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The opportunities to make money from live streaming are fairly new, but they are very profitable. Since 2020, event professionals have been looking for ways to monetize their virtual events and you can help them get it done.
Whether you need to sell tickets to an online event, accept donations for charity, or add a paywall to any of your live streams, you will need a ticketing platform.
Since EventLive allows you to embed your live streams, I recommend you to go for an option that allows you to transfer the fees to the customers, so your costs remain the same. There are many options and you can choose the one that fits your needs.
In today’s post, I will guide you on how to add a ticketing system to your live streams.
Can I monetize my live streams?
This is an easy one. Yes, you can, and it’s pretty easy too.
Besides charging your clients for the live streaming service, you can also boost your revenue by including a ticketing system as part of your services. Not only you would grow your business, you'd also make your client's life easier if they want to sell tickets to the event. It happens to us a lot with theatre plays, dance schools, small concerts, and other events.
Configuring it would take less than an hour, and the earnings will depend on how many people attend the event.
What kind of live streams can I charge for?
The list is pretty big, so I’ll just focus on a few examples:
- Host an exclusive live stream:
There are many things that people pay to have early access to. From eCommerce to Content Creators, you can host Q&As, Meet & Greets, and similar events. - Host a paid training or workshop:
The number of online coaches, retreats, and virtual workshops are endless. You can host their event, sell tickets to it, and make a profit. - Live Stream Concerts, Theatre Plays, and Other Performances:
These are, by nature, paid events. You can live stream any of these and charge viewers to attend. - Charity events and religious ceremonies:
Events that require donations to thrive can be found easily in your local community. You can broadcast the event and use the ticketing system to provide donations to the organizations that host them. - Seminars, corporate events, conferences:
These events usually have a large number of attendees, which means that the profit for the companies can be worth the effort. If you manage to earn a percentage of the ticket sales, your live stream could be very profitable.
How much should I charge my clients?
You can charge them a flat fee for setting up the system, while they keep all the profits, or you can negotiate a percentage of the earnings, after deducing the fees from the total.
Let’s say you’re live streaming an Ayurvedic retreat, and the tickets cost 75 USD to attend.
I’m going to make up number prices here, because every market is different.
If the instructor is charging $75 for attendance and they’re expecting 40 people to join (a very conservative number), they’d expect earnings of 3000 USD.
You can charge $900 for your live streaming services and a 400 USD flat fee to set up the ticketing system for them. They’d spend $1300 and make a $1700 profit. The ticket fees could be transferred to the attendees so your profits wouldn’t shrink as people purchase them.
Another example is to charge $900 for your live stream, and 10-15% of the profits. In this case, you’d earn $300-450 just from the ticket sales.
One last way to charge for this service is to do the live stream for free, and only make a percentage of the ticket sales. This is risky when people are not interested in the event, but it can be very profitable in some cases.
The bigger the events, the more profit to be made.
Think about offering this to schools, graduations, plays, conferences, concerts, or any other event that you have access to.
How to Set Up a Ticketing System for a Livestream
Which platforms are we going to use? EventLive + TicketSpice
How much does it cost? 25-50 USD for the Live Stream, and 99 Cents per ticket sold.
How long does it take? Anywhere between 15 to 60 minutes.
Level of difficulty: Beginner
You do not need technical skills to do this.
FAQs answered, let’s keep going.
Clients who purchased tickets will have to enter an access code to attend the virtual event:
Your final result will look clean and simple, like this one:
Selling Tickets to Your Livestream: Step by Step
First of all, you have to Schedule your Event. I recommend you to do so using EventLive’s Broadcaster, but you can also do it using the mobile app.
Doing so takes less than 2 minutes, and it allows you to embed it on a ticketing system platform later on.
The embed options can be found under “Event Settings” on the top right corner of your event.
For best results, make sure to upload a Cover Photo within the settings.
On the Embed settings page, you have the ability to choose whether you want to use a Full Embed, including Chat or Guestbook, or a “Just Video” embed, that removes everything else.
For this example, I’m using a Full Embed, including a Live Chat.
Please keep this page open, as you will need it to grab the embed code in a few minutes.
Since we’re going to be using an external platform, I’m going to show you how to do this using TicketSpice. We’re not associated with them in any way, but we think that the platform works very well, and it is a great fit for EventLive streamers.
Now that you Scheduled your Event on EventLive, you're going to head to TicketSpice and Create a Free Account.
It’s a quick process, that will take you directly to the “New Event” page. It should look like this:
You need to set the date, time, and name of the event.
Before continuing, make sure that you choose “Virtual”, under “Type of Event”. This will allow you to embed your live stream later.
When you’re ready, press Next.
You will be asked again about the type of event you want to create. In this case, choose “Virtual Lite”.
TicketSpice allows you to use your own logo, which is great for businesses. You can add it now, or Skip it and do it later.
As you can see, I added ours:
Now that the basics are done, you need to start designing your event. You can do this in 5 minutes or in 2 hours, but TicketSpice does 90% of the job with very neatly designed templates:
Choose one that works for your event, so the required time to fix it is reduced to a minimum.
Based on my needs, I chose a Yoga template and it looked great right away. All I had to do was customize the text, and replace a few images with free ones I found on Unsplash.
This will be your ticketing page. You want to make sure that visitors understand the details of the event, and that you’re not missing important information, such as Location (if there is a physical one), Date, and Starting Time of the event.
Next, you’re going to set your ticket prices, tiers, and names, on that page. You have to press “Edit Ticket Information”. Please remember that your colors and layout might be slightly different than these, because of the template that you chose in the previous steps.
When editing your tickets, it will look like this:
I removed the second tier, and kept a single ticket option. I also changed the fee to $1, since it covers the TicketSpice pricing, and every penny that comes in after 99c per ticket, is profit.
My simplified tickets now look like this:
Easy, right?
When you’re done modifying your Event Page, head over to the “Virtual Event” settings, and press “Basic Setup”.
Within that page, you have to choose “Specific Date Access”, and assign your event date and time. I’d recommend you to give people access 30 minutes before the event begins, just in case you decide to start live streaming a little early (which we always recommend).
Next, press Livestream/Meeting on the left menu, and press “Add Session”. You can see it in the following image:
This is where you will embed your live stream.
Make sure to add a Title, and choose “Livestream”, and “Embed” after that.
Under “Source”, you need to Enter the Embed Code.
Remember that page I asked you to keep open? If you did, you can go back to it and Copy the code at the end of the page.
If you closed it, don’t worry. Here’s how to fetch it:
- Go to EventLive’s Broadcaster
- Access your event, and press “Event Settings”
- Inside the Embed tab, you will find the Embed Code
Copy that code (you can use the “Copy” icon on the bottom right corner) and Paste it here:
We’re almost done! Save your progress and publish your page.
Once you do, you will be prompted to create an account to get paid. It only takes a few minutes, but you will have to verify your identity before you can start charging people for tickets.
It is a quick process, and you can register as a “Sole Proprietor” if you don’t run a registered business.
Once you've confirmed your identity, clients can start buying tickets to your live stream!
Within TicketSpice, you can customize every detail, and even the emails they receive from you.
Here's what the order looks like, from the clients' end:
Conclusions
Selling tickets to your virtual events is a fairly easy process that can boost your revenue without technical skills.
If you know how to live stream events, you've done the hardest part. Whether you use TicketSpice, EventBrite, Ticket Lyfe, or any others, your process should be repeatable so you can confidently assure your clients that you will get the job done.
Whether you found any of the steps confusing or you need personal assistance with any of this, we're here to help. Don't hesitate to get in contact with us.
