YouTube Live Stream: Everything You Need To Know

Discover the importance of YouTube live streaming and learn how you can manage and organize your live streams and how you can monetize them.

Going to a live stream is fun, creative, and demands self-confidence.

And it is not hard to go live unless you have your YouTube channel.

Though there are a few things to know about live streaming, just as much as it is easy to use the opportunity to reach your fans by going live, it also includes some technicalities.

So, if you have been interested in YouTube as a creator and managing your own channel in a more efficient way, you should know those technicalities.

Be ready because we must say that you are in the right spot at the right time. 

Today we are going to tell you everything about YouTube live streaming that you need to know.

Let’s start the journey.

What Is YouTube Live Streaming?

The term ‘Live streaming’ definitely must have given you the hint because it is an era and time of online work and using all online resources. 

And every profession uses this convenience for their benefit.

YouTubers also use this opportunity for their purposes.

With live streaming you can go live for your audience, no matter anywhere you are and at any time, the only things you need would be a stable, good internet connection and your mobile phone; and remember that YouTube Live streaming is an easy and interesting way for the creators to reach their community of fans in real-time. 

Either streaming an event, teaching a class, or hosting a workshop.

YouTube has tools that can help you manage live streams and interact with viewers in real-time.

Confidence in yourself is the key to starting live streaming.

How To Go Live On YouTube

  • To go live on YouTube you should head to your YouTube home screen and then find (in the top right) the video camera icon with a white plus sign.
  • Then surely you will see two options: Upload video or Go live.
  • And you will select ‘Go live’.

But keep in mind that you must have a YouTube channel in order to create live videos.

What Are Your Options For Going Live? 

By now you must know that you can go live anywhere from your mobile device or you can host a live stream from your computer too. 

Use this list to help you see which format and setup would be best for you.

  • Programming format is quite easy and quick through cell phone and webcam.
  • The complexity of setup is also quite easy and there are very low chances of complexity through cell phone and webcam, while on events or quick streaming can cause complexity from medium to higher level.
  • Minimum equipment which you must-have for live streaming: camera with a cell phone, webcam with a computer, and for ‘stream now’ and events: webcam and streaming software.
  • Through cell phone and webcam, you can go live with a few taps on your mobile device either Android or iOS, and the same goes for the computer: you can go live with just a few clicks on your computer.

Live Control Room is new and it is also your new home for live content creation in YouTube Studio that will combine your desktop live streaming tools into a single destination. 

With a brand-new look and feel, you will be able to focus less on the details and spend more time interacting with your fans, which (believe us) is a blessing.

Classic or traditional live tools are obviously also available but they will be going away mid-year, that is why we are going to encourage you to start using Live Control Room in your live creation workflow.

Read the aforementioned specific instructions for each of the option sources, though you may go live. 

Keep in mind that for both mobile and webcam, you can go live right away or even schedule a live stream for later. 

Going ‘Live now’ might be great for sudden and unplanned occasions perhaps for breaking any news, whereas a beforehand decided or scheduled live stream allows you some time to prepare and promote.

For instance, if you want to do a live stream from your mobile phone for the first time. 

And after granting permissions for the YouTube app to access your device, what would you do next?

Yes, you are right!

Just tap ‘Go live’ because you can go live with a few taps from the YouTube app on your smartphone.

Preparing For A Live Stream

Remember when you are preparing for your live stream, you need to keep a balance between planning ahead and being improvisational.

Why?

Because your viewers would want to see your authentic personality.

They can always sense the inauthentic vibe and fakeness in the work of their favorite creator.

So outline a plan always: this can include key messages or calls to action for your audience. 

And having a plan helps your live stream feel organized and structured.

You may invite a co-host too, which is also so much fun and engaging.

You can ask a friend or your fellow creator to join your live stream to keep up the energy of your channel and flow in the streaming and management of your channel.

When there is another person with you online, you do not run out of ideas to talk about, and sometimes it is the best way to handle the situation.

Your co-host can also interact with the audience and read chats, on or off the camera.

So get help and do not hesitate.

You can assign someone to moderate the chat and remove inappropriate messages. 

Or even get a “producer” to call out chats and help you move on from a segment.

That is how you can plan ahead and be improvisational at the same time.

Although live streaming on YouTube is an exciting opportunity to engage with your viewers in a new way and grow your channel in an efficient way, no doubt your fans often find it thrilling to see and interact with their favorite creator in real-time, but before you go live, you need to consider aa few things in your mind:

  • Number 1: What is the goal of your live stream? you should decide what you want to accomplish; like answering questions from viewers or taking them behind the scenes.
  • Number 2: Why does this idea have to be live which you are going to take live? Identify how a live stream may enhance the topic.
  • Number 3: Is this a format you can repeat? Figure out whether this would be part of your regular programming or a one-time event.
  • Number 4: Will viewers also enjoy watching it later? Think about those viewers who may miss your live stream and watch the video-on-demand later.

How To Manage A YouTube Live Stream?

Whatever live event, occasion or even a simple chat you are going to take up to your audience on YouTube live streaming, you should plan it ahead so it will be easy to manage it.

You know that with live chat, you can see how your viewers are reacting to what is happening in your live stream in real-time

So, try out a few ways to manage your live chat to maintain a safe and positive environment for your viewers.

Keeping everything positive and energetic is quite important. 

If you are energetic, your viewers will also feel that energy in them and in the live stream.

You should also assign moderators for live chat sessions to interact with the audience. 

Then remove inappropriate messages and do not forget to hide abusive users. 

Note: Moderators are strongly encouraged for high-traffic events.

Use keywords for blocking: compile blocked words in the Community Settings section.

So live chats matching these words will be blocked. 

You can also block web links from being used in chat messages if you like them.

And you can also slow down the overall chat rate by setting a time limit between chat messages to influence how frequently a user can post.

This limit does not affect the channel owner or moderators and also paid YouTube channel members.

You can also hold a review. 

In this matter, you can have YouTube hold potentially inappropriate live chat messages. 

And if you choose to participate too, live chat messages that the YouTube system identifies will be held for review and you have the final decision whether to show or hide them.

It will be your choice.

Can You Monetize YouTube Live Streams?

First of all, for all creators to monetize their live stream or premiere, their channel needs to be part of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP); creators can have several ways to earn money or generate revenue from live streams and Premieres, for instance from Ads, Super Chat, Super Stickers, and Channel Memberships.

But feature availability varies by country and YouTube is working to expand to more countries, for their users.

Now let us discuss it in a bit more detail.

If your channel is set up to earn money or generate revenue on your videos, you know that you may be eligible to earn revenue on your live streams in two ways; the first one is from ads and the second one is from Super Chat.

For Ads format, there are three types of ads that can appear on your live stream and also archived videos (remember: your default monetization settings apply).

  • The first one is Video Ad: Pre-roll and Bumper ads run before the live stream.
  • The second one is Mid-roll video Ads: Mid-roll ads can be manually inserted during a live stream (desktop-only).
  • The third one is Image Ad: Image ads can run beside or over the content on the desktop.

And now for the Super Chat; it obviously gives you another way to connect with your fans and to generate revenue. 

Through Super Chat, fans can purchase Super Chats in the monetary amount of their choice to get their message highlighted in the live stream.

You can also moderate Super Chat messages the same way you can moderate live chat messages, to remove spam or blocked words.

Tips For Successful YouTube Live Streaming

As we have discussed the pre-planning and managing strategies for the live stream, we are going to tell you a few tips too for making your live stream successful.

  • Always provide value to your viewers and their suggestions and opinions; discuss them too as well as along with your decided topic and agenda for the live streaming.
  • Encourage them to participate, tell them to take part in live chat sessions, ask them to talk about themselves and their agendas, so you can ponder over them with them.
  • The next focus should be on using visual aids for some specific purposes; because without the notes, charts, graphics, or some other form of complementary content to support the length of speech you are giving, your viewers are definitely going to get bored of it and might leave the whole live streaming.
  • If you are planning on using YouTube Live only for Q&As, then you are probably fine to simply sit in front of a laptop webcam. but if you want to do some full-blown presentations like live webinars or virtual speaking engagements, then we highly recommend the use of visual aids. 
  • Do not forget to put the ‘fun part’ in your streaming; without something fun in your live streaming most probably it is going to be either a bit serious or boring, there should be no monotony in the planned things for your streaming.
  • To let your viewers feel included and an important part of your channel, keep asking them for their feedback.
  • It is important that you keep on focusing on your skills to be polished more and more and make your channel efficient, that is why, if you want to improve the quality of your content and increase the size of your audience, it is imperative that you never stop experimenting, try new things and new ideas to attract your audience.

Conclusion

We hope that we were helpful in letting you know and understand the most important things about YouTube live streaming. 

Just keep faith in yourself and follow our guidelines, definitely, the success will be yours.

Good Luck!

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