Google will move its Hangouts on Air live video streaming service from Google+ to YouTube on Sept. 12
Individuals and groups planning on using Google Hangouts On Air to live-stream content to audiences around the world, better hurry.
Those wishing to schedule new Hangouts better hurry because Google announced Aug. 15 that it is moving the video streaming service from Google+ To YouTube Live effective Sept. 12.
New live stream events cannot be scheduled on Google+ after Sept. 12 and even users who already have events scheduled for after that date will need to move to YouTube instead.
Users with recorded events on Hangouts on Air will continue to have access to the content on YouTube. A read-only version of recorded event content will also be available in the Activity Log on Google+, the company said.
On a web page announcing the move, Google described the process users will need to set up Hangouts on Air with YouTube Live. It also listed some of the applications and features currently available with Hangouts on Air that will not make the transition to YouTube, at least not immediately.
Among the features that will stay put are the Q&A feature, Showcase and Applause, Google said. Users wishing to include a Q&A with their live stream on YouTube will be able to use a Q&A feature available with Google Slides instead.
“You can also use various social media platforms to gather questions ahead of the event,” Google noted. Those wishing to showcase their event could use the YouTube event describe to share links with the audience, Google said.
Google launched Hangouts on Air in Sept. 2011, but only to a small number of broadcasters. At the time the company described it as service that would let people create and broadcast “onscreen experiences” to a wide audience just as Hangouts did on a smaller scale.
Prompted by what it described as the creative ways in which the initial community of broadcasters used Hangouts on Air, Google made the feature available to everyone on Google + in May 2012.
Google has so far offered no explanation for its apparently sudden decision to move Hangouts on Air to YouTube Live. No data also appears to be available on how widely used the service was among users looking to live stream events to large audiences.
So it is unclear if declining participation and interest in the service prompted the decision. It is also not clear if the lack of mobile support for Hangouts on Air influenced Google’s decision to move the streaming feature to YouTube Live.
But it has been used for some prominent Hangout broadcasts, including a January 30, 2012 event that President Barack Obama used to conduct a virtual interview on his State of the Union address.
