38
platform you know they have a big ad
1:40
tier now and this is a really compelling
1:41
way to bring people over to the platform
1:43
maybe convert them or just have them
1:45
participate in the content something
1:47
like the Mike Tyson fight massive
1:49
massive audience and that's created a
1:51
ripple effect across their competitors
1:54
um Hulu Amazon, YouTube, uh, uh,
1:58
Peacock, Paramount, I think Paramount,
2:01
the minute they were acquired, I think
2:03
within a week, they announced a $7
2:05
billion investment into live UFC
2:08
programming. So, that I think is a real
2:11
big driver. And, you know, the uh, back
2:13
to Netflix, they're actually also
2:15
selling out the ad inventory for their
2:16
live events. So the NFL games on
2:19
Christmas day completely sold out to
2:22
brand sponsors and all the other
2:24
experiences. And then conversely
2:27
uh there's these fascination with live
2:31
e-commerce shopping which in China is a
2:35
estimated to be a 400 to600 billion
2:38
business. And now that's taking hold
2:41
here on our you know in the in the west
2:43
certainly with the launch of Tik Tok
2:45
shop you know in the US and other
2:47
platforms kind of following along that.
2:49
So it's a it's a the world now I think
2:52
from my observation when we went into
2:54
the pandemic the user behavior became
2:57
globally adopted almost overnight.
2:59
Everybody had to consume live video. If
3:01
you were a a grandparent you would zoom
3:03
with your family. If you were a a child
3:06
you had to do distance learning with
3:07
your classroom. if you were a
3:09
professional, you had to attend uh
3:11
conferences
3:12
uh virtually as well. So, everybody kind
3:14
of figured out, hey, this is how we open
3:15
a video player and play live video and
3:18
then kind of went back to, you know,
3:21
somewhat hybrid world. But that moment,
3:23
I think, kind of sparked, you know,
3:25
here's how we actually do this and now
3:27
you've got these big shifts with the the
3:30
platforms committing to live video and
3:31
this e-commerce opportunity. It's and
3:34
answer your question that's why we see
3:35
live as a really compelling opportunity
3:39
and it's also big for the advertising
3:41
advertising community has been the most
3:43
disrupted disintermediated industry in
3:45
the last two and a half decades and if
3:48
we we find if we execute these live
3:50
streams properly it unlocks unparalleled
3:53
watch time. You know, the general human
3:56
attention span has fallen when the
3:59
century started from like 12 seconds
4:00
down to like sub eight seconds. And
4:03
brands are, you know, they got a real
4:04
big challenge with getting uh attention
4:06
from just viewers everywhere. And live
4:09
video, if you add interactivity, you can
4:12
get 5, 10, 15, 20 minutes of sustained
4:15
watch time. So that's also a big big
4:17
driver in the space right now.
4:20
>> Exactly. What kind of interactivity are
4:22
you talking about? uh because you
4:24
mentioned shopping before.
4:25
>> Mhm. Yeah. The um when we talk best
4:29
practices, we we encourage our clients
4:32
not to just put up, you know,
4:33
surveillance video or like a webcam
4:35
feed. The audience tends to want to have
4:38
again a collaborative participatory
4:40
experience. So, one of those things is a
4:42
social stream, meaning a some sort of
4:44
chat that's also related to the video.
4:47
So we try to we can filter out um you
4:50
know trolling and spamming etc. And we
4:53
find when there's a conversation that's
4:55
related to the video, it kind of starts
4:57
to galvanize the audience. And then we
4:59
can add in things like live uh polling,
5:02
trivia, graphics, calls to action back
5:05
to live shopping. Maybe there's an
5:07
opportunity for you, you know, you're
5:08
listening to uh an informative live
5:11
stream that's more of a story. And by
5:12
the way, they can introduce a related
5:14
product that in that moment is 25% less
5:18
than you would actually, you know, pay
5:20
for it in a normal non, you know, live
5:22
streaming experience. So, when we do
5:24
those things, a couple things start to
5:26
happen. You know, one, the audience will
5:29
say, "Hey, uh, this is interesting to
5:31
me. I'm going to invite my friend. Hey,
5:32
you know what? I'm watching this great
5:33
live stream. Come watch with me and we
5:35
can chat about what we're experiencing."
5:37
Um, you know, two, they have a much
5:39
higher probability of coming back to
5:41
subsequent broadcasts because they know
5:42
there's interactivity built in. And then
5:44
the holy grail is you unlock watch time.
5:46
Now, now that people can actually do and
5:48
interact and engage, they're going to
5:49
watch for longer. And if you're a
5:51
marketer, that's obviously critically
5:54
important. And if you're actually
5:55
selling something direct to consumer,
5:57
you know, you have that that big
5:59
benefit. And the and one of the
6:00
interesting things we're seeing in the
6:01
live shopping world is these live
6:04
streams reduce returns by about 40%.
6:08
Because the audience is now much more
6:10
informed about the product. I can ask,
6:12
hey, does that come in blue? Is can you
6:14
show me the waistband? Is it is it
6:16
elastic or is it, you know, drawstring,
6:18
etc. So, an interesting offshoot of of
6:21
this demonstrative almost authentic live
6:24
broadcast is you reduce returns. And
6:26
obviously every every brand would want
6:28
to reduce that kind of cost as well.
6:32
>> In your opinion makes a good live
6:35
stream.
6:37
What are the main the common points?
6:39
>> Yeah. Um well it's the first I mean the
6:42
if you've ever seen a live stream that
6:44
didn't function properly, it's because
6:45
there wasn't proper internet at the at
6:47
the venue. And I uh you know previously
6:51
ran a live streaming company that I sold
6:52
into AEG which people may know as the
6:55
world's largest presenter of live sports
6:57
and live music the number two behind
6:59
Live Nation in the music space. So that
7:02
company operated you know big u
7:04
entertainment districts like uh LA live
7:08
with the crypto arena and also other
7:11
venues and you know they also operate uh
7:12
Coachella for example. So I learned
7:15
pretty quickly that these these facility
7:17
they need to have the internet
7:18
facilities to push a broadcast out and
7:21
if they don't we bring in supplemental
7:22
bandwidth. So that's pretty critical.
7:25
And then following right along that is
7:26
is a quality video but also quality
7:29
audio experience especially if you're in
7:31
you know the in the music space the
7:33
artists actually care sometimes more
7:35
about the audio than they do the video.
7:37
So if you align those two experiences
7:40
and we try to do everything with
7:42
elimination of of of any single point of
7:45
failure in the workflow. So there's
7:46
always a a failover in some way whether
7:48
that's a transmission path or or the
7:50
encoding appliance we're using. And then
7:52
back to you know what makes it more uh
7:54
more successful is adding in those those
7:56
layers of interactivity. But also um you
7:59
know we mitigate a lot of these things
8:00
by rehearsal rehearsal rehearsal meaning
8:02
both the the run of show but also the
8:04
technical uh phys and also you need a um
8:07
a distribution plan you know are are you
8:10
going to be on YouTube, Facebook,
8:11
Twitch, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram,
8:13
Tik Tok uh a custom design micro site a
8:16
subset of those you know usually people
8:18
come to a they need to come to this uh
8:21
live broadcasting strategy with a
8:23
distribution a kind of a thoughtout
8:25
capability around distribution.
8:28
Mhm. And how to actually plan the
8:32
content
8:34
because you don't want any blank blank
8:37
space. You you always want something
8:38
happening in your live stream or people
8:41
might drop out.
8:42
>> Yeah.
8:42
>> When you have an event already like
8:44
music or Okay. You already have more or
8:46
less everything set up. But for example,
8:48
for corporations that are now more more
8:50
trying to set up their own live streams
8:53
to communicate about uh for example
8:55
their quarterly earnings uh whatever
8:58
these kind of events. Um,
9:01
>> yeah, it's critical. Um, you uh to your
9:03
point, you don't want uh dead time or,
9:06
you know, granted in a live broadcast,
9:08
there's moments of quote authenticity
9:10
that are going to happen no matter
9:11
regardless, but having a run of show and
9:15
a plan. Uh, and even maybe there's
9:17
breaks. Maybe we'll say, "Hey, we'll be
9:19
back in 15 seconds. We can put a slate
9:21
up that says, uh, we're cutting over now
9:22
to the next part of our offering." And
9:25
this is true of of a music show as well.
9:28
Maybe maybe there's a hosted set where a
9:30
host introduces the the music artist
9:32
maybe interviews them prior or maybe
9:34
there's a post show experience with some
9:36
fans. But also in the enterprise world,
9:38
you know, one of our bigger clients is
9:39
Qualcomm and we power their Snapdragon
9:43
Summit that happens annually where they
9:45
introduce all of their new chipsets,
9:47
innovation, etc. And they bring in their
9:49
partners like Microsoft and Samsung. And
9:52
there is a uh a very detailed strategy
9:55
around keynotes and fireside chats and
9:58
even product demonstrations. So, u a run
10:01
of show in anything that we're doing is
10:03
critical. Even a big giant music
10:05
festival, you know, we're typically
10:07
executing from maybe four, five, six
10:09
different stages, but we're trying to
10:11
build a broadcast experience around a
10:13
6-hour, you know, window. So we know
10:15
we're going to cut to sta the main stage
10:17
for this act and then when that band
10:20
leaves the stage there's you know
10:21
there's a time for um take down and
10:24
setup. So we're going to shift over to
10:26
stage two or or complimentary stage or
10:29
maybe cut back to the host. But that's
10:32
how you keep the audience kind of coming
10:33
along in that journey and engaging. And
10:36
um you can also integrate, you know,
10:37
things like ads as well or maybe we're
10:39
going to take a break and we're going to
10:40
introduce uh you know the the official
10:42
sponsor here is Toyota. We're going to
10:44
walk you through the new model uh you
10:47
know um you know uh Prius that's coming
10:50
up what what the features are there. So
10:52
uh run a show critical without question.
10:55
>> And so you've seen evolution in the
10:58
industry. What do you expect to come
11:00
next?
11:03
I think that um the world is is moving
11:05
to almost a performancebased
11:09
um media kind of ecosystem regardless of
11:13
what they're doing. So it's not enough
11:14
to just broadcast for the sake of
11:16
broadcasting. There has to be some some
11:18
driver and again back to that could be a
11:22
uh conversion. Maybe send us your email
11:24
address and we'll notify you of of
11:25
subsequent broadcasts or maybe there's a
11:28
product announcement. Maybe you want to
11:30
be a sign up for a uh a pre-order or
11:33
maybe there's an actual call to action
11:35
to to sell something. So, and live video
11:38
because of the attention that live
11:41
streams garner and if we factor in those
11:43
interactive elements, there's almost no
11:46
better way to get to that market. It's
11:48
kind of like, you know, you look back to
11:49
the the original days of of QVC and home
11:53
shop home shopping network. Those were
11:55
immediate happening in the- moment
11:57
experiences. And that kind of thinking I
12:00
think is is is
12:01
shifting over to live streaming across
12:04
the the internet uh in general. So
12:07
that's where I think the um the space is
12:11
without question uh going and I think
12:14
there's also a real interesting shift in
12:16
just live experiences in general and to
12:19
amplify you know we see a lot of brands
12:21
spending money in experiential marketing
12:24
you know being out there in the field
12:25
with consumers and a real big win for
12:28
them is to amplify that right if they're
12:30
like we do you know example u a while
12:32
back we did um we worked with Coca-Cola
12:35
on the launch of one of a new permanent
12:37
flavor. It was like the first time
12:38
they've done that in in 3 years. And
12:41
they had this interactive experience and
12:43
a pop-up experience in New York on the
12:46
Lower East Side, kind of a twotory all
12:49
things, you know, this new flavor of
12:51
Coca-Cola. and we were able to bring uh
12:55
a video component, a live streaming
12:56
component and and broadcast that out to
12:59
KO's uh Twitch channel as well as a
13:03
really terrific live uh Twitch
13:05
personality who hosted the experience.
13:07
So KO got a massive lift in viewership
13:11
which drew awareness to this 5-day
13:13
experience where more and more more
13:15
people would realize, oh, this is
13:16
actually happening across, you know,
13:18
Thursday to or Wednesday to Sunday. I'm
13:20
going to go and maybe make a point to
13:22
show up there. And they also get a
13:23
pretty massive amount of of once we
13:25
shoot a or live stream a 1 2 3 4 hour
13:28
experience, you've got a great asset now
13:31
that you can cut into clips and
13:32
highlights and programming and and push
13:35
that out across all of your socials, but
13:36
also the the brand ambassadors that are
13:39
involved as well. So, that's an
13:41
interesting execution and kind of an
13:43
interesting way to think about it. But,
13:44
I think that's because of this big
13:46
emphasis on experiential marketing. I
13:48
think that's a big component of what's
13:50
going to happen next.
13:52
>> Yeah, exactly. As you mentioned, if you
13:53
plan well your live stream, you can then
13:56
repurpose it into shorter form content
13:59
like it doesn't have really a short like
14:01
in terms of YouTube shots, but it can
14:03
also be some extract that make up a
14:06
YouTube videos or
14:09
or whatever do you reuse on your
14:11
website, on your commercials, on on so
14:13
many channels.
14:16
>> It's a great point. you know, we uh we
14:18
say the word live, but it's also got a
14:20
phases. And when we're doing a music
14:23
festival, you know, the first artist
14:26
that we might live stream is at 3:00 in
14:27
the afternoon, and it goes until about
14:29
11 at night. And that's day one of the
14:31
festival. And then when that headliner
14:33
leaves the stage, we loop the entire day
14:37
maybe two, three times maybe until the
14:39
next. So that's Friday night. The next
14:41
day we're live at 3:00 on uh Saturday.
14:45
So phase one is live live. Phase two is
14:47
the looping. And phase three can be
14:49
highlights and clips and segments that
14:51
can live, you know, for weeks after the
14:53
experience or maybe even months. But
14:55
yeah, once we're we bring a team there
14:57
and we're capturing something, there's
15:00
uh there's that big massive live tent
15:03
pole part of it, but to your point,
15:05
there's this tale of assets that that we
15:07
can clip, highlight, post-produce, etc.
15:10
that kind of live on. And and then the
15:11
other thing too is we try to we try to
15:14
work with with entities that are going
15:16
to have some cadence and some
15:17
programming. So maybe they're going to
15:18
be live every month or every quarter.
15:21
Now you've got the Tempole experience
15:23
and you've got the assets that live in
15:24
the buildup to the next live broadcast.
15:27
So that those those fans, those
15:29
consumers are coming along in that
15:30
journey across your calendar of live
15:32
experiences. And it could be uh also in
15:35
complete alignment with a brand's
15:37
experience or calendar. they know
15:38
they're going to do seven major events
15:41
or popups around the country or the
15:44
world and here they can bring that
15:45
audience along and amplify that
15:46
messaging out as well.
15:49
>> Wow. And are you actually using some AI
15:52
functionalities to manage live streams?
15:57
Uh yeah in certain cases um you know big
16:00
you know big clients that are
16:02
broadcasting into different territories
16:05
around the world AI definitely helps
16:08
with captioning right it's kind of uh
16:10
very rapid very quick it's less manually
16:14
intensive we have looked at managing you
16:17
know robotic you know when we do our
16:19
shows there's a typically a blend of
16:22
static and manned cameras as well and
16:24
perhaps we can manage some of those uh
16:26
robotic uh static cameras through an AI
16:30
agent as well. So, there's that
16:32
possibility. But one of the uh you know,
16:34
one of I think the the um
16:38
live is really meant to be in the
16:39
moments. Then I've heard advertising
16:41
executives say it's a last bastion of
16:43
authenticity, right? You you need people
16:45
on camera doing things or you need
16:47
experience to happen. But for me as an
16:50
entrepreneur and an operator, certainly
16:52
I use those tools to help me run my my
16:54
business more efficiently. And if I can
16:58
also pass some of that savings back to
17:00
my clients, I absolutely will. But so
17:02
there are some things that we can do. I
17:04
I you know I don't think our industry is
17:06
going to you know move entirely. I don't
17:09
think I don't think it can to an
17:11
automated uh AI you know uh workflow
17:14
because we are going to need you know
17:16
directors and camera operators and you
17:18
know we uh you know drones have become a
17:20
big part
17:21
>> of our experiences and that's a that's a
17:24
science to you know a drone operator to
17:26
be on on communication with the director
17:28
and knowing when we're going to be
17:29
cutting and filming. So the short answer
17:32
is yes in some ways but I don't I can't
17:34
see our space being entirely an AI um AI
17:38
operated space.
17:41
>> You mentioned that something must be
17:44
happening during the live stream. So how
17:46
to actually make sure that interesting
17:48
things happen during a live stream?
17:52
>> Well uh you know fortunately for us
17:53
>> it's a fully planned show. Yeah.
17:55
>> Yeah. Our um you know our clients are
17:58
Apple, Netflix, Samsung, AT&T. These are
18:03
uh very astute marketers who know how to
18:05
engage their audience. They may not do
18:07
it with live video on an ongoing basis.
18:09
So we work very collaboratively with
18:12
them and maybe with their ad agencies as
18:14
well. And if they're partnering with a
18:15
music artist or personality, they're
18:16
pretty very comfortable being in a live
18:19
environment. But again, having a uh a
18:22
strategy on what's the message you want
18:24
to convey, how do you want to talk to
18:25
people in the moment and where you going
18:27
to do this from? Are you going to be on
18:28
Tik Tok for this broadcast? Are you
18:30
going to be on YouTube? There's a kind
18:31
of a different, you know, uh user
18:33
behavior across all these platforms and
18:36
you know, especially a platform like
18:38
Twitch that's that it is inherently a 24
18:41
by7 live uh platform where people are
18:44
very leaned into what's happening in the
18:47
moment. That all goes into you know
18:48
factoring how are we going to produce
18:50
this how are we going to execute it and
18:52
you know taking that mindset and usually
18:54
again people understand I'm doing this
18:56
I'm doing this I'm doing this on this
18:57
and these platforms are also our
18:59
customers and we get hired by YouTube
19:01
and by Tik Tok and by Amazon to either
19:04
execute film tech manage or bring you
19:07
know real-time viewers uh so usually
19:10
there's some sort of plan that goes into
19:12
but a lot of them will rely on us to
19:14
give them some best practice guidance
19:15
and uh you My my company is now into its
19:19
14th year and I've been in live video
19:21
for 20 which is almost as long as it's
19:23
been in industry. So we're we're pretty
19:25
good about understanding the best way to
19:27
do this. But we're also realistic,
19:29
right? There's new things happening all
19:30
the time which we want to be cognizant
19:32
of and uh and really be collaborative
19:34
and usually that leads to some semblance
19:36
of of success in these experiences.
19:39
And you mentioned v
19:42
large variety of platforms actually how
19:44
to choose the right one
19:50
you know uh usually a client will have
19:52
three that they prioritize. Um typically
19:56
you know a brand like Mercedes leans
20:00
very heavily into Instagram because it's
20:02
this you know tapestry this mosaic of
20:05
how beautiful the the car looks. you
20:08
know, other clients. Uh, if you're in
20:10
gaming, you know, Samsung spends, uh,
20:12
they focus a lot on on the Twitch
20:15
platform for, uh, their Samsung for
20:17
their Galaxy devices. Others will focus
20:21
on on YouTube. So, we um, you know,
20:24
we're built to be to operate as
20:26
Switzerland, right? I can take a once we
20:28
have access to that feed, we can almost
20:31
point it anywhere. You know, a couple
20:32
years ago during the Super Bowl in LA,
20:36
there was this big Shaquille O'Neal ran
20:38
this big kind of uh entertainment
20:40
experience and we were on 20 different
20:44
Tik Tok accounts simultaneously with
20:47
selected influencers who were attending
20:49
and being part of that experience. So,
20:51
we're um we're able to build a
20:54
distribution strategy around what the
20:56
priority social accounts are. and others
20:59
will say to us that's really important
21:01
to me but I also want to own the
21:02
relationship directly with the consumer.
21:03
So we'll build micro sites which are
21:05
live streaming sites that we've popped
21:08
on to you know AT&T as an example are
21:11
big sponsors of the NCAA as well as the
21:14
NBA. So when they go to the NBA Allstar
21:16
game they own the pregame concert. We'll
21:19
shoot film live stream that experience.
21:22
We also will use uh like the pit cam
21:25
will be a uh a Samsung Galaxy device,
21:28
right? The beautiful high-end smartphone
21:30
that's 4K in the front, 8K in the back.
21:33
Uh but the interesting thing for that is
21:34
we'll also design an AT&T call it an
21:37
AT&T 5G fan zone. You can watch the
21:40
concert, change your view in real time,
21:42
listen in stereo audio, but also simoc
21:44
cast it out to, you know, YouTube or or
21:47
Instagram or wherever it's going to
21:48
live. So there's all kinds of of options
21:51
between all the social platforms.
21:53
Another thing that um we focused on is
21:57
you know people coming to us and saying
21:59
I want to do this but I need to
22:01
guarantee I need to hit a certain viewer
22:02
threshold. I want to eliminate the
22:05
uncertainty of low viewer turnout. So we
22:07
created an audience development tool
22:09
where we can take the live stream and we
22:11
can syndicate it across a wide network
22:13
of premium publishers. could be New York
22:16
Times, CNN, MSN, U Bar Sports, and
22:22
broadcast that up where the audience
22:24
discovers these ad units with the live
22:27
video in them and they click through and
22:28
they drive back to the experience. So,
22:30
that's been very popular in the last 6
22:32
months. We've been able to someone could
22:34
say to us, I want to do this experience
22:35
and I want um 150,000 viewers or I want
22:38
a million viewers and we can certainly
22:40
do that in addition to organic live
22:42
streaming on to social. But that's a
22:44
great question. that's become a real
22:45
focus is, you know, a we want to do
22:48
this, but b we have a marketing
22:49
initiative and c we're we want to we
22:52
want to make this a media campaign as a
22:54
comp as an offshoot to what we're doing
22:57
as a as a brand with our with our media
22:59
strategy. So, a lot a lot of moving
23:01
pieces in that world, but and because
23:03
back to the the competition between
23:06
Netflix and Hulu and and Disney and
23:09
Paramount, they're all fighting for
23:10
these, you know, these um live viewers
23:12
to come and engage. And that's another
23:14
reason to have a uh we call it an
23:17
audience development strategy to kind of
23:19
get get the content the deliver the
23:22
content at the at the uh to the right
23:24
audience at the right moment.
23:27
>> Okay. Um, personally I always have this
23:30
struggle when I do some live stream. I I
23:33
never know if I should use portrait or
23:37
landscape.
23:39
Do you have maybe some advice for
23:41
content creator?
23:41
>> Yeah, it dep it certainly depends on
23:43
your platform, right? If you're uh if
23:45
you're focusing on Tik Tok, you know,
23:46
that's a mobile typically viewing
23:48
experience. Uh if you're on YouTube,
23:50
it's typically, you know, uh horizontal
23:52
or, you know, desktop. uh or maybe
23:55
people are are chcasting to a television
23:58
set. So, we try to do everything in an
24:00
adaptive, you know, uh format. Um if
24:03
we're working with Tik Tok, obviously
24:05
we're doing it strictly in that in that
24:06
format as well. But we do have
24:08
production capabilities where we can
24:10
optimize for multiple uh outputs as
24:14
well. And that's a that's a great
24:15
question.
24:17
So how do you optimize actually and how
24:20
do you repurpose like is it is it better
24:22
for repurposing to start with uh with
24:24
landscape and then repurpose into
24:27
portrait or the other way around?
24:29
>> Uh you know there are software tools
24:30
that can that you can they're pretty
24:32
economical that you can turn on and say
24:35
hey I'm I'm going to optimize for
24:36
distribution out that way and the
24:38
production side and thing called center
24:40
cut where we can do it in the production
24:42
workflow as well. And you know, let's
24:44
say AT&T will say to us, we we want to
24:46
be on our Instagram account. So, we'll
24:48
we'll send that output directly to their
24:50
Instagram feed where it's where they're
24:52
going to get it in that uh that vertical
24:54
format. Same with Tik Tok. Conversely,
24:57
they might say to us, we also want to
24:58
send this to the video uh boards in Time
25:02
Square. So, we have to optimize to
25:04
deliver to those uh surfaces or we may
25:07
work with Amazon Prime Video and that's
25:10
a big beautiful broadcast uh as well. So
25:12
in the in the actual production
25:15
workflow, we're aligned and this goes
25:17
through a whole a whole testing and
25:19
vetting process and we're delivering
25:21
from a you know mission control. It
25:22
could be even in the cloud, right? Once
25:24
we have that asset in the cloud, we can
25:26
base the the distribution workflow and
25:30
align it with the production workflow to
25:31
hit those outputs. For the general, you
25:34
know, uh operator, there's great
25:36
software services out there, you know,
25:38
OBS, StreamYard, etc. that they make it
25:41
easy, right? You just click and say this
25:43
stream is going here and it does it all
25:45
for you on the fly.
25:48
>> Wow. Okay. Uh that's great. And do you
25:52
have maybe some some tips for for
25:55
especially for businesses that want to
25:58
set up their own live stream and uh that
26:01
might not be as big as your clients.
26:05
>> Yeah. Um most of the social platforms
26:08
have over the last several years
26:10
optimized for live video and in fact
26:14
several have really prioritized it. Um,
26:17
starting with Tik Tok, I I think that
26:19
from uh their whole platform with Tik
26:22
Tok shop launched in September of 23 in
26:26
the US this year that'll do about 26
26:29
billion in revenue, which is more than
26:31
the e-commerce revenue of Lowe's or
26:34
Target or Best Buy. So the thing if I'm
26:38
a business owner, I would certainly st I
26:40
would certainly be looking at Tik Tok as
26:43
a live distribution platform. And if
26:46
you're marketing a product, the the data
26:48
there is pretty compelling. Like 58%
26:51
of millennials have adopted live video
26:54
shopping and 80% of Gen Z. And I've even
26:57
heard marketing or advertising
27:00
executives say that in the next five
27:02
years because retail is so expensive as
27:05
a to operate a retail store you've got
27:07
to pay employees and you've got to pay
27:09
rent which is only going up that the
27:13
retail stores will become Monday through
27:15
Friday uh studios where the employees
27:18
and influencers will demonstrate and
27:20
offer and talk about products and go
27:22
back to traditional retail on the on the
27:25
weekends. So that's a platform that I
27:27
would certainly as a any type of entre
27:30
entrepreneur be thinking about and you
27:33
know conversely Amazon Meta and Google
27:36
are all turning on they're cranking up
27:38
live capabilities on on the commerce
27:42
side as well and again I can't emphasize
27:45
enough that the the holy grail that
27:48
advertisers want is attention and what
27:50
we're finding is live video executed
27:53
properly for anybody is going to unlock
27:56
this really sustained watch time. And
27:58
the other thing too is is cadence.
28:00
You're going to have to do this. You're
28:02
gonna have to come to a live strategy.
28:05
You can't just do it once a year and
28:06
say, "Hey, this is this is now my my
28:08
strategy." If you start to build, you
28:11
know, an audience, the best, you know,
28:13
the best way to drive that audience
28:14
forward is to say, "We're going to be
28:15
doing this every Tuesday at 3:00
28:17
>> or we twice a month you'll come back and
28:20
we'll, you know, we'll spend our time
28:22
here together." But certainly getting
28:24
into a cadence is a big is a big help
28:26
for I think any entrepreneur. And you
28:28
know, you're going to test and learn.
28:29
You're probably going to make mistakes,
28:30
but I would ask your audience, hey, what
28:32
did you like? What didn't you like? Give
28:33
us some feedback. And that's so great.
28:36
You're getting almost like a a focus
28:38
group in real time giving you data, you
28:40
know, for free, telling you this this
28:42
worked great for me. I enjoyed this.
28:43
Maybe you would change that. Uh but also
28:45
you know having uh some and the beauty
28:48
of now of having this conversation is
28:50
the equipment needed has you know 10
28:53
years ago this is crazy expensive. Now
28:55
you can as I said you can do it on a on
28:57
a mobile handset and get beautiful
28:59
picture. You can get a ring light um
29:02
like a a lavalier or what's called a
29:05
shotgun mic as well to elevate your
29:07
audio. There's never been a better time
29:09
to to dive in and try this. And my
29:11
recommendation is don't be afraid to to
29:13
make some mistakes and and test and
29:14
learn and iterate as you go forward.
29:18
>> Okay. Well, sounds great. Also, very
29:20
interesting your point of view on the
29:22
influencer world that might come into
29:24
the brick and mortar retail.
29:28
>> Yeah.
29:28
>> Retail jobs that are Yeah. actually
29:30
slowly.
29:31
>> Mind-blowing statistic for sure, but uh
29:34
who knows? I I think the the uh you know
29:37
the influencer world because we're now
29:39
we're a Tik Tok shop certified agency as
29:41
well and you know influencers I think
29:45
are gra they're certainly gravitating
29:48
towards live shopping because they now
29:50
become ambassadors for brands and they
29:52
get a commission right if if I if let's
29:54
say I'm an expert at something like
29:56
fishing and I get approached by a
29:58
fishing lure manufacturer that says hey
30:00
you promote our products I will get a
30:03
cut of everything that I drive from my
30:05
channel. So, it's opening up real
30:08
revenue possibilities for influencers
30:11
and the brands will send out samples so
30:14
they can actually make videos whether
30:16
that's apparel, it could be a beauty
30:18
product. Um, it's a I think it's a a
30:21
real interesting turning point for the
30:24
influencer community because now they
30:26
can actually be tied directly into
30:28
revenue resulting from transactions and
30:31
purchases.
30:33
Mhm. Exactly. And yeah, so so many new
30:36
re revenue streams are opening up now
30:38
with all these new possibilities as you
30:41
mentioned also the the technology
30:43
barrier is getting lower and lower.
30:47
>> It is. Yeah. But also actually you also
30:50
said at the beginning uh internet a good
30:53
stable internet connection is still
30:57
a must even if we need less technology
31:01
like
31:02
>> yeah you know I think that um and you
31:06
know we we worked a lot with the um the
31:09
independent venue association which are
31:12
3,000 of the smallest venues in the in
31:15
the country and these were bands became
31:18
uh in early days is where they had to,
31:20
you know, cut their teeth and play in
31:21
front of small audiences.
31:23
And pretty fascinating, we um worked in
31:27
partnership with YouTube to build a
31:28
festival called Save Our Stages. And it
31:31
was because these venue operators were
31:34
the first businesses in the pandemic. Um
31:37
they were uh to close and they were the
31:39
last to reopen and they still had to pay
31:40
their taxes, their utilities, and their
31:43
rent. And uh you know, YouTube brought
31:46
bands like uh the Foo Fighters back to
31:49
the Trouador or Miley Cyrus to the
31:52
Whiskey and we shot these beautiful
31:54
shows and made it into a music festival
31:56
where the audience could donate in real
31:58
time and it ended up creating an
32:00
emergency relief fund that the
32:02
government, you know, passed along. But
32:03
along that journey, we realized that
32:05
some of these venues didn't have the
32:06
greatest of internet. And the beauty of
32:10
that is because they were uh closed and
32:12
they got some relief money, they could
32:13
now all install really robust um
32:17
internet uh going forward. And that's
32:19
also true of I think of of us as uh
32:22
individuals maybe operating from our
32:24
homes is a lot of people now I mean I
32:26
have AT&T fiber coming directly into my
32:28
home. I I didn't have that option uh
32:30
maybe maybe 6 8 10 years ago. Uh but
32:33
yes, without question, having the right
32:35
internet connection, uh a a decent uh
32:39
camera as well as proper audio and
32:41
lighting and this this has never been
32:43
more affordable than it is in this
32:45
moment. And this conversation would be
32:47
thousands of dollars like the items I'm
32:49
talking about now. It's sub couple
32:51
hundred bucks. U so now it's all
32:53
available and and the other point is all
32:55
these platforms have optimized for live.
32:58
I try to tell fellow entrepreneurs,
33:00
there's no better time to dive in and
33:02
and try it out. Even if you're, you
33:04
know, uh I did a had an interview with a
33:06
woman who uh owns a commercial
33:11
construction company. She's like, I'm
33:13
one of the only women on these on these
33:15
sites and everyone's telling me that I
33:17
should broadcast live and give my
33:18
perspective from it. I'm like,
33:20
absolutely. That people would find that
33:21
perspective super interesting and
33:24
fascinating. And um it's sometimes it's
33:27
it's sure it's it's great content that
33:29
like a Taylor Swift super popular, but
33:32
also con live content resonates if it's
33:34
niche and it's rare that you normally
33:36
wouldn't see or it's someone's
33:38
perspective. Maybe they're a a geologist
33:40
who is uh you know certain gems or rocks
33:44
that they're experts at, right? There
33:45
may not be a a million people that want
33:47
to see that, but there's probably a
33:48
hardcore group that really do and that
33:50
would tune in for for a continual a
33:53
broadcast about a niche kind of
33:55
expertise.
33:56
>> Yeah, exactly. There are so many new
33:58
opportunities opening up. Thanks a lot
34:00
uh John for this conversation and maybe
34:02
uh the last uh word, last advice.
34:07
Yeah. Uh I think uh again never been a
34:09
better time to explore this this overall
34:12
market and uh I I always look at the
34:15
what these what these big video centric
34:18
media companies are doing and they're
34:19
prioritizing live video without
34:21
question. And on the other side of the
34:23
coin uh it's it's an opportunity to uh
34:26
drive realtime commerce as well. And
34:28
those are pretty significant move you
34:31
know uh shifts in the architecture. And
34:34
if I'm an entrepreneur, I I would
34:35
certainly pay attention to that and
34:36
realize, hey, there's there's got to be
34:38
a a place for me here to be successful
34:40
and also to drive revenue. And there's
34:42
never been a better time to do it.
34:43
Certainly from a cost perspective, but
34:45
also from a facilities and equipment
34:47
perspective as well.
34:49
>> Okay. Thanks a lot, John.
34:51
>> Thank you so much. Enjoyed the
34:53
conversation. Me,
34:54
>> too. Thanks.
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