For the first time ever, YouTube will offer a live video stream of the U.S. presidential and vice presidential debates this year. To do this, YouTube has partnered with ABC News, and the debates will stream on ABC News’ YouTube channel and YouTube’s Election Hub. The four debates, which will start on October 3 at 9pm ET, will be available for YouTube viewers around the world. In addition to ABC News, YouTube’s election page will also feature commentary and analysis from seven other partners: Al Jazeera English, BuzzFeed, Larry King, New York Times, Phil DeFranco, Univision and the Wall Street Journal. Univision, Google notes, will also offer a live translated version of the debates on its channel.
YouTube’s election hub, which is only one part of Google’s larger set of election-focused tools, launched in August just ahead of the Republican and Democratic conventions. During the last primary season, YouTube – in partnership with CNN – also hosted its own debates and has regularly featured town hall-like events with individual politicians ever since.
Here is the full schedule for the upcoming debates:
- October 3 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)
- October 11 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Vice Presidential)
- October 16 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)
- October 22 at 9:00 p.m. ET (Presidential)