The Weather Channel Live on YouTube Spikes Subscriptions

By Bern Rexer

The Weather Channel always gains viewership when major weather events occur. The television coverage of Hurricane Sandy was no different. But after streaming live on YouTube, not only did their Internet viewership increase but The Weather Channel’s YouTube channel subscription rate spiked significantly.

YouTube featured The Weather Channel’s broadcast coverage, less commercials, on YouTube’s Live event page and promoted the event with a notification after a user visited the YouTube site.

YouTube, owned by Google, continues to gain popularity as a site for viewing live events. Previously this month other YouTube channels gained subscribers by streaming live – most notably the 2012 Presidential Debates which were streamed live by major US newspapers including the New York Times , the Washington Post and the Wall Street Journal. 

Red Bull’s Status event streamed live on YouTube broke a YouTube record of over 8 million concurrent live connections.

According to the stats from SocialBlade and VidStatsX, increased subscription rates may be a direct result of streaming live events. And The Weather Channel's YouTube channel gained thousands of subscriptions during their webcast.

The stats from the YouTube watch page revealed over 7.5 million views during the multi-day live stream.

What is the difference between YouTube Live and Google Hangouts on Air

By Bern Rexer

YouTube Live is a feature enabled for select YouTube Live Streaming channel Partners. Google Hangouts on Air is enabled for anyone with a Google+ account and YouTube channel. 

There are some big difference between the two. As of this post here are some of them:

• A Hangouts on Air (HoA) event is a different appearance and layout of the video - there is a white background, a large main video of who is speaking, up to 9 other G+ members video frames seen on the lower third, and a Google+ bug on the top left corner. 
• Hangouts on Air, if listed as public, can be seen on the YouTube.com/Live home page under 'Live Now' and 'Recently Broadcasted'. 
• Hangouts on Air are not promoted under 'Next 24 hours' or 'Next 7 days'
• HoA stream at lower bitrates and resolution than YouTube Live streaming. 

The two features can be used together and especially useful for remote interviews. The Live Streaming Partner sets up a live event and another G+ member, with a YouTube channel, sets up a separate HoA event. The Live Streaming Partner can take the HoA source and switch into the live stream. Check out HuffPostLive exclusive use of Hangouts on Air.  

Here is the YouTube support description of the two features: 

How can I live stream a Google+ Hangout on my YouTube channel?

Hangouts on Air and YouTube Live are two separate features. Hangouts on Air enables you to live stream your Google+ Hangout on your YouTube channel.  Anyone with a Google+ profile and a YouTube channel in good standing will be able to use Hangouts on Air. 

Visit the Hangouts on Air help center for more information about Google+ Hangouts and Hangouts on Air.

More information about Hangouts on Air can be found here:

http://www.google.com/+/learnmore/hangouts/onair.html

More information about streaming your event live on YouTube can be found by contacting LiveEventsChannel@mxpi.com

Bites and Clips - re purpose your live event

By Bern Rexer

If you produce a live event or podcast - especially if the duration is long. Consider editing out the good stuff into shorter video clips. This creates more content for you and extends the life of your original content. And the more optimized content you have the more audience will find you.

Video Teasers

By Bern Rexer

Video teasers work great for live webcasts and YouTube live events. Consider a short (30 sec or less) video - which can simply be slide with voice over introducing the date and subject (a stealth PR release could be something like ‘stay tuned for big news!’.

This teaser is placed on the YouTube or other video distribution channels that features the live event. The watch page of the teaser includes the description field with URLs and other pertinent info (URL to the actual live event). Pay attention to the title, keyword associations and tags.

The benefit is that the video teaser drives more traffic to the story and the channel for the live event. It gives the audience a hint of something to come and where they need to go to watch it. The teaser is just like a commercial on TV that says to watch an event coming up later.

It is pretty quick to produce these for the value they add. The biggest challenge sometimes is voice over - finding the talent or person in the office who has a good voice. However the teaser can be achieved without voice over – just some music and textual information also works. 

YouTube Live through another partner.

by Bern Rexer

If you are not yet enabled to stream live on YouTube then consider using a partner who is enabled. Collaborate with a partner who has your permission to broadcast your original content.

Your content could be live or previously recorded. The partner who has the YouTube live feature enabled will setup the event with a description. The live event description, just like an uploaded video description, can include links that direct the audience back to your channel, G+, web page etc.

This event will appear on the http://YouTube.com/Live page.

This technique will increase your subscriptions if marketed well.

After the event is created - a YouTube video URL is generated which can be marketed and optimized. You can feature the live event on your channel. Setting up your channel to feature a video from another channel is pretty simple.

Maybe consider producing a short a video tease to promote the live event.

-BR

By Bern Rexer

Live streaming on YouTube will change the way we present our media. Think about the power of Google behind media distribution. I think it will disrupt the streaming media CDN marketplace (and much more).

Remember when YouTube offered video uploads and distribution for free? Many thought that business idea wasn't sound. YouTube probably lost a lot of money initially. But now we see they are the second largest search engine of content (behind Google).

It has been a year since YouTube began offering live streaming (see youtube-is-going-live) and they are limiting who has access to the live feature - but rolling it out incrementally.

Live content on YouTube enables exposure to users who otherwise may not have been able to receive that content. This week the International Olympic Committee and YouTube announced that the London 2012 Olympic Games will be streamed live from the IOC YouTube Channel to users in Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
~
MXPI is enabled to stream live on YouTube and produces or consults for television and live event producers. I've been webcasting for over ten years along with more than a decade of live television experience and true passion for the technology.

So this Blog is about streaming live on YouTube, the technology required, and methods of process along with opinions and best case scenarios.

Hopefully this blog will answer some questions and generate some discussion -
How does the YouTube Live feature work?
Can your YouTube channel benefit from streaming live?
What equipment or services do I need to stream live on YouTube?

Cheers
:o)
-Bern Rexer