Twitter to share ad revenue with video creators

Twitter is to give video content creators that use its platform a share of advertising revenue in a bid to boost use of the platform.

According to separate reports by CNBC and Recode, both citing unnamed sources, Twitter is planning to give content creators a generous 70% share of revenues, beating the share offered by rival social video platforms YouTube, which gives creators 55%, and Facebook.

Twitter already offers a 70% share of revenues to users of Amplify, its premium content platform used by the likes of Sky Sports to offer English Premier League football clips.

The latest move is intended to attract the kind of content creators that have gravitated towards YouTube. The revenue-share programme does not apply to Twitter Vine, the mobile service that allows Twitter users to share short video clips, or Periscope, its live-streaming app.

The programme is launching today, but is currently only available to US users.

Twitter has, like other social media platforms, placed video at the centre of its growth strategy, but has has struggled to some extent to compete in the video space with rival platforms YouTube and Facebook.

Earlier this month, the company published a study commissioned by it that showed video ads on its platform delivered better recall and stronger engagement than rival services.