Twitter Ups Video Reach, Extends Periscope Producer

Twitter just opened up Periscope Producer to everyone.

“Anyone can now broadcast with Periscope Producer … available on Android, iOS and Web,” Periscope tweeted on Thursday.

In search of higher-quality content, Twitter first debuted Periscope Producer, last October. With it, broadcasters can stream any live-video feed directly to their followers.

Producers can therefore ditch their smartphones for high-end cameras — and add all the fancy editing techniques they like.    

Twitter has made significant investments in video, over the past year. Most recently, it added 360-degree live streams through Periscope, last December.

Now, when users see a video marked with a LIVE 360 badge, they can interact with it — and change what they see by moving their phone or swiping the screen -- all while watching live.

Late last year, Twitter also began inviting app users to create and tweet live video. To go live, users just need to compose a Tweet, then tap “Live,” which will bring them to a pre-broadcast screen where they can frame their shot. When they are ready, users will then have to press “Go Live” to start broadcasting.

Yet video has not provided a jolt sufficient to lift Twitter out of its funk. The long-embattled company reported less than solid fourth-quarter earnings this month.

Missing analysts’ estimates, the social network saw revenue increase by just 1% to $717 million year-over-year. Twitter’s adjusted earnings of 16 cents a share bested forecasts for the period, but that wasn’t enough to offset sagging user grown.

For the fourth quarter, monthly active users were up just 4% to 319 million year-over-year. Worse yet, ad revenue totaled $638 million, during the period -- down slightly year-over-year.

“Twitter is losing traction fast,” Debra Aho Williamson, principal analyst at eMarketer, said in a recent note. “It is starting to shed once-promising products, such as Vine, and sell off parts of its business, such as its Fabric app development platform.”
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