"Live Streaming +" Creating New Development Scenarios for County-Level Converged Media Centers

News Center of Anhui Radio and Television Station, Hefei, Anhui 230061

Abstract

[Purpose] With the continuous advancement of new media and information technologies, county-level converged media centers face greater challenges and opportunities. This paper aims to leverage the benefits of various advanced technologies to continuously upgrade the communication channels of county-level converged media centers, thereby enhancing their communication power and influence. [Method] The paper systematically discusses the development opportunities brought by "Live Streaming +" to county-level converged media centers, and analyzes the current shortcomings in their online live streaming practices through case studies of live streaming initiatives at Taihu County Converged Media Center. [Result] The study explores innovative development pathways for "Live Streaming +" at county-level converged media centers. [Conclusion] In the new era, county-level converged media centers must keep pace with the times and utilize "Live Streaming +" to create new development scenarios.

Keywords: "Live Streaming +"; County-Level Converged Media Center; New Scenarios; Multi-Scenarios; Integration
Classification Number: G220
Document Code: A
Article ID: 1671-0134(2025)02-86-04
DOI: 10.19483/j.cnki.11-4653/n.2025.02.016
Citation Format: Song Min. "Live Streaming +" Creating New Development Scenarios for County-Level Converged Media Centers [J]. China Media Technology, 2025, 32(2):

1. Application Value of Mobile Live Streaming in County-Level Converged Media Centers

1.1 Mobile-First Approach: Expanding Communication Coverage

The information dissemination of county-level converged media centers is significantly constrained by geographical limitations, with traditional communication channels only reaching audiences within the county territory. This has restricted the expansion of their communication power and influence. How can county-level media break through geographical constraints, cover more people, and gain greater initiative and discourse power in information dissemination and public opinion guidance? Utilizing mobile communication platforms for live streaming represents an excellent practice. Mobile internet, big data, cloud computing, virtual reality, and live streaming technologies have now permeated every aspect of information product production. With the popularization of smartphones and the rise of the everyone live streaming trend, mobile video live streaming is increasingly applied in the integrated development of traditional media. For county-level converged media centers, "Live Streaming +" has become a new enabling method. By creating numerous "Live Streaming +" new scenarios, continuous momentum is injected into the innovative development of county-level converged media centers.

Compared with pure online live streaming, video live streaming at county-level converged media centers must not only follow the content production patterns of mainstream media, uphold socialist core values, promote mainstream ideology, and disseminate positive energy, but also respect audience needs and market principles, adapt to changing user habits on mobile terminals, innovate content and forms of information products, enhance attractiveness and interactivity, find new operational breakthroughs, and achieve a win-win situation in both social and economic benefits. From current practices, live streaming has injected more vitality into the development of county-level converged media centers, becoming a breakthrough for many traditional media to fight a "comeback battle." However, quality inconsistencies have also emerged behind the "live streaming fever."

1.2 Interactive Experience: Constructing Open User Relationships

A distinctive communication characteristic and advantage of new media is the interactivity based on equal transmitter-receiver relationships. The production-oriented mindset makes the interactive features of mobile live streaming more prominent, forming an open communication relationship where on-site journalists (anchors), users, and users themselves interact and influence each other [2]. When watching a live stream from a county-level converged media center, audiences often notice that anchors continuously communicate and interact with netizens while introducing the progress, background, causes, and details of news events (activities). They adjust the live streaming rhythm according to audience requests, conduct targeted interviews, display visuals, and provide focused analysis, delivering interactive, contextual, and immersive information consumption experiences. This open transmitter-receiver relationship can effectively enhance audience stickiness.

1.3 Weakening Boundaries: Promoting Media Convergence

How to achieve better and deeper integration has become a key point in the development of county-level converged media centers. Online live streaming can precisely enhance the degree of media convergence by weakening boundaries.

On the one hand, it effectively achieves the convergence of communication forms. Whether it is news reporting live streaming or offline event live streaming, both break through the "delayed presence" presented by traditional media through text, images, and audio-video reports via "zero time difference" and "presence feeling." They form a comprehensive integration of text, images, audio-video, and interactive elements [3], realizing the optimal allocation of content resources in media convergence. On the other hand, it effectively promotes the convergence of communication platforms. From current practices, most anchors at county-level converged media centers "set sail by borrowing boats"—by entering video platforms and conducting in-depth cooperation, they achieve efficient platform integration, enabling quality content to achieve cross-border dissemination.

1.4 Content Monetization: Exploring New Spaces for Converged Media Operations

As pioneers in the transformation and development of traditional media, county-level converged media centers have demonstrated their capabilities in deepening media integration. However, a comprehensive review shows that their convergence initiatives have mostly focused on platform construction and content production and dissemination integration, with obvious lag in transformation regarding converged media operations. Mobile live streaming explores new spaces for media operations. For county-level converged media centers, live streaming to assist agriculture and enterprises is relatively easy to operate and generates direct economic benefits. On the basis of creating quality content, it can also diversify profit models and enhance the economic added value of information products.

2. The Uneven Quality Behind the "Live Streaming Fever" at County-Level Converged Media Centers

The predecessor of county-level converged media centers was the former county-level television stations. After years of development, they possess a well-trained professional team capable of rapid and efficient content production and dissemination. However, due to entrenched mindsets and other factors, online live streaming at county-level converged media centers is often equated with television live streaming, with signals directly placed online and big screens becoming small screens [4], while content and forms remain completely unchanged. Camera work, narrative methods, and language styles show no difference from previous television live streaming. This type of "live streaming" actually does not conform to mobile users' viewing habits.

2.2 Live Streaming Lacks Connection with Viewers

The true charm of online live streaming lies in its interactivity—content can attract users' attention and encourage their active participation in the live streaming process. However, some county-level converged media centers' online live streaming follows trends blindly, regardless of whether the content is suitable or the form is appropriate, simply live streaming for the sake of live streaming. These online live streams, which have weak relevance to viewers, have deviated from audience information needs. Submerged in the vast ocean of online live streams without causing a single ripple, they become a form of self-entertainment—"setting up a machine and starting a live stream"—with virtually no clicks or readership [5].

2.3 Overly Complex Online Live Streaming Technology

The threshold for online live streaming is low; existing technology allows a person to become an "anchor" instantly with a smartphone, demonstrating the effect and speed of "I'm on the scene." However, some county-level converged media centers, in pursuit of better effects, put the cart before the horse. Instead of focusing on polishing content and forms, they invest efforts in personnel and equipment, even launching some television live streaming technologies and equipment for online live streaming. This complicated operation often increases the burden on users, causing online live streaming to lose its advantages of being "lightweight and convenient," and sometimes even affecting the speed and efficiency of on-site live streaming.

3. Innovative Pathways for Taihu County Converged Media Center to Create New Live Streaming Scenarios

With the popularization of the internet and the continuous development of live streaming technology, large-scale event live streaming has become an important method for publicity and display. In recent years, Taihu County Converged Media Center has focused on this high-traffic arena of large-scale event live streaming, actively accepting new challenges, exploring new scenarios, continuously unlocking new technologies, and innovatively implementing a "Live Streaming + Government Affairs, Services, and Commerce" model. Through live streaming, various types of information, products, services, and activities are delivered to broader audiences in real time, which not only enhances information credibility, event influence, and product visibility [6] but also opens new tracks and injects new vitality and momentum into converged media development.

In 2023 alone, Taihu County Converged Media Center undertook 16 large-scale event live streams covering government affairs, services, and commerce. These included 7 government activities such as the "Taihu Functional Film Industry Technology Collaborative Development Summit" and the "Liu-Deng Army Liujiadang Conference Academic Seminar"; 3 service activities such as the "Anqing City 2023 Flood Prevention, Emergency Rescue, and Disaster Relief Comprehensive Drill" and the "Party Member Distance Education Lecture Hall (Anqing Taihu Station)"; and 6 commercial activities such as the "Second Dabie Mountain Tianhua Gujian Tea Culture Tourism Festival," the "Taihu County 'Farmers' Harvest Festival' Series Events—Xuqiao Town's First Lobster Festival," and the "'Celebrate Harvest, Promote Harmony'—2023 China Farmers' Harvest Festival (Anhui Taihu)." This represents the year with the most large-scale events and the broadest fields covered since the establishment of Taihu County Converged Media Center.

These 16 large-scale events directly generated economic benefits for converged media industry development. The increasingly prominent brand has broadened sales channels for Taihu's agricultural specialty products, with sales of tea, crayfish, yellow beef, Chengling black pork, and Huating Lake bighead carp reaching new heights. Based on the practice of Taihu County Converged Media Center, the author believes that innovative pathways for creating new live streaming scenarios can be developed from the following points.

3.1 "Whole-Chessboard" Concept

A good event stems from good planning. To plan each event well, Taihu County Converged Media Center has established a main creative team composed of members from the Industry Development Department, Planning and Coordination Department, Collection Department, Editorial Department, New Media Department, and Technical Department. According to the event theme, the team thoroughly understands the organizers' expectations and ideas, combines them with the actual situation in Taihu County, conducts brainstorming sessions, and promptly produces executable plans with high watchability. These plans break away from fixed patterns, strengthen personalized element mining, create characteristic atmospheres, provide immersive scene experiences, and integrate interactions between main and second venues, making events creative, innovative, and attractive. They feature new concepts while remaining highly "down-to-earth," with interlinked segments that fully reflect the significance of hosting each event. Each plan has received praise from organizers and recognition from audiences after implementation.

Whether for unexpected news event live streaming or foreseeable news events and large-scale activities, planning is a critical link. The entire event must be placed on a "large chessboard" with a "whole-chessboard" concept, unified planning, and unified scheduling to achieve optimal allocation of material, human, and financial resources [7], ensuring live streaming effectiveness.

When undertaking relevant live streaming activities, Taihu County Converged Media Center unwaveringly adheres to the principles of being the main media, leading, creating, and anchoring. It establishes a "whole-chessboard" concept, prioritizes politics and targeted guidance, fully leverages its main position and main communication advantages, and integrates mainstream ideology and positive messages throughout the entire process of pre-event planning, mid-event execution, post-event communication, and continuous promotion. From ideological control and establishing event themes to refining program processes and brand creative promotion, the center conducts repeated on-site inspections and consults various parties' opinions before finally determining event themes and live streaming plans. For example, when undertaking the "'Water Town Xuqiao·Crayfish Travel Youyue'—Taihu 'Farmers' Harvest Festival' Series Events 'First Lobster Festival'," the center learned that the local government had its own ideas about the lobster festival's theme and program based on experiences from similar events elsewhere. After participating, the center considered issues from both the local government's perspective and media communication effects, grasping the direction from ideological control, establishing event themes, refining program processes, and brand creative promotion. After several rounds of on-site inspections, repeated government consultations, and soliciting opinions from all parties, the center proposed better ideas for the lobster festival's theme and program, while also suggesting more watchable execution methods from the perspective of live streaming. This established a "whole-chessboard" concept for the event, unified consensus, and formed the best plan, ensuring the "First Lobster Festival" was safe, refined, and efficient. Not only did the live stream achieve 700,000 online clicks on June 20, but related event news was also broadcast on CCTV, promoting a boom in the local crayfish sales market.

3.2 "One-Stop" Service

Nowadays, many live streams conducted by county-level converged media centers are customized for the market and clients. In such cases, a "service" consciousness is crucial. Only by being good at thinking from others' perspectives [8] and designing live streaming segments from the client's viewpoint, customizing the content and format they need most, can the final reputation and response be ensured.

When undertaking events, Taihu Converged Media Center breaks the previous inertia of only doing event live streaming and comprehensively undertakes each event. From early-stage planning, programs, processes, scripts, promotional video production, program preparation and review to later-stage stage construction, atmosphere creation, event hosting, process execution, event live streaming, and post-event network promotion, the center provides "one-stop" services for each event, minimizing the organizer's concerns and ensuring their peace of mind.

3.3 "Integrated" Operation

As the last link in the national four-level communication system, county-level converged media centers are important publicity positions and the backbone of mainstream media. How to open up the "Ren and Du meridians," integrate internal resources, mobilize external forces, and achieve "integrated" operation is one of the key factors for county-level converged media centers to create new live streaming scenarios [9]. In practice, Taihu County Converged Media Center emphasizes "integrated" operation, connecting internal and external resources, aggregating energy, and further expanding the overall effect of events, making them both colorful and impactful.

Internally, various departments enhance their "convergence" level and capabilities through live streaming practice. Major platforms exert precise efforts, operate according to plans, fight as a group, and conduct targeted operations. They carefully plan pre-event promotion and drainage, on-site live streaming, and brand promotion [10], achieving segmented and precise communication, demonstrating the "matrix" communication advantages of converged media, and enhancing event brand credibility and influence.

Externally, the center establishes cooperative relationships with Xinhua News Agency, Anhui Online directing and planning teams, leveraging linkage to expand collaboration fields and plan and promote events from a high starting point. This achieves multi-media communication and all-media presentation, not only enriching communication methods and forms and expanding the center's communication brand influence but also effectively promoting cross-border integration between converged media and various fields. New breakthroughs have been achieved in new technologies and applications for converged media industry development, making the "Converged Media +" industry service brand increasingly prominent [11]. Meanwhile, the center deepens cooperation with self-media, continuing to strengthen collaboration with county self-media in stage construction, atmosphere creation, and other aspects. This not only effectively solves the center's shortages in personnel, equipment, and materials [12] but also fully demonstrates and leverages the advantages of mainstream media's core circle, further consolidating and expanding the center's self-media collaborative circle, laying a foundation for expanding the commercial market circle of the converged media industry.

3.4 "Multi-Scenario" Model

To further enrich event content and innovate activity carriers, Taihu County Converged Media Center seeks novelty and change in event formats, transforming from a single "one-scenario" model to models of "offline + online," "main venue + sub-venue," and "first scene + second scene." Simultaneously, through live streaming, activities at various scenes are connected [13], presenting the most exciting parts to audiences at the main venue and online netizens. Although this multi-scenario approach poses enormous challenges to live streaming, the center's technical team continuously learns and applies new technologies, providing strong technical support for events [14]. The application of this multi-scenario live streaming model, especially in some unexpected major news events or large-scale on-site activities, can maximize the talent and technical advantages of mainstream media, demonstrating professionalism and authority different from ordinary online live streaming [15], and bringing network users an extraordinary viewing experience.

For example, the "Anqing City 2023 Flood Prevention, Emergency Rescue, and Disaster Relief Comprehensive Drill" was held in the Pohu water area of Tianxiangzui Village, Dashi Township. The drill adopted a "scenario preset + actual drill" method, including five major categories of subjects: rapid emergency response, engineering rescue, emergency rescue, evacuation and transfer, and emergency drainage, comprising 10 subjects. Eleven teams with about 200 people participated. The 10 subjects were conducted at 10 different drill locations, with each link needing to be displayed and transitions between each link needing to be tight to truly reflect actual combat status. Faced with the actual situation of many drill subjects, many teams, much equipment, and long drill routes, we adopted a method of setting up separate directing stations, arranging more than a dozen camera positions, and implementing three-dimensional, multi-camera, multi-scene, whole-process, all-directional live streaming from ground to water, mountain areas, and air. This achieved a qualitative breakthrough in live streaming technology and format, realized multi-media communication and all-media presentation, further demonstrated the "matrix" communication advantages of converged media, and presented the best effect for the entire drill, winning high praise from the city and county.

In the rapidly evolving new media landscape, "Live Streaming +" has become a new track for the innovative development of county-level converged media centers. By creating new live streaming scenarios one by one, county-level converged media centers can form greater communication power and influence. Therefore, county-level converged media centers must base themselves on their own advantages, establish a "whole-chessboard" concept, provide "one-stop" services, effectively implement "integrated" operations, and create "multi-scenario" models. Through efforts in various dimensions and gradual realization of high-quality live streaming, they can maximize the advantages of this new communication method of "Live Streaming +," further enhancing the credibility and influence of county-level converged media centers while meeting user and market demands.

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Author Bio: Song Min (1976—), female, from Suzhou, Anhui, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree. She is a senior editor at the News Center of Anhui Radio and Television Station. Her research focuses on agricultural reporting, science and technology reporting, and media convergence.