Free Private Live Streaming

There are many reasons why live streamers like to have a private content delivery network for their video productions. In episode 15 of StreamGeeks Live, we talk about several ways to host free private Livestreams on the Internet. The first way to host a free private live stream is using your own server with the content delivery software we found called re-streamer. To keep things affordable we use a raspberry pi to host our live content delivery network to the cloud. This software takes an RTSP stream and convert it to an RTMP stream which we can send to YouTube Facebook or other content delivery networks.

But since we want to stream to be completely private we will use the I-frame future and in bed it on our word press or other HTML webpages. The nice thing about WordPress is that it has a built-in HTML editor and the ability to password protect certain pages. So once we have embedded our private live streaming I-frame into our word press website we can password protect it. We have an example on our website available at https://www.streamgeeks.us/private. Here you can use the password: “StreamGeeks” to gain access to our private live stream.

Why Live Streaming to a Private Network?

There are many reasons for keeping content private on the Internet and one of the main reasons is monetization. When you want to set up a live stream with the ability to have pay-per-view or a subscription-based model you need to password protect your content with a pay wall or password. Other reasons to host your Livestreams privately include the ability to avoid copyright strikes often found on Facebook and YouTube. One of our clients Gene Greenwood who works with professional artists often has to fight a battle with YouTube and Facebook over copywritten material even when he is working with the owners of the music rights.

3 Ways to live stream privately for free:

Another way to host a free private live stream is to use Facebook private groups. Now that Facebook groups include private streaming you can lifestream to a private group of people that you invite which is not available publicity outside of your group. The live streaming prose is an example of a company that has a private group specifically for their customers. This gives them to the ability to live stream to a specific group of paying customers without sharing the live video publicly on Facebook or YouTube. I really like using private Facebook groups because it’s completely free and the platform is dynamic enough to allow for scaling video users and viewers and incredible engagement. It’s worth noting at this time that YouTube does not offer any private group streaming. YouTube does have a private video and video streaming option which allows the content to be hidden in your public profile. But unlike private Facebook groups private YouTube videos can be shared via an HTML link.

Facebook Workplace for Private / Internal Live Streaming

The last free private live streaming solution that we were view in this episode of stream geeks is Facebook workplace. The Facebook work place is a new private version of Facebook for companies and organizations who want to collaborate with live video and other types of media engagement. We found the live streaming features inside Facebook workplace are just as good as the normal Facebook streaming which is incredibly versatile and scalable. The benefits of a Facebook workplace or extensive and we only covered portions of what Facebook workplace is capable of. The free Facebook workplace version creates an invite-only version of Facebook allowing you to include anyone with an email domain to the platform. Here you have the ability to live stream to your entire community but no admin control. With the paid version of Facebook workplace which cost three dollars per user per month administrators gain full access to management. This gives administrators the ability to create and close private groups and marriage who has access to which content. This opens up, even more, doors for monetization of private groups although whoever is monetizing their Facebook workplace community will have to pay three dollars per month per user or choose the free option which includes no administrative control.

Stay to next week for a full version of stream geeks review of the Facebook workplace. When it comes to live streaming intern only to an organization or maybe no better option then Facebook workplace. Facebook has a bad reputation for being a time hog in the workplace which is unproductive. But that reputation may be changing as Facebook becomes increasingly valuable sales and marketing tool. Facebook already offers private groups with free live streaming so the need for the workplace for some small organizations may not be as important as Facebook cannibalizes it on the potential in Facebook workplace. Therefore Facebook workplace, in general, will mainly be used by corporations for internal communications. But the use case for small live streams and communities and internal live streaming communications is important for us to discuss in our next episode.

Learn more on Monetizing Live Streaming

1. Get your free copy of the Virtual Ticket here.
2. Take an online course on hosting private live streams here.
3. Learn what virtual tickets mean for the events industry here.
4. How to monetize your next live event - here
5. How to accept donations on your Facebook and YouTube live streams - here
6. Selling Event Virtual Tickets and Private Live Streams - here
7. Viewer Statistics for live streaming – here
8. Here’s why Twitch is such a BIG opportunity for live streamers - here
9. Did you know your town may have a Business Improvement District? They may help your set up a live stream! More here
10. Selling Virtual Tickets with Event Planner Derral Eves - more here
11. Learn about three events that are already selling virtual tickets here.
12. A look at the technology needed to host private live streams here.
13. A look at planning a virtual event here.
14. Review your virtual ticket pricing strategy here.
15. Preparing your event for live streaming here.
16. Learn how to build your event live streaming team here.