Google’s Uptime is a video sharing app directly attached to YouTube. Born from Google’s start-up incubator Area 120, it is still very much early days for the app and it is still only available on Apple and Google Play stores. The app is very simple, it allows you to watch YouTube videos with friends on multiple devices and to leave comments. It is the host of ‘snarky YouTube parties’ according to Engadget.

What Does This Mean for the Events Industry?

So does this concern the events industry and the use of event apps? Well yes, sort of.

It shows a development in the way we should be thinking about live event broadcasting. With Uptime, existing content can be taken and immediately transformed into a live event.  Participants can still interact through the comments (and leave sophisticated opinions in the form of emojis).

As mentioned previously, this app is still in its early stages.  There is talk of adding a livestream feature. This would be perfect for the event app industry; a more personal live event could be easily created. Plus the Google ecosystem means that everybody automatically has an account, praise to the omnipotent Google gods.

Live broadcasting is certainly on the rise with Twitter joining the bandwagon; as well as Facebook, Instagram and of course YouTube. This is exciting for events, especially from an engagement perspective. Livestreams teasing event content or speakers are perfect for creating hype around your event, and their use at the event itself is undoubtable.

And in the Future?

This begs the question, will livestreaming be integrated directly into event apps in the future? That’s an exciting thought. Being able to engage with your whole audience directly in real time through your event app would revolutionise event technology. Unfortunately, that may be a little way off, but it’s certainly not something to rule out for the future.

So, the question stands, will Uptime thrive independently? The consensus suggests no, and that it’s more likely that the idea will be merged directly on to the YouTube app. However its very existence hints to a change in the way we share video content online and, as with every new toy in the technology industry, we should consider how it affects our industry and the opportunities it may create in the future for event broadcasting.