YouTube is rolling out a new feature on mobile to indicate when a channel is livestreaming. The Live rings feature will show a red coloured ring around the channel avatar when it is livestreaming.
Neal Mohan, Chief Product Officer, YouTube said in a tweet, “Really focused making it easier for users to find livestreams on @YouTube so we’re rolling out the Live rings feature on mobile! @YouTubeCreators streaming live will now have a ring around the channel avatar and clicking on the avatar will take you directly to the livestream.”
The feature is similar to how Instagram indicates a livestream with a ring around the user’s profile picture.
Continued investment
Earlier this month, Mohan, in a blog post detailing the platform’s plans for 2022 had said that it will continue to invest across its multiple formats: Shorts, Live, and video on demand (VOD).
“And in the months ahead, we will bring even more engagement and monetisation options across all three formats,” Mohan said
“Live is another area that will see progress this year to build on our momentum — daily live watchtime more than tripled between January 2020 and December 2021,” Mohan further said.
The platform is also planning on introducing collaborative livestreaming, which will allow creators to go live together.
It has also started testing gifted memberships — the ability to purchase a channel membership for another viewer in the livestream with a small group of channels and is planning to roll this out more widely in the coming months.