YouTube unveiled three new updates for content creators, intended to provide them with a deeper understanding of their audience and enhance the user experience they offer. These updates include:
- Live stream reaction analytics.
- New and returning viewer impression breakdown.
- The ability to live stream to YouTube in HDR.
Live stream reaction analytics. YouTube is introducing new real-time analytics for live streams, enabling creators to monitor viewer reactions as they happen. This data reveals the number and types of reactions received, for example, emojis like love hearts or party poppers.
To access this information, simply visit your content and navigate to the overview tab. Note that this feature is currently exclusive to Studio web and mobile.
Impression breakdown. YouTube is rolling out a new filter that allows you to see the number of impressions segmented by new and returning viewers. This feature aims to help you gain a deeper understanding of your audience, enabling you to adjust your content strategy to attract both new and returning viewers if you so wish. You can access this feature in YouTube Studio Analytics under advanced mode.
HDR live streaming. You can now live stream to YouTube in HDR. Conor Kavanagh, Lead for Monetization Policy at YouTube, explained the advantages this new functionality offers:
- “With HDR, you get crisper whites, inkier blacks and better-looking colors that pop. HDR also allows you to capture much more detail in your stream because fine-grained color gradations are preserved instead of being smeared out, resulting in hyper-detailed, hyper-realistic streams for your viewers.”
With the latest OBS 30.1 release, you can now stream in HDR to YouTube via RTMP. This allows you to use your existing RTMP workflows and provide your viewers with the highest quality experience that YouTube offers. Additionally, you can live stream in HDR for gaming if the game you’re playing supports HDR. To do this, ensure that your monitor supports HDR and that your camera, if applicable, also supports HDR for PQ or HLG.
Please note that currently, you can use the hgvc Kodak to stream in HDR, but streaming HDR with ab1 is not yet supported.
Why we care. Live stream reaction analytics and breakdowns of new versus returning viewer impressions offer deeper insights into your audience, allowing you to adjust your content strategy accordingly. Additionally, HDR live streaming provides higher-quality videos for your viewers, which could potentially help boost engagement and create a better user experience.
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Deep dive. Watch YouTube’s announcement in full for more information.
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About the author
Nicola Agius is Paid Media Editor of Search Engine Land after joining in 2023. She covers paid media, retail media and more. Prior to this, she was SEO Director at Jungle Creations (2020-2023), overseeing the company’s editorial strategy for multiple websites. She has over 15 years of experience in journalism and has previously worked at OK! Magazine (2010-2014), Mail Online (2014-2015), Mirror (2015-2017), Digital Spy (2017-2018) and The Sun (2018-2020). She also previously teamed up with SEO agency Blue Array to co-author Amazon bestselling book Mastering In-House SEO.