A crucial takeaway from MrBeast’s strategy is the importance of thumbnails and titles in driving CTR. He argues that even the best content will go unnoticed if the title and thumbnail do not entice viewers to click. His team often crafts these elements before even producing the video to ensure maximum engagement. Furthermore, maintaining audience attention throughout the video is key to optimizing AVD and AVP. The first minute must be highly engaging to minimize drop-off, followed by a strong execution phase, and re-engagement techniques around the three-minute mark to keep viewers invested. MrBeast’s editing philosophy ensures there are no dull moments, with each second of content designed to hold attention and lead to a satisfying payoff.

Beyond engagement tactics, the guide also stresses the importance of creativity in the production process. MrBeast describes his team as a “creative first” production company, emphasizing that excitement and authenticity drive their success. His process includes detailed planning, constant filming to capture spontaneous moments, and a strong internal communication structure to maintain efficiency. While his large-scale productions may not be feasible for everyone, his core principles—prioritizing engagement metrics, focusing on viewer retention, and structuring videos for maximum impact—offer valuable lessons for any content creator looking to improve their social media presence.

Read the full article by Larry for LarryJordan HERE

Check out the video below:

“Today I’m walking you through my filming setup and all of the equipment I use to film my YouTube videos! Scroll down for details about every part of this setup with links. For the uninitiated, Plantmas is a series I do in December every year where I post a new video every day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas! It’s my version of vlogmas and it’s always a lot of fun Make sure to turn on notifications so you don’t miss any giveaways, since they are only open for entry for 24 hours after posting ”

-Plant Base Bride

Check out the video on YouTube HERE.

Learn more about YoloBox Pro HERE.

One of the key features of YoloBox is the ability to stream to multiple locations- or CDNs at once. This includes Facebook, YouTube, Twitch and more.

YoloBox also has the capability to monitor the comments or discussion section of each CDN, meaning that a stream can now be completely managed on the tablet itself!

Check out this video review of YoloBox for streaming to Facebook and YouTube from Ballast Media to learn more.

“In this video I’m going to show you one of the easiest ways to stream to multiple destinations like Youtube, Facebook and even a custom RTMP destination all at the same time. Not only that but you can do it all in one device with a multi-camera live stream.”

Ballast Media

Check out the video on YouTube HERE.

Learn more about YoloBox HERE.

YouTube has Removed Stream Now.

As part of YouTube’s long term migration to a more unified live streaming experience, they have removed Stream Now as one of the options.  Using the new YouTube Live Control Center, you can create an event that either has a scheduled start, or has no recorded scheduled start, it will just start when you start streaming. This is their overall replacement for Stream Now.

Unfortunately, we here at LiveU need a bit more time to finish work started to support this change in workflow.  So, in the interim, we will remove the Stream Now button (it doesn’t work as is anyway, so we are only removing something that is confusing our users!) and we will support the full new YouTube workflow in a few weeks.

In the meantime, your alternatives for a YouTube workflow include:

1. Use scheduled events – either created on the Solo portal or created in the YouTube Live Control Center – both of these options still work.

2. Use the Solo destination type of Generic RTMP, to stream to any style YouTube event by copying and pasting the ingress information from the YouTube event to the Generic RTMP designation type.  Note this method also works around other YouTube limits such as the need for 1,000 subscribers.

Then, in a few weeks, we will add back the option to start a new YouTube event with no scheduled start time, the new equivalent of Stream Now.

If you have any questions please contact your LiveU dealer.

This can make troubleshooting difficult, if elements of your stream setup like your stream key have been changed, or just the navigation of your CDN.

Check out some highlights from this article posted by PTZOptics‘ and StreamGeeks’ Paul Richards to Linkedin, to learn a little about troubleshooting your YouTube Live Workflow.

Common Error #1 – The Stream Key Error

There are two ways to live stream on YouTube. First, you can stream using your “Stream Now” panel in the creator studio which is essentially your channels live to the world page. The URL for this live stream is always the same, making it easy to direct your user base to (it looks something like youtube.com/c/YourChannel/live. This stream option is used by new stations and 24/7 broadcasting users because the statistics are attributed to the channel itself. If you want to show up in the “live” YouTube channel which has over 2 million subscribers this is the way to do so.

I have never had an issue live streaming to my channel stream key and we did over 2 months of 24/7 live streaming on our channel (Learn how to set up a 24/7 livestream here). YouTube says the “Stream Now” is still in “BETA” but I have found it to be more stable than pre-scheduled events.

The second way to live stream on YouTube is the ability to schedule a live event. This is my preferred method for a couple of reasons:

1. YouTube creates a nice “scheduled live show” playlist you can display on your channel homepage for all your pre-scheduled events. I love this because the playlist is automated and I don’t have to manually add each event.
2. Once scheduled YouTube gives you an event page you can display with a thumbnail. This page is just like a normal YouTube video and you can embed the event on your webpage.
3. Scheduled Events are the only way to use YouTube’s “Multiple Camera” feature allowing you to send up to 6 different cameras to the same event. I rarely use this feature for our live show but I love the concept of allowing users to choose which camera they want to view.
4. Finally, unlike “live now” all of the views during your live show are attributed to your on-demand recording (live now attributes the views to your channel, which is only important if you plan to use that regularly)

So, as you can see from my list above there are quite a few benefits to pre-scheduled YouTube Live events. BUT, there is a FFMPEG error I am continually running into with pre-scheduled streams that have been in the system for roughly 3 weeks or more. Basically, when you schedule a live stream YouTube assigns a unique stream key to that event. It usually works just fine, but I have found after a few weeks, for no explainable reasons the stream key will no longer initiate a secure stream to YouTube’s server.

How to troubleshoot YouTube Live stream key / FFMPEG Exited error?

When you find this error it’s quite annoying because you are likely just about to start your live show. So, first of all you need to initiate your live stream at least 30-45 minutes before your scheduled time. If your stream initiates properly you have nothing to worry about. But, I have found repeatedly that events scheduled over 1 month in advance usually have to deleted and republished with a new stream key. Therefore it’s a best practice to test the live stream early, before you send out any emails or social media posts linking to your live show. Only send out a link to your pre-scheduled event once you know that your live stream has been established properly.

Check out the entire article HERE.

Check out some highlights from this article from engadget.com below, to learn more.

After receiving positive feedback on chapters during a testing period, the feature will stay on YouTube permanently as of May 28th, YouTube told Engadget in a statement. Chapters are available on the web and in the Android and iOS YouTube apps.

Viewers can click on chapters to jump to a specific part of a video and rewatch video clips —  a more convenient alternative to scrubbing. Chapters are visible at the bottom of the video player and show timestamps from the video description.

Check out the full article to learn more.

Here’s Everything you Need to Know About Preparing for and Creating Streaming Video Content for YouTube Live.

If you find yourself tasked with creating live content for a client or for any work-from-home scenario (or if it’s just something you’re curious about), then YouTube Live is a great free streaming option. Let’s take a look at how to take your content from prerecorded to live in four simple steps.

1. Equipment

Before you hit the button to go live, there are a couple things to consider. First, the built-in camera on your laptop (if you’re using a laptop) is perfectly fine. However, if you want to ensure your stream is high-quality, with good auto-focus and auto-exposure capabilities, it might be worth looking into an external camera designed for streaming. The same goes for audio. There are high-quality microphones that capture professional-grade audio that are simple to set up and totally affordable.

2. Have a Concept and Thumbnail

Obviously, you need to have an idea what you will be doing and how long you plan on doing it. You need to map out this concept before you ever start rolling. Remember, you no longer get multiple takes when you’re going live. Develop an outline for your content and script out as much as you can.

The other very important aspect to consider is creating a thumbnail. YouTube gives creators the ability to “premiere” their stream. So, you can let your audience know ahead of time when you plan on streaming. To do this, create an enticing thumbnail to attract viewers. If you choose to premiere your stream, this gives you even more of a reason to plan out what you’re going to do ahead of time.

Check out the full article on the Ins and Outs of YouTube Streaming from Premium Beat, HERE.

The impact of coronavirus (COVID-19 ) is evolving every day.  Please check back here for regular updates on how YouTube is addressing the situation.

Latest Updates

• [13:30 UTC 24 March 2020] Update on adjusted bandwidth usage: Last week, we temporarily defaulted all videos on YouTube to standard definition in the  European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), and Switzerland (CH). Given the global nature of this crisis, we are expanding that change globally starting today. This update is slowly rolling out, and users can manually adjust the video quality. 

• [18:00 UTC 19 March 2020] I’m a YouTube Creator, how can I help? You’ve asked us how you can help with the evolving COVID-19 situation, and as a YouTube Creator, here’s something you can do now → Spread the word to stop the spread. If you choose to use YouTube to share content urging people to #StayHome, consider videos that are helpful, fun and informational and tag #StayHome and ___ #WithMe (e.g. #StayHome and cook #WithMe). For inspiration, check out our channel. 

• [17:00 UTC 16 March 2020] Protecting our extended workforce and community: We are taking the steps needed to prioritize the well-being of our employees, extended workforce, and the communities where they live, including reducing in-office staffing in certain sites. We will start relying more on technology to help do some of the work normally done by reviewers, which may result in some accidental removal of content that does not violate our policies. This may affect additional types of YouTube user and creator support and reviews, such as applications for the YouTube partner program or responses on social media.

Check out the video on YouTube HERE.

1. Embed your video in multiple places
2. Tweet your videos
3. Post you video to Facebook
4. Syndicate to YouTube
5. Create highlights for long-form content
6. Publish to a channel page
7. Add content to playlists

Please note, this article approaches this topic from a syndication angle. This means getting your content published and discoverable in places that will result in more views. It assumes that your content is already widely accessible regardless of the viewer’s device or connection speed.

1. Embed your video in multiple places

Have a key video that you want to promote? Most services give you an embed code to share that content on your own site, IBM Watson Media included. The common approach can be to embed this on a single web page, usually built to house that content. This is not a bad strategy, with the idea that this page could be built for SEO (search engine optimization) around that video content. With raw text offering context, which will in turn improve its chances to rank higher in search results.

That said, another technique is to broaden where the content can be viewed. So rather than just embedding it on this isolated page, broadcasters can also post it to another page as well. While the site’s home page is one such location, another could be at the front of a directory. For example, a site might archive town halls, and at the front of this archive the most current video or live stream could be shared.

2. Tweet your videos

A great method to help your video content go viral is to bring it to social networks. Ideally, the content should play inline, being watchable directly from the social network. A great social network to utilize this approach on is Twitter. Normal Twitter best practices apply here, from being mindful of the limited characters to utilizing hashtags when sharing your videos.

Once on the network, a successful Tweet can benefit from retweets to spread the word, having your followers share the content for others to see and, hopefully, retweet as well. As a result, popular videos can spur advocates willing to share that content with followers.

3. Post you video to Facebook

Much like sharing on Twitter, content owners will also want to distribute their content via Facebook as well. This covers another huge potential audience to watch your content. In addition it packs with it the same social network benefits, with friends being able to like, comment and share the content. This in turn allows their followers and friends to also be exposed to the content, giving it a greater chance of going viral.

Note that right now Facebook only allows outside video to be shared on the network via Flash. Support for Adobe’s flash will end in 2020, so this will likely not be the case long term. That said, IBM Watson Media will utilize a Flash based version of the player so that audiences can still watch and engage with video on Facebook.

4. Syndicate to YouTube

YouTube has tremendous reach, getting 30 million visitors a day. Consequently, posting content to YouTube can be another way to bolster your audience. As a result, IBM Watson Media allows you to connect your YouTube account to your IBM Watson Media account, making syndication of your videos on YouTube a simple process.

This is done though going to “Integration & Apps” and then navigating to “Connections”. This includes the ability to sync up an account with Slack, Facebook (faster login), Twitter (lets followers know when you are live streaming) and YouTube. Once your YouTube account is connected to your IBM Watson Media account, you can syndicate videos to your YouTube presence. This can include, for example, auto archives of live streams so that viewers there can watch it too.

5. Create highlights for long-form content

Live streams can be long running broadcasts. In fact, as covered in our Video Trends to Look for in 2017 webinar, the average VOD (video on-demand) length on the IBM Watson Media platform grew from 42 minutes in 2015 to 62 minutes in 2016. That’s a 48% increase, attributed to auto archives of live broadcasts.

A great strategy to promote this content is to create highlights. This can be a highly energetic segment during a sports game, to just a very insightful comment during a presentation. These clips, which can be shared on social networks or syndicated to YouTube, should ideally direct viewers to watch the full content.

6. Publish to a channel page

Another method to distribute your videos is to publish them directly to your IBM Watson Media channel pages. These channel pages, which are customizable, gives your audience another way to discover your content. This is because viewers can explore the IBM Watson Media site for content they are interested in by clicking “Watch“. Viewers can then subscribe to your channel to see the latest, while enjoying built-in features like chat, Q&A or the ability to search for relevant content.

7. Add content to playlists

Content owners can increase views for videos by adding them to playlists. This can be done either to simulate a live broadcast, where it’s auto-looping and scheduled, or provided as a collection. In the event of the latter, this can be a way for viewers to find content they are interested in through association. For example, if you are creating a training series and a viewer finds one interesting, they might find additional videos in that series interesting. They can also bookmark this playlist as well, making sure they catch the latest video in the series as new entries come out.

Summary

Content owners have a number of methods at their disposal to boost audience sizes for their video content. Most of these video promotion strategies require a low amount of extra effort as well. That said, even small tasks can add up in time depending on how much content someone is generating. If you or your organization finds yourself strapped for time, an abridged strategy can be to focus on sharing over social networks while also using playlists for the embeds. The latter is nice as it keeps the content grouped together for relevance, while locations where the content is embed will automatically update as new content is added, without having to replace those embed codes.

Check out the full article HERE

YouTube creator Lon Seidman of LonTV operates as a one-man-band when he’s crafting his YouTube videos. While he does practically everything himself — setup, recording, editing, the whole shabang — his videos can still be compared head-to-head with news broadcasts created with larger crews and a bigger budget.

So what’s Seidman’s secret? Besides his clear dedication and skill, Seidman uses the TriCaster® Mini from NewTek, along with the company’s Connect Spark video converter and NDI® technology.

What Prompted Seidman to start using real-time switchers?

Ten years ago, Seidman got into an Amazon-run program that matched brands to product reviewers. He began to do tons of video reviews and decided to upload some of them to YouTube. Later, he saw that he was starting to get some notable traffic from his reviews.

“Before I knew it I was getting a good amount of traffic, subscribers were picking up and then I was doing it more often and I really needed to figure out a way to get my workflow more efficient,” Seidman says. “I decided to start doing real-time switching of the video as I was recording it and that way when I was done, I just kinda straighten the clips together and upload it.”…read more