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YouTube is adding a trio of new live streaming features today that are all pending for streamers on Twitch. Streamers will now be able to limit their chats to subscribers only, they will be able to create polls in their chats, and they and their viewers will now be able to create clips from popular game streams.
These features have been around for a while on Twitch and they are all important tools for streamers to engage with their community. Limiting chats to subscribers only can help as a moderation tool by weeding out people who just passed, and this gives streamers another tool to encourage their viewers to start paying. And polls are useful for interacting with the often chaotic discussion forums, giving streamers an easy way to ask for their thoughts on what they should do next.
Clips are also an essential tool for discovery. Since most people won’t watch a live broadcast that lasts for several hours, Twitch’s chopping tool allows fans to capture and share highlights, which can help draw new people to a streamer. YouTube still limits clips to game creators with over 1,000 subscribers, although it says the feature will eventually roll out to everyone. The clips, like the chat features, had been tested with a limited number of creators so far.
While Twitch is still the dominant name in live streaming, Facebook Gaming and YouTube Gaming have grown. According to Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet, YouTube had around a quarter of the market in terms of hours watched at the end of 2020, with Twitch making up around two-thirds of all viewers. YouTube has a long way to go to catch up, but adding basic features like these can go a long way to help streamers and help them grow.
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