Sao Paulo - "Calling all the cattle! Our
live broadcast is about to begin," Brazilian singer Marilia
Mendonca whooped as she kicked off a recent
three-and-a-half-hour quarantine performance of 'sertanejo'
country music hits from her living room, streamed on YouTube.
The concert, which drew 3.3 million peak concurrent viewers
- a worldwide record for YouTube - was one of the most dramatic
signs yet of how live streaming has gone viral in Brazil as the
coronavirus lockdown has virtually paralyzed Latin America's
most populous country. It was also just the culmination of a
single webcast-filled day that saw everyone from CEOs to
government ministers holding forth from their home offices and
living rooms.
With much of the world stuck at home, YouTube's top 10
most-watched concerts in real time all took place this month -
and seven of those were by Brazilian artists, the Alphabet
Inc-owned platform said. Mendonca led the list,
followed by sertanejo duo Jorge & Mateus, ahead of Andrea
Bocelli's solo Easter concert from an empty Duomo cathedral in
Milan.
"YouTube has seen a very specific phenomenon in Brazil with
musical live streaming, especially for sertanejo," said Sandra
Jimenez, Head of Music Partnerships for YouTube in Latin
America, referring to Brazil's brand of wildly popular
country-style music. "'Lives' are the new prime time for
Brazilians."
The webcasts, locally described by the single English word
"live" - can lead to awkward moments, like when Economy Minister
Paulo Guedes realized during one recent session that his
computer was running out of batteries.
"It's saying 'find another energy source' here," he said.
"Since I don't understand this kind of thing, I'm going to call
my daughter."
In addition to Guedes, Vice President Hamilton Mourao,
central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto, and the chief executives
of the country's top-three private-sector banks – Itau Unibanco
Holding SA, Banco Bradesco SA and Banco
Santander Brasil SA - have participated in at least
three livestream events each in roughly a month of social
isolation.
The Brazilian business-oriented livestream events differ
from those in most other countries in that they include Q&A
sessions and are open to all interested viewers - not just a
bank's clients, media, or some other targeted audience.
BUSINESS NOT AS USUAL
Taking notice of the big virtual crowds at a time when
concert halls, stadiums, and malls are shuttered, companies such
as Brazilian brewer AmBev SA, payments firm StoneCo
Ltd and fashion retailer Lojas Renner SA
have started to sponsor some of the concerts.
Ambev believes 250 million people have already watched
sertanejo 'live' concerts sponsored by the company, which had
long sponsored rodeos and music concerts to promote its brands,
marketing vice president Ricardo Dias said.
CEOs and government officials, connecting using platforms
that include Zoom and Instagram, are using livestreams instead
of business conferences, discussing publicly everything from
business strategy to interest rate policy.
While their viewership numbers come nowhere close to pop
stars like Mendonca, the business-oriented livestreams are
garnering a surprisingly wide audience in a country that lacks
any kind of specialized business cable channel.
A webcast by Guedes in late March has scored 617,000 views,
while Santander Brasil's CEO Sergio Rial has since last week
reached 241,000 views discussing the country's economic outlook.
Zoom Video Communications Inc has seen its share
price rocket as the global userbase for its video chat
application has surged to some 300 million in recent weeks.
It declined to give exact figures for Brazil, but said in an
email that it had seen "exponential" growth of its
business-focused product in the country.
"There has been a substantial increase in the purchase and
deployment of our webinar product," said Abe Smith, head of
international market at Zoom.
Brazilian brokerage XP Inc, one of the first
companies to ramp up the use of 'live' meetings amid the
quarantine, is organizing roughly ten webcasts daily and has had
among its invitees Campos Neto and Kraft Heinz's global
CEO Miguel Patricio. "People are hungry for information, so we
decided to intensify our schedule," XP partner Karel Luketic
said.
Brazil's largest independent investment bank, Banco BTG
Pactual SA, sees live webcasts with experts as a way to lure new
clients. "In a lockdown, it is harder to be in contact with
clients, so 'lives' turned out to be a tool also for attracting
investors," said BTG partner Marcelo Flora.
Perhaps nostalgic for the country's normally backslapping
business culture, in which people have long greeted one another
not just with a handshake but a half-embrace and kisses,
Brazilian business people and politicians seem to have a
bottomless appetite for the live events, which often stretch
into the evening, weekends and holidays.
"There are so many live webcasts going on now that things
are getting blurred," XP's Luketic said.
But is the new live outbreak here to stay?
"Webcasts have proved to be a useful tool, but nothing
replaces meeting people in person," said Credit Suisse's Brazil
spokesman Edgard Dias. The bank's local unit has hosted more
than 80 webcasts in April, most of them with CEOs and CFOs.