The Downside of YouTube Live?

by Bern Rexer

I recently replied to a post on a social network asking if there was a downside to YouTube live streaming and if it will succeed. It was a difficult to offer a succinct response - i've always been challenged with brevity! But here is my take...

I've seen nothing but continual growth and overall improvement with YouTube live since it began. But it is not as mature right now as similar services regarding features or technical support. 

I think support is proportional to price but I'd consider Google's philosophy regarding support and product knowledge is to rely on the G+ social network which is a fine strategy. Most Google+ products offer approachable community managers - but not so much with YouTube yet. 

However the YouTube Live Streaming Guide is documented well and the YouTube Live Support Forum is adequate - occasionally a YouTube rep will respond (most replies are from contributors). But direct communication with YouTube live support is probably limited to top tier producers. As well a 'Contact Us - direct email consultation' support link was recently added to the YouTube help guide. Your channel is eligible for support if you have more than 15,000 hours of watch time over the last 90 days. When you click the link, the system automatically provides access based on your viewer analytics. 

Remember that Google, including YouTube, is a MASSIVE and very complex operation. They don't have the human resources to offer a typical support system. They also change so quickly that a typical support system is not practical. 

Support for live streaming services is almost always concerning network issues and connectivity. But since YouTube has now opened up live streaming to most (anyone with at least 100 subscribers) - there has been a noticeable deluge of basic user operation questions. Sure, encoding can be a complex task. Still, if something is not connecting then I'd like to call a network operations center or speak with my account rep - which most other services offer if your paying for it. And unlike other streaming services, YouTube does not share their network infrastructure or who they partner with - which to me offers an idea of assurance. I can only assume that the Google CDN for live streaming is (big?) and continues to build out. 

Anyhow, CDNs have always had a reputation regarding congestion and stability. I'm so far pretty happy with the YouTube's network capability and buffer spinners are only occasional. 

The biggest benefit, and why YouTube live streaming will succeed is because of the G+ network. But also, because of Google's massive infrastructure, resources and subsidy to YouTube it will prevail.  

But that doesn't mean that Ustream, Livestream and others will go out of business. Most producers don't like change - and most viewers don't care about the platform or brand as long as they easily see the video. BTW the guys a Livestream are fantastic regarding service and passion to their work - and are very capable of pivoting for continual service offerings. 

To really understand Google and YouTube live start engaging through a G+ account, build your circles, and follow the YouTube Live Streaming Google+ Community.

Happy Streaming! 
:o)
-B

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


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.''