Livestreaming on YouTube allows influencers to connect and communicate with their audience in real-time, creating a more realistic experience for both parties. YouTube has a long history with livestreaming, constantly adding new features and assets to create a more interactive platform overall.

With 500 hours of footage being uploaded to YouTube every minute worldwide, it is no surprise that livestreaming on this platform has been a popular choice for many creators. In order to learn about livestreaming on YouTube, Netinfluencer discusses its far-reaching history and the five new features available for influencers to use. 

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History of livestreaming on YouTube

YouTube conducted its first livestream back in 2008 at an intuitive event named YouTube Live. The event was broadcasted from San Francisco and Tokyo simultaneously, featuring contributions from some of the platform’s most popular contemporary influencers and celebrities. 

However, this trend did not pick up quickly enough as YouTube only hosted a few other livestreaming for the next few years. Famously, these were a U2 concert in 2009 and an interview with ex-president Barack Obama in 2010. 

By 2013, YouTube was quickly realizing how popular livestreaming could be. Thus, they released simple livestreaming capabilities onto the platform the following year. Since then, YouTube has been working to build a fully-functioning and more immersive livestreaming platform in order to defeat competitors such as Twitch. 

How to livestream on YouTube

Livestreaming on YouTube is extremely simple due to the platform’s accessible and easy-to-navigate interface. In order to access all of YouTube’s livestreaming features, you must first have at least 1,000 subscribers. The platform also allows influencers to livestream on both their mobile devices and with a standard webcam. These processes are described below.

Livestreaming on mobile devices

1. Open the YouTube app on your mobile or tablet.
2. At the bottom of the screen, tap the + icon. Then, tap ‘Go Live’
3. In order to set certain restrictions on your stream, tap ‘More Options’, ‘Show More’, and then tap ‘Next’.
4. Then, tap ‘Go Live’.
5. Once you have completed your livestream, tap ‘Finish’ to completely end the stream. This livestream will then be added to your archive.

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Livestreaming on webcam

1. Sign in to your YouTube account.
2. Click ‘Create’ and then ‘Go Live’
3. On the left-hand side menu, select the ‘Webcam’ icon.
4. Create a title and description for your livestream. You will also be asked to implement any privacy settings you wish to implement on your livestream.
5. Click ‘More Options’ and then choose ‘Advanced Settings’. This will then allow you to take a thumbnail for your livestream.
6. Select ‘Go Live’ to start your livestream.
7. When you have finished, select the ‘End Livestream’ button at the bottom of the screen.

YouTube’s New Livestreaming Features

In March 2022, YouTube announced a selection of new livestreaming features, helping influencers produce more high-quality streams with ease. The platform hopes to create a stronger relationship with YouTubers, listening to their feedback and queries about the existing livestreaming platform.  Some of these features have already begun testing, with hopes that the entire catalog of features will be released later this year. 

1. ‘Go Live Together’

Collaboration is integral to YouTube’s success as an entertainment platform. For many years, influencers have been teaming up to create a plethora of content. This has helped create communities within certain niches, further boosting engagement within particular audiences. The ‘Go Live Together’ feature allows influencers to collaborate during livestreams.

This will allow influencers to send other creators an access link and discuss the proposed livestream before letting them access the chat. The host of a Go Together livestream will be able to see the analytics of that stream in their profile, but these will also not be shared with the guest.  Plus, the guest influencer’s channel will be hidden for better privacy concerns. During the testing period, YouTube has allowed pre-roll and mid-roll ads to occur with the AdSense being delivered solely to the host.

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2. Live Rings

YouTube is also working towards making livestreaming more visible for influencers and audiences. Live Rings are symbols that indicate that an influencer has recently uploaded some form of new content to their channel. A red circle with the word ‘Live’ described at the bottom expresses that the creator is currently live, helping viewers join their stream by simply tapping the influencer’s profile picture. A solitary red circle indicates that the influencer has recently posted a story. Currently, Live Rings are only available on mobile devices and hope to be rolled out to desktops in the future.

3. Multi-Channel Live Redirects

If a Youtube Channel has a minimum of 1,000 subscribers, then they are able to access a feature called Live Redirect. Simply, this allows a YouTuber to guide their audience to another livestream that they have created.

Yet, this current feature does not allow influencers to direct their audience to another creator’s platform. With a new feature known as ‘Cross Channel Live Redirects’, influencers can now encourage their viewers to go to a livestream on another channel. The platform hopes that this will create more engagement for smaller channels and help boost community-building overall. Cross Channel Live Redirects will be available to YouTubers who have over 1,000 subscribers and have not received any strikes on their channel.

4. Uninterrupted Split-Screen Viewing

YouTube is now offering two new options for split-screen viewing exclusively for mobile devices. The ‘Lean In’ option places the live chat and video together side by side. This will replace the original overlay feature that allowed the chat to flow over the top of the live video content. The ‘Lean Back’ option provides a more condensed view of the chat. As such, the video content will play in full screen with only a few popular messages and polls being shown at certain times. 

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5. Live Q&A

The ability for influencers to answer questions from their viewers in real-time is one of the main benefits of livestreaming on a larger scale. With YouTube’s upcoming ‘Live Q & A’ feature, influencers will be able to discuss their fans’ burning questions in a more simplified and controlled way. A creator will be able to post a prompt in the chat to which their viewers will be able to respond with various questions. Once an influencer answers the question, it will be pinned at the top of the live chat for the whole audience to see. 

How To Make Money Livestreaming On YouTube

Livestreaming on YouTube can also bring influencers an array of financial benefits. For example, once your channel is eligible for monetization, you can place a collection of different ads on your livestreams. There are currently three main ad types. Pre-roll ads occur before a livestream starts and can be viewed on both mobile and desktop. Mid-roll ads play at certain points during your stream. These ads can be inputted by the influencer in their personal YouTube Studio account. Finally, display and overlay ads are placed beside your content and can only be seen on desktop. 

Influencers can also receive Super Chats from certain viewers. By purchasing a Super Chat, a viewer can send a personalized message that will appear on the top of the live chat feed. The higher the cost of the Super Chat, the longer the message will appear. Super Chats can also come in the form of Super Stickers, which are just small icons that do not allow a viewer to add a message. It should also be noted that a creator only receives 70% of the income they gain from Super Chats. 

Channel Memberships allow influencers to provide paying viewers with exclusive content in exchange for a small subscription fee. These memberships can vary depending on the creator and can offer a wealth of different content. 

Livestreaming has become an extremely popular outlet for many influencers, allowing their vibrant personalities to shine through. With YouTube’s new livestreaming features, creators can now gain more engagement, helping to boost their overall presence on the platform. To discover more about building better engagement rates on social media, visit our website.