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One effective way for live streamers to increase viewership and engage with a wider audience is through simulcasting, also known as multistreaming. This technique involves broadcasting a live stream to multiple platforms simultaneously, leveraging the unique audiences of each platform.
What Is Simulcasting?
Simulcasting, originally a term used in the radio broadcasting industry, has found new relevance in the world of live streaming. Today, it refers to the simultaneous broadcasting of live stream content across multiple platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Twitch, and more. This approach is especially beneficial for new streamers aiming to maximize their reach. Keep in mind that platform-specific terms and conditions regarding simulcasting are subject to change, so it's crucial to stay informed about the policies of platforms you're using.
Why Should You Simulcast?
Simulcasting offers several advantages for content creators at any stage of their career. Below are a few reasons why you should consider simulcasting:
Expand Your Reach: By broadcasting to multiple platforms, you tap into different audiences, each with its own demographics and preferences. Simulcasting increases your visibility and allows you to cater to a diverse audience, potentially increasing your subscribers, engagement rates, and visibility across various platforms.
Increase Community Engagement: Simulcasting tools often include features that consolidate chats from all platforms into a single interface. This means you can interact with audiences from different platforms simultaneously, fostering a more inclusive and engaging community atmosphere. This real-time interaction boosts viewer participation and loyalty, as audiences feel more connected and valued.
Note–As previously mentioned, you should always check a platform's terms and conditions before multistreaming. For instance, Twitch has unique simulcasting guidelines compared to other platforms like YouTube. It’s better to know than risk your account or content getting flagged.
Leveraging Platform-Specific Advantages: Each streaming platform offers distinct analytics, viewer demographics, and engagement tools. By simulcasting, you can analyze which platform performs best for different types of content, helping you to refine your streaming strategy. This data-driven approach can lead to more effective and targeted content, enhancing both viewer satisfaction and inevitably, your streaming success.
Save Time: Platforms like YouTube offer the convenience of automatically archiving live streams, which viewers can watch anytime. This saves you the hassle of separately uploading recorded content, ensuring that your streams continue to reach audiences even after the live broadcast. This feature particularly benefits creators who want to maintain a consistent presence on their channels without additional effort, a.k .a. work smarter, not harder.
Best Simulcasting/Multistreaming Services
Talk Studio: This browser-based streaming studio is designed for ease of use, allowing quick setup and broadcasting to major platforms in just a few clicks. It's an excellent choice for streamers who prioritize simplicity and efficiency. Talk Studio offers a range of subscription plans, including a free version for basic use and more comprehensive options for advanced users, with features like guest additions, audio-only recording, and extensive storage for recordings.
Streamlabs Desktop: A popular choice for streamers, Streamlabs offers robust multistreaming capabilities in a desktop application that lets you control almost every aspect of your live stream. While Streamlabs Desktop is free to download, the multistream functionality comes with Streamlabs Ultra, our premium toolkit for creators.
One of the latest features of Streamlabs Desktop, Dual Output, allows simultaneous live streaming to horizontal and vertical platforms. This feature is perfect for creators looking to optimize their content on both desktop and mobile devices. Plus, it’s free to use for streaming one horizontal and one vertical canvas (more slots available for Ultra Subscribers, along with free premium features of Streamlabs Desktop such as pro-level overlays, collaborative streaming, and much more for just over $12 per month for an annual plan).
StreamYard: Ideal for interactive live streams, StreamYard enables direct streaming to multiple platforms and comes with audience engagement tools such as comment moderation and on-screen comments. Plans offering multistreaming start at $20 per month.
Castr: Catering to a more professional segment, Castr offers comprehensive control over live video streaming with a range of features suitable for advanced streaming needs. Its tiered pricing plans (starting at $12.50) accommodate different levels of streaming requirements, making it a versatile option for both budding and seasoned streamers.
Restream: Restream is a multi-streaming solution that allows streamers to analyze and interact with their viewers across platforms. The service is free to start for two platforms, but you can purchase a plan with additional platform slots starting at $19 per month.