Caffeine Aims To Simplify And Socialize Livestreaming

Caffeine announced a new livestreaming platform with real-time social interaction and a simple one-click setup process with no third-party applications. Caffeine also prioritizes messages from people in your social circle to make livestreams more personal.

“We’re incredibly excited to be sharing more details on the pre-release version of Caffeine,” said Ben Keighran, CEO of Caffeine. “I left Apple to create a company that would fundamentally change the way we create, consume, share, and monetize live content. Our goal was to re-imagine every aspect of live broadcasting -- ignoring the good things we could do and focusing on the really great things instead. We are committed to building the best experience for creators, giving them everything they need, from the broadcasting software all the way through to how the audience discovers and enjoys their content. We have put together a world-class engineering and content team that will transform the way the world thinks about live broadcasting.”

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“The PC game streaming app provides in-game overlays which creates a single screen experience for interacting with audiences and because video is in real-time all the interactions are natural and as though you are in the same room,” said Keighran. “We created built-in tools that allow broadcasters to instantly share their show on Facebook and Twitter, which allows broadcasters to quickly reach existing audiences with new content and build their Caffeine community even faster.”

Caffeine designed the app to be simple for anyone to jump into. Unlike other streaming applications, like Twitch, Caffeine doesn’t require manual configuration. You don’t need to configure the bitrate or mess with IP addresses. Also, because it doesn’t rely on third-party applications such as Open Broadcaster Software (OBS) or XSplit, Caffeine doesn’t need a stream key to authorize the broadcast.

Caffeine support three ways to livestream. The application enables you to broadcast the game that you're playing on your computer. The service is still in a pre-release state, but the software already supports a robust list of games. The software also supports webcam broadcasting, so you can do talking head discussions or share creative endeavors such as building a model, painting, or making a cosplay costume. Caffeine also offers an iOS application, which allows you to stream on the go, like Periscope.

“While Caffeine launched its pre-release with gaming at its core, we are already seeing other forms of entertainment on the platform, such as live podcasts and talk shows” added Keighran. “Our pre-release build is just the beginning. We look forward to officially launching Caffeine in the first half of 2018 and rolling out new features, including a whole new monetization system that makes it easier than ever for creators to make money. Caffeine is creating the future of broadcasting,” said Keighran.

One of the key elements of Caffeine’s appeal is the company’s approach to social integration. Caffeine wants to help streamers foster deeper engagement from fans and build “more personal, meaningful relationships with their followers.” Like any livestreaming platform, Caffeine enables viewers to chat with the people in front of the camera, but Caffeine’s chat system gives priority to friends and people in your circle so that comments from people that you know don’t get lost in the comments feed. Caffeine also supports “near real-time” interaction with almost no latency to make it easier to hold a conversation with viewers.

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Kevin Carbotte is a contributing writer for Tom's Hardware who primarily covers VR and AR hardware. He has been writing for us for more than four years.