How to simulcast my ZenVideo event to YouTube

This feature requires an Advanced or Premium plan, or an Enterprise plan with the Events feature added.

There are two ways you can simulcast from ZenVideo to YouTube: a direct integration with your YouTube account, or via RTMP. This article will walk through the requirements and steps for each simulcasting method so that you can stream your ZenVideo event to your YouTube audience with whichever method you prefer.

In this article:

• Requirements for simulcasting to YouTube
• Set up YouTube as a streaming destination: Direct integration
• Set up YouTube as a streaming destination: RTMP

Requirements for simulcasting to YouTube

• YouTube requires that your account be verified to go live.
• You will need login credentials or manager access to the desired YouTube account.
• Avoid using angle brackets (< >) in your event's description. They may cause the video to not stream to YouTube.

Set up YouTube as a streaming destination: Direct integration

You can connect your ZenVideo account to your YouTube account and simulcast to your YouTube channel, up to 10 destinations at once.

1. Create or navigate to your live event.
2. In the production tool, select Settings then open the Destinations panel.
3. Select Connect next to YouTube.
   
4. Log in to your YouTube account if necessary, and select the profile to which you’d like to stream.
5. Follow the onscreen prompts and allow the requested permissions to connect your ZenVideo and YouTube accounts. Once connected, return to the event settings page on ZenVideo.
6. Adjust your event's privacy on YouTube, then select Save. This does not impact your event’s privacy on ZenVideo.
7. Ensure the toggle switch next to YouTube is on.
8. When you’re ready, go live on ZenVideo. Once live, your stream will automatically simulcast to YouTube. Note that you can always navigate to your YouTube Studio to control settings on YouTube such as the title's appearance, descriptions, and privacy settings.

Set up YouTube as a streaming destination: RTMP

Another way to simulcast from ZenVideo to YouTube is to get the RTMP URL and Stream Key from YouTube Studio and input them into your ZenVideo event's Destinations setting. This method allows for up to 20 simultaneous destinations for your event.

1. Follow YouTube’s instructions to go live using an encoder. This guides you on YouTube’s requirements for going live on their platform and how to find the RTMP URL and stream key, which ZenVideo needs.
   • Within YouTube, you can also choose to schedule your stream for later. If you miss your scheduled start time, nothing will happen; you can always go into your Live Control room and change the date, time, and whatever other details you'd like. Your event link and RTMP credentials will remain the same until you go live to that event.
2. On ZenVideo, create or navigate to your event.
3. In the production tool, select Settings at the top of the page.
4. In the right-hand menu, open the Destinations panel.
   

5. Scroll to the bottom of the panel to find RTMP, then select Add.
   

6. An RTMP streaming settings modal window will open on ZenVideo. Input a Destination name (e.g. "My YouTube channel"); this serves as a descriptive label for you.
7. Copy and paste the RTMP URL and Stream key from YouTube into the corresponding fields on ZenVideo. Then click Save.
8. When you're ready, go live on ZenVideo from your encoder.
9. Once you are streaming from your encoder, you will be live on your YouTube channel.
   • If you are broadcasting to a scheduled stream on YouTube, you will need to manually select Go live from the YouTube Live Control Room for the stream to be live on YouTube.