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YouTube Introduces Ultra-Latency And Other Tools For Streamers

Fan interaction is getting a facelift with low latency and chat moderation tools. Mobile streamers on iPhone are also getting a boost.

Charles Singletary Jr

September 5, 2017 2:35 PM

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The content creation community is growing at a significant click daily and the push to be the prime creative platform charges ever forward. YouTube is the one making moves today, launching a collection of improvements to their YouTube live platform that will improve the lives of content creators in a couple ways.

Reported by Polygon via a blog entry, YouTube’s latest improvements are a tale in two parts. Firstly, YouTube’s developers addressed real-time interaction with fans. Fans are the foundation of every content creator’s channel and enhancing interaction with them should always be welcome. Latency, which boils down to a delay in communication between fans and the streamer, is a common issue content creators have to manage. YouTube’s new Ultra-Latency mode gets this delay down to a level that allows you to respond to viewers as quickly as possible. It’s an option in the settings and doesn’t require any additional software or encoders to work. Live chat moderation is also a bit easier with new controls to pause the live feed, holding inappropriate messages for review, and allowing the use of hidden user lists. Twitch made also made enhancements to fan interaction with the announcement of their new Extensions platform.

The 2nd part of this tale involves easier streaming from iPhone and iPad with the main YouTube app. Any application that supports Apple’s ReplayKit, such as the MOBA Vainglory, will now work with the YouTube app and streams can use the phone’s microphone and the front-facing camera for live commentary. YouTube is still fighting an uphill battle against Twitch for content creator platform dominance, but a constant struggle between the two will serve to benefit creators ultimately. 

Charles Singletary Jr

News Editor

Charles Singletary Jr keeps the updates flowing as the News Editor, breaking stories while investigating the biggest topics in gaming and technology. He's pretty active on Twitter, so feel free to reach out to him @The_CSJR. Got a hot tip? Email him at Charles.Singletary@Shacknews.com.