Twitter Buys Startup Niche To Pair Vine Creators With Brands

Connecting creators to their audience is a new trend among social websites. Tumblr recently made moves to expose creators to a wider audience, and YouTube is fighting hard to keep homegrown media stars on their service. Facebook is also encouraging stars to go their way ahead of any other mediums, and upstarts like Vessel are trying to steal the show. In an attempt to make themselves relevant to creators 140-characters at a time, Twitter has purchased Niche, which helps pair stars with brands.

Twitter's example for Niche proving itself successful is an HP commercial, made entirely of Vines. Vine is Twitter's quick-hit video platform.

To that extent, Twitter's move here is a much like Tumblr's new platform Creatrs, which aims to pair talented GIF-making folk with brands who might want to use their stuff.

Niche says they'll also provide analytics to creators which will be available on desktop and mobile. The company also hints that monetization is available, saying "we've helped creators develop new revenue streams to support their budding careers, by facilitating partnerships with over 100 brands and agencies".

Pairing creators and brands is obviously attractive, and a viral Vine can attract tons of hits. The acquisition could also make Vine more attractive as a platform, but Twitter's example of Niche and Vine working well had a lot of behind the scenes work that don't show up in six-seconds — just like a really good GIF.

Source: Twitter