Started YouTube Live Streaming About 8 Days Ago

I finally built up the courage to start Live Streaming. I heard it's a good way to gain subscribers, so I figured I would test it out. I've only done two Live Streams so far, so I really don't have any results to share. However, I'm pretty happy just to be doing it.

I figured there's not much difference between recording a video and posting it to YouTube than just streaming it live. It actually saves me a little bit of work because I don't have to upload the video afterwards. I just need to remember to download the videos afterwards, so I have them saved locally.

Live Stream From YouTube App vs Webcam

I tested live streaming from my phone using the YouTube app versus live streaming from my webcam and it seems like you only get Standard Definition (SD) from your phone while you get High Definition (HD) if you use the webcam option, even if your webcam supports 4k resolution.

I think it might be possible to get 4k resolution by using the "Stream" option and either a software or hardware encoder, but I haven't looked too much into that option.

For now I've just been using my phone's camera to record in 4k as well and intend to upload that footage as a separate video. I still need to look into the Terms and Conditions and make sure it's allowed.

I think the phone video being 4k is enough of a difference to not run afoul of YouTube's content policy. I think I remember reading something in their terms and conditions about not uploading videos of the same thing over and over again.

First and Second YouTube Live Streams

I haven't been using the option to schedule them in advance, I've just been going live right when I wanted to do it. I figured I didn't need the added pressure of a bunch of people watching me.

I've had a couple of viewers on each live stream. Most of them just pop in and out, I really don't blame them because it's probably pretty boring unless it's one of your interests.

I was pretty surprised that the recording of my first live stream received around 500 views the week following the live stream. I do have 857 subscribers, but 92% of the views came from people who were not subscribed to my channel.

After a few more streams I'll probably start scheduling them in advance to give people time to plan their schedules around the time of the live stream. It will be interesting to see if I get more concurrent views by scheduling in advance or if it will just be the same amount of views.

Last words

Overall, I'm encouraged by the results and I'm going to keep on doing it. I plan on looking into software and hardware encoders as well as services that let you stream to multiple platforms at the same time.

I figured if I'm already doing it on YouTube, I might as well sign up for accounts on other platforms to try to increase my reach. It's only a little bit of extra work and there's no real downside to doing it.

Also, at some point I want to integrate live streaming into my other YouTube channel. That one will be a little bit harder to do just because of the nature of the niche, but I think I'll be able to figure out a way to make it happen.

I'm looking forward to the day where I meet the YouTube Partner program requirements and can have my videos monetized again.