Industry Voices—Ring: About 81M in U.S. view livestreams on social networks daily or weekly

Livestreaming on social networks is still a thing, and it’s not only about esports. But it’s not enough to know that people enjoy it; you need to know why people enjoy it and how it might impact your business or content strategy.My latest future of TV consumer survey, "Live Streaming on Social Networks" (sponsored by Singular.Live), features a panel screened to be narrower by referencing social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Twitch and Periscope. Let’s call them Social Streamers.Their incidence is 28% of the U.S. internet population, or an estimated 81 million people viewing livestreaming on social networks on a daily or weekly basis last month. Think about that in the context of a “tailgate party.” Or, picture yourself at a cocktail event. Start asking guest after guest whether they have watched a live stream on a social network. Every third person is likely to say yes. Even if that’s not going to hit a "mass media" threshold, that’s “a thing” in my book. Is this a niche eSports thing, then? Turns out, eSports came in second, under movies and TV series. While I didn’t expect that, the results make sense in the context of the bucket load of entertainment marketing and digital ad dollars that movies and TV series creators have.