Live broadcasting is a habit that has gained a lot of popularity over the past year. Thanks to apps like Periscope we are able to share our experiences as they take place and from our personal point of view. This past weekend, the app celebrated its first year of existence which also marked more than 200 million users for 2015.
Periscope is owned by Twitter, and the company has also released statistics showing the rapidity of the app since March last year. The number of broadcasts on its network is the rough equivalent of spending 110 years watching live videos, which is quite impressive.
While its milestones are impressive, Periscope still has a long way to go until reaching one million broadcasts or reach other rivals on the market. YouTube remains the king of the online video industry. The media mogul records billions of views each day, mostly for music videos, accident and tricks compilations and cute animals videos.
In this light, Periscope’s success in the field of live broadcasting might soon be challenged by a similar app, which is rumored to be under development from YouTube. After beating Meerkat, which was the first leader in mobile live-streaming, Periscope now faces another powerful rival: Facebook Live. Facebook’s feature was initially available to celebrities, but earlier this year it became available to all iOS users and will soon be provided to those who prefer Android.
This might prove to be an impediment for Periscope, seeing the number of 1.5 billion active users Facebook has each month. Additionally, the major company notifies all users when such broadcasts are taking place via its notifications feature, but the option to disable this might soon be added.
Not all is lost for Twitter’s app, though. While Facebook users are confusedly getting accustomed with live broadcasting, Periscope can step in with its simple and easy to use design.
In spite of the seemingly huge obstacles, Periscope is expected to fare well. Last year in August, the users of the app were reportedly watching forty years of video per day, when the service had already reached about ten million active users.
While the smaller app seems unstoppable, Twitter is also hard at work to get back on track, as it has experienced a decrease in the users numbers. Only time will tell who will be ingenious enough to lead the battle of social media moguls.
Image Source: Periscope

