How to Drive Traffic to a Livestream: Ways to Reach New Viewers While You’re Live
Help More New Viewers Find You While You’re Live!
Driving traffic to a livestream means bringing in new, off-platform viewers while you’re live, rather than relying only on your existing followers or the platform’s recommendations. Common approaches include notifying existing followers, platform algorithm recommendations, KOL partnerships, social posts, paid social advertising, and programmatic advertising that converts live footage into ad creative in real time and distributes it beyond the streaming platform. This article breaks down how these approaches differ, and helps you figure out which one fits your live stream right now.
1. Is Your Live Stream Struggling to Reach New Viewers?
Many brands find that after they go live, the viewers who show up are mostly familiar faces. Existing followers see the notification and tune in, but new viewers rarely find the stream on their own, and whether the platform’s algorithm recommends the stream, and to whom, isn’t something the brand can control. This shows up most clearly for newer accounts: without an established follower base, and without enough engagement data for the platform’s recommendation system to work with, a live stream can end up reaching only the same loyal customers every time.
If a live stream’s growth keeps hitting the same ceiling, the same group of people showing up again and again, the problem usually isn’t the content. It’s that traffic is coming from too narrow a source.
2. What Are the Ways to Drive Traffic to a Livestream?
Before deciding how to drive traffic, it helps to lay out the common approaches, each suited to different situations:
Most teams are already familiar with the first five. The last one is relatively new, but it’s becoming a common way for live commerce teams to fill the gap the other approaches leave behind.
Comparing the Approaches
|
Approach |
Usable Before Going Live |
Usable While Live |
Reaches New Viewers |
Real-Time |
Reach |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Existing follower notifications |
Yes |
Limited |
No |
Limited |
Existing follower list only |
|
KOL partnerships |
Yes |
Limited |
Yes |
Limited |
Limited to the partner’s existing audience |
|
Paid social advertising |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited to a single social platform’s ad network |
|
Platform algorithm recommendations |
Limited |
Yes |
Yes |
Limited |
Limited to a single live streaming platform |
|
Off-platform programmatic advertising |
Not applicable |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Extends across off-platform media placements |
3. How Does Off-Platform Programmatic Advertising Work?
At its core, this approach turns the fact that you’re live into ad creative itself, distributing it in real time to media placements beyond the streaming platform, such as news sites and content platforms. What sets it apart from social advertising is who it reaches: people who are browsing other content and haven’t encountered the stream yet, without being limited by the account’s existing follower size.
This approach works especially well in three situations: a new account that hasn’t built up a following yet, organic reach on a single platform that has hit a ceiling, or a specific event, such as a brand event or a live sports broadcast, where you want to expand reach quickly during a limited window.
4. An Example: Live Commerce Booster (LCB)
Live Commerce Booster (LCB) is Groundhog Technologies’ real-time livestream traffic acquisition solution, one implementation of off-platform programmatic advertising for live streams. It captures live footage in real time, automatically generates ad creative, and distributes it across display network placements powered by MI-DSP™, helping potential viewers discover an ongoing live stream while they’re browsing other content. To learn more about how it works, see the Live Commerce Booster solution page.
5. Further Reading
Driving traffic is only the first step. To understand why off-platform reach is becoming essential for live commerce teams, see As E-Commerce Growth Slows, Why Is Cross-Platform Reach Becoming a Must for Live Commerce Brands? To learn how to hold onto the viewers you bring in, instead of starting from zero every stream, see Getting an Audience Into Your Live Stream Isn’t the Same as Keeping Them: How to Get the Most Out of Cross-Session Retargeting.
6. FAQ
Q1：What can I do if my live stream isn’t getting much traffic?
A1：Start by checking whether your traffic relies only on existing followers or platform recommendations. If it does, consider adding paid social advertising or off-platform programmatic advertising to proactively reach potential viewers who don’t follow you yet.
Q2： Is driving traffic to a livestream the same as driving traffic to live commerce?
A2：The concepts overlap. Live commerce traffic acquisition usually refers specifically to bringing viewers into a stream to drive purchases in an e-commerce context, while livestream traffic acquisition is the broader term, applying to live commerce, brand events, live sports broadcasts, and other scenarios.
Q3：Can I run ads while I’m live?
A3：Yes. Some programmatic advertising solutions can convert live footage into ad creative and distribute it in real time while the stream is ongoing, without needing to wait until after the stream to produce the ad.
Q4： Does this work for new accounts too?
A4：Yes, especially off-platform programmatic advertising. This approach generally doesn’t depend on an existing follower base, making it one of the faster ways for newer accounts without an algorithmic advantage to get discovered.
Q5：How much ad budget does driving traffic to a livestream require?
A5：It depends on your target audience size, campaign duration, and media placements, so there’s no fixed answer. It’s worth starting with a small test campaign and adjusting your budget based on the results.
Want to grow your live stream traffic?
Contact us today to get started.
