Periscope is a live video platform and a subsidiary of Twitter that allows users to stream live video to followers on Periscope and Twitter. Followers can engage with the stream by liking, sharing, and retweeting just as they would with any other tweet.
Below is how to simulcast from your Vimeo account to Periscope and Twitter, but we recommend referencing Periscope's official documentation as well. Note that if you want to be able to stream at a higher bitrate (i.e. 720p), your account will need to be verified by Periscope; contact Periscope or your Vimeo Account Manager (if you have one) for assistance with this. Otherwise, your streams will be limited to 540p.
Log into Periscope using your Twitter credentials, then navigate to Periscope Producer.
In the upper right corner of the page, select Create New Source. (If you see multiple options, select Normal Source.) A source will appear below.
Alongside the video source placeholder is a Server URL and a Stream Key. Before doing anything with these, click Edit region.
Select the location closest to you for the best streaming experience with Periscope (in this example, we're selecting US East (N. Virginia) because it's the closest location to New York City). Once you choose your closest location, click Save Region.
Next, you need to paste the Stream URL and Stream Key into your Vimeo event. Create your Vimeo event; on the Live Settings page, navigate to the Destinations tab. Next to RTMP, click Add.
Add an identifying title (e.g. "Periscope"), then paste the server URL from Periscope into the RTMP URL field and paste the Stream Key from Periscope into the Stream key field. Be sure to click Save.
Set up the rest of your event on Vimeo as you normally would. Note that when setting up an external encoder, Periscope recommends the following streaming specifications:
- Resolution: 1280x720
- Video Bitrate: 2000 Kbps
- Audio Sample Rate: 44100
- Audio Bitrate: 128Kbps
When you're ready, go live to Vimeo from your encoder. Go back to Periscope Producer, where the stream will appear in the Periscope preview player.
Some settings you may want to configure in Periscope:
- Broadcast Title: This is a message that serves as a description of the broadcast for viewers on Periscope. This is also the text that accompanies the tweet on Twitter. You can tag any Twitter handle or hashtag here as you would any tweet.
- Share this broadcast on Twitter: By default, this setting is enabled. This ensures a tweet with the stream will be posted in addition to the stream going live to Periscope. You can monitor the tweet by opening the account on Twitter.
When you're ready to push your stream to Periscope and Twitter, click Go LIVE from Periscope. The stream will then be live on the Periscope account.
To end the broadcast, stop the stream in Periscope Producer first. Then you can end stop streaming from your encoder to archive the video on Vimeo.
Additional information:
If you have access to Twitter Media Studio, you can also go live to Twitter through there. Twitter provides detailed instructions here.
- Similar to the above, you will input the RTMP URL and Stream Key from the Twitter Media Studio Sources menu into an RTMP Destination from your Vimeo event's Live Settings page.
- Go live to from your encoder to Vimeo.
- Click the Broadcasts tab, then Create broadcast in the upper right corner.
- Fill in the information as desired, then click Create broadcast to go live to Twitter.
Livestream Studio–which is included with Vimeo Premium and Enterprise–can go live to Periscope directly. Note however that there is less control over the messaging that appears when streaming to Persicope this way.