The future of the internet lies in video. By 2020, it’s estimated that 76% of all web traffic will be video. Smartphones are driving a transformation in digital media. Live video is revolutionizing the industry and when it comes to video hosts, YouTube is often seen as the granddaddy of them all.
With millions of users & billions of video views per day, YouTube is a massive video hosting platform, but despite its advantages, there are some disadvantages you should be aware of, when it comes to Live Streaming important Business, Scientific or Academic events.
As almost everyone knows, one of YouTube’s best known features, which make it so popular, is that it is free! Almost everyone knows about YouTube and how it works. You may think that when it comes to live streaming, this popularity would translate to more viewers and you would be right. However, the question for B2B streaming is not ‘how many’ viewers, but the ‘quality & type” of viewer they wish to target.
Since your content is so easily accessible on YouTube, you can build quite a following thanks to YouTube’s millions of subscribers. The major benefit of YouTube Live is as a social media platform – one where you can maximize your audience using features such as comments, likes & subscriptions. While this makes YouTube the premier video platform in terms of social engagement, that is of no use to organizations who need to transmit important informational content to a more targeted, business or academic audience.
For those types of organizations (ones that don’t want every Tom, Dick & Harry tuning in to their Live Broadcast), YouTube Live has some pretty significant downsides.
Not everyone knows that YouTube has the right to re-use content that you broadcast on their platform. This is a serious concern for organizations who stream proprietary information or who wish to retain their licensing rights.
Blocking by schools, government organizations & businesses is another major concern. YouTube is the third most blocked platform worldwide and is often routinely blocked. This makes it a very poor choice for business, scientific & educational events.
YouTube’s indiscriminate advertising is another major downfall for business streamers. Not only is your stream branded by YouTube, if you monetize your content, you may find that your stream plays host to numerous unrelated and even objectionable advertising. It is possible to block some of these ads, but by the time you realize they are showing up it may be too late.
Finally, the major drawback of YouTube Live is the complete lack of tech support. A number of major events which mistakenly chose YouTube because it is free, have had mid-event problems just because YouTube scheduled a hardware upgrade without informing anyone beforehand that this was happening. Just when you most need help there will be absolutely no one available for technical support.
All these reasons make this is much too steep a price to pay, just because you want to Live Stream for free!
So let’s Compare YouTube Live to Other Professional Platforms:
Professional platforms and YouTube differ in serving very different audiences with different purposes for streaming live. While YouTube Live may be a great platform for those who want simple, free, live streaming, professional platforms like MediaStreams are purposed and customised for business broadcasting with more complex, targeted and demanding needs such as…
Custom Branding:
While YouTube does allow you to insert your own brand logo, every video will also prominently feature the YouTube logo, making your broadcast look less than professional. Using their logo means free advertising for them and that’s not something they will give up. Professional platforms on the other hand can white-label your video with your logo only, making your webcast look and feel part of your organization.
Cluttering your screen with unrelated content:
YouTube screens are always cluttered content with unrelated videos they want you to see. Even when you embed a YouTube video in your website, it will continue to display related (and sometimes totally unrelated) videos after your video stops playing. This could include content you don’t like or even video streams from your competition!
Targeting your stream to businesses or schools
Schools and office networks routinely block YouTube to prevent abuse by employees or students – in fact, YouTube is one of the most-blocked websites in the world. So if you intend to reach offices, businesses or schools with your stream, Professional platforms are a much safer option.
Stream live video on your own private screen:
You should know that YouTube has limited privacy features:
- Public videos: Unlisted videos (which don’t show up in search results, but anyone who has the link can watch), and
- Private videos.
Professional streaming platforms on the other hand, offer many more options and features when it comes to setting up your live video stream, including password protection, domain restrictions, geographic restrictions and embedding control using code.
Some other reasons to choose Professional Platforms are…
No Advertising Restrictions:
YouTube does not allow advertising from third parties in videos on its site and insists that all ads must flow through its Google AdSense platform. This may help YouTube’s bottom line but it also restricts your options. Pro platforms like ours are much more flexible and customizable and you can integrate any in-video commercials via a video API which we can set up for you.
Maintaining a Professional Look & Feel:
For businesses, associations and professional groups, appearance and formality are vital. Everyone knows that YouTube is anything but a formal place, being well known for cat videos and the like, which destroy any attempt by your organization to look professional. By contrast, platforms like Mediastreams and Webstream.ca allow you to match your live stream and display screen to your own organization’s image, with customization of your Live Webcast screen, without YouTube logos, clutter, and unrelated content.
Other advanced features of Pro platforms not offered by YouTube include:
- Analytics
- Customized branding control
- Access restrictions via password protection and domain blocking.
- Monetization with pay-per-view screens.
- One-time streaming fees without requiring any monthly subscriptions as offered by many other platforms like IBM Cloud Video (which could charge $999 (or more) per month). For organizations that don’t live stream regularly, paying a hefty monthly fee doesn’t make any sense.
Unlike YouTube, professional Live Streaming platforms like ours are set up for exactly these sorts of uses, making platforms like Mediastreams or Webs4Videos.com, a preferable YouTube Live alternative for businesses and associations, allowing them to stream content directly to custom web screens or even their own corporate website without any of the many downsides of YouTube.
As experts specializing in the Live Event Webcasting industry, we hope this article has offered some insight into why YouTube is not the best choice for professional live streaming.
For more information call 604.970.5055 or Send us an information request by email, or just Visit our Website at: https://mediastreams.ca