Twitter finally downed Periscope, a pioneer of the live streaming sector, after the service failed to compete with the entry of rival services to the segment, most notably Facebook.

The move was telegraphed in December 2020, when Periscope staff explained it had suffered declining usage for at least two years and costs were expected to continue to rise.

Twitter acquired the app shortly before its commercial launch in March 2015: the service met its end yesterday (31 March) with the news, ironically, issued in a Tweet.

In the message, Periscope staff thanked “all the creators and viewers” who had contributed, and urged them to use Twitter for future live broadcasting. It explained enhanced options for live broadcasting will be introduced on the parent platform, along with other features like Spaces and newsletters.

The original closure announcement explained Periscope was “in an unsustainable maintenance-mode state, and has been for a while”, adding past broadcasts could be downloaded or viewed on a web version of the service.

Periscope initially enjoyed strong uptake, with more than 10 million registrations in the four months after its launch. But it quickly faced competition, with Facebook Live launching in April 2016.

Appfigures data showed Periscope registered 2.8 million downloads on Google Play and Apple’s App Store in the year to end-March.