Samsung Galaxy Live Stream Draws Huge Numbers

By Bern Rexer

Samsung broadcast their new Galaxy phone product launch on YouTube and other live streaming services today and the event resulted in over 1 half million concurrent viewers and over ten thousand new subscribers to their YouTube channel. Samsung YouTube Channel.

It is estimated that there were over 1 million visitors to the many live streams broadcast on the internet for the event.

Pre Event Subscriptions

Post Event Subscriptions

The live stream began around 7:15pm EDT and lasted about 1 hour. It was broadcast from New York City.

There was over 460K concurrent viewers on the YouTube channel and over 75K concurrent viewers on CNET broadcast from Livestream.com. Other YouTube channels broadcast the event and Leo LaPort's TWiT TV covered it on Ustream averaging about 2500 concurrent connections.

The same live event URL was available as an archive within an hour after conclusion on Samsungs YouTube channel.

~
UPDATE:
24 hours post event Samsung's YouTube channel shows almost 10% increase at 270K subscribers.

YouTube Changes Live Encoder Settings

By Bern Rexer

<<< UPDATE >>> here are the latest YouTube Live Encoder settings.

YouTube has made notable changes to their recommended live encoding settings. Particularly with the video bitrate increase for each of the four stream resolutions of 240p, 360p, 480p, and 720p - but also adding a 1080p live streaming resolution. These resolutions can be selected by the viewer from the quality cog adjustment on the bottom right of the YouTube player. 

YouTube's addition of a New Platform suggests encoding a single 6Mbps stream which their media servers then transcode to the lower bitrate streams. 

The bitrates have increased considerably as shown from charts below of the old and new suggestions. 

240p increases from 300Kbps to 500Kbps 

360p increases from 600Kbps to 1000Kbps

480p increases from 1000Kbps to 2000Kbps

720p increases from 2400Kbps to 4000Kbps

OLD recommendations:

OLD encoder settings for YouTube live streaming published by YouTube

NEW recommendations:

NEW encoder settings for YouTube live streaming published by YouTube*

Most YouTube accounts do not have the ability to stream live. Those that are enabled may only have a basic feature of the streaming to a single bitrate of 360p. And some have the enhanced live streaming feature to stream to all four bitrates. Furthermore, YouTube has added a 'New Platform' for live streaming which transcodes a single higher bitrate stream to the lower bitrates. 

YouTube live streaming Old and New Platform*

Transcoding a single highest bit rate stream down to the lower bit rates and to mobile devices is a big step forward for YouTube live streaming.  A video on the ytliveops YouTube channel discusses transcoding and the new platform. 

*Published from the YouTube Live Streaming Guide 3/8/2013

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

YouTube now has updated their encoding suggestions to included a recommended bitrate. This is great news as it shows their is flexibility with encoding bitrate. More testing will determine how the YouTube transcoders  handle dynamic bitrates which is offered by many encoders. 

YouTube Live Recommended Encoding Bitrates

YouTube Live Streaming Guide

By Bern Rexer

The YouTube Live Streaming Guide offers insights and instructions for streaming live on YouTube. If you are an enabled partner or just curious about how YouTube live streaming works then browse through this information.
The guide along with this video were updated early 2013.

YouTube Live Events Troubleshooter

By Bern Rexer

A YouTube Live Events Troubleshooter support link is available for viewers of live streaming on YouTube who may be experiencing issues.

The link offers four radio button options - which branch to additional options:

What can we help you with?

• I'm having a playback issue (audio or video)
• I'm seeing an error message
• I'm having a purchasing or billing issue
• I'm having another issue or would like to provide feedback

The next time you watch a live event on YouTube and have streaming issues then try this out. 

The link can be found here:

YouTube Live Events Troubleshooter

Secure Live Streaming on YouTube using Google+ Circles

By Bern Rexer

YouTube offers privacy options for sharing live streaming through Google+ Circles. This can be beneficial if for example your company has an all employee, all hands or town hall style live webcast and you want to limit the stream to only your employees. Or if you want to offer a live stream of a conference, seminar or live concert - but only to a specific audience - such as those who have purchased the event. Then you can add the audience into your G+ Circle and they will get an invitation email to view the stream.

This method is a way to increase the private event outside of the previous 50 person limit. Each viewer however must have a Google+ account.

This is a very powerful and easy option for secure live streaming on YT. It also leads to some powerful viewer metrics.

Here is the YouTube support link that explains Private and Unlisted Videos on YouTube.

The important paragraph in this support selection is:

• If you use your Google+ identity on YouTube, you do not have a 50 person limit on sharing, as private video sharing is done to Google+ circles. There is no limit to the number of circles to which a Google+ user can share. 
• In order to watch a private video, your contacts must already have a YouTube account. If they don't already have an account, they'll first need to sign up for an account. If they do not sign into their account before watching the video, the video will not load.

YouTube allows Fuse to collect donations for Sandy Relief

By Bern Rexer

YouTube allowed Fuse, an MSG Inc company, to collect donations through Google for Non-Profits.

Fuse, a television channel dedicated largely to music, streamed '12 12 12 The Concert for Sandy Relief' live on their Fuse YouTube channel.

What was different about this live stream on YouTube is that Fuse is a 'for profit' company, owned by MSG Inc. Yet, a 'Donate Now' button was available from both the Fuse YouTube channel page as well as the live event watch page http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5cxpRRmCg8.

Donate Now buttons are usually reserved for IRS Certified 501(c)3 organizations through the Google for Non-Profits YouTube partner program.

Donations in the amounts of $10, $25, $50, $100, and $200 were available for the viewer to select from a drop down menu.

If you are a non-profit organization then you are eligible to receive many Partner features from YouTube including Google Checkout for Non-Profits and Live Streaming. Although Fuse is not a non-profit, their YouTube channel streamed the benefit event live and Google allowed donations to be received through Google for non-profits.

Fuse is owned by Madison Square Garden, Inc. As well, Madison Square Garden in New York City is also the venue where the benefit event took place on December 12th, 2012. Fuse redesigned their YouTube channel with the 12.12.12 event branding.

Over 130K concurrent connections were viewing top act musical artists. The live stream also featured 5 bitrate selections with resolutions of 240p up to 1080p.

The YouTube description field included 'All proceeds go to the Robin Hood Relief Effort. '

More information about YouTube for Non-Profits can be found from the below links.

http://checkout.google.com/seller/npo/

http://support.google.com/checkout/sell/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=72721

More information about setting up a non-profit channel can found here:
http://www.youtube.com/t/ngo_tips

http://www.youtube.com/nonprofits

YouTube is getting better

YouTube is getting better

Dear Creator, Soon you’ll see an improved YouTube, one you helped us build. The new site design will help you build a bigger, more connected audience by improving new channel discovery, simplifying subscriptions, and keeping your fans plugged in and aware of your new videos no matter where they are. Over the past seven years, YouTube has grown incredibly fast, driven by you -- your creation, your uploading and your engagement with your fans. Together, we’re changing the face of entertainment, education, news, sports, and media. Last year we launched the Guide on the YouTube homepage, to help transition YouTube from a video-to-video experience, to a place where you're programming the channels of the future. We’re always listening to your feedback on how we could make this experience even better. For example, we’ve heard a lot about how the subscription box could work, and what the home page could show for people who aren’t signed in. You’ve also suggested that we make it easier for people to find your channels, and for your fans to be alerted when you’ve released new videos.  We’ve used your input to improve how people find, watch, and stay connected to the channels they love. Here’s how we’re changing the site to support your channels: The Guide on the YouTube homepage is now more current and makes subscriptions more meaningful. It will eventually appear everywhere on the site, as well as on mobile and other devices, helping your subscribers see all your new uploads no matter where they are. Your video takes center stage on the video viewing page. By moving all the video information and engagement below the video player, the cleaner experience will encourage extended viewing. We are making it easier to subscribe with enhanced channel recommendations. We know change isn’t easy, so we don’t take it lightly. Our experiments show that the new design drives subscriptions and keeps fans better connected to their favorite content. There’s more to come in 2013, including improvements to channels, commenting, and more. As always, we depend on your input to guide our thinking and planning. Let’s keep building the future of video together. Best, The YouTube Creator team

© 2012 YouTube, LLC 901 Cherry Ave, San Bruno, CA 94066 You have received this mandatory email service announcement to update you about important changes to your YouTube product or account.