If you’re really into watching Periscope videos then you have to mentally prepare yourself for ads. Periscope, owned by Twitter, is soon going to display pre-roll ads to viewers. Twitter has confirmed today that it’s now going to start making money off of its streaming service that’s over two years old. The monetization plans start with pre-roll video ads on both live and archived videos.
This provides Twitter with yet another revenue stream at a time when its ability to make money is under scrutiny by investors. It’s not just Twitter that stands to gain by allowing pre-roll ads on Periscope.
Major Periscope broadcasters also stand to make money off of these pre-roll ads on their videos. Initially, pre-roll ads on Periscope will only appear on popular live videos such as sports games and fashion shows.
It’s possible that eventually, the average Periscope user may also be able to profit from broadcasting their lives to the public but that’s something that hasn’t been detailed at this point in time.
The pre-roll ads on Periscope will vary in length and users will be able to skip the ones that are longer. Some users will obviously not like having to see ads before the video they want to watch plays but others will gladly make that compromise in exchange for free content.