The Meet Group Continues Live Video Focus, Adding Livestreaming To Former if(we) Product Tagged

Yesterday, The Meet Group announced a new livestreaming feature for Tagged called Tagged Live.

The Meet Group describes Tagged, which became part of its portfolio after the acquisition of if(we), as the “leading African-American mobile meeting app”.

And the company has now added a livestreaming aspect to the platform, Tagged Live, enabling users to broadcast and view livestreamed video, as well as earn and send virtual gifts.

Speaking about the product update, Brian Gerrard, Director of Product Marketing at The Meet Group said: “Live-streaming is changing the way people communicate and connect online by encouraging transparency and authenticity.

“Tagged understands the value of Black creatives, social media influencers, comedians and content creators.

“With Tagged Live we hope to give all of our users a tool to broadcast and connect with a large audience that is hungry for streaming content.”

Features of the livestreaming tool include the ability to broadcast live to your friends, followers or the entire Tagged community.

You can also see who is watching your livestream, check out the profiles and interests of these viewers, and add or follow new friends from within the livestream screen.

Discovery-wise, there is a section to check out currently trending livestreams, or only see new broadcasts or those from people you follow.

Users can also send hearts and messages to livestreamers, as well as buying virtual gifts like diamonds, teddy bears, jewellery, and chocolates to share with livestreamers “as a way of showing appreciation”.

These virtual goods can be exchanged for real cash.

The new direction for Tagged is part of The Meet Group’s current focus on livestreaming, which is inspired by the incredible success companies like Momo have seen with live video.

Momo allows members to buy and send virtual gifts to people broadcasting live videos, taking a 50% cut of the profits.

By Q1 of 2016, the Chinese company had made $15.6m from these virtual gifts, already making it Momo’s best performing monetisation strategy compared to its other channels – VIP premium subscriptions, mobile marketing and gaming.

By the second quarter, this figure soared to $57.9m, less than a year after the feature was first launched, and at year’s end, it had reached $194.8m.

In March, The Meet Group added a Live feature to flagship product MeetMe, which allowed users to broadcast, watch other streams and chat in real time.

In its Q2 results, The Meet Group said it had increased daily video minutes by 80% to 7.2m, with over 20% of users now watching videos every day.

The company also said it plans to add a livestreaming feature to Skout later this year.

Tagged Live is now available for free on iOS and Android devices.