Blog YouTube LiveCon 2025 Recap

Last week, the StreamPush team was invited to attend LiveCon 2025, YouTube’s first in-person live streaming conference in almost five years. The two-day conference took place in Google’s London HQ and featured a wide variety of talks, both by YouTube specialists and vendors.

We were excited to meet the YouTube Live Solutions team in person and to speak in depth with product teams and engineers about where Live is heading and what that means in practice. If one thing was clear, it’s that YouTube is doubling down on Live and sees it as a core pillar of the platform going forward. Below we share our key takeaways, with a strong focus on the music industry and 24/7 live streaming.

Live streaming is growing faster than ever

Live viewing has reached an all-time high. Total live streaming hours watched across all platforms reached 9.6 billion hours (+13% YoY) in Q3 2025. In the US and UK alone, almost 8 billion hours of live content were watched last year.

For logged-in YouTube users, Live already represents roughly 30% of total watch time. This confirms what we see daily in music: Live is no longer a niche format. It is mainstream consumption behavior.

The living room matters more than the phone

One of the strongest signals from YouTube was the rapid growth of TV viewing. More than 1 billion hours per day are now watched on TVs globally, making the living room the fastest-growing surface for YouTube.

For music channels, this has clear implications. Long sessions, consistent visuals, readable metadata, and strong branding are no longer optional. 24/7 music streams fit naturally into this viewing context.

Monetization is becoming smarter and less disruptive

YouTube strongly recommends automated ads for Live, and the numbers back this up. Live automated ad revenue grew 130–150% year over year.

At the same time, YouTube is pushing side-by-side ads, where the stream continues playing while the ad appears next to it. This format is especially relevant for long-running and 24/7 music streams, where continuity is critical and full interruptions hurt the experience.

StreamPush team at YouTube LiveCon 2025

Simulstreaming and Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming

YouTube is rolling out Multi-Aspect Ratio Streaming, also referred to as Simulstreaming. This allows creators to stream horizontally and vertically at the same time, with one unified chat.

Vertical live streams will surface in the Shorts feed, unlocking additional discovery. Looking ahead, YouTube plans to support a single stream key with multi-track video via e-RTMP in 2026.

For music, an important nuance emerged. Tests with 24/7 vertical live streams have not resulted in meaningful traction so far. Horizontal remains the dominant format for always-on music. Vertical Live is better suited for event-based, show-based, or shorter Live moments rather than nonstop streams.

Watch With and React Live

Another notable product is Watch With / React Live, which allows creators to add live commentary or reactions on top of eligible content. YouTube handles server-side compositing to keep everything perfectly in sync.

The main challenge today is audio mixing, which still requires manual handling to balance the original content and commentary. This is expected to become more self-serve as the product matures.

Multiview as a discovery driver

Multiview allows up to four live streams on screen at once, with easy switching between perspectives. It has been used successfully for sports, festivals, and backstage experiences.

YouTube employees repeatedly highlighted Multiview as a powerful discovery and engagement feature. For music, this opens interesting opportunities around multiple stages, genres, or parallel experiences within one live environment.

Creator strategies still matter

Despite all the product innovation, YouTube kept returning to fundamentals:

• Stream consistently and long enough. 30–45 minutes minimum is recommended.
• Schedule streams in advance and promote them.
• Strong titles, thumbnails, and metadata are critical for horizontal Live.
• Real-time engagement through chat, polls, and Q&A materially impacts performance.
• Clear positioning and consistent branding outperform generic channels.

Live rewards clarity and commitment.

Final thoughts

What stood out most at LiveCon was how seriously YouTube is engaging with partners building long-running Live experiences. Live is no longer a feature. It is infrastructure.

We are looking forward to 2026 and continuing to collaborate closely on the future of music live streaming.

Have questions about live streaming or want to share your thoughts on these updates? We’d love to have a chat!