7 Amazing Stats and Facts You Must Know about Periscope
You know Periscope as the mobile app that lets you broadcast live videos and watch videos broadcast by others. What else do you know about this app? For example, did you know it wasn’t always called Periscope? Or, do you know how many hours of video are streamed on Periscope daily?
Take a look below to get answers to these questions and to uncover some other interesting stats and facts about Periscope.
1. It wasn’t always called Periscope
Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein are the two developers who founded the company and came up with the video streaming app. Back in February 2014, when the two developers started the company, they named it Bounty. You know, like the chocolate bar. The name was later changed from Bounty to Periscope.
2. The idea for Periscope came from civil unrest
Back in 2013, Kayvon Beykpour was travelling abroad. Also back in 2013, there was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey. As luck would have it, Beykpour was in Turkey at the time; he was in Istanbul when protests broke out in Taksim Square.
Beykpour wanted to find out what was going on. Twitter was full of information about the protests, but that wasn’t enough. Beykpour wanted to see what was going on. And so he came up with the idea for a live streaming app that would allow people to broadcast what is going on around them.
3. Twitter spent $86.6 million to buy Periscope (and Niche)
The Periscope app wasn’t even publicly available, but that wasn’t a deterrent for Twitter and in January 2015, Twitter acquired Periscope. We don’t know how much Twitter paid for Periscope. But, based on Twitter’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange commission, we know that Twitter spent $86.6 million to purchase two companies: Periscope and Niche (a social media startup that connects social media stars with brands in order to create sponsored content).
4. 10 million Periscope accounts, 2 million daily active users
Periscope launched in March 2015. At launch, the app was available for iOS only. The Android version was released a couple of months later, in May. Right from the start, the app was a big hit, managing to attract millions of users in a very short period of time.
In August 2015, just 4 months after the app’s launch, Periscope announced that it surpassed 10 million accounts. The announcement was accompanied by these interesting bits of info:
5. 100 million Periscope broadcasts to date
In January 2016, Periscope co-founder and CEO Kayvon Beykpour announced that more than 100 million broadcasts have been created since Periscope’s launch. That’s 100 million videos in a period of about 9 months and a half.
6. Periscope has been integrated into Twitter
Remember Beykpour’s announcement, the one about 100 million broadcasts, the one mentioned above? It was part of something more important: Periscope’s integration into Twitter.
Before the integration, you had to open Periscope links with the Periscope app. After the integration, Periscope links can be viewed inside Twitter. If a tweet contains a Periscope link, you can watch it with the Twitter app, you don’t have to switch to Periscope. You can watch Periscope links inside Twitter even if you don’t have the Periscope app and even if you don’t have a Periscope account.
7. Periscope won the 2015 iPhone App of the Year Award
Back in 2014, Apple gave the much coveted title of "iPhone App of the Year" to Elevate, a brain trainer app that can improve your memory, focus, and other cognitive skills.
In 2015, Apple gave the "iPhone App of the Year" award to none other than Periscope, noting that “this game-changer made sharing and watching live videos an instant obsession.”
Take a look below to get answers to these questions and to uncover some other interesting stats and facts about Periscope.
1. It wasn’t always called Periscope
Kayvon Beykpour and Joe Bernstein are the two developers who founded the company and came up with the video streaming app. Back in February 2014, when the two developers started the company, they named it Bounty. You know, like the chocolate bar. The name was later changed from Bounty to Periscope.
2. The idea for Periscope came from civil unrest
Back in 2013, Kayvon Beykpour was travelling abroad. Also back in 2013, there was a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Turkey. As luck would have it, Beykpour was in Turkey at the time; he was in Istanbul when protests broke out in Taksim Square.
Beykpour wanted to find out what was going on. Twitter was full of information about the protests, but that wasn’t enough. Beykpour wanted to see what was going on. And so he came up with the idea for a live streaming app that would allow people to broadcast what is going on around them.
3. Twitter spent $86.6 million to buy Periscope (and Niche)
The Periscope app wasn’t even publicly available, but that wasn’t a deterrent for Twitter and in January 2015, Twitter acquired Periscope. We don’t know how much Twitter paid for Periscope. But, based on Twitter’s filing with the US Securities and Exchange commission, we know that Twitter spent $86.6 million to purchase two companies: Periscope and Niche (a social media startup that connects social media stars with brands in order to create sponsored content).
4. 10 million Periscope accounts, 2 million daily active users
Periscope launched in March 2015. At launch, the app was available for iOS only. The Android version was released a couple of months later, in May. Right from the start, the app was a big hit, managing to attract millions of users in a very short period of time.
In August 2015, just 4 months after the app’s launch, Periscope announced that it surpassed 10 million accounts. The announcement was accompanied by these interesting bits of info:
- Periscope has more than 2 million daily active users.
- 40 years’ worth of video is watched per day.
5. 100 million Periscope broadcasts to date
In January 2016, Periscope co-founder and CEO Kayvon Beykpour announced that more than 100 million broadcasts have been created since Periscope’s launch. That’s 100 million videos in a period of about 9 months and a half.
6. Periscope has been integrated into Twitter
Remember Beykpour’s announcement, the one about 100 million broadcasts, the one mentioned above? It was part of something more important: Periscope’s integration into Twitter.
Before the integration, you had to open Periscope links with the Periscope app. After the integration, Periscope links can be viewed inside Twitter. If a tweet contains a Periscope link, you can watch it with the Twitter app, you don’t have to switch to Periscope. You can watch Periscope links inside Twitter even if you don’t have the Periscope app and even if you don’t have a Periscope account.
7. Periscope won the 2015 iPhone App of the Year Award
Back in 2014, Apple gave the much coveted title of "iPhone App of the Year" to Elevate, a brain trainer app that can improve your memory, focus, and other cognitive skills.
In 2015, Apple gave the "iPhone App of the Year" award to none other than Periscope, noting that “this game-changer made sharing and watching live videos an instant obsession.”
