After experimenting with the option over the past few months, 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, and highlight key moments in the playback.
The process is an expansion of ’Timed Reactions’, which YouTube first launched in March last year. Timed Reactions enables users to add an emoji marker to a specific frame in the video playback, which other viewers can then see.
Now, they’re coming to live streams as well.
As per 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 insight into what your viewers are most interested in, based on reactions.
YouTube says that all channels that are eligible for live streaming will have reactions turned on by default, but creators can turn off reactions for any given stream.
The option will initially only be available on iOS, but YouTube plans to expand live-stream reactions to more devices soon.
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.
As you can see in this example, the new card is fairly basic, but it will provide some additional insight into what’s working for other channels, which could factor into your planning.
Maybe that’ll prompt you to test out Shorts, or go live. With the additional 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-streams, via an update to its live control panel, while it’s also making posts viewable on tablets, starting with Android devices.
Some new elements to consider within your YouTube planning.