Top 10 Video live streaming services for church. The easiest way to expand your church outreach is to dive into the world of live streaming services. Now you can reach a much greater audience by giving anyone the ability to tune into your Sunday service or ministry event. When done, you can also archive the video for later access. The majority of bigger churches tapped into this technology early on, and saw a great increase in membership and Gospel outreach.
Live streaming services for church seems like a daunting task with high costs. There are a lot of services that make it very hard to stream as you not only have to subscribe to software, but you have to buy hardware as well. Then there are other secular services like Facebook and YouTube that now offer live-streaming and are a breeze. That said, if you want to work with companies that focus on the church, you may get a much more tailored product and there are many excellent providers in this realm. Below, we have compiled a list of our favorite live streaming services for churches and ministries around the globe.
Top 10 Live Streaming Services For Church and Ministry Events
With streaming hardware, you get what you pay for. The connection speed is faster through a dedicated system, but updating to newer versions requires purchasing the newer model. They are expensive compared to software and are not meant to be customized. Here are a few streaming services that provide hardware worth looking into.
Churchstreaming.tv
Price: $79/month to $139/month
Churchstreaming.tv provides a video streaming platform specifically designed to meet the needs of churches. Their goal is to make sure your streaming experience is pleasant while also providing all the features you may need. Some of those features include embedding, replay storage, Roku channel, custom branding, technical support, view on all devices, ad-free, social media sharing, chat box, adaptive bitrate, DVR compatible, IP camera compatible, automated events, viewer stats, pre-roll and post-roll videos.
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WorshipStream
Price: $99/month to $249/month
Whether you’re a small church looking for a simple, web-based solution to share your services, or a large ministry hosting events with thousands of participants, WorshipStream provides high-quality, custom-branded webcasting for your organization. WorshipStream offers a 30-day free trial for any one of their 3 provided plans. All plans include: custom branding, video-on-demand, ad-free streaming, 24/7 tech support, mobile viewing, social media sharing, embed codes, and viewer notes.
StreamSpot
Price: $10/hour to $149/month
StreamSpot is an all-inclusive streaming solution designed with simplicity in mind. Whether you are streaming for the first time or are a veteran broadcaster, StreamSpot provides everything you need to deliver high-quality live and on-demand broadcasts to any Internet-connected device. One unique feature StreamSpot offers is a Pay-Per-Use format which means you only pay for what you use. There is a $30 monthly minimum for the Pay-Per-Use feature.
StreamShark
Price: $50/month to $250/month
StreamShark uses MetaCDN’s super fast content delivery network to deliver video at extremely low latency and with almost zero buffering. Their “Lite” version starts off with 416GB, the ability to stream 3 videos simultaneously, viewer analytics, customizable player, and real-time stats among others.
Worship Channels
Price: $99/month to $999/month
As creators of award-winning online live streaming tools for churches, the developers at Worship Channels continue to keep innovation and ease-of-use at the forefront of each new feature and functionality of their online streaming products. They provide higher quality video and more reliable content delivery than any other provider. The Basic plan allows you access to 50GB of bandwidth per month, unlimited channel creations, 220 viewer hours, 25GB of storage, access to Global Servers, and live support.
BoxCast
Range from $75/month to $500/month. Pricing based on your average church attendance.
BoxCast is a TV station in a box – a breakthrough technology that makes it easy to deliver live, HD video from anyone with a camera to everyone, everywhere. The primary benefit of the BoxCast model is that it allows your video to go directly from the video source to the distribution servers. This unique feature for BoxCast is what sets them apart from most hardware streaming solutions.
DaCast
Price: $25/month to $390/month
The company’s goal is to create the best streaming service available. DaCast offers a high-quality platform that simplifies the distribution of premium media content. It specializes in the professional delivery of live and on-demand video content. Their Starter plan has 100GB of bandwidth, 300 viewer hours, 20GB of storage, and email support.
SermonCast
Price: $0 to $100/month
Whether your church is looking for a free sermon audio podcasting service or wants to reach the world with streaming high-quality video, SermonCast has a media solution to fit your church’s needs. SermonCast has three different bundles to choose from. Monthly Free allows users up to 2GB per month. Their Monthly Premium plan ranges from 15GB ($15 per month) to 100GB ($100 per month). They also offer a Pay-As-You-Go bundle that allows you to pay for a certain amount of GB and use it until you run out.
Christian World Media
Price: $15/month to $59/month
ChristianWorldMedia.com provides Churches and Ministries nationwide with the ability to spread the Gospel through live streaming and webcasting technology. For $15 per month, users with an average of 25 viewers will be able to utilize this service. You will get 50GB of storage space, Roku compatibility, live countdown timer, embedding, Apple and Android compatibility, live chat, prayer request plug-in, online Bible integration, social media integration, cloud recording, and real-time and historical statistics.
Ustream.tv
Price: Free to Custom pricing
Ustream, an IBM Company, is a leading provider of cloud-based, end-to-end video solutions for media and enterprises. Ustream offers a free account after a 30-day trial, but they have the ability to display ads at their discretion. Use caution when using this site because you will not have any control on ads being shared while your video is streaming. All of their paid plans include HD broadcasting, no ad interruptions, recordings, mobile compatibility, phone support, social integration, live playlists with looping, video upload, embedding, and a customizable channel page.
Free Live Streaming Services
To round out this list, we have a few free live streaming resources that you can use.
YouTube Live Streaming
To access Live Streaming for YouTube, you must first have a YouTube account where you can upload videos. Once you have that, go into your Creator Studio and click Stream Now to get started streaming your videos through YouTube.
Periscope
Periscope is a resource that allows users to view the world through someone else’s eyes. Once you’ve created an account in Periscope, input all the descriptions for your video then hit “Start Broadcast.” It’s that simple.
Resource: Church Production Magazine
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