In the ever-evolving digital age that we live in, instant access to information is the new normal. Everything that is live and accessible on-the-go is better and more desirable. Live streaming is the latest buzz in content creation.
Thankfully, platforms like YouTube offer the facility of live streaming to everyone. With the YouTube live streaming feature, you can stream any event or occasion live, easily and with high quality. This is an extremely helpful for those who want to connect to their followers in real-time.
In this post, we explore, in detail, the YouTube live streaming feature and its benefits. We also share a step-by-step guide to streaming your first live video on YouTube. Excited? Let’s go!
YouTube – An Overview
YouTube is the world’s most popular online video sharing platform, with a market share of over 74%. Founded in the year 2005, the platform was soon bought by Google and today it operates as a Google subsidiary. Therefore, like everything else that Google does, YouTube is certainly one of the best in the business for video-sharing & live streaming.
On YouTube, users can upload, view, rate, share, or comment on videos. In addition, they can also subscribe to other users. One of YouTube’s ground-breaking features is the ability to live stream videos on the platform.
Feature & Benefits of YouTube Live Stream
YouTube allows the user to live stream a video right from their mobile phone or a tablet, without the need for any broadcast equipment or special software. The live videos can be viewed and shared instantly anywhere across the world.
Users can comment on the live videos, enabling real-time interaction between the broadcaster and the viewers. The automatic captioning feature of YouTube Live Stream provides spontaneous and accurate captions for live videos in English.
The YouTube videos that are streamed live stay on your channel as long as you do not remove them. With this, they can be accessed and viewed at a later point in time. YouTube’s live stream’s chat replay feature unfolds the chat exactly as in the original, when the video is played at a later point in time.
Signing up on YouTube
Signing up on YouTube is a simple process that takes you a couple of minutes. You can sign-up on YouTube using your existing Google account. If you do not have a Google account, you will have to create one. Once you have signed up on YouTube, you can create and link multiple channels to it, and start sharing videos.
Streaming your First Live Video on YouTube
Streaming a live video on your YouTube channel is even simpler. Simply following the steps below.
- Open the YouTube app on your mobile phone or visit YouTube.com
- Sign in to your account if you are not already signed in.
- Once signed in, click on the ‘Create’ icon on the top right corner of the app/website. (It looks like a bulky camera!)
- Next, select the option ‘Go Live’.
- Boom! You are now live on YouTube and you can live-stream your content.
YouTube Live Stream – Some Tips and Tricks
While YouTube has made live streaming the videos extremely convenient, there are a few things that one needs to keep in mind.
- You need to have a minimum of 1000 subscribers to live stream from your mobile phone. However, live streaming from a desktop or laptop can be done by anyone.
- It may take up to 24 hours to enable your first live stream on YouTube. Once your first live video is up, all your future live videos will go live instantaneously.
- The channel needs to be verified before you can live stream on it. Don’t worry; you just have to follow the prompts that YouTube gives to get your channel verified.
- It is important to follow the YouTube community guidelines and terms of service to have a smooth experience live streaming on YouTube.
- YouTube will ban your channel for posting content that is explicit in nature and does not adhere to its guidelines.
The Bottom Line
YouTube is one of the best platforms to live stream your videos anytime and from anywhere. It is easy to understand and use. In fact, you do not need any special types of equipment or technical expertise to live stream high-quality videos on YouTube and reach millions of viewers. So, what are you waiting for? Try YouTube live stream today and discover the endless opportunities it offers.