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YouTube lives it up

Video-sharing site offers its first live stream of an event--one designed to celebrate itself and many of the most popular performers on the site.

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Natalie Weinstein Former Senior Editor / News
I spent a decade as a reporter and editor before joining the CNET News staff as a copy editor in 2000, right before the dot-com bust.
Expertise Copy editing. Curating, editing and reading newsletters of all stripes. Playing any word-related game, specifically Scrabble, Wordle and Boggle. Credentials
  • I've been a journalist for more than three decades. I was a finalist in the 2021 Digiday Media Award for Best Newsletter.
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Natalie Weinstein
Event showcased YouTube's most popular performers. YouTube

YouTube gathered up its viral celebrities to stream its first-ever live event on Saturday from San Francisco.

YouTube sold the event as "part concert, part variety show, and part party." Its Live channel featured three different views of the event--from the main stage, backstage, and "off stage."

According to TechCrunch, calculations via Akamai showed that about 700,000 people were watching the live stream at its peak. It wasn't completely clear who actually did the streaming for YouTube, but TechCrunch felt comfortable enough to assert that it was Akamai itself.

YouTube gained its fame through video uploads, not live streaming. Was this event worth it? Mashable certainly didn't think so. Just wondering what anyone else might have to say.