Intro

Live video streaming is the borderland where platforms and content creators are doing some slap-up work. They are finding new ways to leverage the ability and immediacy of live streaming video to achieve whatever business or personal goals they have.

Amidst the most popular and effective uses of live video streaming sites is bringing events closer to audiences who cannot attend them. If y'all're wondering which free live video streaming sites and apps you should utilise for your events and why, here's a listing of the most popular ones in no particular order. You're bound to find a good solution among them.

1. YouTube Live

YouTube is arguably the most popular video-sharing platform in the world. Among other things, YouTube is famous for being a website where people sentry more than a billion hours of video content a twenty-four hours. It's too the website where people perform more than searches than on real search engines, giving YouTube the title of the second virtually pop search engine in the earth.

YouTube'southward live video streaming service is chosen YouTube Alive. It's available, free of charge, to whatever creator who verifies their account and activates the live streaming feature. You take a couple of options to start streaming to YouTube Live:

  • Streaming from your mobile device via the YouTube app
  • Simple streaming with your webcam, right from your browser via Restream Studio
  • Streaming with an encoder, like OBS Studio

Which option yous'll choose is completely upward to y'all. Streaming from your mobile device tin can be incredibly practical when streaming an event yous're attending. If, notwithstanding, you demand to ready upward some real gear for video streaming, streaming with Restream Studio is the all-time option. Y'all easily start streaming directly from your browser in just a few clicks. It's besides an option that will give y'all the best stream quality thanks to the Total Hard disk feature.

2. Facebook Live

Facebook Live

Facebook wouldn't be the behemoth of a social network it is if information technology hadn't allowed its users to communicate using every possible form of content. Notwithstanding, the social network seemed to exist particularly keen on making live video available to its users. But a brusk while afterwards launching the Facebook Live service, Facebook's CEO Marker Zuckerberg predicted that, within v years, video content will boss Facebook.

While yous're waiting for Zuckerberg's prediction to come up true, you lot are free to use Facebook Alive to stream events to your contour or your folio. If y'all're wondering why you lot should use Facebook Live to stream events, hither are a couple of possible reasons:

  • Facebook is the social network with the most users in the globe
  • You can stream from mobile or desktop
  • Your videos are saved to your contour or page later the stream

Overall, Facebook Live doesn't offering the aforementioned video quality as YouTube Live and doesn't come with handy monetization options. There are some great ways to take advantage of the good things Facebook Alive has to offer. Plus, the number of people who are on the social network is so staggering that it alone would suffice to make Facebook Live a go-to live video streaming site for events.

Luckily, you don't really take to cull a platform. Restream Studio allows you lot to live stream to YouTube and Facebook at the same time. Moreover, yous tin stream to as many platforms as you want! In Restream Studio, yous can observe lots of other cool possibilities, like the ability to invite guests on stream, upload videos, and share your screen with the audience.

⚡️ To learn more, check out our guide on Restream Studio.

three. Instagram Alive

Instagram Live

Is Instagram the new Facebook? The verdict isn't in yet, but we know that Instagram is incredibly popular and that its ascension has been incredible to witness. It's the social network that doubled its user base betwixt June 2016 and June 2018, and that was widely seen as the respond to the issues that were plaguing Facebook early in 2018.

Instagram couldn't be amid the meridian social networks if it didn't take a live video service. Located inside Stories, Instagram Live is the social network's answer to the live video craze with a twist. And then after you've fabricated a live stream on Instagram, yous can publish the video to your stories, where information technology will stay for 24 hours earlier being deleted. On the plus side, y'all get:

  • Use of Instagram filters for your video
  • The ability to plough comments on and off
  • A notification boom when you start streaming

If you desire to observe a smashing style to leverage Instagram Live for events, call back about using information technology to deliver behind-the-scenes footage or short snippets of content you wouldn't mind disappearing subsequently a twenty-four hours. As well, remember that Instagram has a lx-minute cap for live stream video length, but you can easily restart your stream later on those sixty minutes terminate.

4. Twitter

Simply similar the other social media platforms, Twitter quickly jumped onto the live streaming hype train. But, of course, Twitter added its flavor to the cocktail. For case, you can stream audio-merely broadcasts. That'south a neat feature for anyone who is thinking about using social networks for podcasting. More recently, Twitter has made it possible to invite guests into live streams, and so you can have your audition'southward audio commentary appear in your broadcast.

If y'all make up one's mind to use Twitter to alive stream events, yous might consider:

  • Enabling auto-save to your photographic camera roll then yous can mail the video to other sites later
  • Using hashtags in video descriptions to improve searchability
  • Post-obit the best practices for posting content on Twitter

The rules that apply to live streaming on Twitter are very similar, if non the same to those for traditional. If you're proficient at using Twitter and know how to attract more audiences, you should be able to go the attention your effect deserves.

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v. Twitch

Twitch

Once upon a time, Twitch was the video streaming platform where you'd venture just to watch or stream gaming-related content. With fourth dimension, the honchos at Twitch figured out their members have other interests besides gaming, and so they opened the gates for other types of content.

Twitch is the streaming website that spun off the original streaming platform, Justin.tv. For the first couple of years, it functioned as a gaming-only streaming platform. It doesn't anymore, just there's withal a ascendant presence of the gaming customs on the website. This means that, if you decide to stream live events on Twitch, the usual communication would be to do so simply if they accept something to do with gaming.

But Twitch and its users are much more complex than that. In that location are a couple of strong reasons to chance using Twitch even if the events you stream have naught to do with gaming:

  • Twitch is the live video streaming market leader — it has the nigh live stream video hours watched of all the sites.
  • Twitch's recent growth design shows that creators and audiences are showing more than involvement in not-gaming content.
  • Twitch has responded to the new developments by implementing new non-gaming content categories.

Twitch is past no means a general live video streaming site similar YouTube or Facebook Live. But information technology'due south not only a gaming website anymore, and information technology might exist a neat platform for you to stream non-gaming live events.

Read Next: 20 Fun Things to Do on a Live Stream 📍

6. LinkedIn Alive

LinkedIn Live

LinkedIn is the latest social network to jump on the live streaming bandwagon with its own video streaming service, LinkedIn Live. LinkedIn launched the service in February 2019 to a number of selected partners and members. In the months following this beta-type release, LinkedIn allowed network members to apply to go LinkedIn Live broadcasters. The existent question here is, why would you bother?

Months later the initial release, there'south still a lot we don't know about LinkedIn Live. We don't know how information technology compares to other live streaming sites. We don't know how frequently LinkedIn greenlights broadcaster applications. We don't know if and when LinkedIn will allow all members to use the live streaming service.

Merely you lot still might requite the service a try and send in an application. Especially if any of the following applies:

  • Your main audiences are professionals or business organization owners
  • Yous program to stream from manufacture events
  • Y'all are interested in B2B marketing

Restream and LinkedIn take partnered, making is super easy for you to live stream to multiple services, including LinkedIn via Restream Studio. Create and schedule your live events and invite participants to stream in just a few mouse clicks. And all of that in the Full HD quality!

🤩 Bonus: stream to several alive video streaming sites simultaneously

Every live video streaming site can merely become then far in helping you broadcast your consequence. Each website comes with a set of pros and cons that make choosing a live streaming website a process in which you have to measure what you go past broadcasting in that location, as well as what yous lose.

Merely the real way to brand the most out of the opportunities these platforms offer is to stream simultaneously to more live video streaming sites than just 1. Alive video is more engaging than recorded video. When you stream to multiple websites, you can appoint with audiences y'all accept on every video platform you use, thus maximizing your audience reach. Restream.io allows you precisely that and more!

The whole procedure with Restream is incredibly elementary. Later on signing up for the Restream service, you lot'll be prompted to add video streaming accounts to the service. You do that by simply logging into your accounts from Restream's dashboard.

So, when it's time to first streaming your event, jump over to your Restream Studio and click Become Live to start streaming direct from your browser. You volition be able to add guests direct to your live streams, upload and play your local videos, read and reply to your viewers from all the platforms you are streaming to thanks to a cantankerous-platform chat, and more!

Or yous can opt for a more professional person setup and utilise all the gear yous desire and an external encoder, like OBS Studio or XSplit. Either way, your video will appear in front of your audiences, on whatever live video streaming site they use.

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Conclusion

Live streaming video is a powerful style to connect with an audience. It's a format that drives engagement and every bit such is perfect for fostering a sense of community.

When y'all use live streaming to testify video of an outcome, y'all are giving your audience access to things they wouldn't exist able to see otherwise. Only if you really like to bring your audience in, you should stream to whatever platform they use. Y'all can do that easily if you utilise Restream.