There are many ways in which you can reach a larger audience with your podcast. A popular one is to do a live podcast, such as on YouTube.
What are the benefits of a live podcast? Doing a live podcast can help you to connect with your audience virtually, and it also helps you to get more listeners, such as if you’re live streaming a special episode of your podcast.
With this in mind, read on to learn more about the process of doing a live podcast on YouTube. Here are the tips to follow so it’s easy to get up and running.
The Setup You Need For Live Podcasts On YouTube
You don’t need many things to start live streaming your podcast. You’ll require some essential equipment that you already have if you own a podcast, such as a camera and microphone, as well as good lighting, such as in the form of a ring light, desk light, or LED light
You can also make use of natural lighting if that’s practical. You will, however, need software or a service that helps you to live stream on YouTube. We’ll get to that later on in this guide.
Youtube Live Podcast Process
Set up your YouTube channel
You will require a YouTube channel for your podcast before you can live stream an episode on it. When choosing a name and images for your YouTube channel, it’s good practice to ensure that it matches your current branding.
How to Stream a Podcast – Choose your live streaming method
You can use software to help you Livestream your podcast, such as Open Broadcaster Software (OBS), but there are easier alternatives. An example is a service like Restream, which has the convenient feature of letting you live stream your podcast from your browser.
If you have guests on your live podcast, you can send them a link so they can join the live stream, which makes it convenient for anyone to get set up.
How to use Restream
- Create an account (a free account will enable you to live stream a podcast).
- Log into your account and go to the “Destinations” page.
- Choose a channel to live stream to, in this case YouTube.
- Go to “Live studio,” where you’ll be asked to allow Restream access to your camera and microphone.
How to use OBS
OBS allows you to livestream to multiple platforms simultaneously, which is a bonus. Here’s how to connect it to your YouTube channel and start live streaming your podcast.
- Open OBS on your desktop, click “Tools, then click “Autoconfiguration wizard.”
- Select “Optimize for streaming.” Click “Next.”
- Choose the canvas resolution you want, then click “Next.”
- Choose YouTube as the service to connect to, then make sure you’ve selected the “Estimate bitrate with bandwidth test” option. Click “Next.” OBS will check the server and your internet speed.
- When the test results show up, click “Apply settings.”
- In another tab on your computer, open YouTube and log into your account.
- Go to your channel. Click on “Create” and then select “Go live.”
- Set your visibility to “Private” so you can check your live stream before showing it to your audience.
- Go back to OBS. Click the “Start streaming” button so you’ll see a preview of your stream in the YouTube window. A message will come up asking you to set up a broadcast before you can stream, so click “Manage broadcast.”
- On YouTube, choose your live stream. Select the broadcast (which is your podcast).
- After you’ve checked all the settings, you can set your YouTube privacy to public.
You can also schedule an event for a Livestream. Here’s how:
- Log into your YouTube account.
- Go to “Creator studio.”
- On the left side of the screen, you’ll see a “Live streaming” drop-down menu. Click on it.
- You’ll see different options come up. Click on the “Events” option.
- Go to “Schedule a new event.”
- Fill out the basic info about your event, such as its date and time.
- Fill out the description box of your stream to give listeners information about it.
- In “Advanced settings,” enable “Live chat” and choose the live stream category, such as “Gaming.”
- Click the “Create event” button on the top right of the screen.
- Here you’ll be able to choose a thumbnail for your Livestream.
- You will also have to choose the stream key. Copy the stream key so you can go to your OBS settings and input it there, then click on the “Stream” tab.
- In OBS, you should select YouTube as your service, and paste your stream key in the “stream key” field. Click “Apply.” This essentially connects OBS to YouTube.
- Back on YouTube, go to the “View on watch page” button so you can preview what your live stream will be like.
- When you’re ready, click “Start streaming” on YouTube.
Benefits Of Live Podcasting On YouTube
There are many advantages of live podcasting on YouTube. These include the following:
- You get to engage with your listeners in real-time. You’ll be able to interact with your listeners, learn more about them, and feel closer to them.
- From your listeners’ perspective, they will feel closer to you because they can see you and watch you talk. You’re no longer just a voice on a podcast but a real person!
- You boost interest in your podcast. By live streaming your podcast on YouTube, you’ll be able to reach new listeners, therefore growing your audience. In 2021, YouTube was named the most popular platform for live streaming e-commerce in the U.S.. In addition, the audience numbers for live video content is set to increase to 164.6 million viewers by 2024.
Related Questions
Is OBS available on Windows and Mac?
OBS, which is open-source software that you can use for live streaming, is available on both Windows and Mac.
Is OBS free?
Using OBS is completely free.
Conclusion
If you’ve got a podcast and you love chatting to your loyal listeners, consider doing a live podcast on YouTube. This can increase your engagement.
In this article, we’ve featured two ways to livestream your podcast via YouTube: with the use of OBS and Restream, so it’s simple and easy to do.
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