Dive Brief:
- Twitter’s live streaming video platform, Periscope, released an update that included drone integration with live streaming, a search function, and the ability for users to save their live stream videos.
- With Periscope’s drone integration, users can switch between front- and back-facing mobile device cameras, GOP cameras and drone cameras within a broadcast.
- Periscope also set up an augmented reality booth at the NBC music reality TV show "The Voice," marking the first time Twitter has combined AR and TV. The move builds on a partnership between the tech company and TV show dating back to 2014, according to Adweek.
Dive Insight:
The various updates, particularly adding more than just the camera on a mobile device to live streams, come not long after Facebook announced a similar integration, and after months of Facebook heavily pushing its video capabilities, including live streaming video feature. Allowing users to save live stream video is a major change from Periscope’s previous policy of deleting streams after 24 hours. This is a feature that Facebook's Live already boasts.
For marketers, all the activity around Periscope and Facebook with live video can be seen as an opportunity to tap into coveted mobile video audiences.
"When we launched Periscope, people still hadn’t really embraced live video. We wanted to make the experience as delightful and safe for the broadcaster as possible, and one way to do that was to make the content more ephemeral. We’ve moved past that world in a short amount of time and our community has told us they want the option to save their broadcasts," Periscope CEO and Co-Founder Kayvon Beykpour said about the updates. "We’re doing it in a way that feels very true to Periscope, and puts the control in the hands of the broadcaster."
If online video's growth trajectory is any indication, live video could become the next major trend and opportunity for marketers. And as people spend more time watching online videos, live streams provide marketers the chance to connect with consumers in real-time.