Will #Facebook Live put an end to Internet Radio?
Facebook's Live video service has come on leaps and bounds since it was first launched late last year (2015). Since the platform was opened up and brought broadcasting to the masses my timeline is never without at least one DJ streaming their set and in the evening this number rises massively - some nights I can take in 8-10 sets just with a quick swipe through my timeline.
Facebook Live Vs Internet Radio
Over the years internet radio has exploded and dwindled rapidly, with the digital switchover limiting the number of pirate stations able to broadcast across the FM band most went digital and took their audience online. However, IT and studio costs meant that this transfer from FM broadcast to digital streaming did not reduce the costs of the subs paid by DJs - in many cases the monthly fee rose as the need to kit studios out with CDJs instead of turntables added to the increased costs of existing in the digital space.
The additional costs combined with a drop in advertising revenue, which was in part driven by a perceived drop in advertising costs brought about by the social age (not many event promoters saw the advertising costs coming with Facebook and Twitter during the early years of these platforms) left many stations unable to afford bandwidth for more than 100 listeners and so over time the audience diminished.
Enter Facebook Live - a free (for now?) platform that allows you to broadcast to all of your friends and their friends (and their friends and so on, I'm sure you understand the viral nature of the net) with nothing more needed than a phone and a connection to the internet. Sure the audio quality is not that great if you're using just your phone but you can reach hundreds of viewers with minimal effort.
The pros are at it too, Fatboy Slim, Logan D and Kiss FMs Majestic are all regular users of Facebook Live with Logan D reaching an astonishing 250,000 viewers in one session recently. The reach available is huge and as a promotional tool it won't be long before advertisers see the Live streams as a far more viable platform to radio - you have accurate metrics for reporting and of course the video lives on the timeline (provided you don't share copyrighted content that's on Facebook's hit list) after you've finished broadcasting and again, thanks to the available metrics the return on investment can certainly be measured if audience size is a key performance indicator.
The end for Internet Radio?
So is this the end for internet radio? Well it certainly seems that the odds are stacked against the platform - for the DJs there are no costs(apart from an internet connection they already have at home), they can see exactly how many viewers they have, suggest a live subscribe to hook that viewer every time they broadcast and they'll be mixing on kit they're happy with at home (no worrying if the kit at the station has been serviced). For those seeking to listen to music it's already appearing in their timeline - the need to visit a website outside of Facebook for their (undoubtedly specialist) musical fix is quickly being eroded.
For me the savvy stations should be working out how they can become a hub for the Facebook Live streams that exist - and then get on the front foot marketing their brand as the place to catch the very best the Facebook Live stream world offers (because there is some rubbish out there granted), if they don't they risk disappearing as the encapsulated world of Facebook swallows their audience...