Live streaming caught on like wildfire during the dark days of the COVID pandemic, paving the way for thousands of content creators all over the world to jumpstart a new career in the video streaming world. These days, live streaming has become so popular that an entire ecosystem of tools has sprung up around the concept, helping streamers to improve the quality of their videos, boost viewer engagement, monetize their work and automate video editing tasks, to name just a few.
No matter if you’re already established as a live streamer or just starting out, you can undoubtedly benefit from adding a few of these tools to your arsenal. So without further ado, let’s check out the must-have live streaming that every live video content creator needs.
1. Azarus
After being acquired by Animoca Brands, Azarus has entered the spotlight as a platform for video game players to earn cryptocurrency as rewards, while also repaying their most dedicated fans for watching. The platform borrows many aspects of Twitch, aiming to create a strong bond between content creators and their audiences, with a particular focus on blockchain-based games.
One interesting aspect of Azarus is its Genesis Pass, which introduced exclusive features such as Star Bonus, Multiplay, Early Access, Free Unwraps, Store Discounts and Free Plays. Hold a Genesis Pass and you’ll enjoy privileged status in the Azarus live streaming universe with tangible value-generating benefits
2. Restream
Restream provides tools for creating professional videos and streaming them to more than 30 channels at once, and is known for being simple to use. Among its benefits, the biggest is the miultistreaming capability that allows users to stream simultaneously across Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitch and other channels, or even directly to your own website.
Additional capabilities include pre-recorded streams, which aren’t just great for practice but can still drive tons of traffic, the ability to invite guests, multichat capabilities and QR codes for live shopping experiences.
3. TeeBoard
Currently in beta, TeeBoard is a desktop-based alternative to the Twitch dashboard that introduces tons of functionality at the click of a button, such as the ability to manage multiple channels, set the status of those channels, view and download videos, run commercials and track viewer statistics in real time.
It also provides a number of useful widgets that can be displayed within live streams, such as the notifications icon that ticks up whenever a new subscriber is added, a clock displaying the local time on your streams, a countdown timer, a playlist of audio files and another for media files, plus a public chat box and tools for conducting polls.
4. destream
Serious live streams need a serious content monetization tool and that’s where destream comes in handy, with a platform that’s dedicated to YouTubers, TikTokers, Twitchers and more. It fills a unique niche in the live streaming segment for financial tools that are customized for content creators.
It provides multiple useful tools to aid in monetizing your content, including payment buttons, transaction management, scene management, visual construction, widgets, alerts, labels and goals, as well as integrated tipping. It even offers an API to integrate unsupported payment methods, and there’s a built-in profanity filter for users to ensure only appropriate language is used by fans commenting on their live streams. Finally, it claims to charge much lower transaction fees than rival platforms.
5. Freesound
One of the major headaches for any live streamer is creating high quality sound effects to go alongside their content. It’s a challenge that’s exacerbated by the incredible rise in DMCA takedowns on platforms such as Twitch and YouTube, but streamers can get peace of mind by turning to Freesound, which claims to be the largest collection of Creative Commons-licensed audio files on the internet.
Freesound has built up an enormous collaborative database of audio sounds and music that can be reused by live streamers on any platform. It contains many kinds of sounds, including field recordings, samples of musical instruments, speeches, background noises, music loops and more. It doesn’t provide finished musical compositions in the traditional sense, but live streamers can use it as a foundation for creating their own sounds and audio effects.
