Taking inspiration directly from Twitch, YouTube is adding three new Twitch-like features for livestreamers. This includes setting live chat to sub only, creating chat polls and creating clips from gaming streams.
Create clips of livestreams
Now, livestreaming YouTubers and their viewers can cut clips from livestreams. Clips are great for cutting segments out of a long stream and distributing it to other potential viewers. Creators’ most diehard fans may want to watch their favorite streamers for hours, but people not entrenched in the community likely won’t. So, clips are a way for them to see the highlights of the stream and potentially want to follow the channel. With the new clipping tool, viewers can clip and share attention-grabbing, short pieces of content to bring in more views.
Limiting livestream chat to subs only on YouTube
One of Twitch’s key moderation tools creators can use is limiting chat to subscriber responses only. This means you have to be subscribed to the channel to send a message in the stream’s chat. YouTube is now adopting this feature for its streams. This new feature should make moderating live chats on YouTube much easier for creators and their moderators. For example, if they want to slow down the messages in chat or avoid hecklers, they can now implement this tool.
Polling YouTube live chat
In addition to the sub-only chat mode, you can now create polls in your YouTube livestreams. It’s a great way to engage your audience, especially in massive chats where it’s hard to give attention to everyone’s thoughts. Polls allow chatters to express their feelings and feel like they’re participating and an active part of the conversation. It’s also an easier way for streamers to address a larger number of their viewer’s feedback during a given stream.
Borrowing features from Twitch
It makes sense that YouTube is adopting features from Twitch. While YouTube has a considerable chunk of the livestream market, Twitch is still the reigning platform in the space. With so many streamer-specific features on Twitch, YouTube and other platforms are trying to break into livestreaming by using Twitch’s setup as a blueprint for their platforms. Does this mean one of them will soon overtake Twitch? Not likely, but it’s a step in the right direction for offering more support to streamers.