How to Stream for Multi-Site Churches

BoxCast Team • June 22, 2018

This post talks about how to send a live broadcast of a service or sermon from one church campus to others with a multi-site player. It's part of our series on Multi-Site Churches.

We've talked a lot about multi-site churches. We've addressed the upsides and downsides of having multiple campuses. But ultimately multi-site churches are here to stay and that can be a great thing. We also address why streaming is such an important part of building out new church campuses .

If you are on board with all of that and looking to come up with an optimal live streaming platform for your multi-site church, read on.

How to Stream to Multiple Church Campuses

When you stream to multiple campuses, there are several unique features you need out of your streaming platform. In the end, replicating the live experience of a sermon or a service on another campus is of utmost importance. Here are a few features you should be looking for in a platform.

Video Quality

If you are planning on sending your stream to a large screen on your second campus, you should be planning on high quality video. Nothing is worse than bad video getting blown up on a big TV. It's a bad experience for your viewers and a bad look for you.

A lot goes into stream quality. Video resolution is part of it. So is frame rate (especially if you have a lot of movement.) When you choose a platform, make sure it allows for high quality video. Also make sure that they are using a top form of compression, so that you make the most of your network's capabilities.

Branding for You

It probably goes without saying, but you can't have a streaming workflow that relies on social destinations like Facebook Live, YouTube Live, or Periscope for multi-site streaming.

Reasons include, but aren't limited to, quality limitations, ad placements, and lack of control and ownership of the content. These platforms can be great for spreading your message and growing your audience, but they are supplements to your main stream.

When you are streaming to a second campus, you need a player that is:

1. White-labeled to promote your church's brand instead of a live streaming company's brand,

2. Ad-free so that you control the message that is being shared,

3. Run through a powerful CDN, to eliminate any potential live video distribution issues.

The BoxCast platform provides all of these necessary platform features, but it also has a feature specifically for multi-site churches to ensure that you are delivering a great experience for your viewers on other campuses.

The BoxCast Multi-Site Player

The BoxCast Multi-Site Video Player is your solution to enabling remote campuses to watch your live broadcasts.

Our advanced DVR player buffers your live broadcast locally and shows advanced statistics to ensure a beautiful picture every time.

Here are a few of the features that the player includes, to ensure that your campuses receive the top quality stream possible without buffering, even in the case of short term network issues:

Desktop application runs on both Windows and Mac OS X
Log in to your private BoxCast account to play any of your events full-screen
Auto quality selection or override to force HD
Advanced caching and buffering of live and recorded videos
Detachable remote control and monitor window to pause/rewind/seek, control volume, and playback quality as needed

Final Thoughts + Further Reading

Multi-site streaming is a little bit different than streaming to one service to many viewers in different places. The stakes are a little bit higher when there are many eyes on one screen.

This doesn't mean that you need a completely separate platform to stream to other campuses, you just need to have the right tools enabled on one, powerful live streaming platform for churches.

If you'd like to learn more about what you should look for in a live streaming platform in general, you might find our Buyer's Guide to Live Video Streaming helpful.