It will now be easier for Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR)’s media partners and other organizations to engage in live video streaming after the microblogging platform launches a live video API this week. This will allow advertisers and media organizations to stream their live video content on the platform using advanced and professional camera equipment. Consequently satellite vans, desktop editing software, editing boards, and big video cameras will now have the capacity to directly broadcast to Twitter via the API. Some of the API partners who have been selected to assist media partners include Livestream Switcher, Wirecast and Telestream.
Bypassing Periscope
At the moment anyone can engage in live video streaming on Twitter’s mobile app but broadcasters are constrained by the fact that they can’t steam using professional gear unless they liaise and reach an agreement with Twitter beforehand. To bypass that limitation, media organizations have had to use Periscope, a live streaming app that is owned by Twitter. It is, however, not intuitive to use as it is too complex for use when professional camera gear is involved.
Periscope also lacks direct integration with Twitter. With the new interface however, media organizations will be able to bypass Periscope and stream straight from their respective Twitter accounts.
Sluggish growth
The development is understood to be Twitter’s strategy to popularize live video on the platform in a bid to assist the company raise user engagement and revive the sluggish growth that has been recorded in the recent past.
In recent months, Twitter had embarked on a strategy of striking deals with media partners for live video streaming. This included a deal with the National Football League where football games on Thursday night were to be streamed live. There were also deals with organizations such as Bloomberg and Cheddar for live streaming of financial news shows.
The development follows a similar move by Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) which unveiled a couple of tools for live video streaming for media partners early last year. Facebook also signed a couple of deals with media partners.
In the pre-market hours of Tuesday, shares of Twitter Inc stood at $15.09.
