Which companies benefit from live streams?

Streams are particularly useful to companies that need to show the real situation, work in progress, the quality of their service, whether a site is open or the atmosphere of a place: hotels, restaurants, car washes, construction sites, factories, and sports and tourist venues.

Can a stream increase customer trust?

Yes. A live picture confirms that the site is open, shows the real situation and helps a customer decide on the basis of current information rather than advertising promises alone.

Where is the best place to put a stream?

The player is worth placing on a page where the video helps someone take a particular decision: choosing when to visit, judging the weather, seeing the queue, checking how work is progressing or getting a feel for the atmosphere of a place.

How do I judge whether a stream is working?

Compare player views, time on page, click-throughs to your target action, enquiries and conversion before and after you put the stream in place. To draw a sound conclusion, allow for seasonality and traffic sources.

Can a recording of a stream be used in advertising?

Technically, clips for posts and reports can be prepared from the archive, provided the company holds the necessary rights and the requirements on privacy and image processing are met.

Does a stream replace ordinary content?

No. It adds current confirmation to your photographs, copy, reviews and advertising material. The greatest effect comes from combining live video with a clear offer and a target action.

Live streams for company marketing

Show the real product, the real process and the real atmosphere of your business, to draw attention and help customers decide

A stream from an IP camera turns a company's website into a living shop window. A visitor sees not a staged clip but the situation as it stands: the weather at a resort, the queue at a car wash, how a build is progressing, a factory at work or an event happening right now.

rtsp.me takes the stream from the camera and provides a ready-made player for your website that opens in a browser on a computer and on a smartphone.

Add a stream to your website

Why live video works

An ordinary photograph shows one chosen moment, and an advertising clip goes through the edit. A live stream answers a different question: “What is happening here right now?” It is that currency that makes it a convincing addition to your marketing material.

The visitor gets independent confirmation of what the company says. They can judge the atmosphere, the activity, the state of the site or the stage the work has reached, and move on to your target action with fewer doubts.

TrustThe real situation instead of advertising promises alone
EngagementMoving content people want to come back to
DecisionsCurrent information before a visit or a purchase
Standing outA visible difference from competitors with a static site
ContentMaterial for your website, social media and posts
TransparencyA chance to show the process and the result of your work

What your sales funnel gains

Catching attention

A live picture stands out among static blocks and gives people a clear reason to open the page: to look at the weather, an event, the view from a window, how busy a place is or the current stage of a project.

Removing doubts

A stream shows what is hard to describe convincingly in words: how clean the site is, the real flow of visitors, visibility on the slope, the state of a build or equipment at work.

Leading to an action

You can place a fitting button next to the player: book a room, book a service, buy a ticket, request a call, choose a time to visit or ask for a quote.

Interest → seeing the real situation → trust → the target action

Marketing use cases

Tourism and hotels. Show the view, the weather, the beach, the slope, the quay or the hotel grounds before someone books.
Restaurants and customer-facing business. Convey the atmosphere of the place, show the terrace or how busy you are now, without close-ups of your customers.
Sport and events. Widen the audience for a competition, a concert, a festival, a training session or an opening.
Construction. Confirm a project's momentum for buyers, clients and partners.
Manufacturing and logistics. Demonstrate the scale, a single safe stage of the process or the readiness of your infrastructure.
Retail services. Help customers choose when to visit, based on the queue, the weather or whether the site is available.
City and tourist attractions. Create a living shop window for a place and keep up interest in events and sights.

The field of view should show exactly the advantage that matters to the customer. A camera with no clear marketing job to do rarely produces a measurable result.

Where to place the player

You do not have to put the stream on your home page. It is better to tie it to a specific question the user has and place it next to the matching offer.

on the page for a site, a room, a service or a venue;
next to the booking form;
in a “Construction progress” or “Our production” section;
on an event page with the program and ticket sales;
next to a weather forecast, a timetable or information on how busy you are;
in a news item or a post about something happening now.

Explain what the camera shows, where it is and how current the picture is. A clear heading and a short caption do more good than a player with no context.

Streams and SEO

A video player on its own does not guarantee high search rankings. Its value is that the page becomes more useful to the visitor and gains a unique, current element.

Add copy alongside the video: describe the place or the process, give the timetable, the terms of a visit, answers to common questions and a clear target action. Use an informative page title, meta description and stream caption.

The link to the page can be shared on social media, in newsletters and in posts. Good weather, an event, an important construction milestone, a seasonal opening or an unusual situation can all be the occasion.

Content from a stream

With an archive enabled, a company can find interesting moments and use them as the basis for content, provided that fits the service's rules, the law and the consents obtained.

short clips of events and stages of work;
footage for news, reports and social media;
a comparison of the site in different seasons or at different stages;
time-lapses of construction, of preparing a venue or of an event;
selections of the best weather conditions and views.

Do not publish material that reveals faces, vehicle registrations, documents, screens, security arrangements or other sensitive information without a lawful basis.

How to measure the result

Before you launch, decide on the one main action the stream is meant to help with. Then compare the page's figures before and after the player went in, over comparable periods.

ViewsHow many visitors start the player
EngagementTime on page and how far people scroll
Click-throughsClicks on the button next to the video
EnquiriesRequests, calls, appointments and bookings
ConversionThe share of visitors who complete the target action
ReturnsRepeat visits to the stream page

Allow for seasonality, advertising campaigns, price changes and other factors. To test the idea, you can start with a single camera and a single landing page.

How to get started

Decide on the marketing job and the audience for the stream.
Choose an informative field of view with no sensitive areas in it.
Check that the camera supports RTSP and that the video stream is good enough.
Add the camera in your rtsp.me account.
Get the player's HTML code and place it on the landing page.
Add a heading, a description and a button for the target action.
Check the page on a computer and on a smartphone.
Gather the statistics and assess the effect on enquiries.

IP camera → RTSP → rtsp.me → player on your website → customer

The technical sequence is described in the guides “How to create a live stream on a website” and “How to embed a stream on your website”.

Privacy and safety

Marketing gains should not come at the cost of people's privacy or the company's security. Before you publish, decide on the purpose of the stream, the lawful basis, the people responsible and the rules for keeping the archive.

use a wide shot rather than recognizable close-ups;
do not point the camera at tills, documents, screens or back-of-house areas;
exclude private rooms and places where people expect confidentiality;
give notice of CCTV where that is required;
protect the camera with a strong password and restrict access to the original stream;
appoint a member of staff to keep an eye on the field of view and on who can see the video.

Ways of restricting viewing and embedding are described on the page “How to protect a stream from copying”.

Frequently asked questions

Which companies benefit from streams?

Above all those where the current situation influences the customer's decision: tourism, hotels, restaurants, services, sport, events, construction, manufacturing and public spaces.

Does live video increase trust?

It gives the visitor extra confirmation that the site really is working. The result depends on the field of view you choose, the video quality, the context of the page and the company's offer itself.

Where is the best place to put the player?

On a page where a current picture helps someone take a particular decision, next to an explanation and a fitting action button.

Will a stream replace photographs and copy?

No. It strengthens the page, but the visitor still needs a description, the terms, prices, the benefits, contact details and answers to their questions.

How do I tell whether the video is bringing in enquiries?

Track views, clicks on the target button, enquiries and conversion. Compare comparable periods and allow for seasonality and paid traffic.

Can I use an existing IP camera?

Yes, provided it supports RTSP, delivers a suitable video stream, has a safe field of view and can be reached to connect to the service.

Turn your camera into a living shop window

Choose one field of view your customer will understand, add the player to a landing page and measure the effect of the stream on enquiries.

Start a stream