YouTube has added some new features to YouTube Live, all of which are designed to help creators connect with their audiences. The headline feature is the enabling of live automatic captioning, which should help make YouTube Live streams more accessible.

Live streaming is growing in popularity, with Twitch (and its new rules), and others all providing a platform for people to talk to camera. YouTube wants YouTube Live to become the default platform for live streaming, which is why it's making some improvements...

Automatic Live Captioning and More Besides

The first new feature is automatic captions for YouTube Live streams. YouTube has been auto-captioning regular videos since 2009, but live streamers have always had to provide the captioning themselves. Now, YouTube is stepping in to fill the void.

YouTube claims its live automatic speech recognition (LASR) technology enables "error rates and latency approaching industry standards". And after rolling this out in the coming weeks the company will endeavor to "improve [the] accuracy and latency".

YouTube is also introducing live chat replays, which enables people watching recorded live streams to also see the comments as they were sent in realtime. But don't worry if you hate reading YouTube comments, as live chat replays can still be hidden.

Also new is the option for creators to add location tags to mobile streams and uploads. Creators will be able to share their favorite locations with viewers, and viewers will be able to watch other videos from those same locations simply by clicking the tags.

Last but not least is IFTTT support for Super Chats. This enables creators to connect Super Chats to internet-connected devices, thus letting viewers trigger real-world interactions. Examples include turning a light on, doling out food from a pet feeder, or launching a confetti cannon.

Helping YouTube Live Beat the Competition

Individually, these new YouTube Live features aren't much to write home about. However, collectively, they represent YouTube making a concerted effort to help YouTube Live compete with Facebook Live and Periscope. And it's about time too.

Are you a YouTube Live streamer? Or a regular viewer? What do you think of these new features? Will you be making use of automatic captioning? Or the Super Chat IFTTT integration? Or location tagging? Or live chat replays? Please let us know in the comments below!