Jagadeesh Kumar
Jagadeesh Kumar is Passionate Marketer helping B2B Products to increase traffic and maximize sales through SEO, Content Marketing efforts.
While live streaming has been around for a while now, this particular form of online video become immensely popular. Various platforms like YouTube has recently upped its game to cater to this burgeoning interest in live video.
Undisputedly, YouTube is one of the most dominating platforms on the internet for streaming free online video content. It receives billions of videos that people watch and comment on daily.
As per Neil Patel, leading online marketer and influencer, live streaming content is watched by 63% of people aged 18-34. It will account for 82% of all internet traffic by 2020.
However, one thing against YouTube is that it is a Google product, and everyone knows Google can update its guidelines without any prior indication.
This has prompted several unhappy users to look for YouTube live-streaming alternatives to provide them the option to get free video hosting and similar content.
An Honest Opinion about YouTube Live Streaming
YouTube is an excellent platform to upload, view, and share videos. YouTube added the live streaming feature in 2008. Live streaming via YouTube is very easy to use. First of all, you need to verify your channel. For this, you need to provide your phone number. Once you verify it, you can start streaming and uploading videos longer than 15 minutes.
As far as the two main methods of live streaming are concerned, they are as follows:
a. Stream now
Steam is now the first method currently employed in open beta testing. This streaming method involves:
b. Stream later
The second method of live streaming is known as “events.” It involves scheduling a stream shortly. This method enables you to employ your webcam to broadcast through “Hangouts on Air.”
However, you will not be able to live stream on YouTube if you receive either of these warnings.
Overall, the best feature of YouTube is that it’s free and trendy. Almost everyone has heard of and used YouTube at least once. When it comes to live streaming, this popularity only increases viewership. So whether it is music, sports, or gaming, a live video streaming service by YouTube enables excellent live video that is valuable both in the moment and in the future.
Your content reaches a large audience quickly, and you can easily build followers thanks to the subscribers. YouTube has some excellent chat features. It even provides a content creator to generate more revenue by enabling a commenter to push his comment to the top. This makes YouTube a premier live video streaming platform for delivering social engagement.
YouTube live streaming comes with lots of benefits. Most of them are social. The ideal use for YouTube Live Streaming is when you’re trying to maximize the target audience reach. Users can quickly post comments, like, subscribe, and watch channels that enable effortless interaction. YouTube Live Streaming is one of the best choices for B2C (Business-to-Consumer) users.
However, as big as it may be, YouTube is also a victim of its own success. The main disadvantages of a website like YouTube are:
Apart from this, you might perceive watching videos on YouTube does not give out much information about yourself; however, you’re highly mistaken.
You’ll be shocked to know the amount of data Google employs to understand who you are and what you like or dislike.
It is, therefore, time for you to take your privacy back and look for a conservative alternative to YouTube that does not collect your data.
These are the best 9 YouTube Live streaming alternatives with features and functionalities that adapt to your video streaming needs more than YouTube.
Vimeo is a popular YouTube live streaming alternative that concentrates on quality content rather than quantity. Established in 2004, Vimeo was the first site to support high-definition streaming video. The site consists of many powerful video tools that aid you in curating better videos and driving engagements.
The only downside of this tool is you get a limited amount of uploads weekly, i.e., 500 MB. If you want more space, you need to pay an extra price somewhere between $7 to $75. You can get 5 GB of uploads weekly for $7 per month.
Vimeo is an excellent option for external streaming as an alternative to YouTube streaming. It is an ad-free platform that delivers high-definition videos across multiple devices.
Its key features include:
Formerly called UStream, IBM Cloud Video was founded in 2007 to connect military service members with family. IBM purchased UStream in 2016.
IBM Live Video is essentially a live streaming company. However, it also hosts VOD (Video On Demand) files recorded from previous live streams.
You can avail of the basic streaming accounts for free, with advertising supporting IBM Cloud Video. When you opt for paid accounts, it eliminates advertising and gives you access to advanced features.
Its Enterprise accounts enable you to get fully customized branding. It even offers analytics, multiple live channels, content syndication, etc.
IBM provides pro and enterprise users phone support and forum-based support for free users.
IBM Cloud Video offers both a customer-grade and an Enterprise streaming solution. This platform also provides an exclusive Enterprise Content Delivery Network. Its inclusivity justifies the high price tag.
Its key features include:
With offices in London and San Francisco, Dacast is one of the best YouTube live alternatives available online. It is a fully-featured, self-service solution that can be employed for both live streaming and VOD hosting. In 2020, Dacast made it into the final list of Streaming Media Reader’s Choice Awards for Best Small/Medium Business Video Platform. It was in the year 2019 when Dacast acquired the vzaar platform, thus, expanding its all-inclusive OTT solution.
Dacast provides comprehensive live streaming and secure video hosting services, making it one of the best YouTube live streaming alternatives. Users can embed videos on their websites while maintaining 100% content control. Dacast provides password protection, an analytics dashboard, an integrated paywall, referrer restriction, etc., as its essential features.
Dacast is the perfect YouTube alternative. It provides high-end features not present on YouTube with competitive pricing plans, including white-label service on all plans, ad-free broadcasting, and top-tier CDN delivery. You even get 24x7 phone support when you opt for premium and enterprise-grade plans.
Moreover, the Dacast platform distinguishes itself from other OVPs in its user-friendliness and accessibility. Even new broadcasters can create a new live channel effortlessly and commence a new live stream within minutes. These make Dacast one of the most preferred YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives.
Its key features include:
Vplayed is a 100% customizable Software-as-a-Product company that emphasizes a single-time cost model.
Apart from their different monetization models, the company also offers HTML / HLS player, and video-on-demand services in a secured DRM platform. It is one of the best YouTube alternatives available online.
The one thing that showcases how Vplayed is one step ahead of YouTube is how the company offers different unbiased monetization options for small and big video creators.
Its video content management system has been designed to integrate into platforms of any service with absolutely zero-buffer.
It plays video and audio files of any format to stream them in rich quality and broadcast with zero latency. All of this makes Vplayed one of the most preferred YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives.
Vplayed is a SaaP-based OTT streaming platform that allows distributors, broadcasters, and content owners to launch video and audio streaming platforms to stream video/audio over the web, mobile, and smart TV.
Its key features include:
For pricing details, contact the sales team at Vplayed from here.
Originally founded in 2017, Livestream is one of the largest live streaming companies in the world. It was in the year 2017 when Vimeo acquired the Livestream platform.
Since then, Livestream has provided both streaming and video hosting services. Its basic functionality includes analytics, a video management platform, privacy controls, etc. You need to purchase a Premium plan to access basic live streaming functionality.
Vimeo provides tech support through email for video hosting services. This feature makes Livestream one of the most desired YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives.
If you wish to avail of live support, you must purchase a Premium or Vimeo OTT custom plan.
The thing that sets Vimeo Livestream as a perfect alternative to YouTube is it offers a range of proprietary hardware and software for live streaming. These offerings integrate seamlessly with their platform, thereby minimizing the fuss of executing a live streaming program from the hardware up.
Its key features include:
When it comes to video hosting, Facebook offers both “Live” and “Watch,” which enables businesses and organizations to host on-demand content or broadcast live content.
With the help of Facebook Live, you can host live streams on your personal profiles, pages, and groups. This makes Facebook Live the best YouTube live alternative. The only problem is on-demand “Facebook Watch” videos can only be published through Facebook Pages.
Since it’s a free platform, Facebook has put certain restrictions in terms of video ownership, time constraint on videos, monetizations, etc.
Apart from these few technical restrictions, live streaming with Facebook Live is valuable for staying connected with existing audiences. This makes Facebook Live one of the most preferred YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives.
Facebook is a social media platform that consists of tools for uploading and sharing videos to online communities.
Its key features include:
Bambuser was introduced in 2007. The company started marketing to the business live streaming industry in 2014. Due to this, there has been a sudden growth on the site as a live streaming platform and a media company. In general, any businessman can leverage the power of live streaming with the aid of Bambuser and get well-known worldwide.
Bambuser allows anyone, whether developers or organizations, to quickly and effortlessly take advantage of mobile and online live video power. This trait makes it an excellent YouTube alternative to effectively and seamlessly create, manage, and publish video content to engage audiences in real-time.
Whenever you go live, latency is perhaps one of the biggest problems. There’s no point in going live if your video lags a lot. Bambuser provides a solution to the latency problem. It offers a high-speed upload rate, enabling you to broadcast live videos in HD.
Both professionals and casual users can employ Bambuser. However, this live streaming site is not restricted to smartphones. You can quickly go live from your desktop if you have a webcam and a microphone.
Like most live streaming websites, Bambuser enables you to save the live video after it finishes. You can even edit the video before saving it for the public. These features make Bambuser one of the most preferred YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives.
The thing that sets Bambuser as a perfect alternative to YouTube is that it offers businesses the opportunity to leverage the power of mobile live video and harness that capability into effective and cost-efficient processes and outputs. From a broadcasting app to a comprehensive set of developer tools for live video broadcasting and playback, Bambuser offers the perfect solution to meet all your live video needs at a time when live video solutions are in high demand.
Its key features include:
Twitch is a live streaming app that can even be utilized as a social media platform. It was founded nine years ago as Justin.tv. Today, Justin.tv is no longer to be found. They have spun off the original platform and sold it to Amazon. On Twitch, viewers can subscribe to their favorite streamers to get alerted when the streamers go live.
The thing that makes Twitch a great YouTube alternative is the fact that it’s a consumer-grade platform designed for independent streamers. It’s popular among Esport (video game) streamers. It provides an excellent platform for reaching the target audience in the gaming, fantasy, or tech industry.
Twitch provides a wide array of live streaming experiences from community members across the globe, connecting streamers with the help of shared interests and passions.
Its key features include:
Twitch does not charge a single penny from content providers to use the platform. However, it enables them to make money off of their users. This program is called Twitch Subscriptions.
It includes three tiers:
Muvi is a classic live streaming platform that focuses on OTT media. The thing that makes Muvi one of the perfect YouTube Live Streaming alternatives is that it functions as a turnkey appliance for OTT broadcasters. This model empowers users to launch their own video or audio streaming platform swiftly and effortlessly. In addition to this, this platform also consists of an all-inclusive and fully-featured website, mobile, and TV apps.
With the help of its Multi-Screen Streaming service, businesses can launch white-label multi-device video streaming, video on demand (VOD), and audio streaming. This platform consists of fully managed, end-to-end solutions, all controlled by a single streaming video CMS with no need for coding or assistance from the IT team.
The thing that makes Muvi one of the most preferred YouTube Live Streaming Alternatives is that it gives you the ability to have your own multi-screen OTT Video On Demand (VOD) platform instantly. Its video streaming solution comes with a wide array of functionalities and capabilities. It is effortless to use without any prior knowledge of coding and development. Everything gets done from Muvi’s end.
Its key features include:
Even though YouTube is a great way to go live, it falls short of many capabilities compared to live streaming alternatives that offer competitive features like customization, marketing capabilities, monetization plans, high-end security, and a whole lot more.
Setting up live streaming on your website is not as complex as it sounds. With the right equipment and a custom-built live streaming platform, you can be part of 87% of businesses using live videos for driving business.
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Jagadeesh Kumar is Passionate Marketer helping B2B Products to increase traffic and maximize sales through SEO, Content Marketing efforts.
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