Livestorm Scales Webinar Platform and Enhances Quality with Vonage APIs
Livestorm, a webinar software platform for marketing teams, needed a reliable and scalable video solution to power its core offering of virtual events and grow alongside its business as it continued to scale. After trying an open-source product that turned out to be difficult to manage, inflexible, and unreliable, Livestorm turned to Vonage for a solution that worked. The partnership with Vonage allowed Livestorm to simplify operations, improve the customer experience through additional functionalities like multiple dial-in options and virtual whiteboards, and deliver high-quality, reliable video at scale
Challenge
Unreliable and inflexible open-source platform for webinars; Desire to move beyond small and mid-market; Static and generic customer experience
Solution
Vonage Video API, Vonage Voice API
Results
With a 53% higher attendance rate and 80% time savings for some customers, Livestorm now has a reliable, flexible foundation that allows them to create a scalable product for enterprises and deliver a dynamic, personal experience for every user.Having worked with the Vonage Video API since 2016 – well before the pandemic fundamentally changed how the world connects online – Livestorm was already on solid footing when demand suddenly surged, with a 20x lift in usage at its highest peak. And as the video landscape has evolved, so has the partnership – with Vonage's continued innovation in video technology helping Livestorm stay ahead of the curve and remain competitive in an increasingly crowded market.
Finding a Reliable, Scalable Video Foundation
When Livestorm started 10 years ago, its goal was simple: make webinars easier and better for marketing teams. The initial plan was to build the platform on an open-source WebRTC gateway. However, this approach quickly presented significant obstacles. The product lacked the flexibility and dependability needed to meet the high standards Livestorm set for its customers.
The team realized that to stay competitive with an exceptional user experience, it needed a partner who could provide a stable, high-quality, and scalable foundation. This allowed them to focus on what it does best: build features that help their customers create engaging and successful events.
“Livestorm chose Vonage Video API because of its scalability, reliability and advanced features, a decision that immediately delivered tangible results,” said Robin Lambert, Co-founder and CPO of Livestorm. “With a 53% higher attendance rate and 80% time savings for some customers, the implementation was straightforward and gave us a significant and immediate boost in quality and reliability. This also allowed us to remove the burden of managing complex video infrastructure so we could focus on our customers and their end users.”
To meet the evolving demands of its growing customer base, Livestorm needed to go beyond basic video functionality to drive deeper engagement for both hosts and attendees. By leveraging Vonage's robust infrastructure and innovative features like the Experience Composer, which provides elements like whiteboards and allowing for pre-recorded videos, Livestorm has successfully moved upmarket, winning large enterprise clients and added new AI-powered capabilities to its platform. The addition of dial-in options through Vonage Voice API made events more accessible to attendees regardless of their internet connectivity, broadening participation and contributing to stronger event attendance.
Lambert continued, "Integrating Vonage APIs was not just a technical fix – it was a strategic enabler that fueled Livestream’s growth. The strength and stability of Vonage’s platform was truly tested at its highest peak when we had a massive 20x increase in usage in just a few days. Even as the video industry continues to boom, we have maintained consistent reliability while continuing to innovate on our platform since moving to Vonage.”
Unprecedented Growth and Market Expansion
Lambert went on to say, “The increased reliability provided by Vonage gave us the boost we needed to pursue large enterprises and expand our market. By using features like media zones and encryption, we successfully expanded our focus from SMBs and secured large contracts with global organizations. Our partnership with Vonage allowed us to scale our capabilities seamlessly as our business continued to grow.”
By building its solution on top of Vonage APIs, Livestorm has been able to keep focus on innovation, particularly around AI. Livestorm is working on features like automatic webinar repurposing, live translation, and automated moderation to further enhance the value they provide to marketing teams.
Lambert concluded, “Livestorm chose Vonage initially because we needed to move fast. We stayed with Vonage because it allowed us to grow without having to worry about scaling the platform ourselves. Everything was handled for us, so that we can focus on what matters most to us which is ensuring every webinar, every event, and every connection is seamless, engaging, and impactful. "
With Vonage APIs, Livestorm was able to seamlessly expand into the enterprise market and become a trusted platform for global organizations. Looking ahead, the combination of Livestorm's platform and Vonage's powerful APIs will continue to drive innovation and deliver exceptional video experiences for a global audience.
