Introducing live video in the Substack app

Broadcast live to your subscribers anytime, anywhere

Today we’re excited to announce that we’ve begun rolling out live video in the Substack app, making it easier than ever to engage with your audience in real time. 

Live video arrives as more writers and creators use Substack to reach their subscribers while events unfold, often hosting dynamic conversations about breaking news and live events via Chat. With publishers requesting ever-richer ways to connect, live video provides a new way to meaningfully engage with your audience.

Going live from the Substack app will immediately notify your subscribers, allowing you to break news as it happens, share behind-the-scenes footage, bring your audience into exclusive events, or host interactive AMAs. You can even paywall a live video to make it available only for your paid subscribers, creating an intimate viewing event.

Want to expand your reach beyond your subscribers? Try inviting another creator to go live with you. Collaborations are a powerful source of growth for Substack writers, and we expect collaborative live videos will be too. 

Streaming capabilities are now available to bestsellers in the iOS and Android apps, with plans to expand to all Substackers in the coming months. This is just the beginning, and we have more improvements and features on the way. And if you aren’t a bestseller but would like to request early access to start streaming, you can do so here.

Learn more: Getting started with Live Video on Substack

How to use live video

You can use live video spontaneously, but to boost engagement, we suggest telling your subscribers about your upcoming livestream so they can mark their calendars and ensure they have the app downloaded.

Gabe Fleisher

posted an announcement, which is a good example of how to give your audience a heads-up about an upcoming livestream. 

Once you’re ready to use live video, follow these steps:

1. Open the Substack app, press the orange “+” button on the Home screen, and select “Live video.” Make sure to allow camera and microphone access.

2. Add a title to your live video. Subscribers will see this title when they’re notified that you are going live. 

3. Decide who can access your live video. You have three options: everyone, all subscribers, or paid subscribers only. For your first couple of streams, we recommend going live to everyone or all subscribers. Once your audience is in the habit of joining your streams, live video can be a great paid-only benefit.

4. We recommend leaving the “email my subscribers” toggle on, so subscribers who don’t have the app will be prompted to download it and join your live video.

5. Once you’re livestreaming, iOS users can tap the invite button to invite another creator to stream alongside them. Android users can join a collaborative live video if they are invited by an iOS user, but Android users cannot invite a second streamer just yet. This feature will be coming to Android soon.

After you finish your live video, Substack automatically saves the recording to your post drafts so you can incorporate it into your next longform post. You can even use the clipping tool to share highlights to Notes and other social channels.

Learn more: A production assistant for every show

Wondering how you can use live video? Here is some inspiration from the writers and creators who helped us build this feature.

Michael Easter

of the health and wellness Substack

Two Percent with Michael Easter

uses live video to host AMA conversations with his subscribers. He collects questions a few days in advance via Substack Chat, picks a handful to discuss during his stream, and then uses live video to answer them in real time in front of his subscribers. After using live video twice, Michael described the experience as “invaluable in building connections and strengthening the intimate Two Percent community.”

Gabe Fleisher

of

Wake Up To Politics

uses live video to break news and share timely political analysis directly from the scene. For example, he livestreamed during the Democratic National Convention, giving his audience an insider’s view as events unfolded. Gabe later said, “At the DNC, my readers didn’t need to wait for me to draft an email newsletter to hear what I thought about the convention: they were able to log on to a live video with me right as the balloons dropped, to hear instant commentary from an independent voice, instead of cable news pundits being the only in-the-moment options.”

Gabe also hosted a separate live video session with political commentator

Chris Cillizza

of

So What

right after the recent presidential debate. Following the broadcast, Chris reflected on the experience of streaming with another person, in the video below:

Try going live with our new video feature to see how it can bring your content to life in real time. Whether you’re sharing behind-the-scenes moments, hosting Q&A sessions, or connecting with your audience in a whole new way, we can’t wait to see how you make it your own. 

What kinds of live videos do you plan to create? What types of videos would you like to tune in to? Share your thoughts with us in the comments and get the app to experience live video on Substack.