Sources: Periscope is developing an app for the new Apple TV for watching livestreams
Periscope Is Secretly Building An Apple TV App — Periscope is developing an app for the new Apple TV, according to multiple sources. It will allow users to watch livestreams on their television …
Context & Ripple Effects
Periscope has moved fast since Twitter first moved to acquire the livestreaming startup in March: by late May it was on Android via Twitter's cross-platform rollout, and now sources say a native Apple TV app is in development to put livestreams on the television itself.
The Apple TV push matters because it takes Periscope off the phone — the one screen every rival has been fighting over — and plants it in the living room just as the new Apple TV opens its app platform, giving Twitter-owned Periscope a distribution channel competitors like Google's in-development YouTube Connect have not yet matched.
First-order effects
- Twitter gains a big-screen outlet for its livestreaming investment: Periscope broadcasts become watchable on televisions through the new Apple TV app store rather than only on iOS and Android handsets.
- Apple's new Apple TV gets a marquee live-content app at launch-adjacent timing, strengthening its pitch as more than an on-demand video box.
Second-order effects
- Google's reported YouTube Connect project now faces pressure to match Periscope's device reach, since living-room presence — not just phone apps — becomes part of what a credible livestreaming service must offer.
- Other streaming-box platforms come under pressure to court live-video apps of their own, turning livestreaming services into sought-after launch partners for TV hardware makers.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, livestreaming stops being a mobile-native format and consolidates around multi-screen distribution, with ownership by large platforms (Twitter here, Google reportedly elsewhere) determining which services get onto the biggest screen in the house.
The trend: Live video is migrating from phone-first apps toward full multi-platform distribution, with big tech owners racing to plant their streaming services on living-room hardware.