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If you've ever thought about live streaming, chances are you’ve probably thought about ways to reach more viewers. While there is no substitute for good content and energy, there are some tips and tricks to help you get more viewers.
One of the best ways to increase your viewership is through multistream or simulcasting.
What is Simulcasting
Simulcasting and simulcast are words that are often used in the field of broadcasting, especially in the television industry. It refers to the simultaneous broadcasting of a program on two channels.
While traditionally used in the television industry, nowadays, the word simulcasting is changing definitions to incorporate the broadcasting of a live stream to multiple platforms over the internet.
Please note: if you are already a Twitch Affiliate or Partner, please read your contracts before multistream. In some cases, Twitch requires that all live streaming activities be exclusive to their platform.
Why Should you Simulcast?
Multistreaming is a very useful technology. One of the biggest benefits is that you can attract viewers from two or more distinct platforms, resulting in additional eyes on your stream. New streamers, brands, corporations, and musicians have all been seen streaming to various platforms in order to increase their viewership.
Here are some of the top reasons you should consider multistreaming.
1. Expand Your Reach
Expand your reach and broadcast to as many viewers as possible.
2. It allows you to engage with the community more easily
Chat with all of your viewers at once using a chat box that consolidates chat from all platforms into one single window.
3. Each platform has its advantages
Each platform has analytics and metrics that are valuable for you to analyze.
4. Save Time
YouTube will automatically upload your live-streamed content as a video so your viewers can watch it later.
For a more in-depth breakdown on each of the benefits mentioned above, check out our blog post here to learn more.
What are the Best Multistream Sevices?
Talk Studio
Talk Studio is a browser-based streaming studio similar to Restream. Talk Studio, unlike Restream, allows you to broadcast live to all major streaming platforms in just five clicks. Talk Studio was created by the Streamlabs team and requires no complicated setup or installation for you or your guests.
Talk Studio’s multistream functionality was built from the ground ensuring a streamlined process. The end result is superior user experience that lets anyone live stream to multiple desintations in just a few clicks.
Talk Studio hosts everything on best-in-class cloud infrastructure, ensuring lightning-fast response times, low CPU consumption, and low latency for podcasters, brands, businesses, artists, musicians, and anyone else that wants to live stream.
Talk Studio’s multistream capability, unique overlays, and layouts make it simple to build professionally branded live streams. Talk Studio includes many guides and tutorials to assist you in getting started, like how to live stream for beginners, how to increase your viewership, and even how to multistream with Talk Studio.
Talk Studio is free to use but does come with a Standard and Pro plan for $15 or $49 a month respectively. At the Pro level, you can add up to nine guests, record audio only, store up to 10 hours of recordings, multistream to an unlimited amount of destinations and more.
Streamlabs
Streamlabs Desktop is an all-in-one streaming application, bringing everything you need to live stream into one conveniently packed software solution.
Founded on the belief that we want to help creators make a living do what they love, Streamlabs provides a robust suite of features to help creators grow their audience, increase engagement with viewers, and improve monetization.
While Streamlabs Desktop is free to download, the multistream functionality comes with Streamlabs Ultra, our premium toolkit for creators. Members can sell exclusive apparel through their customizable merch store, create a unique branded tip page, receive exclusive access to sponsorship opportunities through the Streamlabs App Store, and much more.
Streamlabs’ Multistream functionality allows you to stream to YouTube, Twitch, Facebook, and up to two custom RTMP destinations simultaneously.
StreamYard
StreamYard is a live streaming studio that can be used in a browser. You can stream directly Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Periscope, Twitch, and even custom RTMP outputs. Audience engagement tools are available like comment moderation and the ability to add comments on the screen. Audience call to actions can also be added to encourage participation in your live stream. StreamYard is free to use but comes with premium plans starting at $20 a month.
Castr
Castr is an all-inclusive self-service live video streaming platform that gives you total control to access streaming services on your own. Castr is free to use but comes with paid version starting at $37.5, $62.5, and $104.5 a month. At the top level you’ll receive features like 15 potential streaming destinations, up to 5 concurrent streams, 24TB for live and video hosting, 150GB VOD storage and more.
Restream
Restream is a multi-streaming solution that allows producers to analyze and interact with their viewers across platforms. Restream is more affordable than Castr at the cost of some additional features. Restream is free to start, but you can purchase their standard or professional version for $12 or $49 a month respectively. At the professional level you’ll receive Restream Studio PRO with custom logo and graphics, Stream recording & storage with up to 10 hours per stream, the ability to live stream in Full HD (1080p). Plus, you’ll lose any of the Restream branding on your stream, and you can have up to 10 guests on your stream.
About Streamlabs
Founded on the belief that we want to help creators make a living do what they love, Streamlabs provides a robust suite of features to help creators better engage with their fans, grow audiences, and improve monetization. Building on this mission, Streamlabs is expanding its product with 1) Talk Studio, our browser-based streaming studio, 2) Willow, an all-in-one bio link tool, 3) Video Editor, a video review and collaboration tool, and 4) Lucra, a live streaming platform for ticketed events.