YouTube Live. Long-tail searchable platform with the strongest VOD economy.

• Audience. Global, broader demographic than Twitch. Strong over-30 segment because YouTube's overall audience skews older.
• Economics. AdSense ad revenue layered with channel memberships and Super Chats. Channel memberships split 70/30 in creator's favor. Super Chats split 70/30 (creator) on most regions. YouTube Partner Program eligibility at 1,000 subs and 4,000 watch hours over 12 months.
• Content rules. SFW only. Suggestive content age-gated. Demonetization risk for content YouTube deems advertiser-unfriendly. Stricter than Twitch on language, suggestive themes, certain game content.
• Agent structure. No formal agent-of-record program. Multi-channel networks (MCNs) exist but most are extraction-heavy and not recommended.
• Discoverability. Algorithm-driven. Shorts feeder funnel into long-form and live. VOD search compounds for years (a stream from 2024 still drives traffic in 2027).
• Best for. Creators who want long-tail compounding traffic, educational/tutorial creators, niche commentary creators, multi-format creators (live + short + long-form), creators building searchable IP.