Stream on YouTube: Broadcast your events and gamer moments

Here’s how you can stream your events and epic gamer moments on YouTube.

Getting started on YouTube

CREATE OR SIGN IN TO YOUR GOOGLE ACCOUNT

If you don’t have one already you will need to create a Google Account.

When you have created your account, log in and click on the small camera icon which is located in the top right-hand corner near your profile. From the drop down menu click Go on Live and you will be taken to the YouTube Studio page.

You may be asked to verify your account, which can be done by providing your mobile number and entering the YouTube verification code you receive. You may have to wait 24 hours to activate your account for live streaming.

SET UP YOUR STREAM

When you’re ready to go live, you will be presented with a pop up that will require you to fill in certain information. You will be asked to enter a title for your stream and determine whether you want to keep it private, make it unlisted or available to the public. You can also add further information such as links in the description box.

You will need to choose what type of content you are streaming from the various available options which include things like gaming, sports, travel and events, and education. You can then opt to schedule your live stream for a later date, upload a custom thumbnail and select the intended audience for your video. Upon completion click on Create Stream.

OPTIMISE YOUR STREAM SETTINGS

Upon creating your stream, you should see a preview, the title and category of your stream as well as how many concurrent viewers and likes you have.
To the right is your live chat, which lets you interact with your viewers, and below is your stream setting information.

Your interest will be in what is located to the left of additional setting which is stream key and stream latency.

YouTube will auto generate a stream key which you’ll need to copy and paste into your streaming software of choice, such as OBS or StreamLabs OBS.

If you have a specific quality in mind that you like to stream in like 1080p at 60fps, click on the dropdown next to Auto-generated key and select Create new stream key.

You can choose the maximum sustained bitrate that your connection can support. YouTube makes it clear what kind of speeds you will need to achieve the desired quality and frame rate you may be after.

You will need to choose the latency of your stream. Normal latency which is the default option provides the best image quality, while low latency and ultra-low latency are best if you want to have a near real time interaction with your viewers.

CONNECT YOUR STREAMING SOFTWARE

You will need to open up your streaming software of choice. In this guide we will be using OBS Studio which is free to download on obsproject.com

Go to Settings > Stream > Service and select YouTube/YouTube Gaming. Paste in your YouTube stream key in the box below and click apply.
If you have never used OBS before use the auto-configuration wizard tool and select optimize for streaming. OBS will then test your connection and determine the best settings based on your hardware and upload speeds.

Go to the Sources panel at the bottom of OBS and click on the ‘+’ icon. Select Game capture from the popup menu. Enter a name for your source, then click OK. You can then select Capture specific window and select the game you have running.

CONFIGURE YOUR AUDIO

Go to Sources and click the ‘+’ icon and pick audio input device where you should see a list of available microphones. Choose the one you would like to use and you can now record your voice.

When you are happy with everything, click Start Streaming in the bottom right hand corner., You won’t immediately go live. You need to go back into YouTube Studio and click Go Live which is located in the top right corner. The advantage of this is that YouTube will show a preview of how your stream looks before you begin broadcasting and also provide you with details on the health of your stream.

YOUR WEBCAM IS ALSO A OPTION

You can go live without the use of any streaming software and simply use your webcam. You will need to grant Google Chrome access to your webcam. Upon completion create a stream title and select whether it is suitable for children. You will get three seconds to smile for the camera, which will take a quick snap that will act as your stream’s thumbnail. You can now go live on YouTube.