It seems that Elon Musk and his universe of space-age technology businesses are never far from the news and mainstream media.
The self-made billionaire is one of the most famous tech leaders on the planet through the success of Tesla, SpaceX, The Boring Company and the proposal of the Hyperloop, Neuralink and future missions to Mars.
The South African tends to have more of a controversial relationship with the media compared to fellow tech billionaires such as Mark Zukerberg and Bill Gates, as he seems to court headlines and controversy which regularly impacts upon the stock price of his own businesses negatively.
Smashing the window of an unbreakable window pane during a presentation Tesla’s ‘Cybertruck’ and the naming of his recently born son of ‘X Æ A-12 Musk’ are other examples of Musk never being far from the news.
However, today at 9:30pm GMT (Wednesday 27th May), the real spectacle of Elon Musk’s achievements will be live-streamed across the planet.
Teaming up with NASA, the SpaceX team have planned the Dragon mission, launching two astronauts into space using their Falcon 9 rocket system.
A link will be shared on the SpaceX Twitter feed, so make sure to check it out.
In recent years, unmanned SpaceX missions have been broadcast online attracting millions of hits which have resulted in a significant increase in interest within the public sphere.
Just look at the wild scenes accompanying the testing of three rockets which was broadcast a few years ago.
Live streaming has become a behemoth of the digital world over the past five years, as the gaming industry alone has enjoyed an explosion of popularity as games live stream their adventures on dedicated platforms such as Twitch.
Key Twitch Statistics
3.8 million unique broadcasters over February 2020
Average monthly Twitch broadcasters 3.64 million over 2019
56,000 concurrent Twitch broadcasters on average, as of March 2020
1.44 million concurrent viewers on average, as of March 2020
41,100 Twitch Partners, as of March 2020
Coupled with the fact that Gen-Z and an increasing number of millennials consume live Youtube and Instagram content over conventional TV, it’s clear that the power of the live stream is growing.
You may think that it’s not for you or for your business, it’s unlikely that you’re sending a couple of guys into space next Wednesday, however, that doesn’t mean you can sell a product or service.
Live product selling events are commonplace in China and love them or loathe them, the Kardashian family regularly live stream events where they sell their products akin to traditional 24hr shopping channels.
If you’re still in doubt as to how powerful a branded live stream could be, take some time to watch the launch tonight!
Click here to access the Space X Twitter feed.
George Brown