After months of experimentation with the option, YouTube is now launching reactions within live streams to all eligible creators, which will provide another way for viewers to engage with live-stream content, highlighting key moments in the playback. On top of expanding creators’ ability to earn on the platform, YouTube is also constantly out to improve the utility and functionality of its playback.

Press That Button

This ‘new’ process is an expansion of ‘Timed Reactions’, which YouTube first launched in March of last year. On that note, Timed Reactions enable users to add an emoji marker to a specific frame in the video playback, which other viewers can then see. Well, now, these elements are coming to live streams as well.

According to YouTube:

“Viewers on iOS can now react to live streams in real-time by tapping the reaction that corresponds to how they are feeling. Both creators and other viewers will see the reactions but they will not be able to see which user left which reaction as reactions are anonymous.”

That could help to increase engagement with your replays, by highlighting the top moments, while also providing more insights into what your viewers are more interested in, based on reactions. YouTube says that all channels that are eligible for live streaming will have reactions on by default, but creators can turn off reactions for any given stream.

This new option will initially only be available on iOS, but YouTube plans to expand live-stream reactions to more devices soon. At the same time, YouTube’s also testing a new analytics card that will show you the top formats watched on other channels, broken down by videos, Shorts, and live. Based on official example shots, the new car is fairly basic, but it will provide some additional insight into what’s working for other channels, which could factor into your planning.

The Wrap

Maybe this will now prompt you to try out Shorts or go live. With the extra knowledge of how other channels are driving audience response, it could be another way to optimize your YouTube performance. YouTube says that it’s also providing more insight over ad insertion within live-stream, via an update to its control panel, while it’s also making posts viewable on tablets, this time starting with Android devices.

Sources

http://bit.ly/3UdJddE