Google-owned YouTube has launched live streaming for its mobile app, with the feature rolling out to select content creators initially.
The feature, which will eventually be expanded to include regular users of the video-sharing website, will place YouTube in direct competition in a suddenly crowded space against Facebook's Live Video and Twitter's Periscope.
The announcement, which was made by YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki at the VidCon conference in Anaheim, expands the company's live streaming capabilities. In a blog post, YouTube boasted that it has been offering live streaming content for users to watch since 2011, back when the service was not yet as widespread as it is now. Earlier this year, the platform also hosted the first-ever 360-degree live stream at the Coachella festival.
The mobile live streaming feature will be integrated into YouTube's mobile map and won't require users to download any other app or sign up for anything. To begin a mobile live stream, users will only have to tap the capture button in the corner of the app, choose or take a picture that will serve as the live stream's thumbnail and then launch the stream while being able to chat with viewers in real time.
Because it is integrated into the mobile app, mobile live streaming will include all the regular features of YouTube videos, including finding them through search or recommendations.
The time it took for YouTube to launch the feature on its mobile app is somewhat surprising given the service's experience in the technology. However, while Facebook's Live Video is able to connect users to their friends, the content creators who have built up YouTube could draw wider audiences from their dedicated followers.
In addition, due to YouTube being video-centric compared to its competitors, it will be able to adjust mobile live streaming to cater to the needs of the creators, whether they be amateurs, professionals or celebrities.
In her presentation at VidCon, Wojcicki focused on the three C's of community, creation and creative ambition. For community, YouTube will roll out new tools for content creators, including the ability to delete the moderation of comments to videos to certain fans. For creation, it created a new Creator Hub that centralizes the service's video tools. And lastly, for creative ambition, it renewed several original series on YouTube Red, including one based on the Step Up franchise.
YouTube, however, is currently in the middle of a dispute launched by a group of artists calling for a reform of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The group, which includes Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Britney Spears, are petitioning against online services that illegally provide copyrighted content to users, with YouTube as their major target.
