Speaking on stage at Google I/O 2017, YouTube Product Manager Barbara MacDonald took the wraps off of the company's latest plans for YouTube Live. In particular, Super Chat, a new monetization feature launched for creators earlier this year, will be getting its own API for triggering actions in the real world.
Essentially, the Super Chat API will let creators set up real-world actions that can be triggered by viewers in the chat. Examples given on stage include turning off the lights, flying a drone, and much more. The obvious goal here is to give creators another way to monetize their live broadcasts. It's likely we'll see certain actions packed behind a paywall of some sort. That's already part of Super Chats, which give viewers a way to make their messages stick out to the streamer by paying a fee.
It's a pretty cool way to attract more viewer interaction, and another way for creators to monetize their streams is never a bad thing. It'll definitely be interesting to see what sorts of actions we see streamers come up with.
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