It's been a busy time for YouTube recently, with the launch of a more material desktop version and a new logo, which also made its way to the Android app. A lot of that was superficial, of course, and the site still functions in pretty much the same way. An increasingly popular feature is live streaming, and Google has just announced some improvements designed to make YouTube Live "faster, easier and more accessible."
In order to make live streaming faster, YouTube now has an ultra low-latency setting. This brings latency down to just a couple of seconds, so you can interact with viewers and answer questions as close to real-time as possible. No additional software or hardware is required to make this work, it's simply a setting you can switch on and off you go.
The key purpose of having a lower latency is for live chat, and there are also some new tools to make those messages easier to moderate. You can now pause the feed easily by pressing the alt/option key, and then remove or approve messages by hovering over them and clicking either way, similar to how it works for comments. The same applies to anyone you've trusted to moderate your feed, and they will now also get access to your hidden user list.
You can also opt-in to use YouTube's automatic tool for holding potentially inappropriate messages, while you'll still get the final say on whether or not they go live. As you review more messages the system should learn to hold only the types you would normally pause for thought over. It's also possible to block certain words or phrases altogether.
One other improvement was mentioned, although it's less relevant for us here. Using Apple's ReplayKit you can now live stream straight from the YouTube app on iPhones and iPads, particularly useful for gaming. The mic and camera can be used to add PIP commentary over the top.
Source: YouTube
PRESS RELEASE
Tuesday, September 5, 2017
Whether it’s solar eclipses, NBA superstars, the hottest music artists, pro gamers,creators donating to charity, or the world’s most famous giraffe, creators use live to connect with fans during the moments that matter. In turn, we are committed to making live content creation easier and more accessible. That’s why we’re excited to share some new improvements launching today.
Real-time interaction
We know how important it is to be able to immediately engage your fans during live streams. Thanks to ultra-low latency, now you can. Enabling ultra low-latency makes it possible to stream video with just a couple seconds of latency, so you’ll be able to answer fan questions and get viewer input during your “Let’s Plays” faster than ever before. It’s easy to set up and doesn’t require any special software or encoders to work.
New tools to make live chat moderation easier
Live chat messages play a key role in creating connections between you and your fans. We want to help you shape the tone of your conversations on YouTube, so we are excited to introduce new chat moderation tools:
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Inline moderation lets you quickly moderate your chat feed by simply pressing and holding the “alt/option” button on your keyboard to pause the chat feed. Once the feed is paused, you can hover over messages to remove or approve them with a single click. Don’t forget you can also delegate a moderator for your live chat, giving people you trust the ability to remove, flag or hide messages.
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Hold potentially inappropriate messages for review By opting-in, chat messages identified by our system will be held from posting on your streams, then you decide whether to approve, hide, or report them (just like you can with comments). Best part is, as you review more messages the system will get better at identifying the types of messages you want to hold for review. If you want to block certain words or phrases, you can do that too.
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Shared hidden user lists lets your moderators use the same hidden users list across comments and live chat. And in the future hides will work in both live chat and comments, regardless of where you take that action.
Stream more easily from iPhone and iPad right to the main YouTube app
Thanks to Apple’s ReplayKit, you can already live stream directly from many popular apps on YouTube Gaming. Now we’re bringing the feature to the main YouTube app so you can live stream your painting from Procreate, your race from Asphalt 8, your MOBA gameplay from Vainglory and more from any app that supports ReplayKit. You’ll also be able to use your phone’s microphone and front-facing camera to add your own video and audio commentary to the stream.
Regardless if you’re streaming your summer vacation shenanigans from your mobile phone or a battle royale of your favorite game from your desktop, we hope these new tools help you do more with YouTube live and deepen the connection with your viewers.
Kurt Wilms, YouTube Live Product Lead
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