YouTube Expands its New Streaming Commerce Options with Live-Stream Trailers and Live Polls

While TikTok keeps improving its live-streaming options, YouTube is putting greater emphasis on its live-streaming tools, with two new features aimed at increasing interaction and exposure of live broadcasts within the app.

To begin with, YouTube is broadening its Premiere trailers feature to upcoming live-streams, allowing producers to include a short teaser clip on the stream event page.

According to Conor Kavanagh of YouTube:

"Last year, we introduced Trailers which enable creators to add a 15-second to 3-minute clip to the upcoming or scheduled page of a Premiere. Now we're delighted to announce that trailers are now available for upcoming and scheduled live-streams."

With a small preview of what they'll see in your stream, the feature will provide another opportunity to encourage potential viewers to follow your broadcasts.

First, post the preview clip to YouTube as a regular video to create a live-stream trailer.

In your live-stream event set-up, you'll be able to select that clip as your trailer.

Trailers will be available to live-stream creators via YouTube's Live Control Room, with the option available to any channels with at least 1,000 subscribers and no strikes.

Furthermore, YouTube is improving access to its Live Chat Polls feature, which will provide yet another tool to boost interaction during live-streams.

Streamers can create a live poll from the chat box, as shown above, with up to four poll options to pick from. Polls were previously only available to gaming creators, but now they'll be available to all broadcasters - however Polls will only be accessible on the desktop version of the app.

It's also worth mentioning that Live Polls don't appear in live chat replays (more info here).

Live-streaming looked to have hit its stride a few years ago, when Meerkat and Periscope arrived on the scene, bringing with them a whole new set of creators eager to offer their distinct viewpoints. Then it faded away as the general quality of streams undermined the option's worth. But since both YouTube and TikTok are looking into live-stream commerce, which might open up more revenue chances, it's making a comeback, and if TikTok goes forward with it, YouTube will certainly follow suit, limiting any creative talent migration as a result.

That's why it's aiming to add in these new live-stream choices. And as both platforms compete to provide the finest commerce streaming tools in order to win over top stars, you can expect to see far more on this front in the future.

Because it allows for more brand collaborations and monetization, direct selling is becoming increasingly popular. And, with live-streams generating substantially more engagement than conventional video clips, it could prove to be a useful promotional tool in a variety of ways.

Even if you're not wanting to publicize yourself, it's worth bringing up in your promotional plans. With the appropriate eCommerce channel and the ideal partner, you could have a wonderful means for increased brand exposure.