Editorial StaffTill now, Twitter’s Periscope and Facebook Live had been people’s only go to option for streaming live videos. But now, Google is also jumped into the field by allowing live streaming on YouTube. However, there is one limit to this option. It is available only for the YouTube users who have 10K plus subscribers. The introduction of the feature came after Google had made this feature available to only a few users including Lewis (Unbox Therapy) and Ben Brown. According to a blog post, Kurt Wilms and Barbara Macdonald (product managers at YouTube) said that the feature will soon be available to a wider audience beyond the 10K mark.
The new live streaming feature can be used through the YouTube app where you first click a cover picture and then start streaming. However, the videos will still be available after you have stopped streaming. The creators will of course have control over privacy, as to who can view the videos. YouTube had been experimenting with different video formats — videos with midroll ads, autoplaying videos etc.
In addition to this, creators will also have access to Super Chat that will enable them to turn on comments on live videos. Super Chat has been pulled out of beta. The viewers can pay creators to keep their comments on top and boost them. The moderation of the chats will be the responsibility of the creators themselves. Super Chat will also act as a motivator for the creators. Another point to be noted is that YouTube will slow the frequency of receiving messages. YouTube has been people’s favorite place to watch live streams since a long time. However, it has been slow to catch up on the mobile devices.
Gollapalli Nithin Kumar
