YouTube to allow live-streaming from its app

The update will allow users to stream a live video right from the YouTube app on their smartphones. The service earlier allowed doing so only through web. Only a few channels including The Young Turks, AIB, Platica Polinesia, SacconeJolys, and Alex Wassabi at VidCon will be able to live stream from the YouTube app for now. There’s no word on when it will be launched for all users.

YouTube app users will have to click on the red capture button in the corner of the app to start live-streaming. YouTube will allow users to select a thumbnail before they start a live video. They can either use an image or click one.

YouTube says the mobile live-streaming is built right in to its app and 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,” Wilms said.

YouTube launched its live-streaming service in 2011. Also, YouTube became the first to ever broadcast a 360-degree live stream during Coachella 2016. “Over 21 million people tuned in to watch Coachella on YouTube this year—almost twice as many as tuned in to watch the season finale of American Idol,” Kurt Wilms said.

With the announcement, YouTube joins the league of the likes of Facebook Meerkat and Periscope, which allow their users to live-stream from smartphone apps. But, YouTube, in a statement to The Verge said its existing infrastructure gives it an advantage over competitors, with streamers and their viewers able to search live broadcasts just as they can search recorded videos.