YouTube stages its first live-streamed event
YouTube Live was broadcast from San Francisco on November 22, 2008, marking the first live-streamed event in YouTube's history. Until then the service had been fundamentally a platform for prerecorded uploads.
Исторический контекст
Live-video startups such as Justin.tv and Ustream were demonstrating real-time broadcasting, while YouTube had achieved its enormous scale through asynchronous, prerecorded clips. A controlled event allowed YouTube to test and demonstrate live distribution without immediately turning live streaming into a universal creator feature.
Что произошло
The two-hour YouTube Live show combined online creators, musicians and other performers before a physical audience while the program was streamed over the internet in real time. It was a special event rather than the launch of general-purpose live broadcasting for YouTube users.
Последствия
The broadcast established live video as a credible extension of YouTube's prerecorded platform and foreshadowed the company's later investment in concerts, sports, interviews and partner livestreaming. In 2011 YouTube would formally integrate live-streaming tools and discovery into the platform.