StreamElements is expanding its offerings with new tools that will let content creators add live engagement functionality to their videos on platforms like YouTube.
Mercury is the streaming and content service provider’s new suite of tools, which will allow creators to turn their previously static video-on-demand content into a more dynamic experience. This will be done by enabling real-time goal setting, on-screen shoutouts, and even dynamic thumbnails.
While StreamElements is known for working on engagement and monetization tools for live and VOD content creators, this will be the first big step the platform has made into creating specialized tools for creators who might not produce live content at all.
“With Mercury, we’ve taken our deep bench of experience in the livestreaming space to tap into the joy fans associate with live content to make pre-produced videos more engaging,” Mercury product manager Sergey Bukhman said. “By offering dynamic descriptions and thumbnails, shout-out overlays, and polls, the instant gratification translates to more viewer engagement, retention, and growth. Illustrating the appeal, creators who used Mercury experienced a 60% increase in engagement on average. This is a significant boost that validates our free tools as a compelling new layer to video on-demand production.”
The most robust feature at launch will be Dynamic Descriptions, which offers several options that can be added to any creator’s video with just one click.
Within those descriptions, users can choose to spotlight supporters and thank them automatically, whether that be the newest subscribers, members, Patreon backers, and more. Real-time goals and polls can also be set, giving a creator’s community live updates on results or merchandise sales, all while promoting more engagement.
Dynamic Thumbnails will let creators add new elements to their video’s most prominent image, including updating data live.
On-Screen Shoutouts will let users thank their supporters in real-time via their videos in place of a motion graphic. For example, instead of needing to manually put a wall of scrolling names in your video, you can simply enable this dynamic feature, which will highlight subscribers, members, Patreon backers, and more, with live updates.
All of these features will be available to creators free of charge as StreamElements looks to expand further into VOD creations via YouTube and its pool of more than 2 billion monthly users.
“YouTube is the largest platform in the world when it comes to consuming video on demand content with billions of users each month,” StreamElements CBO Jason Krebs said. “It’s an amazing platform with massive reach, so adding our suite of free engagement tools will give creators even more opportunities to connect with their communities. The creator economy is on an upswing and we are here to support it.”
The StreamElements plans to continuously update Mercury with more features down the road, including widgets, analytics, banners, and additional monetization options, with the goal of breaking down the barrier between engagement for live and VOD content.
You can learn more about StreamElements and Mercury on the official StreamElements website.
