YouTube announces five new features for livestreams, some of which are currently in testing and others that will roll out later this year.
These features are previewed in a video on YouTube’s Creator Insider channel. They include:
- ‘Go Live Together’
- Live rings
- Cross-channel live redirects
- Uninterrupted split screen viewing
- Live Q&A
Here’s more about each of these features and how they will enhance the live-streaming experience on YouTube.
1. Go Live Together – Collaborative Livestreaming
YouTube is currently running a small pilot test of a feature called Go Live Together.
This is a collaborative streaming feature for mobile devices. Go Live Together allows creators to invite guests to stream with them by sending a link.
The host who creates the livestream can invite and screen their guests before going live to their viewers.
Screenshot from: YouTube.com/CreatorInsider, March 2022.
Note that the guest’s channel and user information will remain hidden during the stream.
As the host of a Go Live Together stream you’ll be able to see streaming analytics in YouTube Studio as you would with any other livestream.
Guests, on the other hand, won’t be able to see the analytics.
Pre-roll and mid-roll ads can appear in a Go Live Together stream, but guests won’t benefit from those either. Ad revenue will be attributed to the host channel.
YouTube will look to expand the number of creators who have access to Go Live Together after the pilot test.
2. Live Rings
YouTube is working to add live rings throughout the platform.
These rings will help viewers identify when a channel is live by adding a ring around a channel’s profile picture.
Live rings are intended to increase discovery and viewership for creator’s livestreams on YouTube.
Screenshot from: YouTube.com/CreatorInsider, March 2022.
Tapping on a profile picture with the live badge ring will direct the viewer to the active livestream.
Live rings can currently be seen on certain screens on mobile devices and will be extended across YouTube later this year.
3. Cross-Channel Live Redirects
The third feature in the works is called cross-channel live redirects.
Today, creators with at least 1000 subscribers can use a feature called live redirect to direct their viewers from a live stream or premiere to another livestream or premiere on their own channel.
However, they can’t send their viewers to a livestream or premiere hosted on another channel.
With the launch of cross-channel live redirects, creators with at least 1000 subscribers, and no active community guideline strikes, will be able to direct their viewers to a livestream or premiere hosted on a different channel.
The channel being redirected to can add channels they want to allow to redirect to them, or to allow all channels to redirect to them.
4. Split-Screen Viewing On Mobile
YouTube is working on offering an uninterrupted view of a livestream by taking a split screen approach with two different viewing experiences for mobile devices.
In the lean in video and live chat experience, the live chat engagement panel will sit to the right of the screen, replacing the live chat overlay from the classic view.
The lean back or collapsed live chat experience allows for the video to be full screen when watching in landscape mode. The chat is then represented by the viewer count in the lower right hand corner.
When the viewer count is clicked it brings the viewer back into the lean in mode.
The lean back experience will show a teaser of key moments in chat, like polls, to make sure the viewer doesn’t miss anything.
YouTube is beginning to roll both of these views out to viewers and they should be fully launched by the end of the week.
5. Live Q&A
Another upcoming feature YouTube is looking to launch in the next few months is live Q&A.
With live Q&A a viewer will be able to submit questions during a livestream based on the creator’s question prompt.
Questions answered by the creator will be temporarily pinned to the top of the live chat, encouraging other viewers to submit their own.
For more on YouTube’s roadmap for new livestreaming features, see the full video below:
