How do you keep a live stream to certain people only?
“This one cannot be public, but we want to stream it.” We hear that many times a year. The options run from free to a whole separate platform, and which one depends on who you are keeping out. Worrying about passers-by stumbling in is a different problem from someone actively trying to get in.
Four approaches and how far each gets you
| Approach | Cost | Keeps out | Does not stop |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unlisted link | free | Search engines and passers-by | The link being forwarded |
| Password protection | Free or very cheap | Casual arrivals | Passwords get forwarded just the same, and you still do not know who watched |
| Meeting software | Depends on the licence | Anyone off the list | Picture quality; it looks like a meeting |
| Sign-in verification on your own platform | quoted per project | Anyone off the list, and everyone on it leaves a record | Someone on the list recording their screen, or lending their login |
When You Don't Need a Platform of Your Own
Weekly internal meetings, club events, school ceremonies: if a forwarded link costs you nothing, do not pay to prevent it. Same when the audience is a few dozen people who all know each other. Guest-list control only pays for itself once there are more people than you can keep track of.
One more simple test: after the event, will anyone ask how many people watched, or who dropped out early? If nobody has to report to anyone, you will probably never open the watch-time statistics.
When the free approach comes back to bite
| Situation | What you need | If it goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Compliance, continuing education, internal certification | A watch-time record for each person | Hours cannot be credited and the training counts for nothing |
| Surgical demonstrations, unreleased products, earnings briefings | Guest-list control, and no third-party platform in the chain | A leak costs far more than the platform |
| Online courses, ticketed talks | One login per person | One forwarded link and a batch of revenue is gone |
| Events with sponsors | A viewing page you lay out yourself | Sponsor visibility swallowed by a public platform's layout |
How our platform works
The registration list goes in beforehand; viewers are checked against it at sign-in, and anyone not on it does not get in. Adding people on the day is fine.
What the platform plays is the switcher output. It does not go out to a public platform and back, so the content never passes through a third party.
Who arrived when and how long they watched is logged per person and exported the moment the event ends, so nobody is cross-checking screenshots or taking a roll call. Details on Custom Streaming Platform.
Tell Us What Kind of Event, and How Big
How sensitive the content is, roughly how many will watch, and whether anyone has to account for hours afterwards. With those three, the right approach is obvious.
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