March 28, 2013

YouTube Rolls Out New Live Streaming Platform to All...

by Bern Rexer

YouTube Rolls Out New Live Streaming Platform to all who are currently enabled to stream live.

**** See update below****

Live Streaming Specialist from the YouTube support blog announced yesterday "We are working on improving the YouTube Live experience and are now excited to roll it out to all accounts that are currently enabled for YouTube Live!"

If you are currently enabled to stream live, like many revenue producing YouTube Partners and non-profits are, you will see the following opt-in message from your Video Manager Live Events section.



As I mentioned some specifics in a previous post - there are considerable benefits of using the new platform. Especially with how YouTube utilizes transcoding. Instead of streaming up to four separate bit rates to the media servers - YouTube now allows a single ingest stream of one higher bitrate, up to 6Mbps - 1080p, which it will then transcodes to lower bitrates including to mobile devices. Overall this saves you upload bandwidth and encoding CPU.



Some other neat functions of the new platform are the use of viewer selected cameras called multi-camera events. Think of watching a live stream of a concert and clicking on the camera behind the drummer. Or maybe watching a presentation and clicking the camera with slides only. I can think of lots of uses for this.


The user selected camera is placed above the player:


The live stream can be 'recorded' on the server and the archive is available very rapidly after the live event concludes. Ideally you maintain the same live event URL for your archive with the comments and viewer count intact.

You can even implement a DVR function in case a viewer arrives late - they can scrub backwards in time to see what they have missed.

YouTube has a lot of ground to cover to catch up with mature live streaming services such as Livestream or Ustream but it's apparent they are making tracks. Some of that ground includes enabling live streaming to more partners - which they say will continue to be offered.

Check out YouTube's Live Streaming Guide for the details.

If you would like to keep up with YouTube live streaming then join:

Google+ Communities

Google+ Communities
Or

YouTube Live Streaming LinkedIn Group

and follow:

@mxpi on Twitter


<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<UPDATE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

On May 15th, 2013 Google announced 'YouTube live streaming expanding to more channels'. Any channel with over 1000 subscriptions would be eligible to apply for the Live Events feature of streaming video live on YouTube. 
The YouTube Live Support group verified the announcement with further instruction of how to apply for live streaming on YouTube

This announcement is historic in the live streaming industry. Any channel with over 1000 subscriptions is probably in the top 10% of all YouTube channels. However those content producers probably distribute to over 80% of viewers. So this announcement effectively opens up live streaming to most content distributors.  This is the announcement that everyone following YouTube live streaming has been waiting for. It opens up the accessibility of a free content delivery network and will shift many over to YouTube live streaming platform - especially for those that already use YouTube for video on demand hosting.
But it also creates an application mechanism - which had not existed before except to non-profits. This gives YouTube the knowledge of who wants to stream live. 
It may also create more on-demand content and more channels. There will be many whose focus is on live streaming content and not necessarily video on demand. Those live producers have never considered YouTube until now. This gives them motivation to create a channel and gain subscribers to become eligible for live streaming. 
However, we are still waiting - if you are eligible, and after you apply it still takes time to actually become enabled - "Once you’ve applied, access to live will be granted gradually.''  


12 comments:

  1. Interesting headline... "For All..." talk about a hook!

    "For all that can already stream live..." Not for everyone that has access to HOA (Hangouts on Air) yet, but good for those that have YouTube Live Stream capabilities for sure! (Ronnie Bincer here)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Ronnie - the new platform is a big step forward and throws a lot more functionality to those previously only enabled with the basic live streaming feature.
      Non-Profits are one group for example who suddenly have more options for live streaming on YouTube.

      Delete
    2. As well I would consider Hangouts on Air a basic live streaming service on YouTube that is available to anyone with a Google+ Profile or +Page and YouTube channel.

      Delete
  2. I'm unable to get this new platform to work properly for my users... just upgraded to wirecast pro and still having reliability issues with mobile devices

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Michael - make sure your YT channel is enabled to stream live - you will see Live Events under your Video Manager on left nav col. Create the event on YT and use rtmp and sream name from 'other' encoder. Plug that into new config of WC - don't use pre config prx of WC.
    Contact me directly if you find that your YT channel is not enabled or have other questions.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Bern, my YT channel isn't enabled and Livestreaming is something I really want to do - is there a way to get it enabled?

      Delete
    2. Hey DeeJay,
      Right now you can use Livestream, Ustream and other services if your YouTube account is not yet enabled. You can also use Google Hangouts on Air which is the basic live streaming feature on YouTube that is enabled for everyone.

      Delete
  4. Well good advices, thanks for sharing !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Why does it take so long for the stream to finally display after it is started in the encoder? I am using Wirecast and it takes over a minute for the stream to appear after I have started it. JustinTV has real-time transcoding of the input source and it beings playing almost immediately.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Because YT transcodes there is added latency.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Youtube is pushing through the limits. It is an impressive idea that is really useful. This gets me more excited on what Youtube will be bringing out to the public next. Thanks for sharing this Bern.

    ReplyDelete