Social media has had a massive impact on many parts of our lives, from how we communicate with friends to our interactions with businesses. Many platforms are now available and people of all ages download the apps to discover what each ultimately offers.
A range of features are often included on such services, but one of the biggest talking points at present appears to be around how they are using live streaming. Now, a new report has put a spotlight on how that technology is ultimately affecting the social space.
Key findings
App Annie recently published The Evolution of Social Media Apps report and a blog from the company has outlined some of the key findings related to it.
It explained that consumers are expected to spend 548 billion hours live streaming in social apps across this year, while it was also estimated that they will spend $6.78 billion via the services as well. The latter figure is also expected to hit $17.2 billion by 2025, with content creators being key to this trend. App Annie outlines that this is because viewers purchase in-app gifts as they look to support their favourite personalities. The US and Japan were found to dominate this area.
The findings also highlighted the huge impact that social apps now have, as it was suggested that 44 per cent of all time spent on mobile is linked to the services. The total time spent in the top 5 social apps with a focus on live streaming is also set to go beyond half a trillion hours on Android phones – outside of China – in 2021.
Big impact
While the findings clearly highlight the incredible success of social apps, they also demonstrate how live streaming has become a significant part of our lives as well.
The impact of the technology has been felt in many areas, including on the small screen. For instance, we covered off the 15 best free live TV streaming sites in an article earlier this year, with key names including USTVGO and Stream 2 Watch. Of course, streaming is also massive in gaming right now, thanks to platforms like Twitch. In fact, the aforementioned App Annie blog referenced that the Twitch community watched more than one trillion minutes across 2020.
Another area that has embraced live streaming is the world of music. Many artists have taken the step of broadcasting shows online and NME recently reported on Yungblud making the move. One of his recent London shows was broadcast live on TikTok. The online casino industry has also made use of the technology as well, thanks to the emergence of live casino experiences. This link on the best live dealer casinos in South Africa explains how the games feature real-life dealers and action broadcast from a studio. It adds that the titles are interactive, authentic and convenient, while they offer other benefits as well. Naturally, there is a lot of benefits which this site highlights. These include a range of game variants and special promotions.
Next steps
But, while live streaming technology is clearly having a massive impact on many areas, where will its presence be felt next?
It is not easy to predict the future, but some emerging trends might well provide a few clues. For instance, live shopping has become an intriguing issue in recent years and an upcoming event is providing a fresh twist on it. The Drum has revealed that Zara Larsson is set to feature in a live shoppable concert on TikTok. The new face of Ellesse will be modelling items created by the brand during the event.
Elsewhere, CNBC recently examined how video and audio technology is beginning to have a major impact on dating apps. The site looked at several innovations in the area and also referred to findings from Tinder, which stated that many of its users had embraced video chat in recent months.
Remarkable developments
It is pretty remarkable to consider how live streaming has affected so many areas in recent years, but it clearly is not done yet.
The technology’s potential appears to be coming to fruition and it will be intriguing to see how its impact continues to develop across a range of services and apps in the coming years.
