The video-streaming platform YouTube is launching a series of updates for its Live feature. The updates are aimed at making streaming "easier and more accessible."
The most notable update makes YouTube Live an option to use ultra-low-latency. This will reduce the delay between when a streamer takes an action and when the viewer sees it.
In a blog post, YouTube Live product lead Kurt Wilms said that enabling this feature will make it possible for users "to stream video with just a couple seconds of latency, so you’ll be able to answer fan questions and get viewer input during your ‘Let’s Plays’ faster than ever before."
This low-latency option allows users to receive and respond to chat messages within a second or two, as opposed to the several seconds it would previously take. This will allow streamers to have more responsive community interactions, including Q&As and viewer input.
Streamers will also see updates to the chat moderation features, including inline moderation, which allows users to hold the alt/option key on their keyboard to pause the chat feed so they can easily approve or remove messages.
The system will also log which messages the streamer approves.
In addition to that, users can also opt-in to have YouTube automatically hold "potentially inappropriate messages" for review. With this feature turned on, users will have the option to approve, hide or report each message held by the system.
Wilms said the more messages a user reviews, the better the system will become at "identifying the types of messages you want to hold for review."
There is also an improvement to the chat moderation process: shared hidden user allows moderators to use the same hidden users list across comments and live chat
These updates should make streaming from YouTube Live more community-oriented, with faster and cleaner chats.
YouTube's updates also enable gamers to stream the screen of their mobile device with the help of the YouTube app and Apple's ReplayKit. What this means, mobile users can stream games or apps that support ReplayKit. They can also use their mobile device's camera and microphone to add their own face and commentary to what they're streaming.