YouTube announced a series of new creator-oriented updates at its “Made on YouTube 2025” event on Tuesday, with a particular focus on live streaming. According to the company, more than 30 percent of daily logged-in YouTube viewers watched live content in Q2 2025. With livestreaming on the rise, YouTube is clearly aiming to compete with the unique features found on platforms like Twitch and TikTok.
One of the biggest announcements is the integration of Playables, a previously launched feature, directly into YouTube Live. Creators will now have access to more than 75 casual games like Angry Birds Showdown and Cut The Rope to play on their streams, providing a new way to interact with their audience.
New Tools for Creator Engagement
YouTube is also addressing the popular short-form video trend by allowing streamers to broadcast in both vertical and horizontal formats simultaneously. The platform will provide a single unified live chat for all viewers, regardless of the format they are watching. This will help creators with discoverability, as viewers often prefer one format over the other.
To help new streamers, YouTube is launching a live practice mode, which allows creators to test their streaming setup and try out new features before they go live. This is a strategic move to encourage more video creators to begin live streaming. Additionally, the new “React Live” feature will allow streamers and creators to go live on their mobile devices to provide real-time commentary on another simultaneous live stream.
Expanding Monetization and Discoverability
A major update for creators is the introduction of AI-powered clips. While many streamers currently pay for third-party services to generate highlights from their long videos, YouTube’s own AI-powered highlights will automatically pull the best moments from a livestream and generate YouTube Shorts for creators to share.
YouTube also announced two new monetization options. The first is a new format for ads called “Side-by-side ads,” which display a video ad next to the live stream so that viewers can continue watching the live content. The second is for creators with channel memberships. A new “members-only live stream” feature will allow streamers to cut off free viewers during a broadcast and switch the stream to a subscriber-only audience. This provides a way for creators to attract new viewers with a free portion of a show and then convert them into paying members by requiring a subscription to watch the rest.
What The Author Thinks
These updates are a comprehensive, strategic play by YouTube to directly challenge Twitch and TikTok for live-streaming dominance. By integrating popular features from competitors and leveraging its own massive user base, YouTube is positioning itself to be a one-stop-shop for creators. The new tools for engagement, monetization, and discoverability are designed to entice streamers to its platform, signaling that the company is no longer content with being a secondary player in the live-streaming market. This could lead to a more competitive and innovative environment for both streamers and viewers, as platforms vie for loyalty with ever-improving features.
Featured image credit: Zulfugar Karimov via Pexels
For more stories like it, click the +Follow button at the top of this page to follow us.