What Are YouTube Premieres, And How Do You Use Them?

YouTube has added a new way to share and watch videos: YouTube Premieres. Premieres are a mix between a live stream and a traditional YouTube video. You prerecord them, but then play those recordings live, with live chat and donations like standard live streams.

Premieres announce what time they're premiering on your channel, and show up in feeds before they go live, giving viewers the option to be reminded of them a few minutes prior. This makes premiers into a sort of YouTube-based TV show, with a set air time and no spoilers from other viewers (as you can't skip ahead). Like live streams, they are saved to your channel after they're done "premiering," and look just like a normal video to anyone who missed the event.

This new direction makes a lot of sense for YouTube, as they are in a particularly good place to offer television-like content. Premieres could change the whole dynamic of viewer interaction on the site. Premieres make new videos on the site into a community experience and are going to be enjoyable for viewers as well as creators.

How To Use Them

As a viewer, all you have to do is tune in when the video starts. You can even set a reminder to be notified when it does.

There will be a two-minute countdown before the video starts, giving everyone a chance to sit down first. Unlike live streaming though, this won't show up in the actual video once it's done.

While a video is premiering, you will be able to chat with other viewers and send super chat donations---just like you would in a normal live stream. Something interesting with premiers is that the uploader can still interact with chat while it's live, since nothing stops them from chatting with viewers while the stream is on.

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As a creator, when you set up a premiere, make sure to do all the normal titles, tags, and descriptions just like you would on a normal video. If you have a different format for your live videos, or if you like to add them to a playlist of live replays, it would be best not to do that for premiers, and stick to regular formatting. This is because after they're done, it will be available as a regular video

For users without the ability to premier, who are looking for something similar, you can still schedule your videos for a specific time, you'll just have to rely on your viewers to remember.