Multicast
Broadcasting to all quadrants simultaneously — the Federation's planetary emergency broadcast system.
Multicast (or simulcast) in the context of live video streaming refers to the practice of transmitting a single live video signal to multiple destination platforms simultaneously. Rather than manually going live on YouTube, then LinkedIn, then Facebook separately — each requiring its own camera input, encoder setup, and login — a single RTMP (Real-Time Messaging Protocol) stream from your encoder is split and sent to multiple platform endpoints at the same time by a streaming service or encoder that supports multicast. The audience on each platform watches the same live feed, at the same moment, regardless of which platform they're on.
The technical mechanism involves either a hardware encoder or software (OBS, StreamYard, Restream, Switcher Studio) that accepts a single video and audio input from your camera setup and outputs to multiple RTMP endpoints simultaneously. Each endpoint corresponds to a stream key from a different platform — YouTube provides its own key, LinkedIn its own, and so on. The multicast service handles distributing the signal to each destination, handling any format or bitrate adjustments required by individual platforms. Some platforms (notably LinkedIn) have historically restricted third-party multicast tools, though this has changed as live streaming has become more standardized.
For B2B companies, multicasting maximizes the reach and return on investment of live events — webinars, product launches, Q&As, and virtual conferences — without requiring additional effort or additional production resources per platform. Instead of choosing between audiences on different platforms, multicasting serves all of them simultaneously. The practical consideration is that engagement (comments, questions, reactions) happens separately on each platform, requiring either multiple monitors for moderators or a tool that aggregates comments from all platforms into a single unified stream. For companies with audiences distributed across multiple platforms, multicasting is often the most efficient way to maintain consistent presence everywhere without multiplying the production burden.
Related terms
- Livestreaming— 'Engage' — broadcasting live across the quadrant with no opportunity to say 'that's not what I meant.'
- Streaming— Beaming your content directly to viewers — Scotty could have used this instead of the transporter.
- Upload— 'Beam it up' — sending your video into the void, trusting the transporter to deliver it intact.
- Watch Time— The minutes viewers gave your video — the currency platforms use to decide if you deserve more distribution.
- Buffering— Waiting for Gandalf — neither early nor late, but deeply frustrating to the production schedule.