People watched 36.4 billion hours of live streams in 2025 across the 16 platforms Stream Hatchet tracks, close to the 2021 pandemic peak. That is not a trend. That is a permanent behaviour shift.
Most tourism and hospitality brands still treat live streaming as a job for when things slow down. They never do. Meanwhile the brands going live now are building an audience everyone else will have to pay to reach later.
Here is what to know: which platforms matter, when to go live, and how to make the case inside your business.
tldr; everything you need to know
The platforms that matter in 2026
Live used to mean one or two platforms. Now there are six worth knowing, each with its own crowd. Here is where your attention should go.
YouTube Live
YouTube is where major media outlets, destination campaigns and global conferences go live, and its audience expects quality.
For tourism and hospitality brands, YouTube Live suits property reveals, destination storytelling, and event coverage. The key advantage is longevity: streams are saved and searchable, meaning content keeps working long after you switch off.
💡 36.4 billion hours of live streams were watched in 2025 across the 16 platforms Stream Hatchet tracks
Source: Stream Hatchet, January 2026
Facebook Live
Facebook Live suits community-building, property tours, local events, and anything designed to drive direct bookings from a warm audience.
Facebook Live puts you in front of the audience you have already built on your page, which makes it one of the most commercially useful platforms for hospitality brands.
Instagram Live
Instagram Live is best used for brand moment amplification: a collaboration reveal, a chef takeover, a behind-the-scenes property tour. The audience expects immediacy and personality, not production polish.
The co-hosting feature allows two accounts to appear simultaneously, which makes it ideal for influencer partnerships and cross-brand activations. Go live with a local guide, a winemaker, or a visiting chef and bring both audiences into the same room.
LinkedIn Live
The most underused platform on this list for experience brands, and that is a positioning opportunity.
LinkedIn Live is built for professional audiences. If you are a destination, an operator, or an agency trying to reach corporate travel buyers, government stakeholders, or event organisers, this is where you build credibility. Educational formats outperform everything else here.
TikTok Live
TikTok Live reaches an audience already deep in experience content: travel inspiration, food-led storytelling, destination discovery.
TikTok Live works best for personality-driven content: a day in the life of your property, a local guide takeover, a Q&A ahead of booking season. The platform’s gifting and live shopping features are beginning to gain traction outside Asia. Brands that get in early will have the audience before everyone else has a plan.
Kick
Worth watching, even if it is not a priority for most experience brands yet. Kick is a newer live platform that pays creators 95% of subscription revenue. For brands exploring sponsorship and influencer partnerships in the lifestyle and entertainment space, it is worth having on your radar.
What about Twitter?
Twitter’s Periscope shut down years ago, and its successor live products have not replaced it meaningfully. We recommend giving Twitter a miss for now, so promote your stream on the platforms where your guests already are.
When to go live
Go live when your audience is active on the platform you are using. That sounds obvious. Most brands ignore it. General timing benchmarks:
- Facebook and Instagram: evenings and weekends perform strongest for leisure audiences
- LinkedIn Live: Tuesday to Thursday, mid-morning is the established peak window
- TikTok Live: evenings and weekends, particularly for under-35 audiences
Beyond timing, think about the context that earns an audience:
- Seasonal moments: A pre-summer property reveal, a harvest event, a festival countdown. Tie your stream to something people are already thinking about.
- Decision triggers: A Q&A session timed to peak booking intent, when people are in the planning phase and have questions.
- Community building: Recurring formats like a weekly behind-the-scenes or monthly local guide series build habit and loyalty over time.
Most platforms let you save and republish streams. Use it. A single live session can become a short-form cut, a YouTube upload, a blog embed, and a repurposed email asset. Build the repurposing plan before you press go live.
Why live streaming belongs in your strategy
It builds trust faster than anything else you publish
Live video gives people a reason to stay, comment and ask questions while it happens.
In an industry built on experience, people want to see the real thing before they book it. A polished grid has its place. A live stream of your chef preparing tonight’s special, or your ranger explaining this season’s migration pattern, lands differently.
It moves inventory
Live commerce is the most commercially significant development in the live streaming space right now. Tourism and hospitality are well positioned to use live streams to drive bookings, upsell experiences, and create urgency around limited availability.
A live stream with a time-limited booking offer, a visible countdown, and a direct link is a conversion format, not just a content format.
It gives your community a voice
Your audience wants a say. Live streaming lets them ask questions, influence what they see next, and feel part of your brand’s story. That kind of participation is what turns followers into advocates and advocates into repeat guests.
Comments on a live stream are not just engagement data. They are a signal of intent and affinity.
It is increasingly expected
The question is no longer whether to do this. It is whether you are ahead of your competitors or catching up.
How to approach live streaming as an experience brand
Before you schedule your first stream, work through these five questions:
- Platform first. Where is your audience right now? Match the platform to the audience segment you are targeting, not to personal preference.
- Format clarity. Is this a destination showcase, a product launch, a Q&A, a takeover, or a live commerce event? Know the format before you write a single word.
- Repurposing plan. Map out exactly what happens with the content after it ends. Short-form cuts, highlights, embeds. Build the post-stream plan before you go live.
- Promotion. Your audience will not show up because you scheduled it. Tease it, count it down, use the pre-event tools each platform offers.
- Quality floor. Viewers leave a poor-quality stream fast. Stable internet, clear audio and decent light are non-negotiable. You do not need a production team. You need to not be shooting into a window.
Live streaming is not a broadcast channel. It is a conversation. Brands that approach it with that mindset, particularly in tourism and hospitality where the sale begins with imagination and trust, will get the most from it.
The bottom line
People watched 36.4 billion hours of live streams in 2025 across the 16 platforms Stream Hatchet tracks. The audience is there and the platforms are ready. What is missing is a plan.
Thinking about going live for an event, a launch or a season opener? Tell us what you want to stream and we will plan the shoot, the platform and the follow up. Start your enquiry
From our work · State of Social 2021Nearly 500marketers at Optus Stadium, the biggest year to that point