YouTube’s taking another leaf out of TikTok’s book, with vertical live stream broadcasts now set to be displayed within the Shorts feed in the app.
go live & get discovered in Shorts ✨
— TeamYouTube (@TeamYouTube) February 7, 2024
NEW: now see previews of streams in the Shorts feed & tap to enter a scrollable live feed
creators: stream vertically either on YouTube or w/ streaming software & streams may be eligible for the Shorts feed ????
more: https://t.co/RPKQp4GM3L pic.twitter.com/W9OX9sIHub
As you can see in this example, now, when you’re scrolling through the Shorts feed, you’re also going to be shown previews of in-progress live broadcasts, which you can easily join by tapping on the “Watch Live” button.
To be clear, creators have been able to live stream in vertical format for some time, but now, YouTube’s providing more discovery options by showcasing broadcasts within the Shorts feed.
Which, as noted, is exactly like TikTok, which has proven to be a successful approach in improving live stream engagement in that app.
TikTok is super keen to make live-streaming a bigger deal, after seeing success with streaming in the Chinese version of the app. Western consumers have been less enamored by the same, but the distribution of live-streams in between short video clips is generally not disruptive, and provides more incentive for creators to try it out, at the least.
Let’s just hope that YouTube doesn’t get flooded with those rubbish NPC “thank you for the rose” streamers as a result. Surely that was just a fad, right?
On another front, YouTube has also announced that podcasters can now upload their RSS feed in YouTube Studio, providing another way to distribute podcast content.
When creators connect their podcast feed to the app, YouTube will then generate a static image for each podcast episode, giving people more ways to follow your content, and listen in via the app.
YouTube’s been working to improve its podcast options, in order to lean into the rising use of YouTube as an audio listening platform via YouTube Music. Last year, YouTube also added the capacity to create podcast playlists, as well as podcast analytics to help improve your audio strategy.
It could be a good option to expand your podcast reach, and connect with new audiences via the YouTube app, which will be especially effective for those that already have an established YouTube presence for video content.
