Hone Your Livestream Skills on YouTube’s Premier Platform

The Ultimate Guide to YouTube Live Streaming

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Mar 27, 2024• Proven solutions

Live streaming on YouTube is a great way to get more engagement from your audience, even if you do not have a huge following. As long as you have some reliable subscribers leaving comments on your videos you should be able to schedule a live stream and know it will have an audience. People feel a personal connection with their favorite vloggers so if you give your subscribers a chance to interact with you in real time they will probably plan to join in. The key to a good live streaming is to respond to comments and questions from people who are watching. Besides watching the live chat of your video you can create a hashtag for your stream and monitor it on twitter.

Table of Contents

• Why Livestream?
• Type of Content to Livestream
• What You Need to Livestream On YouTube
• 4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube
• 8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube
• How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Why Livestream?

You have grown your audience, and now you want to take your channel to the next level and diversify your content.

Whether you are vlogging, gaming, or running tutorials on YouTube, there is potential to host a live broadcast. It’s not limited to any genre, you simply need to create content that people are interested in watching.

Before we get started into the How, let’s start with a few reasons Why you should be live streaming your content.

Connect and engage with your audience

When a viewer leaves a comment during a livestream you will be able to see it right away and respond. Having an instantaneous conversation with a viewer while they are watching your video will encourage more engagement and establish a ber relationship with your viewers — and you will know that these viewers are not bots.

Increase watch time and session watch time on your channel

If you are making YouTube videos on average 10 minutes long, and the viewer only watches half of it, that’s only 5 minutes of watch time, which is fine… But if you are live streaming for 45 minutes, and you are able to hold the viewer’s attention, you can surpass what your regular videos can do.

Make videos faster

As a YouTuber, you are always striving to be more efficient. Live streaming allows you to do that as you can set up and go. The content you end up creating during the duration of your livestream can then also be condensed into a highlight reel or a recap.

With a bit of planning before you go live, you can create a week’s worth of content in one go, instead of having multiple schedules for livestream content and your standard publishing videos.

Type of Content to Livestream

Live streaming has a lot of value, but what type of content should you be streaming?

Here are a few popular ideas for content that will attract viewers to your livestream:

Q&A session

Unboxing

Game or challenge

Sneak preview or review

Live events (just make sure the Internet can support it)

A demo or a tutorial

A live commentary or (if you are a gamer) Let’s Play video

What You Need to Livestream On YouTube

A Plan or Outline

It’s good to know what your livestream is going to be about before you start. Is there a key message you want to hit, an action you want your viewers to take, or a structure you want to follow.

Just because it’s live, doesn’t mean it all has to be improvised. If you go in without a plan, you might end up feeling flustered or getting stressed out. Allow for spontaneous comments or events to take you off your initial plan, but always return to your outline so you know how to wrap up your livestream when you have to.

Stable Internet Connection

You cannot conduct a quality livestream, if your Internet is bad. When evaluating your internet connection for live streaming on YouTube, look at the Upload speed. Depending on the quality of your video, these are the minimum upload speed rates your Internet will need to perform:

480p = 1.5 mbps

720p = 3 mbps

1080 = 5 mbps

In addition, be aware of external causes that may be slowing down your internet such as someone else using it, a poorly performing router, or a damaged cable.

Camera

If you have a smartphone or a laptop with a webcam built in, that is the best camera for you to get started live streaming. It’s good to have a milestone and work towards a more advanced camera, but until then, don’t feel discouraged because you don’t have expensive gear. If you have a smartphone, a laptop, or a basic webcam, that’s perfectly fine.

Microphone

You don’t need a great microphone for live streaming, you only need a good one. If you do want to spend several hundred to a thousand dollars for a professional studio microphone, nobody will stop you, but know this, a mic that is easy to use is as important as the audio quality as you develop a consistent live streaming schedule.

Streaming Software (For Higher Quality Streams)

Once upon a time, to livestream on YouTube, you needed additional software to capture content from desktop, camera, microphone, etc, called encoding software — but not anymore.

Those encoding software, such as OBS , Wirecast , and VMix , are required if you are producing content that requires a high frame rate such as gaming, but not mandatory if you are simply vlogging or running a tutorial.

If you are using Chrome, you canstream live on YouTube without using an encoder .

A Capture Card (For Higher Quality Streams)

You will need a capture card when you are capturing footage from a different PC or console. If you are a gamer and you are using one PC to stream and one PC to play your game, then you should consider getting a capture card.

4 Ways to Setup Your Livestream On YouTube

There are 4 main ways you can start live streaming on YouTube. The one that works best for you depends on the content you are going to be streaming.

1. Camera/Go Live (Chrome Browser)

By accessing www.youtube.com/webcam on the Google Chrome browser, you can start streaming immediately through your connected webcam. This way is best for a simple Q&A or letting your viewers know your thoughts in a timely situation. This method does not require an encoder.

There are 3 ways to access livestream this way:

1. Click here to connect to your YouTube channel

2. You can access it from the top menu on YouTube

3. You can access it by clicking Camera under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

2. Google Hangouts On Air (Quick)

Another way to livestream without an encoding software is by using the Google Hangouts On Air feature.

This is great if you want the feel of your livestream to be similar to a board meeting, where you can invite people, split screen, and share screen to illustrate your point.

Here’s how you can access this Google Hangouts On Air:

Step 1: Go to Events under the Live Streaming tab in your Creator Studio

Step 2: Click New Live Event button on the top right corner

Step 3: Enter the event’s Info and Setting page. Fill out the details of your Livestream, and under Type, select Quick (using Google Hangouts On Air).

Step 4: You can schedule your livestream or Go Live immediately by clicking one of the blue buttons on the left-hand side.

3. Mobile

Live streaming via your mobile device gives you a lot more freedom to maneuver. You can walk around and give your viewers a tour — but remember to stay within the WiFi or LTE range. That means you still won’t be able to livestream well inside an elevator.

Here’s how you can livestream on mobile:

Step 1: Access the YouTube app and make sure you are signed in to the account you want to livestream from.

Step 2: At the top, click on the camera icon

Step 3: Click on Go Live

Pro Tip: When live streaming, always hold your smartphone horizontally. This allows your video to be oriented as a landscape, instead of a portrait.

4. Custom Encoder

The fourth way of live streaming on YouTube is with encoding software. This is the recommended method if video quality is essential, such as gaming videos.

Step 1: Download and install an encoding software. In this example, we’ll be using OBS .

Step 2: Open OBS

Step 3: Go to YouTube Creator Studio and enter the Stream Now page

Step 4: Under Encoder Setup, copy Stream name/key (Warning: DO NOT share this key with anyone)

Step 5: Return to OBS and enter the Setting menu on the lower right-hand side of the application

Step 6: Click into the Stream tab

a) Under Stream Type, select Streaming Services

b) Under Service, select YouTube/YouTube Gaming

c) Under Server, select Primary YouTube ingest server

d) In Stream Key box, paste the Stream Key you copied from YouTube

e) Click Apply and then OK

Step 7: Plug in your webcam

Step 8: In the main OBS dashboard, under the Sources menu, click the + icon and add Video Capture Device. You should now see visuals from your Webcam.

Step 9: Select the Resolution you want for your video and click OK

Step 10: Return to your YouTube Streaming Page and fill out the details of your livestream

Step 11: Go back to OBS and click Start Streaming

Step 12: See on YouTube Streaming Page at the top that you are Live. You are officially streaming. Once You are finished streaming, return to OBS and click Stop Streaming to end the stream.

8 Tips to Improve Your Livestream on YouTube

Do Speed Test

Before you start your livestream, do a speed test of your Internet. Check out from here.

Have Good Lighting

Be aware of your surroundings when you are about to livestream. You don’t need the top-notch lighting kit, you can simply sit beside a window and allow natural lights to illuminate your stream.

Shoot A Live Test (Unlisted)

Have a technical rehearsal by doing a livestream test, then rewatching it, and evaluating the quality of the audio and visual.

You don’t have to worry about your audience logging in and seeing your test if you set the Privacy of the stream to Unlisted.

Look at the Lens, Not the Screen

If you are streaming with the selfie camera on your smartphone or using your camera’s viewfinder to make sure you are in the frame, remember that you need to be looking at the lens — not the image of yourself.

Eye contact is important in building trust, and if you are looking at yourself, it will appear as if you are looking past your viewers instead of at them.

Show It To Your Viewers

Whatever you are talking about, if you can, show it to your viewers. YouTube is a visual medium, and that means your viewers can become disinterested if there’s nothing visual holding their attention.

In the beginning, you probably won’t have a multi-camera setup, so you cannot cut away from your livestream. However, you can share the screen and you can bring physical objects into a frame.

If you are talking about your dog, show her on camera. If you’re presenting something with a lot of steps, create a Powerpoint slideshow.

Consider what visuals or props you can add to your livestream to enhance your performance.

Find A Way to Make it Evergreen

Evergreen content refers to content that is relevant for a great length of time. Talking about an event isn’t evergreen, because the event will soon pass and become old news. However, giving some tips for how to plan an event would be evergreen content.

Since your livestream will be saved on YouTube and your viewers can replay and watch it. They’re more likely to enjoy it if the content is relevant and interesting.

It Doesn’t Have to Be Long

A livestream doesn’t need to be 40 minutes long. It only needs to be long enough for you to get your story across — and if you want to answer some questions and engage with your audience. As soon as your story is over, even if it’s only 5 minutes, that’s okay. Don’t stress about the length of your stream, it’s not an endurance competition.

Allow Yourself to Make Mistakes

Another thing you shouldn’t worry about at all is making mistakes. When you are doing livestreams pretend you are engaging with someone in real life. In real life, you aren’t able to edit out your mistakes, whether it’s a word mispronounced or coffee spilling. Roll with it and laugh it off.

How to Grow As A Livestreamer on YouTube

Let People Know When You Are Streaming

Give people enough time to schedule it in, don’t spring it on them in the last minute. Share it on social media, your website, and any other means.

Create a Streaming Link 2 Days Before

Share your livestream link via social media to remind everyone to tune in when you go live. Looking for your link? It should look something like this: <www.youtube.com/user/\[channelname\]/live>

Reach Out To the Communities Most Interested

If you are going to be live streaming about a specific topic, such as photography, you should reach out to those who are interested in the topic. Highlight what aspect of photography you are going to be streaming and attract new viewers to your content.

Be Aware of Time Difference

If you have an international audience, find time to livestream where you can get the optimal amount of viewers.

You can find the location of your main demographic in your YouTube analytics .

Create a Channel Trailer to Promote Livestream

Make a video and host it as your channel trailer, that way anyone who lands on your YouTube page will see the promo for your livestream.

Promote Through Feature Content and Channel

YouTube has a feature that enables you to use your existing content to promote your upcoming livestream.

Here’s how to set it up:

Key Takeaways

1. Live streaming will help you make more videos, engage with your audience, and grow your channel.
2. You don’t need expensive equipment to livestream on YouTube, you only need a webcam and a microphone.
3. YouTube has made live streaming as easy as a few clicks, no additional software needed unless you are gaming.
4. Always do a test run of your livestream to ensure the internet, audio, and visual are all working properly.
5. Create content and reach out to communities to promote your livestream.

Have you encountered any obstacles when setting up your livestream on YouTube? Let us know in the comments below, we are happy to help!

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

How to Buy YouTube Views - Everything You Need To Know

How to Buy YouTube Views - Everything You Need To Know

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

This article has everything you need to know before you buy YouTube views, including:

1. Where to Buy Views
2. How Does it Work?
3. What to Look for in a Service
4. Is Buying Views Illegal?
5. Will Buying Views Get Me Banned From YouTube?

Disclaimer: We in no way endorse the practice of buying views. It could be dangerous for your channel and will damage your credibility with your real viewers if they find out.

YouTube is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms today. The amount of time we spend watching YouTube videos daily is simply mindboggling. The amazing thing about YouTube is how easy it is to share content and, in the process, build your audience. Many people have launched careers on the success of their videos and the popularity of their channels. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert, a hobbyist, an aspiring musician, a citizen journalist, a DIY maven, a cook, or a makeup fiend – YouTube can help you reach more people, develop your brand and launch your new career. All you have to do is create your channel, upload good videos, promote your content, and watch the magic happen. Well, if only it were that simple…

In reality, getting people to watch your content can be difficult. Even for people who have large personal networks, hitting 5000 or 10000 views can be tough. The reason is simply that YouTube videos, like other web content, thrive on Social Proof, and Social Proof equals credibility. The more views a video has, the more people are willing to watch it, and the better its chances of featuring as recommended content. It’s a vicious cycle. Time and time again, we see that given the choice, people would rather watch a video with 2000 views instead of a video with 200 views.

This is why buying YouTube views can be a great way to jumpstart the organic views of your content. It’s no silver bullet of course, but it can get you off to a good start. Buying YouTube views can help your video gain traction and get recommended. The trick is to buy from sources that provide real US and UK views in ways that do not violate YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). There are many scam services out there that can get your video the wrong kind of attention. Be sure to do your research before you buy, and understand that this is a tactic which promises short-term results. Buying YouTube views can be useful. However, it is no guarantee of long-term success. You still need to put hard work into your content for it to work.

WHERE TO BUY VIEWS

These top 5 sites for buying YouTube views are ranked according to the quality of the targeted views they deliver, viewer engagement, responsiveness, turnaround time, and their moneyback guarantee (if they have one). The site which tested these services is called BuyViewsReview. To learn more about the top providers of YouTube views, and how you can avoid scams, click here .

Tip: you want ‘high retention views’ – views where your video has been watched for a significant period, not just clicked on. These will help your search engine rankings.

1. DEVUMI

Devumi is our #1 pick for buying YouTube views because it provides the best value for money. To start with, all Devumi’s packages come with likes included so there’s no need to shop around for engagement and retention after buying views from Devumi. They have a 100% money-back guarantee and some of the fastest turnaround time available on the market (for genuine high-retention views. Some bot services are faster, but it’s against YouTube’s TOS to use bots).

2. BuyViews

BuyViews come in at a close second to Devumi. They offer various social promotion options along with their packages. They also have an impressive 60% – 90% retention rate as well as a 100% moneyback guarantee. However, their turnaround time isn’t as good as Devumi’s. Also, they provide no time guarantee on their retention rate.

3. MarketingHeaven

MarketingHeaven makes buying YouTube views very easy. On their homepage, you can add the link to the video you’d like to promote, select the number of views you want from a dropdown list and top it off with an optional selection of likes. While this ease of use is a plus, MarketingHeaven is a bit more expensive than the top 2 sites on this list, and it provides no retention guarantee. Also, it takes longer to see results and it provides no options for social promotion.

4. 500VIEWS

On 500VIEWS you can buy everything, including YouTube views, likes, comments, and subscribers. They have an add-ons system that’s very easy to use. However, they don’t deliver on quality, retention, engagement, and customer support like the top 3 sites. It can also take up to 1 week to get results from 500VIEWS.

5. Social Shop

Social Shop has a very nice mix of packages. At the lowest end, they have the micro package which gets you 1000 views for $2, and at the high end, they have the Pro package which gets you 1,000,000 views for $999. Considering this range of options, their turnaround time of 2 days isn’t bad at all. However, Social Shop has limited engagement options. Unlike other sites on this list, they do not provide likes, comments, or subscribers. Their customer support also doesn’t compare too well against others on this list.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Buying YouTube views is easy and safe if you buy from reliable sources like the sites at the top of the list above. It also helps to know how YouTube judges view to understand why it’s important to choose the right source.

YouTube ranks views based on the location of the viewers and the quality of viewer engagement. When a user who is based in the US or UK uploads a video and it gets most of its views from Russia or Asia, that raises a red flag. YouTube checks to see that a good number of video viewers are part of the user’s target demographic, and that makes sense. You want targeted YouTube views because that can boost organic retention rates significantly. Untargeted views can lead to a high bounce rate which can lead YouTube to conclude that your video has been mistitled, among other things.

The best sellers of YouTube views go the extra mile to provide a mixed demographic of views with targeted hits from the US and UK to avoid the wrong kind of attention.

Some sellers simply rent IPs from different places and send them to the video link. While this method might not be detected by YouTube, it offers very low retention because there are no real people behind those IP addresses. It is always best to buy from sellers who can send real people to watch, like, and comment on your videos. Anything else is risky and can bring your content under increased scrutiny from YouTube.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD VIEW-BUYING WEBSITE

The most important thing to look for in a good view buying website is a guarantee that you’ll be getting real humans, not bots, to watch your video. This is the only way to get organic retention and engagement from your purchase. While robots will inflate your views, there’ll be little else to show for those high numbers. Bot views won’t help you rank in search results, and they may hurt your chances of ranking (they also violate YouTube’s TOS and can get your videos taken down). With human views, things can be different.

Bear in mind that buying views will not guarantee long-term success or impactful engagement. This is why buying YouTube views is seen as a short-term tactic for jumpstarting organic growth and not something to keep on doing forever. Content creators still have to promote their content and build real relationships with their viewers to see meaningful results in the long term.

Next, you want to be sure that your view buying website can deliver targeted views. If you’re based in the UK, you want views from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. Views originating predominantly from Russia or certain parts of Eastern Europe and Asia could give you away, and you’d run the risk of disciplinary action from YouTube. Buying views isn’t technically against the rules, as long as they are human views, but if YouTube suspects there is a bot at work then they won’t be interested in any appeals about how ‘the service said they didn’t use bots’.

It’s also important to buy from providers whose viewers are active on YouTube. Their history of activity on YouTube will only boost the credibility of their views and by extension, the credibility of your video and its growing popularity.

Finally, you want to avoid sellers who provide views in a way that can put you at risk. Sites that provide views from similar IPs and same browsers with the same or similar cookies are just too obvious. YouTube can pick-up on that kind of activity and you could potentially have a problem on your hands.

IS BUYING VIEWS ILLEGAL?

No. This goes double for users who are not monetizing their content. Videos that promote violence and copyright violations are illegal. Buying views is not against the law, or even YouTube’s Terms of Service depending on where your views come from.

YouTube’s TOS does state clearly that partners are not to engage third parties to “… generate artificial subscribers or views.” Partners are generally understood to be users who are monetizing their channels through affiliate programs or AdSense, and ‘artificial’ means the views need to come from a bot to be against the rules. However, some interpret this to mean that buying YouTube views is against the TOS for all users. It seems like YouTube would rather you not buy views at all since the language is ambiguous, but since there’s a way in which buying ads through Google for your channel could be seen as buying views they haven’t formally outlawed it. Whatever your perspective, there’s no denying that buying views is a risky business. This is all the more reason you should choose the sites you buy from carefully.

Also, keep in mind that tech companies like Google constantly review their policies. Bloggers have had to change tactics with changes to Google’s search engine algorithm. There’s no telling how things may change or evolve with YouTube in the future. That is why we strongly recommend that you buy views from websites that can deliver real human views with strong guarantees of service delivery and reliable turnaround times. Anything short of this could expose you and your content to the kind of attention you certainly don’t want.

WILL BUYING VIEWS GET ME BANNED FROM YOUTUBE?

As mentioned above, buying views alone is unlikely to get you banned from YouTube. The worst-case scenario is that your video may be taken down for ‘view count gaming’ and even then, there’s an appeals process. The important thing is to understand Google and YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Only explicit and egregious violations of their TOS could get your banned. You should also be mindful that community policing is a big part of how YouTube discovers users who may violate their TOS. If many viewers flag your video for takedown due to copyright violation or abusive content, that can lead to serious disciplinary action from YouTube and in some cases, you may be banned for life.

That’s why it’s important to buy likes and comments as well if you’re going to buy a large number of views – lots of views and no engagement will make organic viewers think you used a bot and they may report you.

Buying YouTube views is not illegal and certainly will not incur the same kind of disciplinary action as clear violations of YouTube’s TOS. What matters is that you buy your views in a way that won’t attract the wrong kind of attention. YouTube will sometimes flag videos for view auditing. If views are found to be fake, the view count is dropped to exclude fake views. If this has happened to you after you bought YouTube views, be wary of buying from the same source again. If your video is repeatedly found to be attracting purchased fake views, it may be taken down.

Conclusion

We see videos with thousands and millions of views so often that it’s easy to forget just how difficult it can be to get people to watch your videos. YouTube is very competitive, and it takes time to build a reputation, and the following needed to become a YouTube star.

To compete for viewer attention and engagement, it helps to have good numbers. Buying views can give you an edge by telling people that your content is worth their time. Just be sure to buy your views from the right sources. And after you’ve bought your views, do your part to promote your video on YouTube and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Also, engage with your audience and create content consistently. With all these in place, your audience will grow organically, and eventually, you may get your moment in the spotlight.

What do you think? Would you buy YouTube views, or can you get by growing your channel organically?

Use Excellent Video Editor to Gain More Views

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

This article has everything you need to know before you buy YouTube views, including:

1. Where to Buy Views
2. How Does it Work?
3. What to Look for in a Service
4. Is Buying Views Illegal?
5. Will Buying Views Get Me Banned From YouTube?

Disclaimer: We in no way endorse the practice of buying views. It could be dangerous for your channel and will damage your credibility with your real viewers if they find out.

YouTube is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms today. The amount of time we spend watching YouTube videos daily is simply mindboggling. The amazing thing about YouTube is how easy it is to share content and, in the process, build your audience. Many people have launched careers on the success of their videos and the popularity of their channels. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert, a hobbyist, an aspiring musician, a citizen journalist, a DIY maven, a cook, or a makeup fiend – YouTube can help you reach more people, develop your brand and launch your new career. All you have to do is create your channel, upload good videos, promote your content, and watch the magic happen. Well, if only it were that simple…

In reality, getting people to watch your content can be difficult. Even for people who have large personal networks, hitting 5000 or 10000 views can be tough. The reason is simply that YouTube videos, like other web content, thrive on Social Proof, and Social Proof equals credibility. The more views a video has, the more people are willing to watch it, and the better its chances of featuring as recommended content. It’s a vicious cycle. Time and time again, we see that given the choice, people would rather watch a video with 2000 views instead of a video with 200 views.

This is why buying YouTube views can be a great way to jumpstart the organic views of your content. It’s no silver bullet of course, but it can get you off to a good start. Buying YouTube views can help your video gain traction and get recommended. The trick is to buy from sources that provide real US and UK views in ways that do not violate YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). There are many scam services out there that can get your video the wrong kind of attention. Be sure to do your research before you buy, and understand that this is a tactic which promises short-term results. Buying YouTube views can be useful. However, it is no guarantee of long-term success. You still need to put hard work into your content for it to work.

WHERE TO BUY VIEWS

These top 5 sites for buying YouTube views are ranked according to the quality of the targeted views they deliver, viewer engagement, responsiveness, turnaround time, and their moneyback guarantee (if they have one). The site which tested these services is called BuyViewsReview. To learn more about the top providers of YouTube views, and how you can avoid scams, click here .

Tip: you want ‘high retention views’ – views where your video has been watched for a significant period, not just clicked on. These will help your search engine rankings.

1. DEVUMI

Devumi is our #1 pick for buying YouTube views because it provides the best value for money. To start with, all Devumi’s packages come with likes included so there’s no need to shop around for engagement and retention after buying views from Devumi. They have a 100% money-back guarantee and some of the fastest turnaround time available on the market (for genuine high-retention views. Some bot services are faster, but it’s against YouTube’s TOS to use bots).

2. BuyViews

BuyViews come in at a close second to Devumi. They offer various social promotion options along with their packages. They also have an impressive 60% – 90% retention rate as well as a 100% moneyback guarantee. However, their turnaround time isn’t as good as Devumi’s. Also, they provide no time guarantee on their retention rate.

3. MarketingHeaven

MarketingHeaven makes buying YouTube views very easy. On their homepage, you can add the link to the video you’d like to promote, select the number of views you want from a dropdown list and top it off with an optional selection of likes. While this ease of use is a plus, MarketingHeaven is a bit more expensive than the top 2 sites on this list, and it provides no retention guarantee. Also, it takes longer to see results and it provides no options for social promotion.

4. 500VIEWS

On 500VIEWS you can buy everything, including YouTube views, likes, comments, and subscribers. They have an add-ons system that’s very easy to use. However, they don’t deliver on quality, retention, engagement, and customer support like the top 3 sites. It can also take up to 1 week to get results from 500VIEWS.

5. Social Shop

Social Shop has a very nice mix of packages. At the lowest end, they have the micro package which gets you 1000 views for $2, and at the high end, they have the Pro package which gets you 1,000,000 views for $999. Considering this range of options, their turnaround time of 2 days isn’t bad at all. However, Social Shop has limited engagement options. Unlike other sites on this list, they do not provide likes, comments, or subscribers. Their customer support also doesn’t compare too well against others on this list.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Buying YouTube views is easy and safe if you buy from reliable sources like the sites at the top of the list above. It also helps to know how YouTube judges view to understand why it’s important to choose the right source.

YouTube ranks views based on the location of the viewers and the quality of viewer engagement. When a user who is based in the US or UK uploads a video and it gets most of its views from Russia or Asia, that raises a red flag. YouTube checks to see that a good number of video viewers are part of the user’s target demographic, and that makes sense. You want targeted YouTube views because that can boost organic retention rates significantly. Untargeted views can lead to a high bounce rate which can lead YouTube to conclude that your video has been mistitled, among other things.

The best sellers of YouTube views go the extra mile to provide a mixed demographic of views with targeted hits from the US and UK to avoid the wrong kind of attention.

Some sellers simply rent IPs from different places and send them to the video link. While this method might not be detected by YouTube, it offers very low retention because there are no real people behind those IP addresses. It is always best to buy from sellers who can send real people to watch, like, and comment on your videos. Anything else is risky and can bring your content under increased scrutiny from YouTube.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD VIEW-BUYING WEBSITE

The most important thing to look for in a good view buying website is a guarantee that you’ll be getting real humans, not bots, to watch your video. This is the only way to get organic retention and engagement from your purchase. While robots will inflate your views, there’ll be little else to show for those high numbers. Bot views won’t help you rank in search results, and they may hurt your chances of ranking (they also violate YouTube’s TOS and can get your videos taken down). With human views, things can be different.

Bear in mind that buying views will not guarantee long-term success or impactful engagement. This is why buying YouTube views is seen as a short-term tactic for jumpstarting organic growth and not something to keep on doing forever. Content creators still have to promote their content and build real relationships with their viewers to see meaningful results in the long term.

Next, you want to be sure that your view buying website can deliver targeted views. If you’re based in the UK, you want views from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. Views originating predominantly from Russia or certain parts of Eastern Europe and Asia could give you away, and you’d run the risk of disciplinary action from YouTube. Buying views isn’t technically against the rules, as long as they are human views, but if YouTube suspects there is a bot at work then they won’t be interested in any appeals about how ‘the service said they didn’t use bots’.

It’s also important to buy from providers whose viewers are active on YouTube. Their history of activity on YouTube will only boost the credibility of their views and by extension, the credibility of your video and its growing popularity.

Finally, you want to avoid sellers who provide views in a way that can put you at risk. Sites that provide views from similar IPs and same browsers with the same or similar cookies are just too obvious. YouTube can pick-up on that kind of activity and you could potentially have a problem on your hands.

IS BUYING VIEWS ILLEGAL?

No. This goes double for users who are not monetizing their content. Videos that promote violence and copyright violations are illegal. Buying views is not against the law, or even YouTube’s Terms of Service depending on where your views come from.

YouTube’s TOS does state clearly that partners are not to engage third parties to “… generate artificial subscribers or views.” Partners are generally understood to be users who are monetizing their channels through affiliate programs or AdSense, and ‘artificial’ means the views need to come from a bot to be against the rules. However, some interpret this to mean that buying YouTube views is against the TOS for all users. It seems like YouTube would rather you not buy views at all since the language is ambiguous, but since there’s a way in which buying ads through Google for your channel could be seen as buying views they haven’t formally outlawed it. Whatever your perspective, there’s no denying that buying views is a risky business. This is all the more reason you should choose the sites you buy from carefully.

Also, keep in mind that tech companies like Google constantly review their policies. Bloggers have had to change tactics with changes to Google’s search engine algorithm. There’s no telling how things may change or evolve with YouTube in the future. That is why we strongly recommend that you buy views from websites that can deliver real human views with strong guarantees of service delivery and reliable turnaround times. Anything short of this could expose you and your content to the kind of attention you certainly don’t want.

WILL BUYING VIEWS GET ME BANNED FROM YOUTUBE?

As mentioned above, buying views alone is unlikely to get you banned from YouTube. The worst-case scenario is that your video may be taken down for ‘view count gaming’ and even then, there’s an appeals process. The important thing is to understand Google and YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Only explicit and egregious violations of their TOS could get your banned. You should also be mindful that community policing is a big part of how YouTube discovers users who may violate their TOS. If many viewers flag your video for takedown due to copyright violation or abusive content, that can lead to serious disciplinary action from YouTube and in some cases, you may be banned for life.

That’s why it’s important to buy likes and comments as well if you’re going to buy a large number of views – lots of views and no engagement will make organic viewers think you used a bot and they may report you.

Buying YouTube views is not illegal and certainly will not incur the same kind of disciplinary action as clear violations of YouTube’s TOS. What matters is that you buy your views in a way that won’t attract the wrong kind of attention. YouTube will sometimes flag videos for view auditing. If views are found to be fake, the view count is dropped to exclude fake views. If this has happened to you after you bought YouTube views, be wary of buying from the same source again. If your video is repeatedly found to be attracting purchased fake views, it may be taken down.

Conclusion

We see videos with thousands and millions of views so often that it’s easy to forget just how difficult it can be to get people to watch your videos. YouTube is very competitive, and it takes time to build a reputation, and the following needed to become a YouTube star.

To compete for viewer attention and engagement, it helps to have good numbers. Buying views can give you an edge by telling people that your content is worth their time. Just be sure to buy your views from the right sources. And after you’ve bought your views, do your part to promote your video on YouTube and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Also, engage with your audience and create content consistently. With all these in place, your audience will grow organically, and eventually, you may get your moment in the spotlight.

What do you think? Would you buy YouTube views, or can you get by growing your channel organically?

Use Excellent Video Editor to Gain More Views

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

This article has everything you need to know before you buy YouTube views, including:

1. Where to Buy Views
2. How Does it Work?
3. What to Look for in a Service
4. Is Buying Views Illegal?
5. Will Buying Views Get Me Banned From YouTube?

Disclaimer: We in no way endorse the practice of buying views. It could be dangerous for your channel and will damage your credibility with your real viewers if they find out.

YouTube is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms today. The amount of time we spend watching YouTube videos daily is simply mindboggling. The amazing thing about YouTube is how easy it is to share content and, in the process, build your audience. Many people have launched careers on the success of their videos and the popularity of their channels. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert, a hobbyist, an aspiring musician, a citizen journalist, a DIY maven, a cook, or a makeup fiend – YouTube can help you reach more people, develop your brand and launch your new career. All you have to do is create your channel, upload good videos, promote your content, and watch the magic happen. Well, if only it were that simple…

In reality, getting people to watch your content can be difficult. Even for people who have large personal networks, hitting 5000 or 10000 views can be tough. The reason is simply that YouTube videos, like other web content, thrive on Social Proof, and Social Proof equals credibility. The more views a video has, the more people are willing to watch it, and the better its chances of featuring as recommended content. It’s a vicious cycle. Time and time again, we see that given the choice, people would rather watch a video with 2000 views instead of a video with 200 views.

This is why buying YouTube views can be a great way to jumpstart the organic views of your content. It’s no silver bullet of course, but it can get you off to a good start. Buying YouTube views can help your video gain traction and get recommended. The trick is to buy from sources that provide real US and UK views in ways that do not violate YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). There are many scam services out there that can get your video the wrong kind of attention. Be sure to do your research before you buy, and understand that this is a tactic which promises short-term results. Buying YouTube views can be useful. However, it is no guarantee of long-term success. You still need to put hard work into your content for it to work.

WHERE TO BUY VIEWS

These top 5 sites for buying YouTube views are ranked according to the quality of the targeted views they deliver, viewer engagement, responsiveness, turnaround time, and their moneyback guarantee (if they have one). The site which tested these services is called BuyViewsReview. To learn more about the top providers of YouTube views, and how you can avoid scams, click here .

Tip: you want ‘high retention views’ – views where your video has been watched for a significant period, not just clicked on. These will help your search engine rankings.

1. DEVUMI

Devumi is our #1 pick for buying YouTube views because it provides the best value for money. To start with, all Devumi’s packages come with likes included so there’s no need to shop around for engagement and retention after buying views from Devumi. They have a 100% money-back guarantee and some of the fastest turnaround time available on the market (for genuine high-retention views. Some bot services are faster, but it’s against YouTube’s TOS to use bots).

2. BuyViews

BuyViews come in at a close second to Devumi. They offer various social promotion options along with their packages. They also have an impressive 60% – 90% retention rate as well as a 100% moneyback guarantee. However, their turnaround time isn’t as good as Devumi’s. Also, they provide no time guarantee on their retention rate.

3. MarketingHeaven

MarketingHeaven makes buying YouTube views very easy. On their homepage, you can add the link to the video you’d like to promote, select the number of views you want from a dropdown list and top it off with an optional selection of likes. While this ease of use is a plus, MarketingHeaven is a bit more expensive than the top 2 sites on this list, and it provides no retention guarantee. Also, it takes longer to see results and it provides no options for social promotion.

4. 500VIEWS

On 500VIEWS you can buy everything, including YouTube views, likes, comments, and subscribers. They have an add-ons system that’s very easy to use. However, they don’t deliver on quality, retention, engagement, and customer support like the top 3 sites. It can also take up to 1 week to get results from 500VIEWS.

5. Social Shop

Social Shop has a very nice mix of packages. At the lowest end, they have the micro package which gets you 1000 views for $2, and at the high end, they have the Pro package which gets you 1,000,000 views for $999. Considering this range of options, their turnaround time of 2 days isn’t bad at all. However, Social Shop has limited engagement options. Unlike other sites on this list, they do not provide likes, comments, or subscribers. Their customer support also doesn’t compare too well against others on this list.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Buying YouTube views is easy and safe if you buy from reliable sources like the sites at the top of the list above. It also helps to know how YouTube judges view to understand why it’s important to choose the right source.

YouTube ranks views based on the location of the viewers and the quality of viewer engagement. When a user who is based in the US or UK uploads a video and it gets most of its views from Russia or Asia, that raises a red flag. YouTube checks to see that a good number of video viewers are part of the user’s target demographic, and that makes sense. You want targeted YouTube views because that can boost organic retention rates significantly. Untargeted views can lead to a high bounce rate which can lead YouTube to conclude that your video has been mistitled, among other things.

The best sellers of YouTube views go the extra mile to provide a mixed demographic of views with targeted hits from the US and UK to avoid the wrong kind of attention.

Some sellers simply rent IPs from different places and send them to the video link. While this method might not be detected by YouTube, it offers very low retention because there are no real people behind those IP addresses. It is always best to buy from sellers who can send real people to watch, like, and comment on your videos. Anything else is risky and can bring your content under increased scrutiny from YouTube.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD VIEW-BUYING WEBSITE

The most important thing to look for in a good view buying website is a guarantee that you’ll be getting real humans, not bots, to watch your video. This is the only way to get organic retention and engagement from your purchase. While robots will inflate your views, there’ll be little else to show for those high numbers. Bot views won’t help you rank in search results, and they may hurt your chances of ranking (they also violate YouTube’s TOS and can get your videos taken down). With human views, things can be different.

Bear in mind that buying views will not guarantee long-term success or impactful engagement. This is why buying YouTube views is seen as a short-term tactic for jumpstarting organic growth and not something to keep on doing forever. Content creators still have to promote their content and build real relationships with their viewers to see meaningful results in the long term.

Next, you want to be sure that your view buying website can deliver targeted views. If you’re based in the UK, you want views from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. Views originating predominantly from Russia or certain parts of Eastern Europe and Asia could give you away, and you’d run the risk of disciplinary action from YouTube. Buying views isn’t technically against the rules, as long as they are human views, but if YouTube suspects there is a bot at work then they won’t be interested in any appeals about how ‘the service said they didn’t use bots’.

It’s also important to buy from providers whose viewers are active on YouTube. Their history of activity on YouTube will only boost the credibility of their views and by extension, the credibility of your video and its growing popularity.

Finally, you want to avoid sellers who provide views in a way that can put you at risk. Sites that provide views from similar IPs and same browsers with the same or similar cookies are just too obvious. YouTube can pick-up on that kind of activity and you could potentially have a problem on your hands.

IS BUYING VIEWS ILLEGAL?

No. This goes double for users who are not monetizing their content. Videos that promote violence and copyright violations are illegal. Buying views is not against the law, or even YouTube’s Terms of Service depending on where your views come from.

YouTube’s TOS does state clearly that partners are not to engage third parties to “… generate artificial subscribers or views.” Partners are generally understood to be users who are monetizing their channels through affiliate programs or AdSense, and ‘artificial’ means the views need to come from a bot to be against the rules. However, some interpret this to mean that buying YouTube views is against the TOS for all users. It seems like YouTube would rather you not buy views at all since the language is ambiguous, but since there’s a way in which buying ads through Google for your channel could be seen as buying views they haven’t formally outlawed it. Whatever your perspective, there’s no denying that buying views is a risky business. This is all the more reason you should choose the sites you buy from carefully.

Also, keep in mind that tech companies like Google constantly review their policies. Bloggers have had to change tactics with changes to Google’s search engine algorithm. There’s no telling how things may change or evolve with YouTube in the future. That is why we strongly recommend that you buy views from websites that can deliver real human views with strong guarantees of service delivery and reliable turnaround times. Anything short of this could expose you and your content to the kind of attention you certainly don’t want.

WILL BUYING VIEWS GET ME BANNED FROM YOUTUBE?

As mentioned above, buying views alone is unlikely to get you banned from YouTube. The worst-case scenario is that your video may be taken down for ‘view count gaming’ and even then, there’s an appeals process. The important thing is to understand Google and YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Only explicit and egregious violations of their TOS could get your banned. You should also be mindful that community policing is a big part of how YouTube discovers users who may violate their TOS. If many viewers flag your video for takedown due to copyright violation or abusive content, that can lead to serious disciplinary action from YouTube and in some cases, you may be banned for life.

That’s why it’s important to buy likes and comments as well if you’re going to buy a large number of views – lots of views and no engagement will make organic viewers think you used a bot and they may report you.

Buying YouTube views is not illegal and certainly will not incur the same kind of disciplinary action as clear violations of YouTube’s TOS. What matters is that you buy your views in a way that won’t attract the wrong kind of attention. YouTube will sometimes flag videos for view auditing. If views are found to be fake, the view count is dropped to exclude fake views. If this has happened to you after you bought YouTube views, be wary of buying from the same source again. If your video is repeatedly found to be attracting purchased fake views, it may be taken down.

Conclusion

We see videos with thousands and millions of views so often that it’s easy to forget just how difficult it can be to get people to watch your videos. YouTube is very competitive, and it takes time to build a reputation, and the following needed to become a YouTube star.

To compete for viewer attention and engagement, it helps to have good numbers. Buying views can give you an edge by telling people that your content is worth their time. Just be sure to buy your views from the right sources. And after you’ve bought your views, do your part to promote your video on YouTube and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Also, engage with your audience and create content consistently. With all these in place, your audience will grow organically, and eventually, you may get your moment in the spotlight.

What do you think? Would you buy YouTube views, or can you get by growing your channel organically?

Use Excellent Video Editor to Gain More Views

Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

Follow @Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett

Oct 26, 2023• Proven solutions

0

This article has everything you need to know before you buy YouTube views, including:

1. Where to Buy Views
2. How Does it Work?
3. What to Look for in a Service
4. Is Buying Views Illegal?
5. Will Buying Views Get Me Banned From YouTube?

Disclaimer: We in no way endorse the practice of buying views. It could be dangerous for your channel and will damage your credibility with your real viewers if they find out.

YouTube is one of the fastest-growing social media platforms today. The amount of time we spend watching YouTube videos daily is simply mindboggling. The amazing thing about YouTube is how easy it is to share content and, in the process, build your audience. Many people have launched careers on the success of their videos and the popularity of their channels. It doesn’t matter if you are an expert, a hobbyist, an aspiring musician, a citizen journalist, a DIY maven, a cook, or a makeup fiend – YouTube can help you reach more people, develop your brand and launch your new career. All you have to do is create your channel, upload good videos, promote your content, and watch the magic happen. Well, if only it were that simple…

In reality, getting people to watch your content can be difficult. Even for people who have large personal networks, hitting 5000 or 10000 views can be tough. The reason is simply that YouTube videos, like other web content, thrive on Social Proof, and Social Proof equals credibility. The more views a video has, the more people are willing to watch it, and the better its chances of featuring as recommended content. It’s a vicious cycle. Time and time again, we see that given the choice, people would rather watch a video with 2000 views instead of a video with 200 views.

This is why buying YouTube views can be a great way to jumpstart the organic views of your content. It’s no silver bullet of course, but it can get you off to a good start. Buying YouTube views can help your video gain traction and get recommended. The trick is to buy from sources that provide real US and UK views in ways that do not violate YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). There are many scam services out there that can get your video the wrong kind of attention. Be sure to do your research before you buy, and understand that this is a tactic which promises short-term results. Buying YouTube views can be useful. However, it is no guarantee of long-term success. You still need to put hard work into your content for it to work.

WHERE TO BUY VIEWS

These top 5 sites for buying YouTube views are ranked according to the quality of the targeted views they deliver, viewer engagement, responsiveness, turnaround time, and their moneyback guarantee (if they have one). The site which tested these services is called BuyViewsReview. To learn more about the top providers of YouTube views, and how you can avoid scams, click here .

Tip: you want ‘high retention views’ – views where your video has been watched for a significant period, not just clicked on. These will help your search engine rankings.

1. DEVUMI

Devumi is our #1 pick for buying YouTube views because it provides the best value for money. To start with, all Devumi’s packages come with likes included so there’s no need to shop around for engagement and retention after buying views from Devumi. They have a 100% money-back guarantee and some of the fastest turnaround time available on the market (for genuine high-retention views. Some bot services are faster, but it’s against YouTube’s TOS to use bots).

2. BuyViews

BuyViews come in at a close second to Devumi. They offer various social promotion options along with their packages. They also have an impressive 60% – 90% retention rate as well as a 100% moneyback guarantee. However, their turnaround time isn’t as good as Devumi’s. Also, they provide no time guarantee on their retention rate.

3. MarketingHeaven

MarketingHeaven makes buying YouTube views very easy. On their homepage, you can add the link to the video you’d like to promote, select the number of views you want from a dropdown list and top it off with an optional selection of likes. While this ease of use is a plus, MarketingHeaven is a bit more expensive than the top 2 sites on this list, and it provides no retention guarantee. Also, it takes longer to see results and it provides no options for social promotion.

4. 500VIEWS

On 500VIEWS you can buy everything, including YouTube views, likes, comments, and subscribers. They have an add-ons system that’s very easy to use. However, they don’t deliver on quality, retention, engagement, and customer support like the top 3 sites. It can also take up to 1 week to get results from 500VIEWS.

5. Social Shop

Social Shop has a very nice mix of packages. At the lowest end, they have the micro package which gets you 1000 views for $2, and at the high end, they have the Pro package which gets you 1,000,000 views for $999. Considering this range of options, their turnaround time of 2 days isn’t bad at all. However, Social Shop has limited engagement options. Unlike other sites on this list, they do not provide likes, comments, or subscribers. Their customer support also doesn’t compare too well against others on this list.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Buying YouTube views is easy and safe if you buy from reliable sources like the sites at the top of the list above. It also helps to know how YouTube judges view to understand why it’s important to choose the right source.

YouTube ranks views based on the location of the viewers and the quality of viewer engagement. When a user who is based in the US or UK uploads a video and it gets most of its views from Russia or Asia, that raises a red flag. YouTube checks to see that a good number of video viewers are part of the user’s target demographic, and that makes sense. You want targeted YouTube views because that can boost organic retention rates significantly. Untargeted views can lead to a high bounce rate which can lead YouTube to conclude that your video has been mistitled, among other things.

The best sellers of YouTube views go the extra mile to provide a mixed demographic of views with targeted hits from the US and UK to avoid the wrong kind of attention.

Some sellers simply rent IPs from different places and send them to the video link. While this method might not be detected by YouTube, it offers very low retention because there are no real people behind those IP addresses. It is always best to buy from sellers who can send real people to watch, like, and comment on your videos. Anything else is risky and can bring your content under increased scrutiny from YouTube.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN A GOOD VIEW-BUYING WEBSITE

The most important thing to look for in a good view buying website is a guarantee that you’ll be getting real humans, not bots, to watch your video. This is the only way to get organic retention and engagement from your purchase. While robots will inflate your views, there’ll be little else to show for those high numbers. Bot views won’t help you rank in search results, and they may hurt your chances of ranking (they also violate YouTube’s TOS and can get your videos taken down). With human views, things can be different.

Bear in mind that buying views will not guarantee long-term success or impactful engagement. This is why buying YouTube views is seen as a short-term tactic for jumpstarting organic growth and not something to keep on doing forever. Content creators still have to promote their content and build real relationships with their viewers to see meaningful results in the long term.

Next, you want to be sure that your view buying website can deliver targeted views. If you’re based in the UK, you want views from the UK, US, Australia, and Canada. Views originating predominantly from Russia or certain parts of Eastern Europe and Asia could give you away, and you’d run the risk of disciplinary action from YouTube. Buying views isn’t technically against the rules, as long as they are human views, but if YouTube suspects there is a bot at work then they won’t be interested in any appeals about how ‘the service said they didn’t use bots’.

It’s also important to buy from providers whose viewers are active on YouTube. Their history of activity on YouTube will only boost the credibility of their views and by extension, the credibility of your video and its growing popularity.

Finally, you want to avoid sellers who provide views in a way that can put you at risk. Sites that provide views from similar IPs and same browsers with the same or similar cookies are just too obvious. YouTube can pick-up on that kind of activity and you could potentially have a problem on your hands.

IS BUYING VIEWS ILLEGAL?

No. This goes double for users who are not monetizing their content. Videos that promote violence and copyright violations are illegal. Buying views is not against the law, or even YouTube’s Terms of Service depending on where your views come from.

YouTube’s TOS does state clearly that partners are not to engage third parties to “… generate artificial subscribers or views.” Partners are generally understood to be users who are monetizing their channels through affiliate programs or AdSense, and ‘artificial’ means the views need to come from a bot to be against the rules. However, some interpret this to mean that buying YouTube views is against the TOS for all users. It seems like YouTube would rather you not buy views at all since the language is ambiguous, but since there’s a way in which buying ads through Google for your channel could be seen as buying views they haven’t formally outlawed it. Whatever your perspective, there’s no denying that buying views is a risky business. This is all the more reason you should choose the sites you buy from carefully.

Also, keep in mind that tech companies like Google constantly review their policies. Bloggers have had to change tactics with changes to Google’s search engine algorithm. There’s no telling how things may change or evolve with YouTube in the future. That is why we strongly recommend that you buy views from websites that can deliver real human views with strong guarantees of service delivery and reliable turnaround times. Anything short of this could expose you and your content to the kind of attention you certainly don’t want.

WILL BUYING VIEWS GET ME BANNED FROM YOUTUBE?

As mentioned above, buying views alone is unlikely to get you banned from YouTube. The worst-case scenario is that your video may be taken down for ‘view count gaming’ and even then, there’s an appeals process. The important thing is to understand Google and YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS). Only explicit and egregious violations of their TOS could get your banned. You should also be mindful that community policing is a big part of how YouTube discovers users who may violate their TOS. If many viewers flag your video for takedown due to copyright violation or abusive content, that can lead to serious disciplinary action from YouTube and in some cases, you may be banned for life.

That’s why it’s important to buy likes and comments as well if you’re going to buy a large number of views – lots of views and no engagement will make organic viewers think you used a bot and they may report you.

Buying YouTube views is not illegal and certainly will not incur the same kind of disciplinary action as clear violations of YouTube’s TOS. What matters is that you buy your views in a way that won’t attract the wrong kind of attention. YouTube will sometimes flag videos for view auditing. If views are found to be fake, the view count is dropped to exclude fake views. If this has happened to you after you bought YouTube views, be wary of buying from the same source again. If your video is repeatedly found to be attracting purchased fake views, it may be taken down.

Conclusion

We see videos with thousands and millions of views so often that it’s easy to forget just how difficult it can be to get people to watch your videos. YouTube is very competitive, and it takes time to build a reputation, and the following needed to become a YouTube star.

To compete for viewer attention and engagement, it helps to have good numbers. Buying views can give you an edge by telling people that your content is worth their time. Just be sure to buy your views from the right sources. And after you’ve bought your views, do your part to promote your video on YouTube and other social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Also, engage with your audience and create content consistently. With all these in place, your audience will grow organically, and eventually, you may get your moment in the spotlight.

What do you think? Would you buy YouTube views, or can you get by growing your channel organically?

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Richard Bennett

Richard Bennett is a writer and a lover of all things video.

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