Periscope, the live video streaming app that gained popularity as a tool for sharing raw smartphone footage, also wants to be a hub for TV-like content.
On Thursday, the
Periscope launched a new set of tools called 'Producer' on Thursday to make it easier to share... [+]
"We're taking a big step in allowing any live broadcast to be piped into Periscope," Periscope CEO and cofounder Kayvon Beykpour said in a briefing before the announcement. "At a high level, we want to broaden what can go into the Periscope ecosystem."
Like regular Periscope videos, links to "Producer" streams can be embedded in tweets and shared around the web. While Beykpour noted that "Producer" will only be used by a relatively small subset of users, he expects the tool to increase the variety and quality of broadcasts on the app.
"The reason we started Periscope was not just for the novelty of creating a live broadcast," Beykpour said. "It's about what you can do with a live audience. What's interesting about live is not the fact that it's live but the fact you are watching it with other people and having an experience around that."
Periscope said that companies using "Producer" during a six-week testing period such as Fusion, Walt Disney Studios and XBox UK experienced a growth in their audiences and higher engagement. For now, "Producer" is currently available to a select number of companies and creators, but interested creators and organizations can apply to join.
During the testing period, the media company TechCrunch used "Producer" to simultaneously live broadcast its Disrupt conference on its website and Periscope account, fashion company Louis Vuitton has used "Producer" to broadcast a produced version of a Paris fashion show, news organizations have live-streamed TV footage on Periscope and a film studio debuted a pre-edited movie trailer live on the app, Beykpour said. Content creators also have the ability to share live feeds of virtual reality headset footage or live stream game playing and opening messages in apps such as Snapchat for their Periscope audience. "Producer" works in both portrait and landscape mode.
"Using Periscope Producer to broadcast on Twitter helped us deliver important safety updates to our audience at a critical time when many were without power and relying on mobile devices to stay informed," John Colucci, social media director of Sinclair Broadcast Group said in a statement.
Hosting live video content can be riddled with ethical and technological challenges. While live video can capture a host of newsworthy, mundane and celebratory events, it can also capture violence, controversial or sensitive content and in some cases, be used as a tool by bad actors. Beykpour said that over time, Periscope has improved its policies around content monitoring. The CEO said Periscope has an editorial team that helps Periscope evolve its framework for determining how to identify and address sensitive content, as well as when to preserve content on the basis of newsworthiness.
In May, a teenage girl live recorded her suicide on Periscope, and users have live streamed shootings on the app. Facebook has also come under scrutiny recently for its policies around live video content through its relatively new live streaming tool, which launched widely early this year. In July, for example, Facebook temporarily removed a live video by a Minnesota woman Diamond Reynolds, who captured the moments after her African American boyfriend was fatally shot by police in a car. Facebook restored the video about an hour later with a graphic warning label attached.
"We have become more aware of the diversity of content and more thoughtful about what is ethically sensitive," Beykpour said.
