YouTube launches mobile livestreaming with AIB, The Young Turks and 3 others

YouTube announced on Friday that its new 'mobile live streaming' feature will be baked right into the core YouTube mobile app. Users will just need to hit the big red capture button in the corner, take or select a photo to use as a thumbnail, and they can broadcast live to fans and chat in near real time.

Image credit- YouTube Creators

In a blog post on the company's Creator Blog, YouTube notes,

We’ve been offering live streaming on YouTube since 2011, before it was cool. Millions of people around the world tuned in to watch the Royal Wedding in 2011. One-sixth of the Internet watched Felix Baumgartner leap from space live on YouTube in 2012.

YouTube also claims to be the first to ever broadcast a 360-degree live stream during Coachella. "Over 21 million people tuned in to watch Coachella on YouTube this year." the blogpost states.

YouTube is launching the feature today at VidCon with five selected publishers- The Young Turks, AIB, Platica Polinesia, SacconeJolys, and Alex Wassabi but promises to roll it out more widely soon.

We are announcing a new chapter in bringing the power of live video to creators everywhere. Soon, we’ll be putting the power of YouTube live streaming in the palm of your hands.

YouTube notes that as mobile live streaming is built right into the YouTube app, it will have all the features regular videos have—"you’ll be able to search for them, find them through recommendations and playlists and protect them from unauthorized uses".

Is YouTube late to the party or just in time?

As the world is making the transition to consuming more video content, other tech giants too have been trying to leverage on the 'livestreaming trend'. Meerkat was among the early successes, before it pivoted for multiple reasons including the competition from Twitter's Periscope.

Facebook too has been offering Live video streaming for select publishers and just two days ago Tumblr announced its own 'Live Video' integration. It will be interesting to see how YouTube's mobile live streaming fares and when it is made available to the public.