Live Stream With 2+ People on YouTube for Free
There’s an old school way to stream with 2+ people on YouTube. In case you didn’t know, you can Skype call your colleagues or fellow streamer and then use OBS Studio to stream the video and audio to YouTube. However, this requires a lot of set-up and there are problems with OBS Studio like GPU usage, NDI plugin, color output, etc. So, to simplify the process, we will use a web app called StreamYard. It lets you stream with other people remotely over platforms like Facebook, Periscope, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. However, it works on a freemium model and imposes a few restrictions on the free account. Out of those, there are 2 major restrictions worth considering.
The YouTube live stream will have a “StreamYard” watermark at the top-right StreamYard allows streaming only up to 20 hours/month
In order to remove these restrictions, you would have to upgrade to the premium variant starting at $25/month. Along with unlimited streaming hours, it also provides additional features like a custom logo, background, stream recording, etc. Here’s how to set up your live stream within the StreamYard web app. Setup Open the StreamYard website and click on the Get Started button at the top-right.
Next, you have to enter your Email ID and click on the “Get Login Code” button.
Once you receive the 6-digit code on your Email ID, enter it in the textbox and click on the “Log In” button.
Now, that you are logged in, we need to connect our YouTube account to the StreamYard service. To do that, navigate to the Destinations tab and click on the “Add a Destination” button.
StreamYard supports a bunch of services like Facebook, Periscope, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc. But, for now, we need to link our YouTube account, so click on the “YouTube Channel” button. Next, log in to your Google account linked to the YouTube channel. StreamYard will also require a bunch of permissions to post live streams on your YouTube channel. Click on Allow to provide it the necessary permissions.
Read: 7 Best YouTube Extensions for Creators and Power Users Once you have linked your YouTube account, you will be able to see it under the Destination tab.
Now that you have your YouTube account linked, head over to the Broadcasts tab and click on the “Create a Broadcast” button.
On the pop-up button, click on your YouTube account icon and fill in the title, description, and Privacy. Post that, click on the Create Broadcast button at the bottom.
On the next page, you would be asked to provide webcam and microphone permissions. You would also need to enter a Broadcast name and post that click on the Enter Broadcast Studio button.
Now you would be directed to the StreamYard live video dashboard. The major half of the screen would display your YouTube live video preview. Initially, this screen will be blank and you would have to add yourself to the stream. You can do that by clicking on the video preview at the bottom-left of the screen. In order to add more participants in the link, tap on the Invite option, and share the link with other people. As soon as they join the broadcast, the video preview is available at the bottom just beside your own preview. You will have to individually add everyone to the stream. Once you have set up everything, click on the “Go Live” button at the top-right corner to go live on YouTube.
According to the number of participants, you can change the video view. A bunch of templates is present just below the video preview. Click on any of them to change the video preview. On the right side of the video preview, you have the public YouTube live chat. The comments will appear here. You can reply and react to the comments via this chatbox. It also provides a private chat option wherein you can communicate with the other streamers. Other Alternatives Lightstream is another web app that does similar things. Similar to StreamYard, it features a watermark on the video stream. But, on contrary to StreamYard’s 20-hour monthly limit, Lightstream only provides your 8-hours. I tried Lightstream as well but the functioning is a bit slightly complicated and the entire web app is resource-heavy. For more issues or queries, let me know in the comments below. Also Read: This Free AI Tool Removes Background From Videos But Has A Catch
