WHAT SHOULD YOU DO ABOUT THE NEW YOUTUBE LIVE OPTIONS ?
Just a few years back, going “live” on the internet with video was a very expensive proposition.
Yes, it was amazing that you could reach the whole world without the assistance (or geographical requirements) of an expensive transmitter, but it certainly wasn’t within reach of the average Joe or Jane.
I’ve been part of several live broadcasts that have generated considerable profit and I wouldn’t have changed a thing, but I have also sent checks to some technology
partners in the five-figure-region for the “honor” of just a few hours live.
A few years before that, it was just a dream. Those days are gone. Now, anyone with a Webcam and a connection to the Internet can broadcast live to the world thanks to the advent of YouTube.
This reality should be your top YouTube strategy! It’s both a way to grab attention now and create great content for later. Some of my most popular and profitable YouTube videos are the archives of a video that was originally created live.
The Urgency of Live Let’s face it, you probably have a stack of books you intend on reading, a number of Podcast episodes you hope to consume soon, and hundreds of emails in a folder that you are going to read later.
It’s a busy world and the tyranny of urgency all too often forces us to put anything that we can postpone on hold.
The same is true for YouTube videos. On a daily basis I see a video that I plan to come back to but never get around to doing it.
You know the rest of the story.
But live changes everything. If my option for consumption is Tuesday night at 8pm or nothing at all, the chances I’ll be there at 8pm are considerably higher.
Use this to your advantage. Throw in the fact that your audience can consume on pretty much any connected device, and … wow.
A Brief History of YouTube Live
When YouTube first launched “YouTube Live” it was something that only the
TOP YouTube partners could get into. It was one of those “it’s-who-you-know” situations. I had associates with millions and millions of views under their belt who were waiting just to hear back from YouTube about their status; so of course, I never thought I’d get access to the platform so quickly.
When Google introduced Google+, they knew they needed a “killer app” tobring people into the system. This was their Google Hangout brainchild which utilized a great amount of YouTube technology, but wasn’t at all integrated with the platform. Google Hangouts, for the completely uninitiated, is essentially a video “chat room”, where up to ten people can connect together with shared web cam.
Not only was the technology very impressive, but it required no additional software other than a small browser plug-in.
Then, one day, Google announced Google Hangouts On Air - which meant that people could “broadcast” their hangouts using, surprisingly enough, the YouTube engine.
It was, essentially, a back door to broadcasting live on YouTube; and a LOT of marketers quickly embraced this.
A few months after this “back door” option became obvious, YouTube reopened the YouTube Live option to anyone who had 1,000 subscribers or more.
Recently they changed it to 100 subscribers or more. Hangouts have always had no subscriber restrictions
Now, All you need is an account with Google to proceed.
Live With Google Hangouts On Air
Initially, Google Hangouts On Air acted a lot like YouTube Live - but it was more restricted in impact and more hidden from general view.
You couldn't “schedule” an event, you could only broadcast in standard definition and you could tie your broadcasts into your YouTube Channel page. Once you set up a
Google Hangout On Air, you were able to get a direct link that you could
broadcast however you wanted, and an embed code that let you put your video on any web page to which you had access.
The other limit to Hangouts On Air was that they were only available as a public event, so if you only wanted a select group to be able to access your content, there was nothing you could do to stop someone who was looking for your event to find it let alone prevent that unauthorized individual from watching.
Live With YouTube Live
Describing the difference between YouTube Live and Google Hangouts On Air is difficult because not only are the differences very nuanced, they also are changing on a regular basis.
In 2022, I recorded four different training videos,intended for publishing to some of my students and clients, that I had to delete before I could ever publish because of the rapid changes being made at YouTube.
I promise you, whatever I write here will most certainly change in some way before you read it so make sure you register this blogger as described
in the “About this YouTube online tips” section so I can make sure to update you throughout the year.
With that said and done, the basic difference between Hangouts On Air and YouTube Live is simple:
Hangouts On Air looks, feels, and acts like a chatroom, while YouTube Live is more like a traditional broadcasting platform.
Whereas all you needed for Hangouts was a web browser, you needed additional
software for YouTube Live; and where a Hangout was something you just
clicked and started, YouTube Live required scheduling the event ahead of time.
Now …At the time of writing, both Hangouts and YouTube Live Events can be started from the same page at YouTube (http://www.YouTube.com/my_live_events ).
Both have options defining who can access the content, and both let you
schedule either kind of broadcast from the same interface. As we’ve seen historically, Hangouts can still be done from the web browser and Live Events still require additional third-party software.
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