Live video captions could boost Facebook engagement (FB)

Publishers can now create and stream closed captioning for Facebook Live. To utilize this feature, publishers must use the Live API or work with a third-party captioning company to create and insert closed captions, and Facebook users must turn their captioning setting on. Prior to this announce, publishers could add closed captions to time-shifted video but not live content.

Adding closed captioning functionality to Facebook Live could boost user engagement, and ultimately lead to more ad revenue. That’s because closed captioning makes live video more accessible through several new use cases.

Increasing user engagement with Facebook Live could benefit Facebook’s live video ad strategy. Facebook has made recent pushes toward live video ads, and started running tests of mid-roll video ads on live video last year. Moreover, the company made mid-roll ads available — to Pages and profiles with at least 2,000 followers, and that reach at least 300 concurrent views in a recent live video in February.

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.