Did you know 70% of live streamers prefer YouTube over other live streaming platforms, due to its mainstream popularity?
YouTube has supported countless live events in the past, and its live stream support is only getting more popular with each day that passes. In fact, according to Google’s latest YouTube live streaming statistics, more than 60 out of 100 most popular live streams on YouTube have happened in just the past two years.
Having said this, there are plenty of hugely popular events that were broadcasted over the last decade. To give you a better idea of the potential YouTube has when it comes to live streaming events, we share with you a list of the top 5 most popular YouTube events ever.
The Top 5 Youtube Events In The World…Ever
#1. The Royal Wedding Ceremony at Westminster Abbey (2011)
The YouTube broadcast of the Royal Wedding Ceremony on 29 April 2011, which featured Prince William’s marriage to Catherine Middleton at Westminster Abbey in London (UK), had received a record 72 million live view count. Based on some reports, the overall tally is expected to have been much higher, considering the countless millions watching via other media channels and similar streaming services. A global audience, from 180+ countries around the world, had watched the event live on YouTube’s official Royal Channel. In fact, this event was so popular that it holds the Guinness World Record for ‘the most number of live streams for a single event’.
#2. Inauguration of US President Barack Obama (2009)
The inauguration event of US President Barack Obama back in 2009 was one of the most-watched live stream events in not just YouTube’s, but also the Internet’s history. More than 70 million viewers tuned in to YouTube to watch Obama take the oath of office and capture the historic moment in US presidential history. Prior to this event, Obama’s campaign had already won a lot of praise for its use of social networking websites, including Facebook, MySpace and others, to announce their upcoming events, rally volunteers, and raise money for the campaign.
#3. Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival (2018)
Coachella Festival in 2018 made so much noise on the Internet that it broke any prior records and became one of the most-watched YouTube live streams ever. Over the course of three days, it attracted more than 43 million views and live streams from over 230 different countries across the globe. In addition to this, Beyoncé’s two-hour performance, during the festival, grabbed the attention of more than 458,000 viewers worldwide, streaming it simultaneously on YouTube.
#4. Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Concert (2020)
Andrea Bocelli, the Italian tenor, officially became YouTube’s newest superstar, after live-streaming his solo performance “Music For Hope,” on Easter Sunday, April 12th, last year. This event was streamed exclusively via YouTube, live from Duomo di Milan, Italy. According to YouTube, it achieved more than 2.8 million concurrent viewers during its peak, and went on to make its place in the record books, not only as the most popular classical music live stream in the history of YouTube, but also as one of the most viewed live stream musical performances of all-time.
#5. Fortnite: The Device / Doomsday Gaming Event (2020)
Epic Games has long become an expert on producing awe-inspiring, live events. During one of their latest in-game events, “The Device,” featuring Fortnite, fans joined both the in-game event and live-streaming platforms like YouTube to experience the much-awaited. It was such a huge event, that Epic had to announce via its social media handles that it couldn’t allow any more players into the in-game event, due to stability issues, even before the event itself began. As a result, more than 8.4 million gamers tuned in on live streaming platforms, with YouTube Gaming noticing a peak of more than 6 million concurrent viewers, at once.
Final Thoughts
YouTube Live events have the potential to transform plain online video into a highly interactive experience. Without a doubt, live streams have become a great way to stand out from the crowd and also draw a crowd that you would otherwise find hard to attract to an in-person event.
Why host a static tutorial or release a product reel, when you can make it into a virtual event and create a buzz? In addition to that, you add an element of interactivity and spontaneity with live Q&As.
However, before you dive in without learning the ins and outs of virtual events, make sure you learn about some of the best practices for your platform of choice. By doing so, you will not only get the best possible return on your efforts, but also properly capitalise on all the features that YouTube Live has to offer for brands and businesses.
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