Will you join us in looking at the best live streaming platforms because I have live streamed on each of these collectively hundreds of times and have years of experience that might be helpful for you?
Where is the Best Website to Live Stream in 2018?
I like to use several different platforms because some of these have limitations that by using a different one can be completely overcome which allows me to maximize the benefits of multiple platforms while eliminating most of the individual downsides. If you want to see the equipment and software I use that allows me to live stream to up to six websites at once, will you please visit https://jerrybanfield.com/resources/ because everything is linked there?
#1 Dlive
Dlive may be the best opportunity to start from zero and actually begin earning some money immediately from live streaming. Dlive is on the Steem blockchain as an application and it is for most of us the only opportunity we have to actually earn any money getting started with our live streams.
On Dlive we can start with no following, stream to Dlive and have a chance to at least earn something. We have a very clear community to join. Dlive has a Discord server. You can see most of the videos I've live streamed have a decent if not an outstanding earning on them.
I've earned way more on Dlive live streaming than I have on all of the other live-streaming platforms combined. For earning money, joining the Steem blockchain and live streaming on Dlive is by far the best live-streaming opportunity.
#2 Facebook and YouTube
Live streaming on Facebook is very good to get started and reach an initial audience while live streaming on YouTube is outstanding to get discovered over a long period of time. Combining live streaming on Facebook and on YouTube is ideal. I'd say to get started and to build up, live streaming on both Facebook and YouTube is the best option for most of us because it covers everything.
To live stream on Facebook and get started is very easy because Facebook is one of the best places we can live stream and reach the people we already know, especially when we just live stream through our individual profile page.
Well, I mostly live stream on my page, but most of us are best suited to just start off on our profile because this will allow our friends and family maybe to start watching our live streams and give us the best shot of getting those initial viewers and feedback. The ideal way to do this then is to combine it with YouTube because it will allow us to get found indefinitely.
On Facebook, we are very unlikely after we have live-streamed to get someone in a year or two to just naturally discover our live stream. On YouTube, this is a distinct possibility. Therefore, I think that for getting started the ideal solution is to live stream to a Facebook profile and to a YouTube channel.
#3 Twitch
Now, here are some other options that may be appropriate for certain situations. Twitch is huge in gaming. Twitch is one of the top platforms in the world along with YouTube and now Facebook where gamers live stream things like Xbox, PlayStation, PC games and even mobile games.
The problem with Twitch is it's very hard to get that initial following. It's hard to get it shared on social media. For live streaming games, I think it's ideal to do Facebook, YouTube and Twitch.
I do not recommend just doing Twitch by itself for gaming because it's very hard to get those first few followers. That said, going all-in on streaming on Twitch may provide a great opportunity to build a following if you have got a niche or unique gaming stream. I've live streamed on Twitch. I've even made the homepage on Twitch once.
When we integrate that with getting our friends to join us from Facebook on Steem, and then on Dlive we can then compound that opportunity.
This is why I love live streaming to multiple platforms because when we look at everything I just mentioned, if we can live streaming to Facebook, we can get out to our friends and family.
On YouTube, we can get discovered.
On Twitch we can have a chance to build a gaming community.
On Dlive we can have a good opportunity to actually earn some money.
Why not live stream to all four at the same time?
#4 Mixer
Now, here's another option I've used called Mixer.
Mixer is Microsoft's live streaming option and Mixer may be one of the easiest if you have got an Xbox, if there's not one already, I'm sure they will have an Xbox application to live stream straight from Xbox.
Mixer may be one of those options that it's still early in the game. It might be really good to build a following on Mixer. You can see a replay of my recent Mixer live stream, which is actually a music station.
Now, Mixer's got a fairly small community compared to all the other platforms I just mentioned. That said, sometimes being a big fish in a smaller pond can be a lot more rewarding than trying to be a little fish in a huge pond.
Therefore, Mixer is also a good option for gaming, especially if there's a native application that makes it easy on Xbox to live stream. Mixer also has the best option I've ever seen for a zero-lag live stream.
I used Mixer to do coaching for my "League of Legends" because my coach was able to watch me in real time on "League of Legends" using Mixer, because it has got its own application which makes it only a 0.3-second delay.
I think the live streaming application is called Tachyon. If you want to live stream something with absolutely no delay, Mixer is the best option I know of for that.
#5 Twitter / Periscope
We have got Twitter's live streaming application, which is Periscope. Another relatively small live-streaming platform compared to how big Twitter is.
However, if you have got a big Twitter following or if you just have an active Twitter following, live streaming on Periscope may be ideal to reach the existing community you have already got on Twitter.
With the competition being lower on Periscope to get followers than in many of these other live-streaming platforms, going all-in on Periscope and just live streaming there might present an incredible opportunity.
Some of the top streams on Periscope from what I just saw on the homepage have a few hundred viewers. That means that if you already have an active community you'd have a chance to be one of the top streams on Periscope and it integrates very well with Twitter.
If you have already got an active Twitter community live streaming on Periscope might help greatly to expand an existing Twitter community. I did some live streaming on Periscope and I'm amazed how just doing some of these music live streams how I built a following bigger than on any other website getting started from scratch.
After not using periscope for ten months, I'm getting back into Periscope to help build my own Twitter community.
#6 Instagram
Then, there's Instagram.
If you have already got a community and you just want to live stream on your phone, do some real quick informal live streams, Instagram is an outstanding option because it's really easy to just go live and start talking and interact.
On Instagram, the live streams don't save to the profile, at least the last time I did one, and if you want to just get started from scratch and you want to use your phone, you might be better off just using Facebook instead of Instagram.
Therefore, I'd say Instagram is ideal if you already have an Instagram audience to live stream there. It's definitely worth testing if you have got a following of a few hundred people, if you have got a lot of friends.
That said, I think the opportunities on Instagram are limited to what I've just mentioned because I'm not able currently to live stream on Instagram using Wirecast, at least how I figured out I do it.
It's probably possible, but it's not easy for me to just throw up a live stream on Instagram whereas I can throw it up on Periscope, Mixer, Dlive, Twitch, YouTube, Facebook and Smashcast.
I can easily do that on Wirecast, but it's not easy to do Instagram because it is very limited in how you can stream to it.
That means there may be corresponding opportunities because then live streamers like me are not able to go live stream on Instagram.
#7 Smashcast
Finally, Smashcast is a niche website where you can live stream games and music stations, for example. I am discontinuing live streaming on Smashcast because out of all the live-streaming platforms it has had the most disappointing results.
That said, there are some opportunities you might be able to discover on Smashcast. You can see there are streams right now mostly on games although there are some music stations.
There's not a lot of people watching on Smashcast. You can see the front page here.
This is the top stream right now and the top streamer on Smashcast has 6,000 something views on the profile.
There may be some niche streaming options on Smashcast, and there might be some in other languages as well.
I've done live streams on Smashcast, and I'm discontinuing on that.
Summary
To summarize, I think the best place to get started is on DLive because we have a chance to actually earn some money from the beginning and even pay ourselves by buying Steem and powering it up. If we have the capability to buy even $100 worth of Steem and power it up to get started, then Dlive on the Steem blockchain is by far the best option.
If we are unable to get started on DLive today for lack of equipment or having a Steem account and just want to give live streaming a try right away, the easiest live-streaming platform to get started for many of us is Facebook if we already are using Facebook and we have never done anything before, if we just want our friends and someone to watch our live stream.
If we are making tutorials, we definitely want to live stream on YouTube. If we are doing gaming, we will want to consider Twitch for streaming.
If we have an Xbox or want to have lag free live streams, live streaming on Mixer may be an awesome option.
For established Twitter followings, Periscope.
For established Instagramers, live streaming on Instagram.
And for maybe one person, a niche opportunity on Smashcast.
Thank you very much for learning about the best live-streaming platforms.
This is as of April 19th, 2018.
These are all platforms I have live streamed on and I've compared the results I've gotten to give you these recommendations here.
I love you.
You are awesome. I appreciate you watching this and I hope this is helpful to see which are the best live-streaming platforms. If you found this post helpful on Steem, would you please upvote it and follow me because you will then be able to see more posts like this in your home feed?
Love,
Jerry Banfield with edits by @gmichelbkk on the transcript from @deniskj
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