Where do we livestream to?
I remember in the first weeks of the pandemic, it seemed very important to stream to as many destinations as possible. After all, we want everyone to find us! To be honest, this decision came from anxiety, not a thought-out strategy.
I still see churches doing this. They’ll stream to YouTube and Facebook, but then it’s not on their website! At best, their website features a link to one or the other.
Let me share a few helpful ways to think about this.
First, whatever you do, you want to “keep everyone together.” If you livestream (that is, your online stream happens live, during your in-person worship), you want all of your viewers in the same place. You either want them on your website, on YouTube, or….one place.
Why one place? You want to encourage the community. If your only goal is raw views, then perhaps it doesn’t matter. But you aspire to more than viewers, you’re leading a church! You want to build community! If you divide your audience, some on Facebook and a few others on Youtube, you’re reducing the number of people who can chat and connect. But in the same way that a group of six will have exponentially more conversation than a group of three, you want all of your viewers in the same spot. So pick one location for the live event.
Second: where to stream? You might assume YouTube since you know that YouTube is the second-largest search engine on the planet. Like, you have to be on YouTube, right?
I agree: your video content has to be on YouTube (eventually). That’s not the same as saying your livestream at 10 a.m. on Sunday is viewable on YouTube.
But there are a few problems with streaming live to YouTube or Facebook. First, these platforms use algorithms to search for copyright infringement. These algorithms don’t care about your CCLI or OneLicense. There’s no way to tell YouTube “Hey, I know this is copyrighted material, but it’s OK! I have a license!” YouTube and Facebook will simply mute you, or flag you.
Do you want to deal with that?
If you’re thinking medium-term or long-term, you need to reflect on whether or not you want YouTube, Meta, or Google to control a central ministry of your church. You may not have noticed it, but YouTube changes its policies on things that matter to a church live-stream all the time. Facebook is notorious for muting a church’s livestream based on its algorithm's understanding of copyright (and it doesn’t care about your CCLI license). You don’t want some other company to control a central ministry of your church.
You don’t want to build a substantial audience on one of these platforms, and then have the rug pulled out from under you.
You need to control your platform. That means you need to livestream “to your website.” You want a parishioner to visit www.YourChurch.com to see your livestream. As far as the average person in your town/church is concerned, the livestream is “on your website.”
How does that happen behind the scenes? They don’t know, and they don’t care.
Perhaps YouTube is actually making your live-stream work. Perhaps it’s some technology company you’ve never heard of. Who cares, if it’s actually on your website? Only a couple of the tech people at church know how it works. And that gives you the flexibility to build an online community and keep it together, without unnecessary outside interference. If you use YouTube, or Boxy, or Resi to make it happen behind the scenes, and these companies become a problem, you just…switch companies. But the end viewer has no idea.
So on Sunday, you stream your worship service to your website. Then Monday morning, you put your worship service on YouTube.
There are free ways to make that happen that will work with any website.
I know this is a lot to process! If you would like to discuss the wisest ways for a medium-sized church to do this, I’m here to help. Schedule a Zoom meeting with me, and we can talk through the logistics!
