Video livestreaming isn’t new, in fact it’s been around for many years. However, over the past few months there’s been a renewed interest in mainstream livestreaming apps thanks to Meerkat and Periscope. Is this just a fad, or are livestreaming apps about to become the next big thing?
Just over 2 years ago we saw Vine and Instagram battle it out to become the next big ‘quick video’ sharing app. Vine didn’t quite take off as much as Twitter planned (especially in the UK), and Instagram’s videos just ended up being seen as a basic feature of the Instagram app. Whilst hundreds of thousands of people still use Vine and Instagram for their short videos, they never quite took off with brands in the long term as a new marketing avenue.
Over the past few weeks we’ve seen a familiar battle starting to take place between Meerkat and Twitter’s Periscope. Both apps currently offer almost identical functionality – the ability for users to very quickly and easily start live broadcasting video from anywhere using their mobile device. These apps both connect to your social media accounts allowing you to share links to your livestream. Users can browse and discover streams which are live right now, and engage directly with streamers. The unique aspect of these apps isn’t in the actual livestreaming, but rather the ease in which anyone can quickly broadcast live video from their mobile device and interact with anyone streaming.
Only a few weeks ago Twitter removed Meerkat’s ability to port people’s social networks over from Twitter to its own service. Then subsequently proceeded to release their own app ‘Periscope’ a couple of weeks later. Evidently Twitter saw Meerkat as a real threat to the potential success of Periscope. Meerkat however have recently released a beta of their app on Android, whereas Periscope is still (at the time of writing) only available on iOS devices.
After only a few months on the market both Meerkat and Periscope have already been making headlines, with thousands of people flocking to give them a try. It’s only a matter of time until brands start experimenting with these livestreaming apps – I wouldn’t be surprised to see livestreamed announcements or exclusive behind the scenes streams. But will it actually catch-on? Only time will tell. If the user base of Meerkat/Periscope continues to increase at a steady rate it’d be crazy for major brands to ignore these new platforms. However, it could all end up just being another fad.
What do you think – will Periscope/Meerkat catch on? Let us know in the comments below!
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