“It’s really like two rising tides that have collided,” says Brent Turner, SVP of marketing strategy and technology at Cramer, a Norwood, Mass.-based brand experience agency. “On one side consumers have more social bandwidth, phone speed has gotten faster, phone cameras are better, and content is easier to create. On the flip side, all of those eyeballs happened at a time when social media strategies continued to mature and capitalize on trends faster.”

Events are ideal platforms for many brands to start and expand their use of live video streaming, whether via broadcast-quality streams from main stages, custom programming from a live-streaming booth, or conversations with attendees. “It doesn’t have to be produced at all,” Turner says. “If your employee is live streaming a walk-through through a factory, that’s an interesting view into a brand.” One client, he recalled, made waves at the Consumer Electronics Show with a live podcast at the brand’s booth, while simultaneously streaming live videos with a man-on-the-street perspective. “It’s a powerful transparent perspective,” he says.

“I feel like we’re close to it leveling out in terms of excitement,” Turner says. “It was the hot thing for a while and now it’s ever-present for both the user and for many marketers. It’s big enough that brands know where it fits in their general marketing playbook.”