Livestreaming app Periscope will close down in March 2021.
Twitter, which owns the app, announced the news in a message posted on its website on Tuesday, December 15.
The social media company said that Periscope had seen a drop in users, adding that most of the app’s functionality had now been incorporated into the Twitter experience.
“Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen declining usage and know that the cost to support the app will only continue to go up over time,” Twitter said in its message. “Leaving it in its current state isn’t doing right by the current and former Periscope community or by Twitter. We still believe in the power of live video to solve impactful problems, which is why we’ve brought most of the core capabilities of Periscope into Twitter.”
The company said it probably would have made the move earlier if hadn’t been for the disruption caused by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. Although Periscope will be removed from app stores next spring, the service is already starting to wind down with the imminent removal of the option to create a new account, as well as the ability to purchase coins to tip a favorite broadcaster.
Anyone who ever shared a Periscope broadcast on Twitter will see it live on as a replay, and all broadcasters will be able to download an archive of their Periscope livestreams and data before the app is shuttered next year, Twitter confirmed.
“The legacy of Periscope will live on far beyond the boundaries of the app itself,” Twitter said. “The capabilities and ethos of the Periscope team and infrastructure already permeate Twitter, and we’re confident that live video still has the potential of seeing an even wider audience within the Twitter product.”
Periscope set up shop in February 2014, but only launched after Twitter acquired it the following year for a reported $100 million.
It created quite a stir in its early days, with livestreaming really taking off at the time, and much was made of its early rivalry with Meerkat, an app that offered similar functionality.
With all of the big internet players having firmly established their own livestreaming credentials, and Twitter taking the useful bits of Periscope’s technology for its own app, the five-year-old service will soon be broadcasting its final streams.
Twitter brought livestreaming to its app in June 2016, but at the time you needed a Periscope account to begin a broadcast. Later that year, the functionality became standalone for Twitter users, eliminating the need for a Periscope account.
Interested in livestreaming on Twitter? Here’s how to do it.
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