Twitter introducing API for Live Video tomorrow

Twitter is pushing for more professional broadcasters to utilize their Live Video capabilities by offering a Live Video API starting tomorrow. It is an upgrade to Periscope Producer which remains separate.

The Application Programming Interface will usher in a much more sophisticated brand of Live Video content on Twitter through a number of API Partners that Twitter is planning to work with such as Telestream, Wirecast, and Livestream Switcher.

Similarities have been reported between the way Facebook Live API works, which enables some top of the line equipment to latch on and broadcast directly to the social media platform, and will also be available on Twitter through the API.

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“This functionality goes deeper than Periscope Producer, which merely provides a destination URL where users can send video from software like OBD or Wirecast. While Periscope Producer was designed to attract semi-pro web vloggers to Periscope without complicated engineering requirements, the Live video API will be much more customizable for larger publishing enterprises.”, reports Josh Constine from TechCrunch.

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Twitter continues to push for more Live Video on their platform, from users and publishers alike. In December last year, Twitter had eliminated the necessity to launch Periscope to start a Live Video broadcast on Twitter.

Trailing Facebook Live in terms of adoption and popularity, Live Video on Twitter is yet to catch on, but the company is making efforts to sustain it by making deals for NFL games, and now with the new Twitter API, things could change.

Although, Twitter’s commitments towards Periscope are being questioned now that it looks inevitable for the microblogging platform to incorporate Live functionalities into their core platform and do away with Periscope as a separate app.

Live Video on Twitter makes a lot of sense since real time news and conversation is Twitter’s specialty, and with more broadcasters pushing their Live Videos on Twitter, audiences are bound to tune in, and even get used to the idea of going Live on Twitter themselves.

What happens next? Hard to say.