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Written by Mahnoor Sheikh
Published on November 9, 2022
Reading time 13 minutes
While social content formats come and go, livestreaming is tried and true. Virtual events, workshops and webinars on platforms like YouTube Live were crucial during pandemic lockdowns, but do they still resonate now? You bet.
The popularity of livestreams stabilized as the world has opened up, and 37% of consumers think livestreams are the most engaging type of content. Globally in Q1 2022, viewers watched around 20 minutes of video per play.
In this article, you’ll learn why YouTube Live should be a part of your video marketing strategy, how to livestream on the platform and tips for creating engaging live content.
Let’s get started.
YouTube Live is YouTube’s livestreaming feature that enables content creators to interact with their audience in real time via video and chat. Users can watch trending livestreams in their country by clicking on “Live” from the left sidebar on YouTube via desktop.
If your audience has subscribed to your channel, previously watched or liked your content or interacted with content similar to yours, your Live videos and streams may display on your audiences’ YouTube feeds.
Livestreaming presents serious opportunities for creators and your brand’s YouTube marketing strategy. In 2021, YouTube was the most popular platform for livestream ecommerce in the US. And it’s the second most popular website, with more than 2.5 billion monthly active users.
Still not convinced that YouTube Live can expand your reach and brand awareness? Consider these unique ways using YouTube live helps you engage with your audience:
Now that you’re aware of the key benefits of YouTube Live for business, let’s talk about how to live stream on YouTube.
Before you go live, you need to make sure you’ve set up your channel, equipment and met the YouTube livestream requirements. Here are the steps you need to get started:
Before you can dive into YouTube Live, enable livestreaming on your device or devices.
If you’re using a web browser, follow these steps:
If you’re using a mobile device or tablet (Android, iPhone or iPad), follow the steps below:
While you may be excited to jump in and go live, there are a few requirements you’ll have to meet first:
Heads up: If you have under 1,000 subscribers, your mobile livestream viewers may be limited by YouTube. And for users aged 13-17, the default privacy setting is set to Private or Unlisted (for mobile.) This means the stream is not going to show up in search results or recommendations. For users aged 18+, the livestream’s privacy will be set to Public by default.
YouTube lets you livestream in three different ways. Let’s take a look at each one briefly and when to use it.
You’re almost ready to use YouTube Live!
The only thing left to do is to choose a title, description and an attention-getting thumbnail image for your livestream.
Here are some best practices when adding these details to help you reach a bigger audience:
All set and ready to go live? Follow the steps below to start (and end) your livestream on mobile, desktop and encoder.
Here’s how to livestream via an app through iOS ReplayKit—think, drawing or painting pieces of art while livestreaming through an app like Procreate:
Source: YouTube Help
Google Support has more information about livestreaming on YouTube using an encoder.
Your livestream must adhere to YouTube’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Service. If you fail to meet the guidelines, YouTube may restrict your content or remove it from the platform altogether. And a restriction on your livestream may result in a strike on your YouTube channel, which can prevent you from going live for 14 days.
Now that you know how to start a livestream on YouTube, let’s talk about some features and YouTube tools you can use to enhance, promote, analyze and monetize your livestream effectively.
You can direct viewers from your livestream, to livestreams on other channels outside of your own. This opens up new ways to collaborate with other YouTube creators and drive viewers to your other channels.
You need at least 1,000 subscribers to take advantage of this feature, and permission from the channel you want to redirect to via YouTube Studio.
Go Live Together allows creators livestreaming on mobile to invite guests to join their livestream via a link.
This is a feature YouTube is testing out in 2022, and one to keep an eye out for once it rolls out to a larger audience.
Note: While you will have access to streaming analytics for this content, guests will not, nor will they benefit from ad revenue gained during the shared stream.
YouTube allows you to take short snippets from your livestreams and turn them into highlights to post as standalone videos on your YouTube channel.
This makes it easy to repurpose livestream content—especially useful for streams that cover a lot of topics, such as a Q&A session. You can create multiple highlights, each focusing on a specific topic or question.
When you post a highlight on YouTube, it will appear on your channel just like a regular uploaded video.
You can create highlights during or after your livestream. If you want to mark interesting moments while you’re still live, add stream markers to pinpoint the exact minutes. Refer to these markers later to easily create highlights.
A useful feature of YouTube Live is the ability to track the real-time performance of your livestream on all three devices; mobile, tablet and desktop. This enables you to quickly detect and fix any issues, and analyze your engagement.
There are three main types of analytics you can track:
You can also use YouTube Analytics to view an in-depth report on your audience retention, demographics, traffic sources, playback locations and other metrics.
Premiering a video on YouTube lets you watch the video with your audience in real time.
Unlike livestreams, video premieres are not exactly live. They are videos that are uploaded and scheduled to play at a certain time with live chat and other interactive features. So while it’s not live per se, it still creates an interactive experience with your audience in real time.
Here’s how you can premiere a video on YouTube:
Once you’ve set up a premiere, a watch page will be created for your video on your YouTube channel, just like other uploads. Viewers will be able to visit the page to set reminders, leave comments and use Super Chat, if enabled.
Once the premiere is over, the video will stay on your channel as a regular upload.
YouTube’s Digital Video Recording (DVR) feature allows viewers to pause, rewind and continue watching your livestream.
Here’s how to enable DVR on your livestream:
YouTube’s DVR feature also comes with a few limitations, including limitations on how far back in the video you can “rewind,” depending on latency of livestream rights.
You can disable DVR from Advanced Settings if you want viewers to only watch your stream live. Disabling DVR restricts viewers from going back to a specific time in your stream, until the stream ends. However, you can’t disable DVR for webcam or mobile streaming.
As a way to promote your YouTube Live event, show a trailer. Trailer length can range from 15 seconds up to 3 minutes. These play on your channel’s watch page before your Live event to create hype and interest.
To upload a trailer, follow the steps below:
Note: This feature is only available to creators with more than 1000 subscribers and no Community Guideline strikes.
One of the benefits of going live is the ability to make money from your streams. There are several ways you can monetize on YouTube Live:
Note: To enable monetization on YouTube, you need to meet the minimum requirements of the YouTube Partner Program (YPP). Once accepted, you’ll get access to exclusive features, like monetization.
YouTube gives you several options to manage your Live chat to ensure a safe, comfortable environment for all viewers.
Some Live chat features include:
You can also choose whether or not to display a live chat replay alongside your video after your livestream has ended so people can view the conversation.
Another useful feature is adding captions—visual displays of the audio content in your videos. It’s recommended to have live captioning to your videos for users who prefer to listen without sound, but more importantly to be more inclusive of a wider audience.
You can either take advantage of automatic captioning, embed captions in your video or send them to YouTube through supported software.
Now that you know how to set up a YouTube livestream, it’s time for the fun part: brainstorming what you want to stream.
There are dozens of ways to show up on YouTube Live. Here are just a few ideas:
Start by exploring YouTube. What kinds of livestreams are channels similar to yours creating? What interests your audience, and can you adapt these topics into live events?
If you’ve uploaded videos before, look at your YouTube video data for inspiration. Use your top-performing video topics to develop live content topics, ideas and formats. This is especially easy in Sprout’s YouTube Video Performance report, where you can sort your videos by performance and compare data points like views, estimated minutes watched and engagement side by side.
Additionally, using a social listening tool, like Sprout’s, to search for topics and how engaging they are is a powerful way to come up with ideas.
You’re ready to go live and engage with your audience! Here are some final YouTube streaming tips to ensure your livestream is a success.
It’s important to have a reliable internet connection to prevent a broken stream. So, run a speed test before you go live to avoid any issues.
Make sure your webcam, microphone and any other equipment is fully functional before you go live to avoid any embarrassing moments.
Schedule a premiere, upload a trailer and share your link on social to spread the word about your livestream. You can also promote your YouTube channel to attract more visitors to your livestream.
Going Live can be nerve-wracking for even the most confident speakers. To avoid making clumsy mistakes that you’d rather keep off-air, have some notes ready or a script prepared for your stream.
Be careful about sharing personal information during livestreams. Take advantage of YouTube’s safety and moderation features to ensure a safe and comfortable environment for your audience.
Livestreaming is a unique way to engage with your audience on a personal level—regardless of where they are located. From hosting live events to workshops to Q&A sessions to product launches, you can use YouTube Live to grow your business in tons of different ways.
To make the most out of your live videos, check out 10 ways to repurpose your livestreams and use them to create other types of online content.
And if you’re ready to level up your social video strategy, try Sprout’s YouTube management tools free for 30 days.
Start your free Sprout trial
Mahnoor Sheikh
Mahnoor is a freelance writer and the founder of MASH Content. She loves to talk about digital marketing, branding and visual design, and is passionate about tea, kittens and traveling with her husband.
Read all articles by Mahnoor Sheikh
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