Unmasking How To Locate My Comments Posts Online

How to Find Your Comments on YouTube?

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Have you ever felt worried about any YouTube comment that you published long ago, and later you realized that it was a mistake? Or, do you want to know what comments did you post and when? If so, YouTube offers a simple way of finding your past remarks, and making any changes to them if need be.

That said, the following sections teach you how to find your YouTube comments on a desktop or laptop computer, and also on a mobile device if you are a gadget freak.

• Part 1: How to Find Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?
• Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?
• Part 3: How to Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name?
• Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?
• Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?
• Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

Part 1: How to Find All the Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?

YouTube allows you to post comments on any video only if you are signed in to your Google account while browsing the streaming platform. Because of this, the portal is able to keep a record of your activities, thus enabling you to track all your comments, and take necessary action such as deleting or modifying them as required.

You can learn how to find all the comments you have posted on YouTube while using your preferred device by following the instructions given below:

1. Find Your YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch your favorite web browser, go to the YouTube page, click SIGN IN from the top-right corner, and follow the on-screen instructions to enter your credentials and sign in to your Google/YouTube account.

Step 2: Get to the History Page

Click the Menu button from the top-left corner of the page, and then click History from the categories available in the navigation bar in the left.

Step 3: Access/View Your Past Comments

Click Comments from the right of the History page to view all the comments that you have posted earlier.

2. Find Your YouTube Comments on an iPhone

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the YouTube app for iOS doesn’t have the feature to view your comments history. However, there is a workaround where you can use a web browser on your smartphone to get this done. The process that is given below explains how to view your past YouTube comments on an iPhone:

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account on an Internet Browser

Launch your favorite web browser on your iPhone (Safari, the default one, is used here for illustration), go to https://m.youtube.com , tap the profile icon from the top-right corner, tap Sign in from the menu that appears, and follow the on-screen instructions to use your Google account credentials to sign in to YouTube.

Step 2: Access the Desktop Version of YouTube

Tap the More Options icon from the top-left corner of the browser, and then tap Request Desktop Website from the menu that appears to access the desktop version of YouTube on your iPhone.

Step 3: View Your Past YouTube Comments

Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. On the History page, tap Comments from the right pane to view/access your YouTube comments that you posted in the past.

3. Find Your YouTube Comments on an Android Smartphone

As it is with iOS, the YouTube app for Android doesn’t allow you to view your comments history either. However, the workaround of using a web browser works pretty well on Android smartphones too, but with a few tweaks. The process of doing so is given below:

Step 1: Use a Web Browser to Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch Google Chrome on your Android smartphone (you can use any other web browser of your choice), and go to https://m.youtube.com . Notice how the interface automatically changes to the desktop version. Note: If the desktop version of the website isn’t visible, you can tap the More button (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the browser, and check the Desktop site box.

Next, tap SIGN IN from the top-right corner of the YouTube page, enter your Google account credentials in the box available on the Sign in screen, enter your password when prompted, and sign in to your YouTube account.

Step 2: Choose a Web Browser (for Confirmation)

When the confirmation box pops up at the bottom, choose your preferred web browser, and tap the frequency of its usage for accessing YouTube. For instance, choose Chrome and Just once to use Google Chrome to access YouTube only for this session.

Step 3: View/Access Your Past YouTube Comments

Once you are signed in to your account, tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. When the History page opens up, tap Comments from the right pane to view and/or access your past YouTube comments.

Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?

If you own a YouTube channel and have posted several videos there, it is likely that you also have received a decent number of comments. Usually, these remarks are pretty helpful as they tell you how to improve your production quality, and what your audience prefers to watch in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to find all the comments that your YouTube channel has received, and the process given below explains exactly that:

1. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

You can use your favorite web browser on a PC to easily find all the comments that the videos on your YouTube channel have received as long as you are signed in to your Google account. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Go to the Your videos Page

Open your favorite Internet browser, go to https://www.youtube.com , and sign in to your YouTube account as explained in the previous sections. Next, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

Step 2: View the Comments

Make sure that the Uploads tab is selected on the Channel content window, and check the number under the Comments column of each video to see how many comments that particular film has received. You can click the number for any video to view its comments.

Step 3: Hide or Hold a Comment for Approval

Click the More icon from the right of the comment you want to moderate, and click Hide user from channel or Always approve comments from this user to hide the comments from the selected user or keep their comments on hold until you review and approve them respectively.

Note: To view all comments received on your YouTube channel, go to the Comments tab under YouTube Studio, and you will find all Channel comments & mentions.

2. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Mobile App

This process is comparatively simpler than the previous one as all that you need to do is download the YT Studio app, and access a central location where all the comments for all the videos can be viewed. The process is given below:

Step 1: Obtain a Mobile App

Go to App Store or Google Play Store, and search and download the YT Studio app on your iPhone or Android smartphone (iPhone X is used here for illustration).

Step 2: View/Access All the Comments

Launch the YT Studio app, and sign in to your YouTube account. Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the interface, and tap Comments from the menu to view all the published comments for all the videos that you have received on your YouTube channel.

Step 3: Hide Users and View Held Comments

Tap the More button from the right of an inappropriate comment, and tap Hide user from channel from the menu that comes up. In addition, you can tap the More button next to Published from the top, and tap Held for review from the box that pops up to view the comments that are waiting for your approval.

Note: Unfortunately, you cannot hold the comments for approval using the YT Studio app. As a workaround, you can follow the procedure given earlier to access the desktop version of YouTube on your smartphone, and then use the method explained in the previous section to get this done. However, it is recommended that you do all such sensitive tasks on a laptop or desktop computer to avoid any errors.

Part 3: Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name

If any of your YouTube videos has thousands of comments and you need to find a particular one from a specific user, checking each remark manually would be an extremely time-consuming and tedious task. Therefore, it is a good idea to let an efficient application do the job for you.

One program, a Google Chrome extension called YCS – YouTube Comment Search to be precise, can help you with this. All you are required to do is, install the extension, go to the video, and search the comment by the name of the user. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Install YCS – YouTube Comment Search

Launch Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop computer, search for YCS – YouTube Comment Search, click Add to Chrome, and click Add extension on the notification box that pops up to install the YCS – YouTube Comment Search extension on your instance of Google Chrome.

Step 2: Load All Comments

Go to your or any other’s YouTube video, and click Load All from the top-right corner of the YouTube Comment Search panel that is present under the description box to allow YCS to scan all the comments the video has received.

Step 3: Search Comments from a Particular User

Choose Comments from the search type drop-down list, enter the name of the user in question in the Search box, and click Search to fetch all their comments on the video.

Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?

Editing an existing YouTube comment that you have posted earlier, or replying to the one published by someone else is simple. The process is given below:

Step 1: Edit an Existing Comment

Use any of the methods explained above to locate your YouTube comment that you want to edit. Next, click the More icon from the right of the comment, click Edit from the menu, make the required changes to the text, and click SAVE.

Step 2: Reply to a Comment

Locate the comment that you want to reply to, click REPLY from under the comment, type your text in the available field, and click REPLY.

Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?

If you publish videos on YouTube that may put some impact on people’s lifestyle, you are likely to face criticism quite often. Therefore, you might want to moderate all your comments before they become visible to the audience so as not to spread negativity among the mass. Fortunately, YouTube helps you get this done easily, and the instructions that teach you the process are given below:

Step 1: Get to Your Channel’s Settings Box

Sign in to your YouTube account, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

From the bottom of the navigation bar on the left of the YouTube Studio page, click Settings to open the channel’s Settings box.

Step 2: Moderate YouTube Comments

Go to the Community category from the left pane, and go to the Defaults tab from the right. Next, choose Hide all comments for review from the Comments on your new videos drop-down list, and click SAVE from the bottom-right corner of the box to moderate all YouTube comments that your new videos receive from this point onward.

Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

While posting a comment on a YouTube video, it is imperative to keep a few things in mind. Some important tips that might come in handy in this regard are suggested below:

• Make your comment as relevant to the video as you possibly can
• Avoid using harsh language or slangs to maintain decency
• Be genuine while leaving feedback. However, make sure to choose polite words while typing a comment
• In case you want to add some suggestions, make sure to be humble
• Ignore the replies with inappropriate content

FAQs About YouTube Comments

Q1) Why can’t I see the comments I posted?

A: If you cannot see your comments, this could be because the owner or moderator has configured the channel or the video to hold all the comments for review before they are visible on YouTube.

In such a case, you are advised to wait for the authorized person to approve your remark before it is published. Another possibility is that the moderator/owner has added you to the ‘hidden users’ list due to some reason. Even in this case, your comment won’t be visible until you are removed from that list.

Q2) I have enabled ‘Notify me’ about comments and other activity on my channel or videos, but can’t see the comments on my video. Why?

A: You won’t be able to view the unpublished comments or those from the users you have added to the ‘hidden’ list. To fix this problem, you may want to disable moderation from your channel or the videos, and also unhide the users. The processes of both these configurations are explained in detail in the above sections.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Have you ever felt worried about any YouTube comment that you published long ago, and later you realized that it was a mistake? Or, do you want to know what comments did you post and when? If so, YouTube offers a simple way of finding your past remarks, and making any changes to them if need be.

That said, the following sections teach you how to find your YouTube comments on a desktop or laptop computer, and also on a mobile device if you are a gadget freak.

• Part 1: How to Find Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?
• Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?
• Part 3: How to Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name?
• Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?
• Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?
• Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

Part 1: How to Find All the Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?

YouTube allows you to post comments on any video only if you are signed in to your Google account while browsing the streaming platform. Because of this, the portal is able to keep a record of your activities, thus enabling you to track all your comments, and take necessary action such as deleting or modifying them as required.

You can learn how to find all the comments you have posted on YouTube while using your preferred device by following the instructions given below:

1. Find Your YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch your favorite web browser, go to the YouTube page, click SIGN IN from the top-right corner, and follow the on-screen instructions to enter your credentials and sign in to your Google/YouTube account.

Step 2: Get to the History Page

Click the Menu button from the top-left corner of the page, and then click History from the categories available in the navigation bar in the left.

Step 3: Access/View Your Past Comments

Click Comments from the right of the History page to view all the comments that you have posted earlier.

2. Find Your YouTube Comments on an iPhone

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the YouTube app for iOS doesn’t have the feature to view your comments history. However, there is a workaround where you can use a web browser on your smartphone to get this done. The process that is given below explains how to view your past YouTube comments on an iPhone:

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account on an Internet Browser

Launch your favorite web browser on your iPhone (Safari, the default one, is used here for illustration), go to https://m.youtube.com , tap the profile icon from the top-right corner, tap Sign in from the menu that appears, and follow the on-screen instructions to use your Google account credentials to sign in to YouTube.

Step 2: Access the Desktop Version of YouTube

Tap the More Options icon from the top-left corner of the browser, and then tap Request Desktop Website from the menu that appears to access the desktop version of YouTube on your iPhone.

Step 3: View Your Past YouTube Comments

Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. On the History page, tap Comments from the right pane to view/access your YouTube comments that you posted in the past.

3. Find Your YouTube Comments on an Android Smartphone

As it is with iOS, the YouTube app for Android doesn’t allow you to view your comments history either. However, the workaround of using a web browser works pretty well on Android smartphones too, but with a few tweaks. The process of doing so is given below:

Step 1: Use a Web Browser to Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch Google Chrome on your Android smartphone (you can use any other web browser of your choice), and go to https://m.youtube.com . Notice how the interface automatically changes to the desktop version. Note: If the desktop version of the website isn’t visible, you can tap the More button (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the browser, and check the Desktop site box.

Next, tap SIGN IN from the top-right corner of the YouTube page, enter your Google account credentials in the box available on the Sign in screen, enter your password when prompted, and sign in to your YouTube account.

Step 2: Choose a Web Browser (for Confirmation)

When the confirmation box pops up at the bottom, choose your preferred web browser, and tap the frequency of its usage for accessing YouTube. For instance, choose Chrome and Just once to use Google Chrome to access YouTube only for this session.

Step 3: View/Access Your Past YouTube Comments

Once you are signed in to your account, tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. When the History page opens up, tap Comments from the right pane to view and/or access your past YouTube comments.

Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?

If you own a YouTube channel and have posted several videos there, it is likely that you also have received a decent number of comments. Usually, these remarks are pretty helpful as they tell you how to improve your production quality, and what your audience prefers to watch in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to find all the comments that your YouTube channel has received, and the process given below explains exactly that:

1. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

You can use your favorite web browser on a PC to easily find all the comments that the videos on your YouTube channel have received as long as you are signed in to your Google account. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Go to the Your videos Page

Open your favorite Internet browser, go to https://www.youtube.com , and sign in to your YouTube account as explained in the previous sections. Next, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

Step 2: View the Comments

Make sure that the Uploads tab is selected on the Channel content window, and check the number under the Comments column of each video to see how many comments that particular film has received. You can click the number for any video to view its comments.

Step 3: Hide or Hold a Comment for Approval

Click the More icon from the right of the comment you want to moderate, and click Hide user from channel or Always approve comments from this user to hide the comments from the selected user or keep their comments on hold until you review and approve them respectively.

Note: To view all comments received on your YouTube channel, go to the Comments tab under YouTube Studio, and you will find all Channel comments & mentions.

2. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Mobile App

This process is comparatively simpler than the previous one as all that you need to do is download the YT Studio app, and access a central location where all the comments for all the videos can be viewed. The process is given below:

Step 1: Obtain a Mobile App

Go to App Store or Google Play Store, and search and download the YT Studio app on your iPhone or Android smartphone (iPhone X is used here for illustration).

Step 2: View/Access All the Comments

Launch the YT Studio app, and sign in to your YouTube account. Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the interface, and tap Comments from the menu to view all the published comments for all the videos that you have received on your YouTube channel.

Step 3: Hide Users and View Held Comments

Tap the More button from the right of an inappropriate comment, and tap Hide user from channel from the menu that comes up. In addition, you can tap the More button next to Published from the top, and tap Held for review from the box that pops up to view the comments that are waiting for your approval.

Note: Unfortunately, you cannot hold the comments for approval using the YT Studio app. As a workaround, you can follow the procedure given earlier to access the desktop version of YouTube on your smartphone, and then use the method explained in the previous section to get this done. However, it is recommended that you do all such sensitive tasks on a laptop or desktop computer to avoid any errors.

Part 3: Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name

If any of your YouTube videos has thousands of comments and you need to find a particular one from a specific user, checking each remark manually would be an extremely time-consuming and tedious task. Therefore, it is a good idea to let an efficient application do the job for you.

One program, a Google Chrome extension called YCS – YouTube Comment Search to be precise, can help you with this. All you are required to do is, install the extension, go to the video, and search the comment by the name of the user. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Install YCS – YouTube Comment Search

Launch Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop computer, search for YCS – YouTube Comment Search, click Add to Chrome, and click Add extension on the notification box that pops up to install the YCS – YouTube Comment Search extension on your instance of Google Chrome.

Step 2: Load All Comments

Go to your or any other’s YouTube video, and click Load All from the top-right corner of the YouTube Comment Search panel that is present under the description box to allow YCS to scan all the comments the video has received.

Step 3: Search Comments from a Particular User

Choose Comments from the search type drop-down list, enter the name of the user in question in the Search box, and click Search to fetch all their comments on the video.

Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?

Editing an existing YouTube comment that you have posted earlier, or replying to the one published by someone else is simple. The process is given below:

Step 1: Edit an Existing Comment

Use any of the methods explained above to locate your YouTube comment that you want to edit. Next, click the More icon from the right of the comment, click Edit from the menu, make the required changes to the text, and click SAVE.

Step 2: Reply to a Comment

Locate the comment that you want to reply to, click REPLY from under the comment, type your text in the available field, and click REPLY.

Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?

If you publish videos on YouTube that may put some impact on people’s lifestyle, you are likely to face criticism quite often. Therefore, you might want to moderate all your comments before they become visible to the audience so as not to spread negativity among the mass. Fortunately, YouTube helps you get this done easily, and the instructions that teach you the process are given below:

Step 1: Get to Your Channel’s Settings Box

Sign in to your YouTube account, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

From the bottom of the navigation bar on the left of the YouTube Studio page, click Settings to open the channel’s Settings box.

Step 2: Moderate YouTube Comments

Go to the Community category from the left pane, and go to the Defaults tab from the right. Next, choose Hide all comments for review from the Comments on your new videos drop-down list, and click SAVE from the bottom-right corner of the box to moderate all YouTube comments that your new videos receive from this point onward.

Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

While posting a comment on a YouTube video, it is imperative to keep a few things in mind. Some important tips that might come in handy in this regard are suggested below:

• Make your comment as relevant to the video as you possibly can
• Avoid using harsh language or slangs to maintain decency
• Be genuine while leaving feedback. However, make sure to choose polite words while typing a comment
• In case you want to add some suggestions, make sure to be humble
• Ignore the replies with inappropriate content

FAQs About YouTube Comments

Q1) Why can’t I see the comments I posted?

A: If you cannot see your comments, this could be because the owner or moderator has configured the channel or the video to hold all the comments for review before they are visible on YouTube.

In such a case, you are advised to wait for the authorized person to approve your remark before it is published. Another possibility is that the moderator/owner has added you to the ‘hidden users’ list due to some reason. Even in this case, your comment won’t be visible until you are removed from that list.

Q2) I have enabled ‘Notify me’ about comments and other activity on my channel or videos, but can’t see the comments on my video. Why?

A: You won’t be able to view the unpublished comments or those from the users you have added to the ‘hidden’ list. To fix this problem, you may want to disable moderation from your channel or the videos, and also unhide the users. The processes of both these configurations are explained in detail in the above sections.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Have you ever felt worried about any YouTube comment that you published long ago, and later you realized that it was a mistake? Or, do you want to know what comments did you post and when? If so, YouTube offers a simple way of finding your past remarks, and making any changes to them if need be.

That said, the following sections teach you how to find your YouTube comments on a desktop or laptop computer, and also on a mobile device if you are a gadget freak.

• Part 1: How to Find Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?
• Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?
• Part 3: How to Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name?
• Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?
• Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?
• Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

Part 1: How to Find All the Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?

YouTube allows you to post comments on any video only if you are signed in to your Google account while browsing the streaming platform. Because of this, the portal is able to keep a record of your activities, thus enabling you to track all your comments, and take necessary action such as deleting or modifying them as required.

You can learn how to find all the comments you have posted on YouTube while using your preferred device by following the instructions given below:

1. Find Your YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch your favorite web browser, go to the YouTube page, click SIGN IN from the top-right corner, and follow the on-screen instructions to enter your credentials and sign in to your Google/YouTube account.

Step 2: Get to the History Page

Click the Menu button from the top-left corner of the page, and then click History from the categories available in the navigation bar in the left.

Step 3: Access/View Your Past Comments

Click Comments from the right of the History page to view all the comments that you have posted earlier.

2. Find Your YouTube Comments on an iPhone

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the YouTube app for iOS doesn’t have the feature to view your comments history. However, there is a workaround where you can use a web browser on your smartphone to get this done. The process that is given below explains how to view your past YouTube comments on an iPhone:

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account on an Internet Browser

Launch your favorite web browser on your iPhone (Safari, the default one, is used here for illustration), go to https://m.youtube.com , tap the profile icon from the top-right corner, tap Sign in from the menu that appears, and follow the on-screen instructions to use your Google account credentials to sign in to YouTube.

Step 2: Access the Desktop Version of YouTube

Tap the More Options icon from the top-left corner of the browser, and then tap Request Desktop Website from the menu that appears to access the desktop version of YouTube on your iPhone.

Step 3: View Your Past YouTube Comments

Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. On the History page, tap Comments from the right pane to view/access your YouTube comments that you posted in the past.

3. Find Your YouTube Comments on an Android Smartphone

As it is with iOS, the YouTube app for Android doesn’t allow you to view your comments history either. However, the workaround of using a web browser works pretty well on Android smartphones too, but with a few tweaks. The process of doing so is given below:

Step 1: Use a Web Browser to Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch Google Chrome on your Android smartphone (you can use any other web browser of your choice), and go to https://m.youtube.com . Notice how the interface automatically changes to the desktop version. Note: If the desktop version of the website isn’t visible, you can tap the More button (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the browser, and check the Desktop site box.

Next, tap SIGN IN from the top-right corner of the YouTube page, enter your Google account credentials in the box available on the Sign in screen, enter your password when prompted, and sign in to your YouTube account.

Step 2: Choose a Web Browser (for Confirmation)

When the confirmation box pops up at the bottom, choose your preferred web browser, and tap the frequency of its usage for accessing YouTube. For instance, choose Chrome and Just once to use Google Chrome to access YouTube only for this session.

Step 3: View/Access Your Past YouTube Comments

Once you are signed in to your account, tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. When the History page opens up, tap Comments from the right pane to view and/or access your past YouTube comments.

Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?

If you own a YouTube channel and have posted several videos there, it is likely that you also have received a decent number of comments. Usually, these remarks are pretty helpful as they tell you how to improve your production quality, and what your audience prefers to watch in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to find all the comments that your YouTube channel has received, and the process given below explains exactly that:

1. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

You can use your favorite web browser on a PC to easily find all the comments that the videos on your YouTube channel have received as long as you are signed in to your Google account. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Go to the Your videos Page

Open your favorite Internet browser, go to https://www.youtube.com , and sign in to your YouTube account as explained in the previous sections. Next, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

Step 2: View the Comments

Make sure that the Uploads tab is selected on the Channel content window, and check the number under the Comments column of each video to see how many comments that particular film has received. You can click the number for any video to view its comments.

Step 3: Hide or Hold a Comment for Approval

Click the More icon from the right of the comment you want to moderate, and click Hide user from channel or Always approve comments from this user to hide the comments from the selected user or keep their comments on hold until you review and approve them respectively.

Note: To view all comments received on your YouTube channel, go to the Comments tab under YouTube Studio, and you will find all Channel comments & mentions.

2. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Mobile App

This process is comparatively simpler than the previous one as all that you need to do is download the YT Studio app, and access a central location where all the comments for all the videos can be viewed. The process is given below:

Step 1: Obtain a Mobile App

Go to App Store or Google Play Store, and search and download the YT Studio app on your iPhone or Android smartphone (iPhone X is used here for illustration).

Step 2: View/Access All the Comments

Launch the YT Studio app, and sign in to your YouTube account. Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the interface, and tap Comments from the menu to view all the published comments for all the videos that you have received on your YouTube channel.

Step 3: Hide Users and View Held Comments

Tap the More button from the right of an inappropriate comment, and tap Hide user from channel from the menu that comes up. In addition, you can tap the More button next to Published from the top, and tap Held for review from the box that pops up to view the comments that are waiting for your approval.

Note: Unfortunately, you cannot hold the comments for approval using the YT Studio app. As a workaround, you can follow the procedure given earlier to access the desktop version of YouTube on your smartphone, and then use the method explained in the previous section to get this done. However, it is recommended that you do all such sensitive tasks on a laptop or desktop computer to avoid any errors.

Part 3: Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name

If any of your YouTube videos has thousands of comments and you need to find a particular one from a specific user, checking each remark manually would be an extremely time-consuming and tedious task. Therefore, it is a good idea to let an efficient application do the job for you.

One program, a Google Chrome extension called YCS – YouTube Comment Search to be precise, can help you with this. All you are required to do is, install the extension, go to the video, and search the comment by the name of the user. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Install YCS – YouTube Comment Search

Launch Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop computer, search for YCS – YouTube Comment Search, click Add to Chrome, and click Add extension on the notification box that pops up to install the YCS – YouTube Comment Search extension on your instance of Google Chrome.

Step 2: Load All Comments

Go to your or any other’s YouTube video, and click Load All from the top-right corner of the YouTube Comment Search panel that is present under the description box to allow YCS to scan all the comments the video has received.

Step 3: Search Comments from a Particular User

Choose Comments from the search type drop-down list, enter the name of the user in question in the Search box, and click Search to fetch all their comments on the video.

Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?

Editing an existing YouTube comment that you have posted earlier, or replying to the one published by someone else is simple. The process is given below:

Step 1: Edit an Existing Comment

Use any of the methods explained above to locate your YouTube comment that you want to edit. Next, click the More icon from the right of the comment, click Edit from the menu, make the required changes to the text, and click SAVE.

Step 2: Reply to a Comment

Locate the comment that you want to reply to, click REPLY from under the comment, type your text in the available field, and click REPLY.

Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?

If you publish videos on YouTube that may put some impact on people’s lifestyle, you are likely to face criticism quite often. Therefore, you might want to moderate all your comments before they become visible to the audience so as not to spread negativity among the mass. Fortunately, YouTube helps you get this done easily, and the instructions that teach you the process are given below:

Step 1: Get to Your Channel’s Settings Box

Sign in to your YouTube account, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

From the bottom of the navigation bar on the left of the YouTube Studio page, click Settings to open the channel’s Settings box.

Step 2: Moderate YouTube Comments

Go to the Community category from the left pane, and go to the Defaults tab from the right. Next, choose Hide all comments for review from the Comments on your new videos drop-down list, and click SAVE from the bottom-right corner of the box to moderate all YouTube comments that your new videos receive from this point onward.

Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

While posting a comment on a YouTube video, it is imperative to keep a few things in mind. Some important tips that might come in handy in this regard are suggested below:

• Make your comment as relevant to the video as you possibly can
• Avoid using harsh language or slangs to maintain decency
• Be genuine while leaving feedback. However, make sure to choose polite words while typing a comment
• In case you want to add some suggestions, make sure to be humble
• Ignore the replies with inappropriate content

FAQs About YouTube Comments

Q1) Why can’t I see the comments I posted?

A: If you cannot see your comments, this could be because the owner or moderator has configured the channel or the video to hold all the comments for review before they are visible on YouTube.

In such a case, you are advised to wait for the authorized person to approve your remark before it is published. Another possibility is that the moderator/owner has added you to the ‘hidden users’ list due to some reason. Even in this case, your comment won’t be visible until you are removed from that list.

Q2) I have enabled ‘Notify me’ about comments and other activity on my channel or videos, but can’t see the comments on my video. Why?

A: You won’t be able to view the unpublished comments or those from the users you have added to the ‘hidden’ list. To fix this problem, you may want to disable moderation from your channel or the videos, and also unhide the users. The processes of both these configurations are explained in detail in the above sections.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Have you ever felt worried about any YouTube comment that you published long ago, and later you realized that it was a mistake? Or, do you want to know what comments did you post and when? If so, YouTube offers a simple way of finding your past remarks, and making any changes to them if need be.

That said, the following sections teach you how to find your YouTube comments on a desktop or laptop computer, and also on a mobile device if you are a gadget freak.

• Part 1: How to Find Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?
• Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?
• Part 3: How to Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name?
• Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?
• Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?
• Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

Part 1: How to Find All the Comments You’ve Posted on YouTube?

YouTube allows you to post comments on any video only if you are signed in to your Google account while browsing the streaming platform. Because of this, the portal is able to keep a record of your activities, thus enabling you to track all your comments, and take necessary action such as deleting or modifying them as required.

You can learn how to find all the comments you have posted on YouTube while using your preferred device by following the instructions given below:

1. Find Your YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch your favorite web browser, go to the YouTube page, click SIGN IN from the top-right corner, and follow the on-screen instructions to enter your credentials and sign in to your Google/YouTube account.

Step 2: Get to the History Page

Click the Menu button from the top-left corner of the page, and then click History from the categories available in the navigation bar in the left.

Step 3: Access/View Your Past Comments

Click Comments from the right of the History page to view all the comments that you have posted earlier.

2. Find Your YouTube Comments on an iPhone

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, the YouTube app for iOS doesn’t have the feature to view your comments history. However, there is a workaround where you can use a web browser on your smartphone to get this done. The process that is given below explains how to view your past YouTube comments on an iPhone:

Step 1: Sign In to Your YouTube Account on an Internet Browser

Launch your favorite web browser on your iPhone (Safari, the default one, is used here for illustration), go to https://m.youtube.com , tap the profile icon from the top-right corner, tap Sign in from the menu that appears, and follow the on-screen instructions to use your Google account credentials to sign in to YouTube.

Step 2: Access the Desktop Version of YouTube

Tap the More Options icon from the top-left corner of the browser, and then tap Request Desktop Website from the menu that appears to access the desktop version of YouTube on your iPhone.

Step 3: View Your Past YouTube Comments

Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. On the History page, tap Comments from the right pane to view/access your YouTube comments that you posted in the past.

3. Find Your YouTube Comments on an Android Smartphone

As it is with iOS, the YouTube app for Android doesn’t allow you to view your comments history either. However, the workaround of using a web browser works pretty well on Android smartphones too, but with a few tweaks. The process of doing so is given below:

Step 1: Use a Web Browser to Sign In to Your YouTube Account

Launch Google Chrome on your Android smartphone (you can use any other web browser of your choice), and go to https://m.youtube.com . Notice how the interface automatically changes to the desktop version. Note: If the desktop version of the website isn’t visible, you can tap the More button (with three vertical dots) from the top-right corner of the browser, and check the Desktop site box.

Next, tap SIGN IN from the top-right corner of the YouTube page, enter your Google account credentials in the box available on the Sign in screen, enter your password when prompted, and sign in to your YouTube account.

Step 2: Choose a Web Browser (for Confirmation)

When the confirmation box pops up at the bottom, choose your preferred web browser, and tap the frequency of its usage for accessing YouTube. For instance, choose Chrome and Just once to use Google Chrome to access YouTube only for this session.

Step 3: View/Access Your Past YouTube Comments

Once you are signed in to your account, tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube page, and tap History from the menu that appears. When the History page opens up, tap Comments from the right pane to view and/or access your past YouTube comments.

Part 2: How to Find All YouTube Comments Your Channel Has Received?

If you own a YouTube channel and have posted several videos there, it is likely that you also have received a decent number of comments. Usually, these remarks are pretty helpful as they tell you how to improve your production quality, and what your audience prefers to watch in the future. Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to find all the comments that your YouTube channel has received, and the process given below explains exactly that:

1. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Desktop or Laptop Computer

You can use your favorite web browser on a PC to easily find all the comments that the videos on your YouTube channel have received as long as you are signed in to your Google account. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Go to the Your videos Page

Open your favorite Internet browser, go to https://www.youtube.com , and sign in to your YouTube account as explained in the previous sections. Next, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the YouTube homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

Step 2: View the Comments

Make sure that the Uploads tab is selected on the Channel content window, and check the number under the Comments column of each video to see how many comments that particular film has received. You can click the number for any video to view its comments.

Step 3: Hide or Hold a Comment for Approval

Click the More icon from the right of the comment you want to moderate, and click Hide user from channel or Always approve comments from this user to hide the comments from the selected user or keep their comments on hold until you review and approve them respectively.

Note: To view all comments received on your YouTube channel, go to the Comments tab under YouTube Studio, and you will find all Channel comments & mentions.

2. Find Your Channel’s YouTube Comments on a Mobile App

This process is comparatively simpler than the previous one as all that you need to do is download the YT Studio app, and access a central location where all the comments for all the videos can be viewed. The process is given below:

Step 1: Obtain a Mobile App

Go to App Store or Google Play Store, and search and download the YT Studio app on your iPhone or Android smartphone (iPhone X is used here for illustration).

Step 2: View/Access All the Comments

Launch the YT Studio app, and sign in to your YouTube account. Tap the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the interface, and tap Comments from the menu to view all the published comments for all the videos that you have received on your YouTube channel.

Step 3: Hide Users and View Held Comments

Tap the More button from the right of an inappropriate comment, and tap Hide user from channel from the menu that comes up. In addition, you can tap the More button next to Published from the top, and tap Held for review from the box that pops up to view the comments that are waiting for your approval.

Note: Unfortunately, you cannot hold the comments for approval using the YT Studio app. As a workaround, you can follow the procedure given earlier to access the desktop version of YouTube on your smartphone, and then use the method explained in the previous section to get this done. However, it is recommended that you do all such sensitive tasks on a laptop or desktop computer to avoid any errors.

Part 3: Find Someone’s YouTube Comments by User Name

If any of your YouTube videos has thousands of comments and you need to find a particular one from a specific user, checking each remark manually would be an extremely time-consuming and tedious task. Therefore, it is a good idea to let an efficient application do the job for you.

One program, a Google Chrome extension called YCS – YouTube Comment Search to be precise, can help you with this. All you are required to do is, install the extension, go to the video, and search the comment by the name of the user. The step-by-step instructions on how this can be done are given below:

Step 1: Install YCS – YouTube Comment Search

Launch Google Chrome on your desktop or laptop computer, search for YCS – YouTube Comment Search, click Add to Chrome, and click Add extension on the notification box that pops up to install the YCS – YouTube Comment Search extension on your instance of Google Chrome.

Step 2: Load All Comments

Go to your or any other’s YouTube video, and click Load All from the top-right corner of the YouTube Comment Search panel that is present under the description box to allow YCS to scan all the comments the video has received.

Step 3: Search Comments from a Particular User

Choose Comments from the search type drop-down list, enter the name of the user in question in the Search box, and click Search to fetch all their comments on the video.

Part 4: How to Edit and Reply to YouTube Comments?

Editing an existing YouTube comment that you have posted earlier, or replying to the one published by someone else is simple. The process is given below:

Step 1: Edit an Existing Comment

Use any of the methods explained above to locate your YouTube comment that you want to edit. Next, click the More icon from the right of the comment, click Edit from the menu, make the required changes to the text, and click SAVE.

Step 2: Reply to a Comment

Locate the comment that you want to reply to, click REPLY from under the comment, type your text in the available field, and click REPLY.

Part 5: How to Moderate YouTube Comments?

If you publish videos on YouTube that may put some impact on people’s lifestyle, you are likely to face criticism quite often. Therefore, you might want to moderate all your comments before they become visible to the audience so as not to spread negativity among the mass. Fortunately, YouTube helps you get this done easily, and the instructions that teach you the process are given below:

Step 1: Get to Your Channel’s Settings Box

Sign in to your YouTube account, click the Menu icon from the top-left corner of the homepage, and click Your videos from the menu that appears.

From the bottom of the navigation bar on the left of the YouTube Studio page, click Settings to open the channel’s Settings box.

Step 2: Moderate YouTube Comments

Go to the Community category from the left pane, and go to the Defaults tab from the right. Next, choose Hide all comments for review from the Comments on your new videos drop-down list, and click SAVE from the bottom-right corner of the box to moderate all YouTube comments that your new videos receive from this point onward.

Part 6: Tips for Writing Good YouTube Comments

While posting a comment on a YouTube video, it is imperative to keep a few things in mind. Some important tips that might come in handy in this regard are suggested below:

• Make your comment as relevant to the video as you possibly can
• Avoid using harsh language or slangs to maintain decency
• Be genuine while leaving feedback. However, make sure to choose polite words while typing a comment
• In case you want to add some suggestions, make sure to be humble
• Ignore the replies with inappropriate content

FAQs About YouTube Comments

Q1) Why can’t I see the comments I posted?

A: If you cannot see your comments, this could be because the owner or moderator has configured the channel or the video to hold all the comments for review before they are visible on YouTube.

In such a case, you are advised to wait for the authorized person to approve your remark before it is published. Another possibility is that the moderator/owner has added you to the ‘hidden users’ list due to some reason. Even in this case, your comment won’t be visible until you are removed from that list.

Q2) I have enabled ‘Notify me’ about comments and other activity on my channel or videos, but can’t see the comments on my video. Why?

A: You won’t be able to view the unpublished comments or those from the users you have added to the ‘hidden’ list. To fix this problem, you may want to disable moderation from your channel or the videos, and also unhide the users. The processes of both these configurations are explained in detail in the above sections.

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Charting the Course to YouTube Livestream Mastery

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Live Streaming

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Also read: