Not sure what "industry" this falls under so I posted it here. Has anybody live streamed to Facebook or YouTube an event for hire? Just trying to gauge what the charge would be. I don't want to set a price too high, but I'm not out to undercut others either.
Live streaming for hire
- Thread starter bstanton89
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Before anything you have to make certain live streaming is absolutely reliable every time, which it doesn't seem to be. I did a usual gig for my company and was on the clock with the stipulation that this new feature is a test. Luckily I came out with at least the 4k recording because the live stream was choppy and unusable. You can't have people tuning into a hosed live stream, let alone charge for it. Live streaming with these things is not ready for prime time yet, imo.
When you asked "has anyone streamed to Facebook or YouTube", this sounds like you've never done it yourself. In that case, I think you're putting the cart before the horse, IMO. FIRST..... you need to become familiar with the process to live stream. Live stream in different areas a couple-dozen times so the process becomes second nature. You need to understand the limitations and the reasons some areas don't live stream as good as others. Get to know your smart device's ability to upload high data-rates to the nearest on-site cell tower, adequate to minimize glitches in your upload feed, from the field. Understand what the cell tower speed capability is, using an upload speed test at the target site at the planned flight location, at the same time and day, a week before the event. Learn the minimum upload speed required for glitch free streaming. Understand that YT works better than FB for streaming so you can set expectations of your client.
If you are going to charge money for something with your PART 107 certification (you do have one, right?), you need be an expert first, so you don't let your customer down from inexperience. After you learn the ins and outs of streaming, then you can figure out what you "NEED" to charge for the time you have LEARNED it takes to do it right, reliability. Like with most new businesses, you should start out by charging a price that's representative of YOUR experience, and build your clientele with quality work, using word of mouth, and your website, showing samples of your smooth cinematic work. In other words, don't expect to charge $3000/day because you heard another professional with years of experience has done so at an Apple corporate event. Novices should charge a much much lower price in line with their inexperience and quality of deliverable, and grow from there as the novice becomes an expert at live streaming. Novices should ethically target this kind of service with smaller events that aren't as important as a large corporate event, which naturally has an impact on price.
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I did a number of successful tests and was very confident in it, until it screwed me on a more important test. Get as familiar as you can, but it doesn't change the fact that live streaming is not dependable because it's greatly out of your control at any given moment. You can't guarantee it'll be right, therefore you can't provide the service for hire exclusively. You can try and incorporate it into an actual recording of an event as a possible added bonus, but you can't offer it exclusively, imo. You're setting yourself up for a problem with that. Keep in mind that live streaming can also work well, better I think, with wifi. If you have a strong local wifi available at a location, try it. It'll save oodles on what would otherwise be cellular data too.
After repeated successful tests to Facebook I live streamed an event to Facebook as a proving ground test and it failed miserably. It would have been an embarrassment if it had been open to all the followers. That setback has not been good. I have a hunch that I'm going to try next, which is streaming but not recording. I have a sneaking suspicion that streaming and recording put a hurt on something, even though that should not be. All my successful tests were streaming only. If I can't reliably do both, streaming will have to eliminated of course, in favor of the actual recording.
Also check out YouTube live streaming. I think Facebook is smoother, but YouTube does have the ability to adjust more settings for the stream. However, keep in mind most companies will prefer Facebook because that's where their larger followers are. Facebook is the one to nail down.
Lastly, and this is a huge pain and almost a deal breaker, you can't log into any Facebook account of your choice for streaming, such as the company you're streaming for. It always defaults to the account you setup initially, usually your own, and you can't just log out and into another account. That's a major road block for this that dji needs to fix.
After repeated successful tests to Facebook I live streamed an event to Facebook as a proving ground test and it failed miserably. It would have been an embarrassment if it had been open to all the followers. That setback has not been good. I have a hunch that I'm going to try next, which is streaming but not recording. I have a sneaking suspicion that streaming and recording put a hurt on something, even though that should not be. All my successful tests were streaming only. If I can't reliably do both, streaming will have to eliminated of course, in favor of the actual recording.
Also check out YouTube live streaming. I think Facebook is smoother, but YouTube does have the ability to adjust more settings for the stream. However, keep in mind most companies will prefer Facebook because that's where their larger followers are. Facebook is the one to nail down.
Lastly, and this is a huge pain and almost a deal breaker, you can't log into any Facebook account of your choice for streaming, such as the company you're streaming for. It always defaults to the account you setup initially, usually your own, and you can't just log out and into another account. That's a major road block for this that dji needs to fix.
If you are streaming via cell tower (not wifi via landline), before you start flying, test your upload speed with your smart device using an internet SPEED TEST app. There are many testing apps available for free. If you don't have adequate speed you'll definitely have issues. Keep a log of your results each time you fly and you'll learn the minimum requirements. The time of day makes a big difference too, as the traffic of each cell tower increases and decreases during the day. NO WAY can you stream aerial video when near an event where thousands gather, clogging the tower bandwidth.
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A speed test is only as good as the moment you do it. A moment later, all bets are off. But it can be useful to see if you have any chance at all. Strong local wifi is key for any hope of some measure of dependability. But like I said, the Facebook account thing is a major roadblock for this. I can't see any way to offer it realistically because of that. You can account hop in YouTube, but not Facebook.
Yeah, I just said I hadn't done it for hire. I've done it plenty of times on my own account. That's how I got asked about it. I'm really just looking for some input on what people have charged for it. I don't wanna screw anybody, but I don't wanna undercut anybody either. I don't expect to make a ton, I was just asked to do it and had not even thought about charging for something like this before. Before everybody gets their panties in a wad, yes I have part 107, and yes I'm insured. I've done other things before for hire. I just had honestly never given any thought to live streaming for hire. I wouldn't have anything to do editing wise afterward, but flying skills and techniques have to be on point because it's live. Has anybody actually charged for this before?
You could go by your hourly rate. Flying time is flying time, you just wont be providing editing services for the live stream.
Agreed. You don't want to be leaving money on the table, but you also have to be realistic, given the client's ability to pay. A birthday party two blocks away would not command as much as a sailboat race 50 miles away. Each job has it's value quotient, so you've got to be reasonable and charge what your skill set is worth, and tailor it to the client's ability to afford the service. Generally speaking novices should start with small low cost jobs and work their way up to larger events as they develop their skill set, and confidence. You can be an expert drone pilot, but totally ignorant about how to live feed an event and mess it up. So being able to reliably deliver the goods using an unreliable technology must be done carefully to prevent disappointment.
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Also remember that the bird doesn't have to be in the air to live stream. If you have an outdoor tent event with speeches, live stream that at the event on the ground rather than 200' up with a useless view of the proceedings. A tripod tray is a good piece to have on hand. Plus bonus, a live stream on the ground when appropriate will yield a ton more available battery time.
Hmm...I am able to log out of facebook in the dji go 4 app and choose another account. I haven't attempted to log into the account I will be using, but if I can log out of mine and choose another one, I don't know why I wouldn't be able to log in to another one
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Question about live streaming. With my p4p and ipad air2, what exactly is determining the live stream quality being streamed? Is it the quality I choose for my flight video stream in my ipad? For example I choose a custom channel and keep the bit rate down to around 4mbs or 6mbs. Is that what's being streamed? Or is it the resolution the camera is set at to record, which is obviously WAY higher @ 4k 30fps? I've had decent success live streaming when I'm not recording at the same time, and I've had really bad choppy live stream while recording @4k. So, does anyone know what the go app chooses and pushes for the live stream? Do we have any control at all over the live stream resolution on our end?
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