Substack opened its live video feature to all publishers

Last year, Substack tested the live video streaming feature only for its most popular users in the “Bestsellers” category. This feature allowed both broadcasters to engage with a live audience and collaborate with other Bestsellers users. Now, Substack aims to reach a wide user base by opening this feature to all its publishers.

In order to broadcast live video, you need to have at least 10 free subscribers as well as a Substack account. During the broadcast, viewers are given the opportunity to read their comments in real time and collaborate with other broadcasters by inviting them to chat. However, currently a maximum of three people can participate in a broadcast.

Post-broadcast, Substack offers users a copy of the live broadcast (VOD) and some notes created by artificial intelligence. By sharing VODs as a separate post, broadcasters can deliver their content to readers who missed the live broadcast. While these videos are shared publicly by default, they can optionally be made private to paid subscribers only.

Substack offers option to create short video clips

In addition, Substack’s AI system also gives publishers the option to create short video clips that can be used to promote their content. These clips can be used on platforms such as social media to encourage viewers to watch the main broadcast.

Substack states that publishers in the Bestsellers category are satisfied with this feature and that they can interact more effectively with their readers. However, there is no clear conclusion yet on how effective live video broadcasts will be across the platform. The fact that there are many alternative platforms for live broadcasting today makes Substack’s success in this field uncertain.

While this new feature of Substack allows publishers to establish stronger bonds with their followers, it will become clear over time how the innovations offered by the platform will be evaluated by content creators.