In the first part of the interview (https://www.brightcove.com/ja/resources/blog/video-addict-vol5-mbs-1/), we talked about Mr. Murata’s career and how he works at MBS. In the second part, we will ask him in detail about the company’s approach to live streaming.
## Even if you broadcast the same content in the same way, it won’t scale as a business
**BC Tsuchiya** I understand that your main work at MBS is live streaming, rather than on-demand streaming. How often do you carry out live streaming?
**MBS Murata** The number of live streams has been increasing every year, and in 2018 we carried out around 50 live streams, and I was involved in directing almost all of them. The number of live streams has been increasing, and there are now a variety of different types of live streaming, although the scale varies.
**BC Tsuchiya** Are they in genres such as sports, variety shows, or games?
**MBS Murata** Yes, that’s right. Recently, there has been a growing demand for live broadcasts even in the news reporting field. We recently broadcasted live the W-election (the 2019 Osaka Prefecture gubernatorial election and the Osaka City mayoral election). We have also experimented with live broadcasting our own events, such as [Charwood 2019](https://www.mbs.jp/challywood/), and public radio recordings.
**BC Tsuchiya**: What is the reason behind your decision to try live streaming even for slightly niche content?
**MBS Murata**: From our experience of streaming various events over the past few years, we have come to understand that live streaming the same content in the same way as we have done in the past will not really scale up as a business. I would like to make sure that the people in charge of in-house news and radio are aware that we have a second weapon in the form of live streaming over the web, and I would like to think about how we can use this weapon together.
## Giving lectures to in-house staff on the most suitable distribution method for each piece of content
**BC Tsuchiya** The people we have interviewed for this series have all said that it is important to make sure that everyone in the company is aware of the new distribution methods available.
**MBS Murata** MBS has a “live streaming room” and the general method is to select the internal sub-out and other signal lines and stream them from Cambria Live, but in some cases it is also possible to use equipment and software such as Live Shell and OBS to perform simple live streaming from studios and recording sites. Recently, we have been frequently receiving requests from various parts of the company to perform live streaming, but as the resources of our IT Business Department are limited, we cannot respond to all orders.
We are working to encourage people to be able to casually carry out live streaming by themselves by giving lectures to the people in charge of content within the company on the most suitable method of distribution for each piece of content. As a result, it is becoming easier than ever before to make MBS content shine through distribution.
**BC Tsuchiya** I see, so you are gradually increasing the number of people involved. So, when do you receive requests from within the company?
**MBS Murata** In that regard, we are currently taking a passive approach. For example, the e-sports tournament “YUBIWAZA CUP” was planned by the sales department, but during the planning process, we received a request from the same department to “stream the event live”. We then proposed a way to make this happen, and as a result, the content was incorporated into the plan and included in the sales sheet for sponsors.
**BC Tsuchiya** So, is the communication about the results with the planning department?
**MBS Murata** Of course. Compared to other companies, we’re still quite analog, but we’re working to improve things by acquiring viewing data and demographic data from various analytics tools such as Video Cloud, and sharing the results with the relevant departments. In particular, we want to actively promote positive results to motivate people. We’re still in the middle of the process of acquiring and visualizing data, but we’re in the middle of quite specific discussions about how to achieve this. I think that communicating the effects of web distribution to people within the company in an easy-to-understand way will definitely become more important in the future.
## Collecting more data than ever before and analyzing which measures are effective in attracting customers
**BC Tsuchiya** What areas do you plan to improve and focus on in terms of live streaming in the future?
**MBS Murata** One of the issues we have been struggling with for a long time is how to make announcements. After coordinating with each department to make a live broadcast, the goal is not to just get the broadcast out technically. It is important to think about how to get as many people as possible to watch it. However, it is also true that, as the person in charge of broadcast technology, this is an area that I have to work on. I feel that we need to seriously consider how to best send out information, such as using SNS. We want to collect more data than ever before, and analyze and use it to see which measures are most effective for attracting customers.
**BC Tsuchiya** Will the IT Business Department also be in charge of making announcements?
**MBS Murata** If we’re talking about the details, the analysis data is also useful for sales, and announcements are also the domain of the PR Department. However, the IT Business Department needs to be involved in IT-related matters across the board, and we are actively involved.
One new thing we are trying is a chat function. Chat itself is not an innovative thing, but we want to incorporate something that is generally popular and good into our service. We also think that live streaming would be a little dull without a comment function, so we are conscious of the interactive element. I also felt this strongly when I attended PLAY 2019, which was hosted by Brightcove this year.
**BC Tsuchiya** How was your experience of PLAY?
**MBS Murata** In a nutshell, it was really interesting (lol). Not only can you get the latest knowledge about video distribution, but it’s also a place where media professionals from all over Japan gather, so you can hear about the initiatives of each company and have discussions, which is extremely meaningful. To be honest, when I’m in Osaka, I sometimes feel like I’m being left behind by Tokyo. By going to places like PLAY to get information, I was able to be stimulated and come up with ideas. However, it is also true that I often felt frustrated because of my language skills. I want to improve my English so that I can raise the profile of Japanese broadcasting companies!
Mr. Murata’s curiosity, combined with the openness of the workplace, makes us look forward to more interesting projects and services from MBS in the future.
Next time on Video Addict, we will be interviewing Mr. Susawa from rtv, who is in charge of live internet broadcasts of sporting events. Please look forward to it!
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__After the interview__
__BC Tsuchiya__
This time, we spoke to Mr. Murata of MBS, who is in charge of many live broadcasts and subscription-based distribution services. MBS is a company that is fully committed to internet distribution, and I think that the sense of unity within the company is second to none among TV stations. At meetings, both business and technical decision-makers often participate, and sometimes things are decided very quickly and clearly, with not only the engineers on the front line but also the sales staff involved.
I personally found personnel and organizational theory to be a lot of talk with no real substance, but I was surprised to see how smoothly things moved at MBS, with the right amount of discretion and enthusiasm for each role. In this environment, Mr. Murata is calmly moving forward with what needs to be done using current resources and solutions. If I had to compare him to something, Murata-san is like a sponge, and no matter how many different things we talk about from different angles, he listens to everything and absorbs it. There have been many times when he has said things like “The other day, I heard that we’re going to be doing it like this,” and he is really a flexible and powerful person. He always has a smile on his face, and he is like an oasis for us.
