6 Interesting Ways Indian Brands Are Using Twitter’s Periscope

With Twitter's livestreaming app Periscope gaining success, we list 6 interesting ways in which brands are using it for live interaction with fans

Prasant NaiduPlatforms
Periscope in India

Streaming video on the go is in demand. Rapid proliferation and growth of digital is keeping the market alive. From Twitter to Facebook, Snapchat and Google everyone today wants to have a share of the pie. However, whenever the term ‘live’ comes to mind, Twitter comes into play by default. One of the reasons why Twitter acquired Periscope, a live streaming video app that’s been in beta since the company acquired it back in January reportedly for $100 million.

The secondary reason was to cut short its competitor Meerkat’s growth. The live streaming app became the most talked about app during this year’s SXSW 2015. However, at the same time  Twitter decided to cut off Meerkat’s ability to port people’s social networks over from Twitter to its own service — the so-called social graph. While the move was not appreciated by the community at large, Meerkat since then has reduced its dependence on Twitter and opened doors for Facebook.

With Meerkat and Twitter-owned Periscope making live streaming mainstream, Facebook was quick to jump in. Interestingly Meerkat wasn’t acquired by Facebook, instead the network launched Live, its own streaming feature opened for celebrities as of now.

Over the time Meerkat has gone quiet and Periscope with Twitter’s push is making all the right noise. The big move happened when the app went live on Android, resulting in a wave of interest in India.

Earlier last month Periscope announced that it has more than 10 million accounts globally.

With Periscope growing and the streaming market becoming more competitive, here are six interesting ways in which brands have used Periscope:

1. Live Interaction

The most popular use of Periscope or for that matter any live streaming app would be live interaction or the famous “Ask me Anything” initiatives. The first to do this was our Power Minister Piyush Goyal who gave a live interview over Periscope, conducted by India Today journalist Rahul Kanwal.

Post that we have seen quite a few brands doing this regularly and even Twitter has used this feature by organizing celebrity fan engagement. For instance news channel IBN Live did a live interaction with its reporters on Independence Day, Lakme Fashion Week connected fashion lovers with latest trends, Sania Mirza holding a #AskUsAnything after her win at Wimbledon, among others.

2. Product Launch

Earlier this month, Jaguar Land Rover India launched the Discovery Sport in the country at Rs. 46.10 lacs (ex-showroom, Mumbai) which is the new premium SUV from the British automaker. The brand was super active to bring the offline launch on Twitter with its tweets but it also went one step ahead and brought the launch live on Periscope for online users.

Two years back, Facebook was the medium where automakers would take pride in building an app to reveal exclusively on digital. Today Periscope is doing the job, a great way for other brands to try it and bridge the online-offline divide during such events.

3. News Wraps

Recently we wrote about how five-month-old mobile first digital news platform The Quint is creating videos for a mobile audience. Quint has been one of the first to jump on Periscope to share its daily quick wrap of top stories. Another great move that other TV channels would like to try but Quint itself has been a bit silent on Periscope.

4. Community policing

Bangalore police known for its digital adoption, recently was in news for its Police Commissioner MN Reddi pursuing another ambitious project that will allow the public to livestream crime videos as they happen using Periscope. To begin with, the police will use the app to live-stream press conferences.

While it isn’t used by a brand but reporting of issues or customer grievances could also be handled. Hopefully brands will listen rather than asking us to share contact numbers and wait for a call from them. In fact the latest Bollywood movie Drishyam had its music launched on Periscope. Ajay Devgn, the hero of the movie tweeted about the cool move.

5. Live Sports

Ten Sports has been integrating Twitter products in interesting ways, one of them was broadcasting the second half of the football match.

In fact the TV channel has also conducted contests around Champions League final.

6. Contests and Fan engagement

Earlier we saw how Ten Sports has been conducting contests via Periscope, entertainment TV channel Star Plus has been using Periscope for fan engagement. Here it used the app to broadcast live music for fans.

These are early days but Twitter is already pushing Periscope to brands and influencers. Live streaming apps open up an altogether new horizon of digital engagement. Things would become more competitive as and when Facebook opens its Live app for common users.