Live Stream on YouTube: Step-by-Step Guide

Got some awesome video content for your audience? Use this guide to start streaming them on YouTube Live.

When was the last time you watched a YouTube video? I’m sure it’s very recent! If that’s how frequently we use YouTube on our day-to-day basis, imagine reaching out to your audience through this incredible channel.

Doubting the idea?

Here’s a fact:

💡 Did You Know? People around the world love to watch videos so much that just in a day, the total number of videos we all consume is over 5 billion.

Just when you get into YouTube, do you think it is easy to come out of the app? 

I feel you nod a NO, inside your head.

Well, that’s what the stats say as well. When you open YouTube for a quick peek, you tend to drown an average of 40 minutes per session.

As interesting as it sounds, it is also true that you could utilize this nature of viewership for nurturing your business leads.

Wonder how?

I’ve done my research and brought to you some of the coolest ideas on how to effectively use YouTube for live streaming your brand videos. So, yes, let’s get started!

YouTube Live: First Look Into The Technology

Our favorite influencers, stars & mentors coming live on YouTube and interacting with the audience, answering questions in the live comments – we’ve seen them all, right? But YouTube Live as a technology has a bigger picture than what we all already know about the platform. 

A quick history about YouTube Live:

• 2011: YouTube Live was rolled out.
• 2013: Accounts with almost 1000 subscribers were verified to live stream their video content.
• 2017: Live streaming introduced in the YouTube mobile app
• Mid-2017: Subscriber limit was reduced from 10000 to 100 to use live stream.

Moreover, you can use YouTube Live for different types of uses, like lifestyle vlogs, webinars, concerts, interviews, cooking recipes, and more.

And that’s the basic coverage of YouTube Live. Let’s look into the various advantages that you’ll get by streaming your content on YouTube Live.

Perks Of Streaming Videos On YouTube Live

YouTube is undoubtedly a great option to drive more audience to your content, and eventually your brand. But is that all it yields?

There’s more!

1. Real-time interaction: Take up the compliments, respect the criticisms, and laugh at the humorous comments. 

Interacting with your live audience earns you a more authentic position in the online platform, while building a stronger connection with them.

2. Conduct Virtual Events: Gone are the days when you had to empty your pockets to conduct workshops, conferences and webinars. 

YouTube Live gives your audience the best in-person experience of attending a live event.

3. Instant Gratification: ‘Now’ is when people love to get things done. And that’s what people expect from your product/ service – to gratify their excitement, resolve their queries and learn the ‘how-to’s of your skills and products right away.

4. Outperform Your Competitors: There are more than 2.5 billion monthly users in YouTube, but there are only 500 hours of video content uploaded to YouTube. 

Now, live streams make up only a very small percentage of the total content delivered. This is a great chance to make your videos stand out and reach your audience uniquely.

The Amazing Features Of YouTube Live

If you’ve chosen YouTube Live to take your videos to your audience, then it is very important that you are aware of the features you could offer. 

So, I’ve listed below the top features in this platform that could help you promote brand experiences easily.

1.Track Your Live Stream Metrics

Streaming isn’t just enough when it comes to a business. You’ll need to track how the streams perform to understand which content your viewers like and dislike.
This is why YouTube introduced a feature to track the real-time analytics on different devices like mobile, tablet and desktop.

You’ll get to acquire data like:

• Stream health
• Real-time analytics
• Post-stream analytics

2. Create Clips

A sneak peek always evokes viewers’ curiosity. YouTube Live helps you achieve this by taking a short snippet of your stream and turning it into an interesting highlight.

You can publish this as either a standalone video/ reel or add them to the start of your videos. This shall act as an eye-catching element before your video actually starts.

3. Premiere A New Video:

Video premieres are not live streams, rather a pre-recorded content that is uploaded and scheduled to play for your audience at a particular time.

When you set up a premiere, YouTube will create a Watch page for you. Once the premiere ends, the video will be uploaded to this playlist so that viewers can watch it later like other usual uploads.

4. Turn on Live Stream DVR:

People are busy and they may need options to pause, rewind and resume watching their favorite streams. 

YouTube comes with a feature called Digital Video Recording (DVR) that lets viewers control their watch preferences.

But, DVR comes with a restriction to switch back to a particular time in the content.

5. Play Trailers Before Streams

If you are a creator with 1000+ subscribers, you are then eligible to create trailers for your live streams. 

These trailers can be the shortest at 15 mins to longest at 3 mins. You can play them on your page, before the live stream commences.

6. Monetize Your Live Stream

What if I say you can get popular, create income and do things you’re passionate about at the same time? Yes, it is possible when you can use YouTube Live for monetizing your content.

You can simply do this by running ads on your content as an overlay, get sponsorships from other brands, pin/ highlight subscriber chat for which they’ll pay you, and when your users become your channel members.

So, all of these are possible when you become eligible for the YouTube partnership program.

And YouTube has also introduced some of the newest features you can enjoy as a creator.

• ‘Go Live Together’: Co-stream with other creators.
• Live Rings: Display a ring symbol with the word “Live” when you are streaming live.
• Cross-channel live redirects: Sends your viewers from one live stream to another live stream in your channel or on others’.
• Uninterrupted split screen viewing: Your viewers can use either lean back or lean in mode to split their YouTube screen on their mobile. And this will push the engagement (live chat/ comment) pane to the right when in landscape view and to the bottom when in the portrait view.
• Live Q&A: Your viewers can submit answers to your question prompts created during your live streams.

Breaking Down YouTube Live: The Pros & Cons

Although YouTube tops its game in terms of searchability, there are different features and functionalities that might or might not work for creators.

So, here I’ve analyzed the tool and categorized the best and ‘could-be-better’ features for creators like us.

The Best Part Of YouTube Live?

• Since YouTube is owned by Google, YouTube videos appear in the SERPs. This can help you take your brand to a wider range of audience.
• Your viewers can find your videos with a simple search. They get exactly what they search for, easily.
• You can use YouTube Live API to stream videos from your channel while streaming simultaneously on other services.

What Could Be Improved In YouTube Live?

• Have you noticed the ads before a video plays or in the middle? the selection of which content to display is completely in the control of YouTube. You’ll not know what ad may play in between your videos
• While you have to play by the rules on YouTube, the platform has all the rights to promote your content or take it down, when needed.

⚡️ Read Also: Live Streaming Tips & Tricks to Level-Up Your Streams 2024 🌟

The Best Of YouTube Live Content Ideas 

Want Better Ideas For Your YouTube Live?

In my opinion, Brainstorming is the best part of creative work. And getting ideas for your YouTube videos can be fun when you exactly know what your audience wants.

I’d first suggest you to explore YouTube, and find what other channels like yours are creating. And to stand out from the crowd, the important fact is that you’ll need to create something unique that adds value. Otherwise you’ll need to create better than what others are already creating.

• Valuable interviews with guests
• Niche discussions
• Product reviews
• Office Tours
• Behind-the-scenes of your work
• Live gaming sessions
• ASMR videos
• Trending reels
• Product demos

And there are plenty of ideas out there and as you stay consistent with your creation process, you can niche down and become an expert over time.

How to go live on YouTube in four steps

Go Live On YouTube In Just 4 Steps

That’s been a good overview of what YouTube Live is all about. But now, we’ll actually get into the game. In this section, we will cover how to take your videos live on YouTube.

So, here are the steps:

1. Create your channel.

• Sign in to your YouTube account.

(Quick Tip: If you are creating a business channel, create a new google account so you can easily maintain it.)

• Click on your profile avatar in the top-right corner.
• Select ‘My Channel’. Your channel gets created.

2.Enable Live Streaming

Now to live stream your content, you’ll need to enable live streaming on your channel. To do this, follow the below steps:

• Sign in to your YouTube account.
• Click on ‘Create’
• Verify your channel.

You must now wait up to 24 hours to get the live streaming feature enabled in your channel.

3. Choose Broadcast Options

There are 3 ways in which you can live stream your content:

• Mobile: Best for personal vlogs.
• Webcam: Best for seminars or presentations.
• Encoder: Best for high-quality streams.

4. Put Everything To Test & Go Live!

Before you go live, it is better to thoroughly check if your content is good to go. Here is a checklist:

• Camera, Mic or other gear setup
• Video’s Content/Script
• Adherence to YouTube’s guidelines
• Upload speed

While these may sound simple, making no room for mistakes can gain you viewers trust and brand loyalty with ease.

OnTheFly: The One-Stop Platform To Stream Your Youtube Live Videos To Other Platforms 

Creating on YouTube alone would not be wise if you have an audience scattered in other social platforms. Thankfully, OnTheFly resolves this need by distributing your streams to multiple channels within just a few clicks.

Let me help you on how to get started with OnTheFly.

• Create your OnTheFly account.
• Login and add the social channels you focus on.
• Customize your content on the OnTheFly dashboard.
• Perform a pre-check.
• Go live.

Yes, Going live on YouTube and other social platforms at the same time is possible within just 5 mins, with OnTheFly.

Curious to check it out?

Visit OnTheFly’s official website.

Youtube Live: Best Practices And Streaming Tips

While taking your content on YouTube comes with a greater responsibility, you can effortlessly grow your audience by following some important steps.

Here are some important tips you’ll need for your success in live streaming:

• Put efforts into creating valuable content.
• Keep your scripts prepared and practiced.
• Run an internet speed test.
• Multistream to different social platforms
• Invest in the right live streaming equipment.
• Acknowledge your audience.
• Use a chat moderator.
• Start your streams on time, as promised.
• Keep your batteries up.
• Check your live stream every now and then.
• Inspect both audio and video quality.
• Track the performance of your streams.
• Improve, get better every stream.
• Stay consistent in delivering.

That’s A Wrap!

So, here we are. We’ve discussed everything about going live on YouTube. And we also covered all the features you could use to deliver amazing streaming experiences to your viewers. 

Besides, the best part was discovering the newest ways to stream your content apart from YouTube Live. Well, this is surely enough to get started with musing your audience with some terrific content. 

Go ahead, start creating your magic!