Let me start by saying that one of my great frustrations is the number of churches that discontinued their Sunday livestream broadcast after the pandemic. I guess their theory that now that everyone is free to attend in person, we don’t really need it anymore.
But the truth is, not everyone can or wants to attend each week.
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In my case, I travel a lot, and it’s nice to stay up to date by watching our church livestream from the road. And then there are college students, members who have moved and want to check in, people at home because of sickness or the weather, and more. But too many pastors get frustrated at low Sunday livestream numbers and decide to drop it.
But something we often forget is that a significant number of people don’t watch your livestream “live” — they replay it later in the week.
With many churches, it’s about 80/20. Will Chapman, online minister at Cottonwood Creek Church in Allen, Texas, estimates 80% of their viewers watch “live” while about 20% replay it later in the week. That’s a significant percentage watching later. …
And many churches report a much greater number of people watching later in the week. Bryan Bailey, director of media at Prestonwood Church in Dallas, reports that on YouTube, he sees 10% watching live versus 90% within 1–2 weeks. On the Prestonwood app or website, it’s 20% live, and 80% on demand later. …
Get your worship service out there. You just never know who’s watching.
Full story here.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written by Phil Cooke and originally published by philcooke.com. Published with permission.
