Why Vine Is Losing Its Luster in the Eyes of the World's Biggest Brands

Though Vine has given rise to some of the most meteoric social influencers today -- including King Bach, Brittany Furlan and the singer Shawn Mendes -- the micro video network is reportedly losing its luster in the eyes of some of the world’s biggest brands.

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Only 4 percent of all video content allocated by 40 major players including Coca-Cola, Target and Dunkin’ Donuts was published to Vine between the months of September and November, according to AdWeek, which cited data from analytics firm Tubular Labs.

This pales in comparison to competing video platforms. Tubular looked exclusively at YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and Vine, and found that of the 2,500 total branded videos posted, YouTube was most popular, comprising 64 percent of all posts, followed by Facebook (24 percent) and Instagram (8 percent.)

Three-year-old Vine, which last reported 200 million monthly users and 1.5 billion daily loops, initially proved an addictively snackable platform for audiences and a unique proposition for brands given its six-second time limit. However, unlike competitors such as Instagram and Snapchat, the service still has no advertising capabilities. In order to promote their Vines, AdWeek reports, many brands purchase ads on Twitter, where the six-second clips are frequently circulated. (Twitter purchased Vine in 2012 for a reported $30 million.)

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Vine has also been put on the back burner as Twitter focuses on its live-streaming video property Periscope, according to AdWeek.

To be fair, though brands themselves may be shying away from posting to Vine, they are hitting home runs with native ads created alongside the platform’s massively popular influencers. For sponsored Vines, brands pay thousands of dollars to incorporate their products into stars’ six-second clips, some of which are subsequently looped millions of times.

Traditionally, platforms have not involved themselves in these sorts of behind-the-scenes deals between marketers and creators. But earlier this year, Twitter acquired Niche, a startup that connects social influencers and marketers, ostensibly giving the company inroads into this lucrative activity.

Even still, it remains to be seen whether content lasting a mere six seconds can evolve into a sustainable format for marketers.

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