YouNow

YouNow is an American live broadcasting service where users stream their own live video content or interact with the video streams of other users in real time.[1] The service is available on its website, on Android and iOS apps.

YouNow
Type of site
Video chat, Webcasting
Available in15 languages
Key peopleAdi Sideman
URLwww.younow.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationOptional
LaunchedSeptember 2011 (2011-09)

As of August 2015, the service handles 150,000 broadcasts each day.[2]

The majority of the users of YouNow are under 24 years old.[3] Many users perform music or dance,[4] others talk or make jokes. There was some media attention in 2015 on a number of users who film themselves sleeping.[5] A tag-based topic system enables viewers to browse content of their choice, while trending streams enable users to locate more popular webcasters.

It competes with apps like Meerkat and Periscope[6] although others have compared it with sites like Chatroulette.[5]

YouNow was founded by Adi Sideman[3] in September 2011,[7] but significantly grew in popularity during 2014 and 2015[6] following significant changes to the service.[4] A round of funding in 2015 raised $15 million from venture capitalists, bringing the total invested to $30 million.[2]

YouNow bought live streaming company BlogTV.com in 2013,[8] user accounts being merged into YouNow.

MTV partnered with YouNow for the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards.[3] The Huffington Post has started streaming a live show on YouNow weekly since August 2015.[9]

The Shorty Awards featured a "YouNower of the Year" category in 2016 and 2017.[10]

America's Got Talent partnered with YouNow to hold auditions for Season 11 with the final auditions on YouNow held live in YouNow HQ on Times Square, on March 1, 2016.

In 2017 YouNow began losing user broadcasters, including many partnered users and their fans, to other social media apps including Live.me and Twitch.

In 2019, in an attempt to bring user broadcasters and fans back, YouNow developed and implemented similar features that Live.me and Twitch already had on their social media platforms. These similar features included high definition resolution broadcasting, the ability to assign chat moderators and the ability to have multiple guest broadcasters (up to 3) at the same time with the broadcaster. Gold bars replaced likes as the in-app currency on the lower priced YouNow gifts at time of this redesign. YouNow has also introduced a new platform rewards system in the form of Props. [11]

Features

Partnership

YouNow has a partner program that allows popular broadcasters to earn money.[6] Virtual goods bought by viewers are used to acclaim videos; the resulting revenue is split between YouNow and the video creator,[4] with about 60% going to the latter.[10]

Partnership is offered to accounts in good standing at YouNow's discretion. As of May 2019, partnership requirements are as follows:

  • Partner: 2,500 fans and an average of 15 concurrent viewers[12]
  • Partner with Subscription Badge: 7,000 fans, an average of 30 concurrent viewers and 300 total viewers[13]

References
  1. Tynan, Dan (April 13, 2015). "Meet YouNow, the Live-Casting App that Teens Love and Parents Fear". Yahoo! Tech. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  2. "YouNow, A "Live" Social Network, Raises $15 Million in Fresh Funding". TechCrunch. 2015-10-05. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  3. Maya Kosoff (2015-04-29). "Teens are going crazy for YouNow, a livestreaming app with 100 million monthly user sessions". Business Insider. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  4. Peter Kafka (2014-10-29). "YouNow Is the Live Video Amateur Hour That Nearly Died. Now It's Booming. Here's How". recode.net. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  5. Amada Schupak (2015-04-14). "Is the YouNow live-stream app a parent's nightmare?". CBS News. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  6. Natalie Jarvey (2015-10-13). "Live-Streaming Startup YouNow Taps Fullscreen Veteran (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  7. Bonnie Cha (2013-02-12). "YouNow Gives Stage to Internet's Wannabe Stars, Leaves Judgment in Your Hands". All Things D. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  8. Peter Kafka (2013-03-14). "YouNow, Web Video's Live Amateur Hour, Bulks Up by Buying Blog TV". All Things D. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  9. Mike Shields (2015-08-18). "Huffington Post Teams Up With Live Streaming Service YouNow on Weekly Show". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  10. Kerry Flynn (2016-01-19). "Shorty Awards 2016 Nominees Brings Periscope, YouNow Stars Legitimacy In Media Industry". International Business Times. Retrieved 2016-01-27.
  11. "Props Rewards". YouNow Support.
  12. "How do I become a YouNow partner?". YouNow Support.
  13. "How do I become a subscribable partner?". YouNow Support.
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