Livestream For More Watch Hours

YouTube had become very popular. I could see huge names earning millions from their videos, most are for tutorials, but mostly for entertainment. They say if you want to get viral on YouTube, you must upload consistently and provide videos that can give value to the platform such as tutorials and entertaining ones.

But most small-time YouTubers would use this platform for memory keeping. Just like myself, I opened an account ten years ago with no sole intention of making money out of it. But when the pandemic happened, my husband and I were introduced to the wonders of YouTube, we were hooked to it that every day, we would be watching videos after videos from friends and acquaintances online.

Then we were introduced to YouTube live streaming. It is not a new thing to me as I have blogged about it before but the experience of hosting a live stream was and I was surprised that I got the nerve to do it. Perhaps that was because of my pregnant hormones.

It all started in February when my brother who is UAE based told me to watch his live stream. I thought that it was something important but then I found him just talking random stuff and answering questions to his viewers. Mind you, he got only two, it increases to three or four and then goes back to two. I was confused, why was he live streaming?

Then he told me about his aims of getting the watch hour requirement for his channel to be monetized. So apparently, live streaming is a good way of increasing this factor so today, allow me to share with you how you can use the live streaming option in YouTube to grow your channel. These are the things that I did that helped me complete the 4000 watch hours requirement. Again, this is for small-time YouTubers, those who have many following don't need this.

Time Flexibility

Uploading your video will give you a small number of watch hours if the video won't go viral. While live streaming allows you to acquire more, it all depends on your live streaming time.

Back then, I do live stream every week for around two hours or more. When I gained some friends on YouTube, my number of viewers increased. I started with two viewers then as the weeks pass by, I then started seeing my viewer numbers reach 20 or more. That means 20 viewers x 2 hours, I get 40 hours in one live stream. That's better compared to a single 10-minute video with 100 views. That's just an example.

The funny thing is that I discovered a lot of users live streaming for more than eight hours!

No Hard Editing

Let's face it, editing a video takes time and a lot of effort especially if you want to publish a good high-quality video. But with live streaming, you don't need to exert much energy in editing, you just need a good internet connection and you are good to go, well, if you want to look pleasing, you can also upgrade your backdrop and lighting but that's optional.

I used free software named OBS when live streaming, this allows me to add some elements to my video, and with my husband's help, I used my Sony A73 camera which made my video quality better compared to using just my mobile phone or the laptop camera.

Yes, there are some efforts but post-processing video content takes so much time compared to live streaming.

Easier Replay

When increasing the watch hours, replaying a live stream video content is better than the normal 5-minute video content. Why? Well, you can leave your computer or mobile device playing a two-hour live-streamed video. YouTube can detect some video playing activities so if you watch normal content, the site will ask if you are still watching this before you can proceed to play it. So, when it comes to replay, if it's a live stream one, YouTube won't stop the media, it will continue to play until the end of the recorded live stream.

Live Chat with Your Viewers

During live streams, it is not just the viewers that are getting entertained, the host as well will be entertained by the live chat messages coming from all the viewers, if they are active ones.

Back when I was still doing this, I hosted games like guess the item, it's like a Pinoy Henyo game where the viewers would chat their guesses and I would read their messages. I was pregnant at that time and I would be spending the entire afternoon on a Saturday laughing over the viewer's guesses.

Over time, I have gained friends, while some were just friends during live streams, some stick until today, we would still exchange messages and continue to communicate. These friends are still actively doing YouTube video creation.

Better Retention Rate

We need a good retention rating when it comes to uploading video content on YouTube. The statistics are strict.

Retention means keeping the audience watching. If a user stops attending in the 3rd minute of your 2-hour video, that means you have a low retention rating. So, what we needed here was to keep the audience until the end of the content.

For live streaming, since we get to entertain the audience by the games we host, these games have prizes too so viewers would tend to stay within the video until they get their prizes. This is also the reason why most small-time live streamers would give out prizes at the end so to keep these viewers watching.

Conclusion

If you are trying to increase your watch hours on YouTube, live streaming is the way to go. Get your online friends to help you with that and for sure, just like me, you'll reach the required hours in less than two months!

xoxo,

mommy jean of momentswithmatti

Love harder than any pain you've ever felt.