How to multistream to several platforms simultaneously

Today, every social media platform comes with a live streaming option — YouTube, Facebook, and even LinkedIn all have their own live streaming services. Live streaming continues to grow and is projected to reach $416.84 billion by 2030. With so much growth, it can be hard for live streamers to keep up or stand out. Broadcasting to a single platform is simply not enough. As a content creator or business, you lose out on millions of potential viewers by streaming to only YouTube or Facebook. Want to reach more viewers on more than one platform? Then you should start multistreaming with Restream.

What is multistreaming?

Multistreaming is broadcasting live video content to more than one platform simultaneously. It’s also referred to as simulcasting. If you’re streaming to your YouTube channel and decide to stream the same content to your Facebook profile at the same time, you’re multistreaming.

For most content creators, choosing a platform to stream to isn’t the issue. What limits them is being able to stream to as many destinations as they want at the same time. If you can stream live video to only one network at a time, you have to make a choice: you must either sacrifice a huge chunk of time by broadcasting the same content multiple times, or fail to reach a chunk of your audience by only streaming on one platform.

Instead of focusing on a single network, you can set up a single stream that gets broadcasted to multiple networks simultaneously. Multistreaming multiplies your views for the same amount of work. 

Why should you multistream?

Without multistreaming, you have to create a separate broadcast for each network you use. If you want to live stream on YouTube, Twitch and Facebook, for example, you have to publish three separate streams. 

When you multistream, you save time and don’t have to worry about the bandwidth it takes to upload live video. Other reasons to multistream are:

• You don’t force your audience to choose a single platform. Rather than convince viewers to choose only one platform, you can meet your audience on the platform they prefer. 
• You increase your chances of being discovered. You can stream to major and niche platforms at the same time. You tap into your core audience but also expand your reach to new audiences.
• Your streams are more reliable. If your broadcast goes down on one platform due to technical issues, you’re still live on other platforms. You don’t lose all the hard work you put into your stream.
• You can expand your reach without significant investment. It doesn’t take any extra time or money to multistream. You use the same camera, microphone and internet connection to do one broadcast, but it gets viewed by people on multiple platforms.

Streaming to multiple sites opens a world of possibilities to content creators. Whether your goal is to reach new audiences or stay in touch with specific segments of an existing audience on the platforms they prefer, multistreaming can help you achieve it.

Marketing specialist, author and Canva Chief Evangelist Guy Kawasaki is a big fan of multistreaming to broaden your reach or make online sales. He says,

If you’re selling anything, you’re selling it online these days. I got six platforms at once and about three million followers on a couple of them — that’s the power of multistreaming.

How to multistream in 3 steps

Multistreaming is easy. It doesn’t take much more effort than regular live streaming. All you have to do is choose your streaming platforms, find a multistreaming solution and then go live.

1. Choose the platforms you want to stream to

Some streaming platforms are social networks that have started their own live video streaming services, such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X (Twitter). Others are video hosting websites that specialize in live streaming, like Twitch or YouTube. In October 2023, Twitch announced the end of its multistreaming ban, meaning Twitch creators can broadcast to other platforms in addition to Twitch simultaneously — it’s a game changer for the platform.

One of the newest streaming platforms is Kick.com, which launched at the beginning of 2023. Kick has a similar layout to Twitch and attracts many gaming content creators too, but it also has looser rules on gambling and adult-themed content than Twitch. Read our Twitch vs. Kick comparison to learn more about how these two platforms stack up. 

There are also platforms that specialize in certain genres of content. Picarto and Mixcloud are designed for live streaming art and music, respectively. Some platforms are best suited for reaching an audience in specific geographic regions as well, such Afreeca.tv in South Korea.

So how do you choose? Here are a few strategies you can try:

• Stream to the platforms where you already have a follower base.
• Cover only the big platforms, like Facebook, YouTube and X (Twitter).
• Cover a whole market — use YouTube, Twitch and Facebook Gaming to stream gaming content, for example.
• Use one or two big platforms, plus a niche network — YouTube and Facebook plus Picarto for a visual artist.

Each platform offers something different. Facebook has the biggest user base and the best audience-targeting tools. YouTube allows for significantly better video quality, and people are increasingly using it as a search engine. Smaller platforms usually occupy a niche that makes them attractive.

2. Find a multistreaming solution

If you want to multistream, you can choose either a hardware encoder or software with multistreaming capabilities. Hardware encoders are more reliable, but they depend heavily on your available bandwidth and tend to be expensive.

Multistreaming software, on the other hand, is typically more affordable and user-friendly. Restream is a great choice for multistreaming software; it’s browser-based, meaning you don’t have to download anything to use it. With Restream, you can choose from more than 30 platforms to multistream to, including Facebook, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), YouTube and more. Restream has tons of features that make multistreaming easy: 

• Handling multiple live stream chats in one place. Keeping up with messages from viewers across multiple platforms can be tricky. Restream chat lets you read and reply to your viewers’ messages across all streaming destinations in one place. 
• Streaming pre-recorded videos to broadcast on your preferred platforms. With Restream’s Upload and Stream feature, you can take a day off, target different time zones, produce high-quality content, and manage your streaming schedule.
• Advanced multistreaming analytics. Restream provides useful data to help you understand and analyze your live broadcasts. It even lets you aggregate the data for all platforms that you stream to. 
• Scheduling a live stream event on multiple platforms. With Restream, you can schedule a live stream in advance on all of your preferred social media platforms and notify your audience about the upcoming event.
• Integration with popular encoders. Restream integrates natively with encoding software like OBS Studio, so you can easily send your broadcast to multiple places at once.
• Unlimited streaming time and unlimited bitrate. Streaming platforms like YouTube and Facebook put limits on how long you can stream for — which could factor into your decision on which platforms to multistream to. Restream doesn’t have time or bitrate limits, however, so you can use it with whichever platforms you prefer.
• Adding your website as a multistreaming destination. Embed live videos on your website using Restream’s video player and expand your viewer reach even further.

3. Start multistreaming

The easiest and fastest way to multistream is with Restream Studio. It lets you go live directly from your web browser without having to use an encoder. All you have to do is create a Restream account (or log in if you already have one) and add your preferred streaming destinations.

Restream also has native integration with some of the most popular encoders used by streamers, like OBS Studio and XSplit. To multistream using OBS Studio, you have to connect Restream to OBS. After connecting Restream and OBS, you can add your streaming destinations to Restream. Then, you can go live using OBS, and your broadcast will stream to all the channels you’ve selected in Restream.

FAQs

Wrap-up

Multistreaming is a no-brainer these days. Why limit yourself to one platform when you can easily broadcast to several without any extra effort? Restream offers a reliable and convenient multistreaming service with unbeatable features and an easy setup. If you know which platforms you want to use, you just need to create an account with Restream, and you’ll be ready to broadcast whenever and wherever.