Livestream Blog Series #4: Periscope

Welcome to part four in our series about live streaming for business. This week, we’ll be looking at livestreaming app, Periscope.

Periscope is a very unique livestreaming service, relative to the likes of Facebook Live or YouTube Live. While the latter two are geared towards planned, promotional events, Periscope is often used for more spur-of-the-moment, shorter streams. For example, many popular YouTubers use Periscope to live-vlog at events (Comicon, VidCon, etc.) and show their followers what’s going on around them, simply because Periscope is much easier to use, especially on short notice, than YouTube Live or Facebook Live. And because the app is always used on phone cameras, it gives much more of a candid, behind the scenes feel that audiences always seem to enjoy.

The app was originally developed in 2014, before quickly being bought by Twitter in 2015. From there, the app grew and grew, with over 10 million users, and hundreds of thousands of minutes being watched by audiences worldwide every single day. It still stands as one of the fastest growing apps of all time in terms of the rate at which the app gets downloaded every day.

[youtube height=”HEIGHT” width=”WIDTH”]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XyBza5-w-Y[/youtube]

From a business standpoint, Periscope is one of the most versatile livestreaming platforms available, thanks to it being so easy to use. Periscope is used for a wide variety of situations, and for a wide variety of reasons. As mentioned before, the candid, low-fi style that comes from camera phone live streaming tends adds a certain atmosphere to the stream. If, for example, you’re using Periscope to give a ‘behind the scenes’ look at your company, it can really humanise your company to any fans and followers you may have, and give them an entertaining inside into how one of their favourite companies works.

Another popular way that companies like to use Periscope for business is when unveiling or hinting at new products. Companies can tease new products, fully unveil them, or even give tutorials through the app, giving customers a chance to get a first look at a company’s new offering. This especially exciting for customers because a livestream format will always feel spontaneous and unique – like they’re witnessing something special, rather than if they were watching the unveiling through a YouTube video, which anyone can view at any time. Periscope helps create that ‘you had to be there’ feeling.

On top of those key features, Periscope’s versatility also allows it to perform the same functions that you’d find on YouTube Live or Facebook Live. You can still use it to stream events, or Q and A sessions, or whatever else you can think of to stream. Periscope will never look like a big-budget, well produced stream like you would find from major companies on YouTube or Facebook. But it provides an affordable and easy to use platform that makes each stream feel personal and intimate for those watching at home. And while YouTube and Facebook are still in the process of growing their streaming features, Periscope already has a build-in fanbase of over 10 million users, giving you an excellent platform to build your streaming content.