Community Radio Awards 2017 SPARK - Innovation Award Entry
BUILDING AN AUDIENCE USING FACEBOOK LIVE INTRODUCTION SPARK is based at the University of Sunderland on the St Peter’s Campus just outside of Sunderland’s City Centre. Started in October 2009 the station has been going from strength to strength with a range of student based and local community volunteers to make one of the biggest community radio stations in the north east. With a major part of our audience being students aged between 18-24 our key demographic are people who use Social media as part of their everyday lives and will spend more time checking their Facebook and social media feeds than they will listening to the radio. The use of apps and online technology is important for any radio station now and we are lucky to have a live stream via our website and the ability to listen via the tuneIn app. Integrating ours shows into Facebook and social media however was proving to be much more difficult.
THE PROBLEM – QUALITY OF FACEBOOK LIVE BROADCAST We are lucky to have a range of shows with a variety of talented hosts and brilliant content to engage our listeners however using mobile phones to showcase this content is a brilliant way to gain reach across a wide audience but a lot of the time the quality lets down the content. Audio from the show cannot be properly streamed via mobile devices meaning voice is not clear and any beds and music cannot be broadcast across the live stream. Using a mobile phone means that the quality of the image broadcast can be inconsistent depending on the users’ phone and it is very reliant on the user having a steady hand the entire time which is very hard to do. With social media being a big focus to drive an audience to listen online or via 107FM SPARK set out to using Facebook live to gain a wider audience as well as creating more content that listeners would be interested in seeing and interacting with. The focus being: • • • •
Stage 1a: Quality of the picture across Facebook live (Multi-cam) Stage 1b: Quality of the audio across Facebook live Stage 2: Use of graphics and media (OBS Layouts) Stage 3: Increase audience interaction across Facebook
With no budget SPARK aimed to create professional looking Facebook live feeds but also go further than other broadcasters in creating content and shows suitable for Facebook live. The two main shows to lead on Facebook live was Dance Revolution and The Week in Geek (two specialist shows) and the idea to transfer this to breakfast and drivetime.
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Community Radio Awards 2017 SPARK - Innovation Award Entry “I noticed that the move to webcam for dance rev increased our views. This year we had 85,000” - Scott McGerty – Dance Revolution STAGE 1: QUALITY OF THE PICTURE ACROSS FACEBOOK LIVE (MULTI-CAM)
With no budget for buying equipment we had to rely on the generosity of others within the SPARK team. Using borrowed and donated webcams to set up the studio and spare USB extension cords to move the cameras into different positions around the studio and moving our big speakers onto ceiling brackets rather than on the desk we made the studio more visually appealing. These web cameras which can be positioned into multiple positions around the studio opened opportunities for different angles to give each show the opportunity to have its own feel and look making each Facebook live video unique and more interesting for the viewer. Using software used by professional gaming streamers called OBS which is free to use gave us the ability to switch to different cameras during the feed. Producers and hosts had more control of what was output and which cameras would be displayed on screen. For example, Dance Revolution has guest DJ’s who join the show and mix tracks live on the air. Having the ability to switch to different cameras during the show and show off the talents of the guests will make listeners to the show want to interact via Facebook and see how mixing is done in a live environment. If the show for example is more speech based you can have the cameras focused more on the hosts and so when they are discussing key issues or introducing news elements it can switch from a wider angle to a more personal angle. This also helps the listeners build a relationship with the hosts because they can see them more clearly and feel like they can interact personally via the Facebook comments. With these static HD cameras, there is no worry of the picture quality dropping or not being the correct layout. This helps to build a more professional looking studio and broadcast to the social media.
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Community Radio Awards 2017 SPARK - Innovation Award Entry “… we now have provided extra access to people from Sunderland who have emigrated. We now get regular interaction from the US, Canada and Australia” - Markus Franklin – Sunday Breakfast Show STAGE 1: QUALITY OF THE AUDIO ACROSS FACEBOOK LIVE
To get the best possible audio for the Facebook feed we ran a feed direct from the sound desk into the PC’s sound card. This allowed us to control the audio feed using OBS so that what is heard via 107FM, online and on our mobile app can also be heard via the Facebook live stream. This meant high quality speech from the microphones, music and beds would all be broadcast out. An additional option was to use talkback. This is where we could chat to the Facebook live audience without it being broadcast across the live transmission. This meant we could interact with the viewers more direct that comments and across the normal transmission.
STAGE 2: USE OF GRAPHICS AND MEDIA (OBS LAYOUTS)
Once Dance Revolution and The Week in Geek had completed a string of successful shows using the new webcam and audio format and building on their social interaction, it was time to start making the live feeds look more professional, the use of graphics and layout. Working with the branding team, graphics were made for each of the shows so that each show had their own personal look and brand. Using graphics to help introduce new segments, give hosts a break between songs, cover key information for the show could now all be displayed on screen giving each of the shows a big production level which is easily managed by the hosts and producers. It was even possible to have multiple cameras on screen at the same time so viewers could see all angles of the studio and again feel more involved in the shows. 3
Community Radio Awards 2017 SPARK - Innovation Award Entry “No other radio station is doing Facebook live to the level of design, style and interaction. SPARK are leading the way” - CJ – The Week in Geek STAGE 3: INCREASE AUDIENCE INTERACTION ACROSS FACEBOOK After a few months of development, testing and refinement, SPARK were ready to test the Facebook live feeds on one of their breakfast shows. The Sunday morning breakfast show (who’s hosts had previous experience with Facebook Live) took the lead to see how it could be used in a breakfast environment. One key way of building audience interaction is to conduct live polls where viewers can react (like, heart, anger etc) the post and it automatically votes and totals up to give you an audience view. Polls like this can cost money but using free templates and expertise in HTML coding we were able to adapt a version using Facebook API so that we can display the vote count as part of a layer on OBS This can lead to discussion points across the show as well as help increase reach (the first use of this type of poll/Facebook live had a reach of over 10,000 people). Audiences were listening to the show on the radio and interacting via Facebook and leaving comments so they felt they could be heard. Our listeners had found an easier way to interact and become part of the shows on SPARK. A combination of HD cameras, clear audio, brand specific graphics and live polls and interaction helped to create a professional looking broadcast on very little budget.
NEXT STEPS In the space of 6 month SPARK have redeveloped the way in which we present Facebook live in a way that matches some of the bigger networked radio stations and even attempting to do votes live on the feed which has never been attempted by any radio stations so far. With absolutely no budget to do so. The next stage for SPARK to develop is to start training host and producers of other show on our station how to use the Facebook live effectively to help build their audience and interaction and hitting our key audience of students aged 18-25. Using the technology within the studio it can be redeveloped to be used for outside broadcasts so that SPARK can offer quality radio and social media broadcasts within and outside of the studio. We have just recently been given iRig microphones to plug into phones and tablets to help increase the quality of audio during outside broadcasts. This means we will be able to go out into the community to events and interview guests in different locations to show people what Sunderland is about.
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