Twitter, BBC team up to live stream UK election (TWTR)

This marks the first time that the two companies have reached an agreement for streaming video.

The partnership is indicative of the broader trend of converging social video and traditional TV. Here a few more observations from the announcement:

Video is Twitter’s largest revenue-generating ad format. Video will become an increasingly important addition to Twitter’s content and ad offerings, given that it accounts for the largest share of ad revenue. The company is already aggressively adding video content, and the platform broadcast 800 hours of video programming in Q1 2017, up from 600 hours in Q4 2016. The UK election coverage adds more highly valuable video ad inventory that Twitter can sell across geographies.

If 2015 was the year that brands and advertisers embraced online video, then 2016 saw the medium take the next step as live streaming took off.

Live streaming video refers to broadcasts in real time to an audience over the internet. While the concept of live streaming has been around for years, mobile-first video platforms with user-generated content have just recently begun to make serious waves thanks to improved video quality, faster broadband speeds, and enhanced mobile technology.

Online video has become a key part of the strategic business model for both brands and marketers as they seek more innovative ways to capture consumer attention. Creative live streaming video initiatives and campaigns are a way for companies to cut through the digital clutter and have emerged as the medium of choice not only for person-to-person sharing, but also for business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) communication.

Brands are increasingly using live streaming to reach audiences. Its importance has grown significantly thanks to substantial investments by social platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, Snapchat, and Twitter to build and enhance their live-streaming platforms.

And advertising dollars are likely to follow. 88% of agency respondents stated that they “might” or “definitely will” invest in live stream video advertising over the next six months, according to a recent Trusted Media Brands survey.

BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has compiled a detailed report on live streaming video that examines the eruption of online video from the perspective of both consumers and advertisers and assesses how live streaming is emerging as the medium's next catalyst for growth.

Here are some key points from the report:

In full, the report:

To get your copy of this invaluable guide, choose one of these options:

The choice is yours. But however you decide to acquire this report, you’ve given yourself a powerful advantage in your understanding of live streaming video.