Despite its dominance in the online video space, YouTube lags behind Twitter, Facebook and Instagram in terms of mobile live streaming.
Now, however, YouTube has revealed that it’s releasing a new mobile livestreaming feature to any user with over 10,000 subscribers. This follows a very small rollout last year to a limited number of users. The platform also has plans to release the feature to all users at some point in the near future, though it doesn’t mention a specific launch date.
With YouTube’s new livestreaming platform, users are able to input a custom title, enable or disable live chat and send notifications to subscribers. Broadcasts can be done in portrait or landscape (unlike Facebook Live) and messages appear on the screen as fast-moving bubbles. If you’ve used Periscope or Facebook Live in the past, then you’ll know exactly what to expect from YouTube’s new livestreaming service.
Google says it has made minor changes to the service since its initial launch, including slowing down the speed of live chat and “pushing for better streaming quality.” Apart from these fixes, it’s unclear why Google has taken so long to add mobile livestreaming to YouTube especially given how popular Facebook Live has become over the last few months.
Given YouTube’s investment in substantial infrastructure, it’s possible that the service could have an advantage over its competitors when it comes to stability. Last year YouTube launched YouTube Gaming, a live streaming video game platform that aims to compete with Twitch, the current dominant competitor in the space.
Source: YouTube
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