YouTube to offer a live 360-degree look at the Republican and Democratic conventions

By Kris Wouk July 14, 2016

A smartphone displaying YouTube on its screen as it lays on top of a laptop's keyboard. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Both the Republic National Convention and Democratic National Convention are right around the corner, and while the important news from each will circulate in a number of ways, that isn’t enough for hardcore news junkies.

YouTube has a solution to this problem, as it announced in a blog post on Thursday that it will offer live-streaming coverage of both conventions, just as it did in 2012. Of course, a lot has changed in the four years since — both in terms of technology and in the prominence of YouTube personalities — so the company has a few tricks up its sleeve.

Creators like The Young Turks, Complex News, Seeker Daily, Ingrid Nilsen, Mark Watson, and Julie Borowski will be offering coverage at both conventions, in addition to several more traditional news organizations. Jump VR cameras will be used to offer a 360-degree look at the action, while mobile live-streaming will offer viewers a better idea of what it’s like to be there on the ground.

While YouTube is the official streaming partner of the conventions, it isn’t the only service offering coverage. Twitter plans to offer live-streaming video of both conventions, and BitTorrent, Inc. announced on Wednesday that it will launch its new live news network BitTorrent News just in time to cover the Republican National Convention.

The Republican National Convention kicks off in Cleveland, Ohio next week on July 18, while the Democratic National Convention starts July 25 in Philadelphia. For easy access, YouTube is offering dedicated channels for both the Republican and Democratic conventions.

The “gavel-to-gavel coverage” YouTube promised in its blog post isn’t all it plans to offer either. Real Time with Bill Maher will also be producing two specials per convention, and all of them will stream live on YouTube. The two specials for the RNC will air on July 20 and 21, while the DNC specials will air on July 27 and 28.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Kris Wouk is a tech writer, gadget reviewer, blogger, and whatever it's called when someone makes videos for the web. In his…

Audio / Video

YouTube TV just got even better on iPhones and iPads

Multiview on YouTube TV on an iPad.

If you use the most popular live-streaming service on an iPhone or iPad, things just got even better. YouTube TV — which boasts more than 8 million subscribers — just pushed multiview live on Apple's mobile devices, as previously promised.

It works basically the same way it does on a television. YouTube TV picks the programs available in multiview, and you get them all at once, with audio coming from one of the shows. Tap another, and the audio switches. And just as before, you can get multiview for sports, news, business, or weather. (Though we definitely don't recommend watching four news channels at once in an election year.) It's just in time for March Madness, which is great, though we hope you'll be able to pick your own games instead of just sticking with the multiple viewing options YouTube TV gives. This will be great come fall, though, when the new season of NFL Sunday Ticket takes hold.

News

YouTube tells creators to start labeling ‘realistic’ AI content

YouTube on Roku.

YouTube is taking steps to try to help viewers better understand if what they’re watching has been created, whether completely or in part, by generative AI.

“Generative AI is transforming the ways creators express themselves -- from storyboarding ideas to experimenting with tools that enhance the creative process,” YouTube said in a message shared on Monday. “But viewers increasingly want more transparency about whether the content they’re seeing is altered or synthetic.”

Audio / Video

What is YouTube Premium? Price, content, and more

YouTube Music

YouTube is such a common part of internet infrastructure that it's now used for everything from entertainment to recording work events to livestreaming conferences to publishing the newest music videos. But as the platform has grown, it has become more and more reliant on ads. If you're sick of ads before, during, and after YouTube videos, then you can consider paying for a subscription for YouTube Premium so you won't have to see any more ads while browsing or watching videos.

The YouTube family of products can be a bit confusing, however. As well as YouTube Premium, there are other paid services like YouTube Music, YouTube TV, the now-defunct YouTube Go, plus some free movies on YouTube you don't want to miss. But the price for YouTube Premium has changed since it launched, so it's worth taking some time to consider how much you'll be paying and whether it's worth it for you -- or even if you could save some money using options like the YouTube Premium family plan or the free trial.