How to Go Live on YouTube, and How Many Subscribers You Need

YouTube live streaming requirements, computer vs phone

Whatever device you use, you need a verified channel, a clean 90 days with no live streaming restrictions, an age of 16 or over, and a one-time wait of up to 24 hours. The phone adds a 50-subscriber minimum.

Verifying your channel by phone

Go to youtube.com/verify, enter a phone number and type in the code YouTube sends by text or voice call. One number can verify 2 channels a year. Verification also lifts the 15-minute upload limit and lets you add custom thumbnails.

What counts as a live streaming restriction

YouTube lists four triggers: a Community Guidelines strike, a live stream taken down under its policies, a copyright strike on an active stream, or a stream that matches someone else’s copyrighted live broadcast. Any of them in the last 90 days blocks streaming. Rebroadcasting a match off your TV is the easy way to trip the last one.

How many subscribers you need to go live on YouTube

None, if you stream from a computer. YouTube sets no subscriber minimum for webcam or encoder streams, so a channel with 0 subscribers can go live from a laptop once streaming is enabled.

The YouTube app needs at least 50 subscribers. You keep mobile access after that unless the channel falls back below 50.

The 1,000-subscriber limit on mobile

Between 50 and 1,000 subscribers, YouTube may limit how many people can watch a mobile stream, and it saves the replay as private. It doesn’t publish the size of the cap. Once you pass 1,000, lifting the limit can take several weeks, longer if the count dips in that time.

The cap applies only to mobile streams. So a 300-subscriber channel with a stream it wants found should run it from a computer, even if a phone is the camera (see below).

How to enable live streaming on YouTube, a day early

Request access at least a day early, because YouTube can take up to 24 hours to enable streaming the first time. After that one wait, a stream starts whenever you do.

1. Sign in to YouTube on a computer and verify your channel if you haven’t yet.
2. Click Create at the top right, then Go live. This opens the Live Control Room in YouTube Studio.
3. On that first visit, YouTube starts enabling live streaming. Once it’s on (up to 24 hours later), repeat step 2.

How to go live on a PC or Mac with just a webcam

Webcam streaming runs inside YouTube Studio in Chrome 60 or later or Firefox 53 or later, with nothing to install. It fits streams where the picture is just you, like a study-with-me session or an unboxing.

1. Click Create → Go live and choose Webcam in the left menu.
2. Enter a title and description, and pick Public, Unlisted or Private.
3. Open More options, then Advanced settings, if you want to change live chat or other options.
4. Click Next. The camera takes a thumbnail.
5. Check the camera and microphone selections, then click Go live. Click End stream when you’re done.

The webcam option sends your camera and mic and little else. For gameplay, overlays or extra hardware like a preamp, YouTube points you to an encoder.

How to live stream on YouTube with OBS and a stream key

Copy the stream key from YouTube’s Live Control Room into OBS, start streaming in OBS, then click Go live in YouTube. OBS Studio is free and on YouTube’s list of verified encoders.

1. Install OBS Studio and run Tools → Auto-Configuration Wizard, which tests your hardware and connection and picks starting settings.
2. Add sources to a scene: Game Capture for a game (Windows), Display Capture for your screen, Video Capture Device for a webcam, plus your microphone.
3. In YouTube, click Create → Go live and copy the stream key from the stream settings (and the stream URL, if your encoder asks for one).
4. In OBS, open Settings → Stream, choose YouTube as the service and paste the key.
5. Click Start Streaming in OBS. When the preview appears in the Live Control Room, click Go live.

Treat the stream key like a password. Anyone who has it can broadcast to your channel, and one key can carry up to 3 active streams. If it leaks, generate a new one in the Live Control Room.

To run everything from OBS, turn on YouTube’s Auto-start and Auto-stop in the stream settings. The stream then goes live when OBS starts sending and ends when OBS stops.

Bitrate and keyframe settings YouTube recommends

Set the keyframe interval to 2 seconds and audio to AAC at 128 Kbps for stereo. YouTube also recommends keeping about 20% of your upload bandwidth free, so 1080p at 60 fps (12 Mbps) wants roughly 15 Mbps up. If a speed test shows 8 Mbps, stream 720p at 60 fps (6 Mbps) instead.

How to go live on YouTube from your phone

The app’s Live button works once the channel has 50 subscribers and streaming is enabled, on Android 8.0 or later or iOS 8 or later. It’s the quickest route for a walk-around vlog or an update from an event.

1. Open the YouTube app and tap Create (the plus button).
2. Tap Live. The first time, your phone asks for camera and microphone access.
3. Tap Edit to add a title, description and privacy setting, and set options like scheduling and live chat.
4. Tap Go live.

Check the replay afterward. Under 1,000 subscribers YouTube saves it as private, so switch it to Public in YouTube Studio if you want it to keep collecting views.

How to go live on YouTube without 50 subscribers

Stream from a computer. The 50-subscriber rule covers only the YouTube app, so any of the first three routes below works at 0 subscribers.

• Browser webcam: covered above, nothing to install.
• OBS on a computer: for games and overlays.
• Your phone as the camera: many phones can act as a webcam for a computer over USB or Wi-Fi, through the operating system or a webcam app. The computer does the streaming, so the subscriber minimum doesn’t apply.
• Reach 50 subscribers: if you need the app itself, say to stream while walking around, close the gap to 50.

For that last route, our YouTube subscribers start within 12 hours and arrive at 100–200 a day, and drops in the first 30 days are topped back up. The smallest amount you can start is 50, so a channel sitting at 20 lands around 70. That cushion matters, because mobile streaming stops if the count falls below 50.

Delivery needs a public subscriber count and at least one video longer than 5 minutes, so a Shorts-only channel won’t qualify. The $4 trial includes 50 subscribers. Don’t expect them in your chat; they move the number YouTube checks.

Checklist for your first YouTube live stream

First streams tend to fail on something small, like a muted mic or finding out at 7:55 pm that streaming still isn’t enabled.

1. Enable a day early. First-time activation can take up to 24 hours.
2. Run a private test. Stream to Private or Unlisted, then watch the replay for audio sync and volume.
3. Start early. YouTube recommends setting up encoders at least 2 hours ahead and starting them at least 15 minutes before the scheduled time. Use that preview window to check the mic.
4. Schedule it. A scheduled stream gets its own watch page in advance, so you can share the link and people can set a reminder.
5. Decide who can chat. Subscriber-only chat keeps spam out and shuts out everyone who just found you. On a small channel, open chat plus one moderator you trust usually works better.
6. Stay under 12 hours. YouTube archives shorter streams automatically, so the replay stays on your channel.

Why your first streams get almost no viewers, and what changes that

Nobody knows the channel yet, so first streams open to a handful of viewers and a silent chat. A visitor who sees a count of 2 tends to leave before you’ve said a word.

The free fix is slow: one fixed weekly slot, and a title that says what happens (“Ranked grind to Diamond, day 3”, not “Live #4”). Our guide on how to get viewers on YouTube live covers promotion and chat.

For the opening minutes, Socialbot’s YouTube live viewers join within 15 minutes and stay for 30 minutes to 6 hours, your pick. A boost can’t be extended or restarted, and ending the stream early ends it, so a 2-hour Saturday stream that often runs long should get the 3-hour option. With Auto-Start for YouTube live, the boost fires when you go live and, after 5 streams, is sized to your average length plus a margin. Starter weekly, the smallest of our YouTube plans, is $12.99 for 50 viewers per boost, on every stream.

Bought viewers don’t chat. Our AI chat bot for YouTube live posts 2–5 English messages a minute about what’s happening on stream, provided chat is open to everyone.

Neither makes the stream worth staying for. They change the count a newcomer sees in the first seconds; the second hour is up to you.

Why can’t I go live on YouTube? 7 things to check

On a new channel, it’s usually the 24-hour wait or a missing phone verification, so check those two first. Then work down the rest.

• Still inside the first 24 hours after requesting live streaming.
• Channel not verified. The phone check comes before anything else.
• Under 50 subscribers on mobile. Switch to a webcam or encoder on a computer.
• A restriction in the last 90 days from a Community Guidelines strike, a removed stream or a copyright strike on a live stream.
• Daily limit reached. YouTube caps how many live streams a channel can create in a day; hitting it means waiting 24 hours.
• Too many active streams. A channel can have up to 10 active streams at once, and each stream key up to 3.
• Age. Accounts under 16 can’t stream on their own.