Twitter buying Niche, a social-media ‘influencer’ marketing start-up

Twitter has been losing out on a chunk of ad revenue because some advertisers have been striking deals directly with social media stars.

But Twitter said Wednesday it had agreed to acquire Niche, a start-up that connects advertisers with some of the social network’s most-followed users in exchange for a fee split by the user and Niche.

With a social-media “influencer” marketing program in-house, Twitter -- as well as the Vine video-sharing app it owns -- can play a bigger role in shaping the growing business at a time that Twitter is struggling to promote more active usage of its apps.

“We hope this acquisition continues to inspire people to create great content,” said Baljeet Singh, Twitter’s direct of product management.

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