Official Blog
Can we chat? Hello Super Chat!
Thursday, January 12, 2017
We’re always trying to help creators share their stories, deepen relationships with their fans and succeed. In order to help out with the business part of the equation, over the last few years we’ve developed and released several tools to help creators monetize their videos and live streams in a variety of ways.
Today, we are introducing our latest tool for fans and creators to connect with one another during live streams: Super Chat. Anybody watching a live stream can purchase a Super Chat: a highlighted message in the chat stream that stands out from the crowd to get even more of your favorite creator’s attention. And Super Chats remain pinned to the top of chat for
up to 5 hours
, giving more airtime for your messages.
For creators, this means Super Chat does double duty: keeping their conversations and connections with (super) fans meaningful and lively while also giving creators a new way to make money. We’re excited to start the Super Chat beta today with a few creators, such as
iHasCupquake
,
Great Library (buzzbean11)
and
Alex Wassabi
. And we plan to broadly launch Super Chat on January 31 for creators in 20 countries and viewers in more than 40 countries.
As we welcome a new tool for fans and creators, we bid farewell to an old one: Fan Funding. We launched Fan Funding in 2014 to let viewers make voluntary payments to support creators directly. While we were really excited about Fan Funding, it never achieved widespread usage outside of live streams, where we saw the majority of revenue. Fan Funding will stop accepting new sign-ups today, but can continue to be used on enabled channels until February 28, when it will be discontinued.
We are
super
(get it ;) excited to see how our new creator funding tool keeps the conversation going.
Barbara Macdonald, Product Manager, recently watched "
David S. Pumpkins
."
4K live streaming: Live has never looked so good
Wednesday, November 30, 2016
Back in 2010, we enabled 4K video support for the very first time. Since then, millions of videos have been uploaded at that eye-popping resolution, making YouTube’s the largest library of 4K videos online. Today, we’re proud to say that we’re taking 4K video one step further with the launch of 4K live streaming for both 360-degree videos and standard videos.
Supporting this new format will let creators and partners stream incredibly high-resolution video, and let viewers enjoy the clearest picture possible when watching a live stream on 4K-supported devices. The image quality is just mind-blowing on screens that support it, and in 360 degrees … the clarity can truly transport you. If you want to experience it for yourself, make sure to check out the
Game Awards
tomorrow, December 1 at 9 p.m. EST / 6 p.m. PST on YouTube. The entire show will be live streamed in 4K resolution.
4K video isn’t just a little different from HD video; it’s a giant leap. It shows 8 MILLION pixels total, with an image that has four times more image definition than even 1080p video. What does this mean in real world terms? Live streams look better, show a more detailed, crisper picture, and aren’t as blurry when there’s fast action on screen. Basically, 4K makes everything better to look at. And because we support 4K at up to 60 frames per second, creators can make content that looks silky smooth, and more realistic than ever before.
For creators this means the ability to take advantage of an incredibly clear picture for recorded and now streaming video. It’s the kind of thing that can help to push their hardware (and their talent) to create the most beautiful or just plain crazy-looking images and videos possible. And with 360 4K live streams, the sky is (literally) the limit. Get ready for 360 concert and event streams that look sharper, cleaner, and brighter than ever before. If you want more information on how to stream in 4K, just check out this
Help Center article
.
Today’s an exciting day, and we can’t wait for everyone to experience the beauty of 4K live streams from their favorite creators.
Kurt Wilms, Senior Product Manager, recently watched “
BABY PUG LIVESTREAM!
”
With nearly 2 million concurrent viewers and over 3 million live watch hours, first presidential debate breaks political record
Tuesday, September 27, 2016
Last night's debate marked the largest political live stream of all time and was one of the biggest live streams in YouTube history. This record-breaking political stream garnered nearly 2 million live concurrent viewers and 3 million live watch hours across the six news organizations that streamed the debate on YouTube.
To put these numbers into context, we took a look at 2012 debate viewership on YouTube. Compared to 2012, last night's debate had 14x larger live viewership, 5x higher watch time, and 4x more peak concurrent viewers. And views on all debate-related videos exceeded 88 million.
Of course YouTube is a global community and people in the U.S. weren’t the only ones watching. Here are the top five countries, in descending order, outside of the U.S. that tuned in live:
Canada
Mexico
Argentina
Australia
New Zealand
And remember, today is Voter Registration Day and
YouTube creators
along with
The Rock
,
Conan
,
Bill Maher
, and
The Chainsmokers
want you to
head to the polls and #voteIRL
.
Up next we’ll see you live from the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, October 4.
Kurt Wilms, Product Lead, Live Streaming at YouTube, recently watched "
Fastest Skateboarder Ever!
"
One step closer to reality: introducing 360-degree live streaming and spatial audio on YouTube
Monday, April 18, 2016
Growing up as a kid, my favorite basketball player was Magic Johnson. I wanted nothing more than to be able to watch him play in person, but unfortunately I never got the chance. Whether it’s a sporting event or a concert or even a family gathering, all of us have had the feeling of wanting to be somewhere we couldn’t. But these days, virtual reality and 360-degree video can help get you one step closer to actually being at those places and in those moments. Today, we’re taking immersive video even further with 360-degree live streaming on YouTube.
We first
launched support for 360-degree videos
back in March 2015. From
musicians
to
athletes
to
brands
, creators have done some incredible things with this technology. Now, they’ll be able to do even more to bring fans directly into their world, with 360-degree live streaming. And after years of live streaming Coachella for fans around the world who can’t attend the festival, this year we’re bringing you the festival like never before by live streaming select artist performances in 360 degrees this weekend.
Starting today, we’re also launching spatial audio for on-demand YouTube videos. Just as watching a concert in 360 degrees can give you an unmatched immersive experience, spatial audio allows you to listen along as you do in real life, where depth, distance and intensity all play a role. Try out
this playlist
on your Android device.
To make sure all creators can tell awesome stories with virtual reality, we’ve been working with companies across the industry. We’re working with companies like VideoStitch and Two Big Ears to make their software compatible with 360-degree live streams or spatial audio on YouTube and more will be available soon. We’ll also make 360-degree live streaming and spatial audio technologies available at all
YouTube Space
locations around the globe, so you can take it for a spin.
What excites me most about 360-degree storytelling is that it lets us open up the world's experiences to everyone. Students can now experience news events in the classroom as they unfold. Travelers can experience faraway sites and explorers can deep-sea dive, all without the physical constraints of the real world. And today's kids dreaming of going to a basketball game or a concert can access those experiences firsthand, even if they're far away from the court. What were once limited experiences are now available to anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Are you ready to never miss a moment again?
Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer, recently watched "
Dub360: Stephen Curry pregame warmup routine
."
Get happy tonight with Pharrell and Spike Lee, live from the Apollo Theater
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
You subscribe to
PharrellVEVO
and
iAMOTHER
on YouTube. You’ve watched Pharrell Williams’
“Happy”
a bazillion times. You don’t think you could get any closer to him as a fan.
Challenge accepted.
Tonight
Pharrell Williams
is performing live from the Apollo Theater as part of the American Express Unstaged series, in partnership with VEVO and YouTube. You can watch the performance--directed by Spike Lee--live at 6 p.m. PT on the
American Express YouTube channel
.
What on Earth will you do with yourself in the three hours between now and then? We’ve got you covered. Check out the
trailer
; add a few more views of Pharrell’s euphoric anthem
“Happy”
to the 273 million it’s already collected; dance around with the
many fan tributes
from all over the world; and, catch up on special Unstaged moments from the past like
Kings of Leon
,
Sugarland
, and
Usher
.
Nicola Young, Music Programs Manager, recently watched
"I The Mighty - Speak To Me.”
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