Intro
Facebook and YouTube are two of the most popular websites in the world. Facebook has 2.89 billion active monthly users globally, and YouTube is the world’s second-most visited website (after Google). Both of these platforms have a live video streaming service, allowing you to put your live stream in front of potentially millions of viewers. Choosing one platform over the other could mean missing out on a huge chunk of your audience, though.
Instead, you can broadcast live video to Facebook and YouTube at the same time. Let your followers on both platforms watch you wherever they prefer. Delivering the same live video to multiple platforms, also known as multistreaming, is easier than you think. This guide walks you through how to do it step-by-step.
Why you should be live streaming
There are four reasons why you should live stream to social media if you want to build a brand or promote an event:
- Cost efficiency. You can grab a smartphone or computer, launch an app, tap a few buttons, and you’re live streaming. Even making a professional-quality live video requires fewer resources than a short, pre-recorded video on demand (VOD).
- Real-time communication with the audience. Engaging with your audience in real time creates the feeling of presence, connects viewers directly and instantaneously to content creators, and keeps people truly entertained.
- Bigger audience reach. Live streaming is global — it unites people on one platform across the world. And if you multistream to several platforms at once, you’re breaking down even more boundaries.
- Increased brand awareness. Live videos are perfect for behind-the-scenes looks and Q&As, which help build a community that is loyal to your brand.
How to set up Facebook and YouTube for multistreaming
Before you can start streaming to Facebook and YouTube simultaneously, you need to complete these three steps.
Make an account and enable live video streaming
If you don’t already have them, create Facebook and YouTube accounts. Facebook allows you to stream directly to your profile, page or group. On YouTube, you’ll need to create a channel in addition to an account. Your account and channel will need to be verified by YouTube before you can start live streaming. The verification process takes about 24 hours.
Get the right live streaming gear
You’ll need some equipment or software with multistreaming capabilities, in addition to your regular live streaming setup. You can use a hardware encoder with multichannel support, multistreaming software, or cloud apps and services. Cloud services tend to be the most practical, budget-friendly solution.
Connect to your platforms
Once you have your multistreaming device or service, connect it to your Facebook and YouTube account and channel. If you’re using a multistreaming software or cloud-based service, all you typically need to do is sign in to your Facebook and YouTube accounts. Connecting a hardware encoder is more complex.
Once you’ve finished these three steps, it’s time to multistream.
How to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time using Restream
Multistreaming has a very low barrier to entry. People who stream live video often already have the gear they need: camera, microphone and an internet connection. Multistreaming adds only one more tool to your setup.
With Restream Studio, you can easily stream to Facebook, YouTube and several other popular platforms — like LinkedIn, Twitter and Twitch — at the same time. You don’t need encoding software either. You can launch a live video and broadcast it to multiple social platforms from within your web browser.
Stream in Full HD, invite guests, share your screen with the audience, add custom graphics, and more using Restream’s web-based live stream studio. Here are some other advantages:
- Starting a live stream is super easy for both beginners and professionals.
- Multistreaming allows you to truly maximize audience reach.
- Customization options help you improve brand recognition — you can add custom or premade overlays, logos and backgrounds to your stream.
- Moderate all your live chat messages across all platforms in one place with Restream chat.
- Invite guests directly to your live stream and host live Q&As, talk shows and interviews.
- Upload your pre-recorded videos and use them as pre-rolls.
- Save recordings of your live stream to use as smaller clips on social media or to convert into a podcast.
- Add your Restream Studio feed as a source in another streaming software, such as Zoom or OBS Studio, with our RTMP source feature.
- Split-track recording separates each voice on your live stream into a separate audio track, so turning your live stream recording into a podcast is easier than ever.
- Add copyright-free background music to set the tone for your stream, available in several genres and with tracks that play infinitely, so there’s no need to switch them in the middle of your stream!
- Make your stream visually engaging with our premade animated backgrounds.
How to multistream with Restream Studio
Follow these steps to start multistreaming:
- Create an account at Restream.io. Once you’re logged in, click the Add Destination button.
- Connect your Facebook profile, page or group and YouTube channel (or any other platforms you would like to stream to) with Restream.
- Back on your Restream dashboard, click the Start with Studio button.
- Enter your name and allow mic and camera permissions, then click the Enter Studio button.
- Adjust your Restream Studio settings using the Chat, Captions, and Graphics tabs on the right side and the menu at the bottom.
- Click the red Go Live button when you’re ready!
Want to go further? Take a deep dive into live streaming on YouTube and Facebook with our in-depth guides.
Why stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time?
The live streaming market is estimated to be worth more than $330.51 billion by 2030, according to Grand View Research.
Platforms that allow user live streaming have ironed out issues with buffering that used to turn viewers off of live videos in the past. With better-quality live streams, it’s no surprise that 80% of people prefer watching a live video to reading a blog.
Despite the emergence of new live streaming platforms that take slivers of the market share, the top streaming giants seem to be immovable. The most popular live streaming platforms are Twitch, Facebook and YouTube. Other honorable mentions include socials like LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat.
Of the many social networks with live video platforms, Facebook and YouTube are arguably the most popular. Both have a wide appeal, as they’re places where you can reach niche communities with your content.
The benefits of streaming to Facebook and YouTube simultaneously are huge:
- Get access to 2.94 billion monthly active users worldwide on Facebook as of Q1 2022.
- Facebook’s users are a wide demographic representation.
- Use Audience Insights — Facebook’s first-in-class audience intelligence tool.
- YouTube is the world’s second most visited search engine, conveniently owned by the world’s premier search engine, which has some clear benefits for helping your videos appear in search results.
- Get access to more than 2.5 billion monthly active users on YouTube.
- YouTube is a platform driven by video content.
- Both platforms have monetization options.
Both platforms also have tools to help you grow your follower base. Using Facebook and YouTube together is a smart choice because it offers promotion, growth, networking and monetization — all important tools for content creators. But these two streaming platforms have a few major differences that live streamers should keep in mind when multistreaming.
- Although both Facebook and YouTube are technically considered social media platforms, YouTube has a foundation as a video-hosting service, whereas Facebook does not. Live behind-the-scenes videos and Q&As that are more informal might drive more views on Facebook, but live videos with better visual quality and a higher production value tend to perform better on YouTube.
- Facebook and YouTube differ in video resolution. Facebook doesn’t support Full HD, whereas YouTube allows for live streaming in 4K with the highest frame rate available, 60fps. Streaming on YouTube, rather than Facebook, justifies spending a lot of money on a camera, mic, lights and other equipment.
- The audience on Facebook differs from the audience on YouTube by age and interest. Young people tend to visit YouTube more often than Facebook, and Facebook is more popular with people aged 30+.
- Facebook has audience segmentation and YouTube doesn’t. Audience segmentation allows you to target a specific audience. You can use it to your advantage when creating live content on Facebook. Another option is to adapt your videos to a more general audience.
- YouTube has easy-to-use monetization options for individual content creators, including ad revenue, channel memberships, the merchandise shelf, Super Chat and Super Stickers, YouTube Premium revenue and ticketing for performance artists. Facebook’s monetization options let live streamers use in-stream ads, add paid subscriptions to pages and groups, and opt for branded content collaboration.
FAQs
Is it free to stream to Facebook and YouTube at the same time?
You can stream 100% for free on both Facebook and YouTube. With Restream’s Basic plan, you can multistream to both Facebook and YouTube.
What do I need to stream on these platforms simultaneously?
To multistream to Facebook and YouTube, you need your regular live streaming setup — mic, camera, computer/laptop/mobile device, and streaming software — plus a multistreaming tool. The easiest multistreaming tools to use are cloud-based.
What are the benefits of streaming to multiple social media platforms at once?
Multistreaming lets you expand your reach, multiply your views, and grow your audience with a single stream. Plus, your viewers can watch you on their preferred platforms.
Can I stream to more than one Facebook or YouTube account at once?
If you have more than one Facebook page, or a Facebook page and a group, you can stream to both using Restream. To do so, you’ll need Restream’s Standard plan or higher. You can stream to more than one YouTube channel at once with Restream’s Basic plan.
Final thoughts
With live streaming becoming so common, it’s a good thing you don’t have to choose a single platform to stream to. With Restream Studio, you can broadcast on both YouTube and Facebook at the same time. In fact, you can live stream to all your favorite platforms, including LinkedIn, Twitter, Twitch and more. Multistreaming is the best way to maximize your audience reach, increase brand awareness, and boost your sales. And most importantly, it is super easy to do. With Restream Studio, you’ll be multistreaming to Facebook and YouTube like a pro in no time.
