Youtube Finally Adds Live Rings, Indicates When A Channel Is Streaming

YouTube's chief product officer, Neal Mohan, revealed on Twitter that a new indicator will be added to show when a channel is live streaming on the network. When a channel is live streaming, a ring with the word "Live" appears around their profile image, which you may tap to jump right into the live broadcast.

As you explore YouTube, the functionality should make it easier to find currently live material. If the functionality seems similar, it's because it's been implemented on a few other services. If a channel is live streaming, TikTok utilizes a similar pulsing ring effect on their profile photo when you scroll past their video in your feed. When live streaming profiles appear at the top of your feed, Instagram adds a colored ring around their profile photographs.

Like Snapchat's Stories, which began as a Snapchat feature before being quickly duplicated by virtually every other platform, it appears that the live ring UI was too good to pass up. But "Shorts”, a feature that allows users to view short-form video material using a vertically scrolling feed, is perhaps the most obvious illustration of YouTube's inspiration from TikTok.