Like a little kid tagging along after its siblings, Tumblr has decided it wants to join the fun with live video too.
Image: Tumblr
The company has confirmed that it will launch a live broadcast feature today that maybe could compete with Facebook Live. Or Twitter’s Periscope. Or Amazon’s Twitch. Maybe it will take out all of them! But right now, the site is still a bunch of colourful advertisements and cryptic promises (“you will learn the metaphysical truth about Tumblr”, “a Harlem Globetrotter will teach you how to basketball”).
It’s no surprise that Tumblr is getting into the live-video arena. The site is one of the few acquisitions made by Yahoo chief executive Marissa Mayer that is still chugging along. Its network is considerable — with about 555 million monthly visitors as of January — and with Yahoo in shambles and everyone else saying that video is the future, of course Tumblr wants its slice of the pie.
The game is a little bit crowded by now. Not only is Facebook Live taking off in its own right, it’s directly trying to take over its competitors niches by, for example, entering the world of game-streaming that had previously been dominated by Twitch. By Tumblr has a very specific audience and, who knows, maybe all 555 million monthly visitors are dying to learn the metaphysical truth about Tumblr dot com.
[Tumblr, via TechCrunch]