By now, everyone who has ever watched Netflix knows what video on demand (VOD) is. But have you ever wanted the engagement, interactivity, and real-time collaboration of a live streaming webcast with the control, low risk, and simplicity of VOD?

With the release of Magic Coast’s latest cloud-based management and Panther Media Encoder, it’s now possible to have both. Magic Coast has introduced an innovative concept called VOD as Live (VODaL). With VODaL you can create a user experience that resembles a live streaming event, but without the cost and risk of a live television production.

Why would you want to do that?

What if you want your participants to engage in interactive text communication and exercises during the broadcast—like asking questions or participating in a live chat discussion?

What if you want to lead group exercises and team building at multiple remote locations as part of the presentation?

What if you want to create a feeling of real-time interactivity and engagement, like taking polls and watching the live results?

With VOD alone, those things are next to impossible. With VODaL, they’re easy. Here’s how it works:

  1. Produce and edit your video content, getting it just right while avoiding the cost and complexity of a live video production and the risk of mistakes that come with it.
  2. Incorporate timed interactive components into your video. Add things like subtitles, polls, and slide presentations.
  3. Choose feedback features to enable, such as live-text delivery, submit-a-question, or live (moderated) viewer response display.
  4. Schedule your webcast(s).
  5. At the scheduled time(s), your audience joins in and participates as if it were a live webcast.

During the webcast, your audience members can ask questions, answer polls, and interact with the content along with everyone else who is participating. And, instead of having a large production team creating a live video event in real time, all you need is a small team of communicators to answer questions, moderate comments, and provide help-desk support.

How is that different from VOD? With VOD, the video always starts at the beginning of the program. If someone joins even a minute late, real-time interaction between participants is impossible because they will be forever out of sync with one another.

With VODaL, your program is scheduled as live. So, your participants stay in sync with the content, no matter when they join the webcast. Whether they join at the start, or five minutes late, they will always join in progress at the same point where everyone else is viewing.

Want to run the same webcast for groups in different time zones? Simply schedule it for multiple times, all with the same pre-recorded video content and timed interactivity. The Panther Media System automatically plays the webcast on schedule without so much as a button to push.

To learn more or to schedule a demonstration, contact Magic Coast at www.magiccoast.com.