Twitter announced that it will discontinue Periscope, the live streaming video app it bought more than five years ago, by March 2021.
Twitter bought the startup behind Periscope in January 2015 in a deal reportedly worth $ 100 million, betting that in-person video live streaming would complement the main social service.
According to Twitter, Periscope has seen a decline in usage in recent years – and that the cost to keep it is essentially greater than its value. “The truth is, the Periscope app is in an unsustainable state of repair, and it has been for a while,” the company wrote in a blog post.
Meanwhile, most of Periscope’s core features are already integrated into Twitter, which the company first introduced in the fall of 2016. Users can broadcast on Twitter using the Twitter Live feature within Compose by selecting the in-app camera icon. In addition, brands, publishers and creators can broadcast live video on Twitter with Media Studio.
“We probably would have made this decision earlier if we had not reprioritized all projects due to the 2020 events,” said Twitter.
It’s not the first app Twitter pulled from its portfolio: in early 2017, it shut down the six-second video app Vine after failing to find a business model, which was a daunting blow to Vine fans.
Twitter plans to remove Periscope from app stores by March 2021, but it won’t allow anyone to create a new account in the app from the next release. Periscope broadcasts shared on Twitter will continue live as reruns (and users can download an archive of their Periscope broadcasts and data before the app is removed in March 2021).
Twitter is also closing Periscope’s Super Broadcaster program effective March 31, 2021. This allowed live streamers meeting certain eligibility requirements to receive “Super Hearts” from fans (purchased through in-app currency) and monetize their broadcasts.
“While it’s time to say goodbye, Periscope’s legacy will live on far beyond the boundaries of the app itself,” Twitter said in the blog post. “The capabilities and ethos of the Periscope team and infrastructure are already permeating Twitter, and we believe live video still has the potential to see an even wider audience within the Twitter product.”