How does Live Streaming affect Youtube's algorithm?

[PositivelyBrainwashed]

I just tried out the new Mobile Streaming feature which was pretty cool, as it allowed me to interact with my fans live for the first time. It felt like periscope. But I'm wondering how it might affect my channel's growth and Youtube's algorithm. I went live for 2 hours and got 200 views, which is nowhere near how much views my typical video gets when I promote. I don't want to make it public as it was just a Q/A and not what my typical videos are about, and there's a lot of awkward moments and dead time, so I'm just keeping it unlisted. So on one hand it added an extra 23 hours of watch time, but on the other hand I'm worried Youtube might punish me for having low views.

So overall can live streaming only help me? Or can it negatively affect my channel's growth if I do this too often?

 

[Bridder]

I think live stream overall is really getting stronger in today's social media, FB is pushing it very hard, and YT is trying to catch up to that. So I don't think there are any negatives at all, you can only test and learn.

 

[Pixel & Bracket]

Just watched a video recently with one of the top dogs from YouTube and he mentioned live video being a bigger part of 2017 and beyond. YouTube wants you to go live on their platform over others. I really think that it will be a positive for all channels regardless of view count.

 

[Yachts For Sale]

Such an interesting post - you have 15K subscribers but only 200 watched the live stream. That's probably to be expected.

I would hope that youtube have set up the algorithm to process live stream results differently than results from regular videos.

If (like me) your videos are usually scripted, live streaming requires a different skill set. I find the idea quite intimidating to be honest, but if you get plenty of questions coming in then at least that gives you lots to talk about and you can avoid the long silences. I'm far behind you on number of subscribers, so I won't be trying it any time soon, but I like the idea of doing a live stream from the Monaco Yacht Show in the future if I can build my subscriber base sufficiently.

 

[WhitenightMD]

I think live stream overall is really getting stronger in today's social media, FB is pushing it very hard, and YT is trying to catch up to that. So I don't think there are any negatives at all, you can only test and learn.

I have to agree! I feel YouTube has catching up to do. When someone says "going live" I think majority automatically think Facebook. So I would imagine they wouldn't let it affect someone negatively.

 

[Bridder]

I have to agree! I feel YouTube has catching up to do. When someone says "going live" I think majority automatically think Facebook. So I would imagine they wouldn't let it affect someone negatively.

It's funny though, cos YouTube had live streaming way before Facebook