How to Start a Webcast Business

The popularity of webcasts has skyrocketed in recent times, with an increasing number of organizations going virtual every day. However, since webcast technology is significantly more complicated than webinars, most companies rely on third-party webcast organizers. If you are ready to take advantage of a new market, starting a webcast business can be an immensely profitable venture in 2022.

Building your very own webcast hosting business from the ground up, like any other business venture, can be overwhelming. Nevertheless, with the right business plan and a step-by-step guide on how to start a webcast business, you can very well make it happen!
Here’s everything you need to know about how to start a webcast business from scratch.

How to Start a Webcast Business: What You’ll Need

As a third-party webcast organizer, you’ll need to have access to all the equipment required to deliver a robust webcasting experience. Moreover, in order to stand out among competitors, not only will you have to offer the very best in terms of overall quality, but also have the edge over the others in some way. Let’s look at the essentials of webcast hosting equipment and software.

• Computer with high-speed internet: Your computer is what you’ll be using to receive the video and send it to the live streaming server. A high-bandwidth and stable internet connection are crucial in order to host high-quality live or on-demand webcast efficiently.
  
  
• External video capture card: This is required to connect your camera outputs to your computer.
  
  
• Cameras: While you can start with just a couple of DSLRs (Digital Single-Lens Reflex Camera), we’d recommend getting a few different kinds of cameras for more dynamic videography. In addition to the DSLRs, a few professional webcams and action cameras will add some movement to the webcast.
  
  
• Microphones: To ensure that you’re capturing crisp, high-quality audio, you’ll need a few different types of mics as well. Get a few lavalier, dynamic, and far-field condenser mics for maximum versatility.
  
  
• A dedicated website: Dedicated websites will serve as a portal of information for the webcasts that you organize. All relevant details pertaining to the webcasts, such as the schedule, registration links, and other details, can go here. You can also use this as an archive for the webcasts you host. A dedicated website can be beneficial when you’re starting out, as it will act as a platform for you to show your skills to prospective clients.
  
  

How to Start a Webcast Business: Getting Started

Now that we’ve looked at the software and equipment that you need to start your own webcast business, it’s time to get a little technical. This part is just as important as the one before, if not more. It’s largely responsible for how successful and profitable your webcast business will be in the long haul.

• Picking a business model: Choosing a suitable business model will help you stay on track and channel your time and effort into a single specialized area. For example, an education-centric model targets those looking to teach particular skills, like coding or yoga. Other webcast business models include conferences, live music, other forms of entertainment, and almost any type of live event.
  
  It’s also critical to keep in mind that clients often prefer a white-label service, which essentially means that your business’ branding won’t appear on the webcast. The clients will have full liberty to use their own custom branding.
  
  
• Choosing between self-hosted vs. commercial solutions: Next comes the platform on which you’ll host the webcasts. There are two ways that you can go about deploying your webcasts:
  
  
  1. Self-hosted platform: You can self-host your own platform to have more control over the kind of features that you’ll have access to. Self-hosting on a platform is more complicated and time-consuming than the other option, but it does offer greater personalization and independence.
  2. Commercial solutions: There are a host of webcast hosting platforms out there that you can use for your webcast business. However, when choosing one among them, weigh their respective pros and cons and make an informed decision.
     
     Look for features such as engagement tools, a live chat function, and a recording function, among others, which will ensure that you’re able to provide a useful and well-rounded set of features to your clients.
• Choosing a monetization model: There are three main monetization models that you can choose from: AVOD (Ad-Based Video on Demand), SVOD (Subscription-Based Video on Demand), and TVOD or (Transactional Video on Demand). Each has its own advantages and disadvantages, so choose one that fits your business model and is popular among your target clientele. For a webcast business, we’d advise strongly in favor of the AVOD or SVOD formats.
  
  

Wrapping Up

Now that you have more information on how to start a webcast business, what are you waiting for? With some trial and error and sufficient hands-on industry experience, you’ll be running a flourishing webcast business in no time.