We have been saying a lot recently that the streaming war is going to heat up and today during Twitch’s keynote speech during the first TwitchCon event, the company announced that direct uploads and a true VOD feature will be arriving soon. This takes aim directly at YouTube who recently went after Twitch by launching YouTube Gaming, a streaming platform for game broadcasters that also allows direct uploads and VODs already.
Twitch announced that broadcasters will soon be able to schedule saved streams (aka VODs) as well as being able to directly upload videos to their channel as well. This is the first time the company has ventured into allowing content that isn’t live streamed first. When a viewer goes to a broadcaster’s page, they will be able to see video playing, even if the broadcaster isn’t currently live. You could say that there already is that ability with Past Broadcasts, except now broadcasters can upload custom content that’s recorded and not a past stream.
Broadcasters will be able to produce high quality content when they don’t feel like being live, so their fans can still enjoy new content from their favorite streamer. If you’re a broadcaster and interested in trying out this feature, Twitch already has a beta sign-up page live where you can sign-up and try to get into the beta for direct uploads and VODs. All of this will also be available for viewing on the Twitch app for Android when it launches.
If you missed the keynote speech, you can get a round-up of everything announced over on the Twitch Blog. Other goodies on the way include full HTML5 players in 2016, Whispers 2.0 (whispers will get their own window), and more.
Official Website: Twitch Direct Upload Beta
