An announcement by Twitter Monday said that Periscope users have created over 200 million live-streaming broadcasts in just the first year of the app’s existence, according to PC Magazine.
The company also said that users are currently watching over 110 years of video on the iOS and android platforms each day, up from 40 years of video per day, recorded back in August of last year. Periscope values the metric “Time Watched” the most, according to their blog, adding it is “most reflective of the value we’re creating for people and the world.” Time watched is defined as the aggregate amount of time that people spend watching live broadcasts.
In a blog post that celebrated the first anniversary of the app last Saturday, the team said they were proud of what they had built together and were excited to share how far they had come in such a short period of time.
“For everyone who joined us along the way, we hope this reaffirms that you are a part of something bigger. Thank you for making Periscope a vibrant global community — it means everything to us,” continued the post.
Competition is out there, and Periscope will have to fight to retain its territory. Facebook made live video available to all iPhone users at the first of this year and just rolled the feature out to its Android customers. Insiders say Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made live-streaming one of the app’s top priorities.
The company’s other top rival, Meerkat, announced it would be refocusing its efforts in the face of increased competition, and restructuring its business model to go in a new direction. Merkat says it is building a new product that will set it apart from Periscope and Facebook, but few details have been offered. The company’s founder and CEO Ben Rubin has said the new product will be focused on connecting with people you know, as opposed to strangers.