Tag: periscope

Twitter Adds Pre-Roll Ads To Periscope Content

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter announced today that it will begin selling pre-roll video ads before some Periscope live streams and Periscope videos that are no longer live but still on Twitter. The company first started experimenting with monetizing Periscope content last September when it started doing sponsored live streams and allowing brands to play a short clip before the live video starts. Now, this pre-roll option is available for a number of select publishers and high-profile broadcaster to leverage to monetize their live content.

What Brands Need To Do
As viewers increasingly turn to live streams for immediate connections and updates, more brands are embracing the live format to connect with consumers via sponsored events.  This announcement underscores Twitter’s aim to monetize its live video content and attracting publishers and content creators to join the platform. It also offers brands another new ad unit to piggyback on popular Periscope content to reach viewers.They can partner with publishers and broadcasters whose content or live events aligns with the interests of their core demographics.

 

Source: Re/code

Header image courtesy of Periscope’s promotional image

Periscope Adds New Features To Boost Audience Engagement

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter-owned live-streaming service Periscope has added three new tools aimed to help broadcasters better drive engagement. The Superfans feature provides broadcasters with a list of their most engaged viewers to help them identify their biggest fans and gain insights about their audience. The new Groups feature enables broadcasters to selectively stream to certain groups of their followers, allowing for exclusive reveals and special offers for a select group of audience. Last but not the least, Periscope rolled out a revamped web portal that allows desktop viewers to do the same things that are previously limited to its mobile app, such as send hearts or comments during live broadcasts.

Why Brands Should Care
All three new features should come as welcome additions for brands using Periscope as a live video platform to connect with their audience in real time. Facing mounting pressure from Facebook Live’s rapid growth and Instagram’s upcoming live streaming product, Periscope will need more differentiating features like these to maintain its early-mover advantages.

At a time when live-streaming platforms are quickly growing and increasingly drawing consumer attention, brands and publishers such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Tastemade are also rushing to this emerging medium to connect with customers in real time. For brands that are looking to try their hands at live video, it is important to keep an open mind and choose a platform that best suits your need and, perhaps more importantly, matches where your audience is.

 

Source: The Verge

Header image courtesy of Periscope’s Medium blog

Periscope Now Allows Select Users To Broadcast From Any Device

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is unbundling Periscope from the smartphone camera with the launch of Periscope Producer, an API that allows select users to stream high-quality, live video from external sources, including “streaming software, hardware encoders, and professional cameras.” Periscope has been testing this new product in the past few weeks, during which brands and media partners such as Louis Vuitton and NBC leveraged it to broadcast professionally made video content.

What Brands Should Do
The launch of Periscope Producer marks a major step in Periscope’s quest for more quality video content from media companies and experienced content creators, who can now take footage from professional cameras and use editing software to add multiple camera angles, on-screen graphics, and pre- or post-roll ads to their Periscope stream.

The immediacy that livestreaming brings to content makes it a good format for brands looking to engage with online audiences. Early-adopting brands such as Popeyes and McDonald’s have been organizing live events to launch new products and engage with fans. Brands looking to improve the quality of their live video content on Periscope can sign up here to try it.

 

Source: ReCode

 

Header image is a promotional image courtesy of Periscope’s Medium Blog

Periscope Introduces VIP Program To Give Popular Broadcasters A Boost

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter-owned live-streaming platform Periscope on Tuesday introduced a VIP program, offering popular broadcasters on its platform additional support and recognition. Any Periscope user that meets its VIP requirements for follower number, average views, and post frequency can enroll in the program for free to receive the VIP benefits. Besides special profile badges that denote their VIP status, enrolled broadcasters will also enjoy boosts in content visibility, such as being featured on a Suggested User List of sorts, as well as additional resources and support from Periscope to increase the quality of their content.

What Brands Need To Do
A recent study from Brandlive shows that 44% of companies created live video content in 2015. As Twitter opens up Periscope for monetization, brands gain new opportunities to work with popular content creators and influencers to reach an online audience in real time. If your brand is active on Periscope and has amassed enough followers to qualify for VIP status, then it is a no-brainer to enroll in the program and take advantage of the benefits that Periscope is offering. If not, this VIP program should make it easier for brands to scout key influencers for sponsored livestreams.  

 

Source: VentureBeat

 

Twitter Partners With Bloomberg To Livestream Presidential Debates

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter continues to ramp up its live content as the company announced a partnership with Bloomberg on Wednesday to simulcast the three upcoming presidential debates and the vice presidential debate on its platform. The livestream will be presented in a similar format as the one it designed for the NFL game broadcast last Thursday. The two companies will share revenue from ads aired during the pre- and post-debate coverage, similar to the deal they reached in July for Twitter to stream three daily news programs from Bloomberg TV.

What Brands Should Do
As Twitter continues to build out its live-streaming capabilities, it is also actively courting media owners to cover high-profile media events to attract an audience and monetize through ads. And its ad-friendly approach toward live streaming presents a viable channel to connect with an online audience that can be hard to reach via traditional media buys.

Moreover, some early-adopting brands have found some success in capitalizing on Twitter’s push into livestreaming by hosting their own live events. Earlier this month, Wendy’s scored 300,000 views on Twitter’s Periscope with a live event where social influencer Cody Johns made its “baconator” burgers. As more and more mobile users become familiarized with livestreaming, brands should consider partnering with influencers to effectively leverage live video to connect with consumers in real time.

 

Source: Re/Code

Twitter Now Allows Users To Start A Periscope Live Stream From Its Apps

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is experimenting with new ways to incorporate its live-streaming service Periscope into its mobile apps in the hope of fending off Facebook’s strong push into live video. Now users can tap a “Go Live” button to start a live stream right from Twitter’s iOS and Android apps provided they have installed the Periscope app. Moreover, Twitter also plans to roll out web-embed support for Periscope content in the coming weeks, making the live streams viewable outside the app.

What Brands Need To Do
Facing mounting pressure from Facebook Live’s rapid growth, Twitter is smart to start integrating Periscope into its main apps to make it more accessible. At a time when live-streaming platforms are quickly growing and increasingly drawing consumer attention, brands and publishers such as Dunkin’ Donuts and Tastemade are also rushing to this emerging medium to connect with customers in real time. For brands that are looking to try their hands at live video, it is important to keep an open mind and choose a platform that best suits your need and, perhaps more importantly, matches where your audience is.

 

Source: Engadget & IBTimes

How GE Is Using Live-Streaming To Humanize Its Brand

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
GE is pulling out all the stops for live-streaming, as the mega-conglomerate hopes to engage consumers with interesting narratives and humanize its industrial brand image. The company has experimented with several live-streaming platforms, such as Meerkat when it first came out. It also started using Periscope the day it launched and ran a couple campaigns on the Twitter-owned live-streaming platform, including the “Drone Week” campaign last summer. Most recently, GE launched its Pi Day campaign via Facebook’s Live Video, the newest of the emerging live-streaming platforms, showcasing the different applications of Pi in GE’s engineering.

What Brands Need To Do
According to GE’s global digital marketing manager Sydney Williams, live video content lends a very authentic and human feel to brands, which is especially appreciated by a younger Millennial audience. A lot of branded videos often end up a little too polished and over-produced, and live video provides a good medium to remedy that. For brands looking to experiment with live-streaming, they should be prepared on the technical front to ensure a smooth broadcast, but also willing to roll with the punches and embrace the unexpected.

 

Source: Marketing Land

Kohl’s To Livestream On Periscope During The Oscars

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
National retail chain Kohl’s aims to connect with young Millennials with a branded livestream during Oscar’s red carpet show and commercial breaks. As part of its social marketing push, Kohl’s teamed up with comedian Vanessa Bayer and renowned party planner Mindy Weiss to help fans plan their Oscar viewing parties with Kohl’s products. Thanks to Periscope’s recent Twitter integration, people will be able to watch Kohl’s livestream right in their timelines as well.

What Brands Need To Do
As an emerging medium, livestreaming gives brands a platform to engage consumers in real time with branded content, Kohl’s Oscars livestream provides viewers with a behind-the-scene peak at a major media event, which should generate a lot of interest organically for Kohl’s content. If your brand haven’t tried livestreaming yet, now would be a good time to start experimenting with this rising platform.

 

Source: AdWeek

 

Twitter To Put Periscope Live Streams In Timelines

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
Twitter is about to give its livestreaming app Periscope a huge boost by integrating the live streams into its iOS app and allowing users to watch the broadcasts right in their timelines. This feature is set to roll out over the next few days, with support for its Android app in the works.

What Brands Need To Do
In June, Nestlé became the first brand to run a paid campaign on Periscope, and BMW debuted an interactive live-action campaign on Periscope later in October. Now with the added exposure, brands will be able to reach a much bigger audience with their live broadcasts, which offer brands a great shortcut to get their content in front of a mobile audience in real time. If your brand has yet to try out live streaming, now would be the time.

 

Source: Wired

Facebook Rolling Out Live-Streaming For Everyone

Posted on by Lab Team

What Happened
After testing its live-streaming feature within celebrity Pages for about 4 months, Facebook finally started rolling out its answer to Meerkat and Periscope to all users last Thursday. Named Live Video, the new feature is now available to a small number of iOS users in the United States, with plans to expand to Android and more users soon. Users will be given the option to save a recording of their broadcasts on their timelines when it’s over.

What Brands Need To Do
Facebook’s vast user base could give this new livestreaming feature a leg up and capture a large number of Facebook users who haven’t been previously exposed to live-streaming. It will provide brands with a new channel to connect with fans in real time, as well as opportunities for sponsoring social influencers or broadcasting branded events, such as what Guess recently did with AOL’s little-known live-streaming app Kanvas. Its capability to automatically save a live broadcast to a timeline should also help brands easily create some lasting video content from their live-streaming efforts.

 

Source: Digiday