YouTube is the undisputed king of online video, but it has yet to run away with the same title when it comes to live streaming. Twitch is still the number one platform for live gaming streams while Facebook allows all 2 billion of its monthly users to stream themselves to all of their friends and family with the press of a button. But today, YouTube is going to begin rolling out several significant updates to give its streaming platform a boost.
In a blog post on Tuesday, YouTube Live product lead Kurt Wilms detailed three ways in which the system is being improved. The first change is focused on enhancing the experience of “Let’s Play” streams (where gamers play through games while interacting with the audience) by allowing streamers to enable ultra low-latency. By lowering the latency even further, viewers will be able to watch streams in close to real time, letting them interact with streamers as they attempt to defeat a difficult boss or solve a tough puzzle.
YouTube is also overhauling the chat moderation tools to make it easier for streamers to weed out the trolls. With inline moderation, streamers can hold down “Alt” or “Option” to pause the chat feed and then hover over a message to approve or remove it with one click. Streamers can also now opt in to have YouTube automatically detect and hold potentially inappropriate messages until they have a chance to approve them.
Finally, YouTube is opening up live streaming of mobile apps on the main YouTube app. As long as the app in question supports Apple’s ReplayKit, you will be able to stream it directly from the YouTube app. Plus, you can use the mic and front-facing camera of your phone to stream commentary at the same time.
For those who have migrated over to YouTube Live for all their live-streaming needs, these will all be welcome changes. For everyone else, it might finally be time to give YouTube Live another chance.
