Why can’t I find the pre-scheduled service on YouTube anymore?

By now those of you that have been watching our weekly Worship services on YouTube have noticed something is different. The pre-scheduled Sunday service is no long showing up on YouTube!

The major reason for this is due to recent changes to YouTube; as of June 1, 2021 they have started adding commercial ads to our streams and we have no control over this. They can place an add for anything they want as much as they want and there is nothing we can do about it. They have also added stricter copyright rules meaning that if someone has recorded one of the hymns from our hymnal and claimed it as their exclusive material, we can no longer sing that hymn during a live broadcast. YouTube doesn’t check to see if these people have exclusive rights before they block our stream, we get blocked and we have to prove that we are not violating the copyright rules.

But the good news is we already have an alternative in place! Vimeo, we have been using Vimeo since October, 2020 and it is what you watch when viewing the live broadcasts on our website and on Facebook.

We will not stop broadcasting to YouTube (at least for now) but those watching on YouTube can expect to be bombarded with commercials when watching.

YouTube vs. Vimeo:
What’s the Difference?

There are some big differences when it comes to YouTube vs Vimeo and understanding those differences will help you select the right option for you.

YouTube

• Ads everywhere!
• They offer a free version to join and a $10/month ad free version
• YouTube’s community is large, with over 1 billion users that watch hundreds of millions of hours of content – each day!
• YouTube’s larger audience produces more content, but keep in mind that quantity doesn’t always equal quality.

Vimeo – view our Vimeo channel here

• No ads
• Mostly mature community of users
• Password protected option, plus many more
• Vimeo has a much smaller community. Of its 170 million viewers, about 42 million are in the United States.
• Another notable distinction between the two is that with a smaller community, you will often find higher production values.

So, the question comes, how do I watch Vimeo on my smart TV?  Well, now for the bad news, Vimeo doesn’t have an app for most smart TVs like YouTube does so it’s a little harder to watch Vimeo on your smart TV.

This is where you will need to learn about your tech a little bit more. There are a few ways to be able to watch our live streams through Vimeo on your smart tv, we’ll cover a couple here.

1. You can use your smart TVs web browser and navigate to our website LakeviewUMC.net, click on the purple button that says “Watch Online” then choose which service you wish to watch, you may need to scroll down a little.
2. The second is to “cast” to your smart TV from your phone or tablet. Most smart tv’s come with a casting feature, you will need to refer to the owner’s manual for your tv to see how this feature works. Then just like above login to our website on your phone or tablet and choose the service you would like to watch.

You will still be able to watch on YouTube, just be ready for commercials!

You can also watch our services on Roku TV and Amazon Fire TV, although the service is not live on these outlets, it is usually available by late afternoon on Sunday’s. If you have Roku or Fire TV go to the channel store an search for Lakeview Alive.