Live chat is turned on by default unless your channel's live stream's audience is set as made for kids. When your live stream ends, it will be archived and viewers can watch the live stream along with the live chat.
The live chat feature is only available on YouTube watch pages, not on embedded players.
Live Q&A
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Live Q&A is another way to expand real-time interaction between creators and viewers. This feature can be used during Live Streams and Premieres. As a Creator, you can further customize the Live Chat Q&A experience by learning how to Moderate your Live Chat.
Note: Live Q&A and Polls are not available on Mobile. If you are streaming through the YouTube Mobile App, you can manage your mobile live stream through Live Control Room to access Live Chat features.
To start a Live Q&A:
- Schedule or start a live stream or a Premiere.
- From the bottom of the chat window, click
then select Start a Q&A. - Add the prompt then click Start Q&A.
- The Questions List will appear in the chat window after a Q&A session begins. To answer a question, go to the Questions List, select a question to answer, click the menu , and click Select Question.The question will be pinned to the top of the chat window and visible to your viewers. Click Closeto dismiss a question banner from the chat window.
then select Start a Q&A.
, and click Select Question.The question will be pinned to the top of the chat window and visible to your viewers. Click Closeto dismiss a question banner from the chat window.Note: Click the down arrow at the top of the chat menu and select Top Chat or All Chat to view messages in Live Chat.
- To end your Live Q&A, from the prompt banner at the top of the chat click End Q&A.All unanswered questions in the list will be deleted and Live Q&A sessions will be available in Chat Replay.
Note: Live Q&A details are not available in YouTube Analytics. Viewers can only submit 1 question per minute.
Remove or Delete a Question:
To delete a question that you’ve submitted that has not been pinned to chats, go to My Activity.
- To delete questions that are pinned to the chat window, click the menu , then click Delete.
Live chat views
Viewers can choose between two views of Live chat at any time.
- Top chat: This view filters messages such as potential spam to help make chat easier to read and more useful.
- Live chat: This view is not filtered. It shows all chat messages as they come in.
Note: Live streams that are edited in the video editor will not have chat replay. This applies to all types of edit functions applied.
How Top chat is ranked
Top chat shows what viewers are likely to value and interact with. What appears in Top chat is based on various signals, including the chat text, handle text, channel name text, avatar, and video.
Top chat may not show content that YouTube detects viewers are not likely to value or interact with. This can include comments that are detected as potentially inappropriate, spam, or impersonation may not show in Top chat. Detection is based on a variety of signals, such as the chat text, commenter channel name text or handle text, avatar, and channel moderation settings.
Live chat AI-generated summary
New viewers joining a live stream may see an AI-generated summary of the chat. Not all live streams will have a generated chat summary. The chat summaries are created from the current live chat and not a summary of the live stream content. The feature only summarizes conversations that have been made public. Learn how to moderate your live chat.
Note: The AI-generated summary is currently experimental and may display inaccurate, offensive, or inappropriate information that doesn’t represent Google’s or the channel’s views. Viewers can provide feedback with a thumb up or a thumb down and share any additional feedback.
Live chat badges
Live chat badges identify the Streamer 
and Moderator 
. If your channel is eligible for memberships, you can create custom membership badges that show up in live chat too.
Emoji
Emoji are small pictures that can express an emotion, idea, and more. Anyone can use a large number of emoji, and creators can make custom emoji that are available as a channel membership perk.
Add emoji to your comment or message
On mobile: While writing a chat message, tap 
to add a YouTube emoji or the emoji icon on your device’s keyboard to add emoji from your device's operating system.
On a computer: While writing a chat message, tap Add Emoji.
Note: On a computer, you can press and hold an emoji to customize the appearance. Your settings will be saved for future use. To change your default, select a different emoji variation. You can also clear the setting by your clearing browser cookies and other site data or signing out of YouTube.
Add a YouTube Emote to your comment or message
YouTube emotes are a set of static images that are only available on YouTube and can only be used in live chat and comments. These emotes are created by a diverse set of artists for you to use to express your feelings or ideas. They can be found in the emoji picker above the standard emoji set.
On mobile: While writing a chat message, tap to add a YouTube emote.
On a computer: While writing a chat message or comment, tap to add a YouTube emote.
Reactions on Live allow viewers to respond in the moment to what’s happening throughout a live stream. Viewers can leave reactions when live chat is open.You and viewers can see anonymized reactions; it will not be possible to see which users left a certain reaction.
Types of reactions
- Viewers can leave Heart, Smiley Face, Party Popper, Flushed Face, and “100” reactions.
Turn reactions on or off
As a creator, you can turn reactions for a live stream on or off in Live Control Room. You can change this setting at any point during your stream.
- On a computer, go to YouTube Studio.
- From the top right, click CREATE Go Live to open the Live Control Room.
- Click the Stream tab.
- Click Edit, then Customization.
- Select Reactions.
Go Live 
to open the Send a message
To post in live chat:
- Click into where it says “Say Something” and begin entering text.
- Click Send.
.Respond to someone in the chat feed
You can respond to someone in the chat feed by mentioning their username.
- Enter “@”.
- Begin entering their username.
- Select the username.
Both you and the mentioned chat member will see their username highlighted in the live chat. This highlight makes it easier for them to see your response in the chat feed.
Message limitations
Viewers are limited to 200 characters and a maximum of 11 submissions every 30 seconds. Event owners are not subject to the frequency threshold. Viewers cannot post special characters, URLs, or HTML tags.
Subscribers-only and members-only chat
A channel can make their live chat members-only or subscribers-only.
If the chat is subscribers-only, the channel can specify how long viewers need to be subscribed.
Pin a message
You can pin your own message or a viewer’s message in Live Chat.
Only you, not your moderators or viewers, can pin messages. Pinned messages show below Super Chat.
- Go to the chat window during a live stream or a Premiere.
- Find a message from Live Chat, even your own, and tap or click More.
- To pin the message, tap or click Pin.
.Note: You can only pin one message at a time. To replace a pinned message, simply pin another message. To unpin a message, click More on a pinned message and tapUnpin.
Create a live poll
Channel owners can create and manage live polls on their streams and Premieres. Once someone votes, they cannot change it.
- Schedule or start a live stream or a Premiere.
- From the bottom of the chat window, tap Create a poll .
- Create your poll, and then select Ask your community.
To end a poll and see the results in the chat from the banner at the top of the chat, tap End poll.
Limitations
Live polls can:
- only be created from YouTube on your computer.
- have between 2-4 options.
- only be seen live. They do not show up in live chat replays.
- only last up to 24 hours.
Embed live chat
During a live stream, you can embed live chat on your own site by using an iframe.
Note: embedding live chat isn't available on mobile web.
- Get the video ID for the live stream. You can get the video ID from the watch page URL (youtube.com/watch?v=12345). In this case, the video ID is ‘12345’.
- Get the domain URL for the site you want to embed chat on. If you're embedding chat on www.example.com/youtube_chat, your embedding domain is "www.example.com".
- Combine the embedded URL in the following way: https://www.youtube.com/live_chat?v=12345&embed_domain=www.example.com.
- This URL is for your iframe. Note the embed_domain must match the URL of the page you’re embedding the chat on. If they are different, the embedded chat will not open.
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