Tumblr Attempts to Roll in Some Coin

By: Kuljit Grewal  |   June 12th, 2012   |   Business, News, Social Media

Everyone’s favourite micro blogging site has joined the proverbial dark side of the force, opting to begin displaying paid advertisements they refer to as “sponsor products”. The company has been hesitant to run ads since its inception in 2007, however they made the announcement two weeks ago at Ad Age’s Digital Conference in New York. We are glad to announce that these ads have been designed as to not hinder or interfere with the blogs of Tumbler’s “creators”.

 

There is absolutely no denying the impact and popularity of Tumblr, and given that it is ranked as the U.S.’ 12^th most visited website, it is hard to ignore the marketing potential of the site due to its user base and concept. Tumblr features blogs pertaining to various fields, hobbies and interests, however fashion and style make up a fair deal of the blogs. The advertising allows information to be obtained and spread easily via reblogs and likes within the site. Tumblr will use its Radar and Spotlight features to kindly suggest and highlight the material and content that is presented by the advertising parties.

 

The New York based company can rest assured in knowing that their 46.2 million blogs and 18 billion total posts make it an undeniable force and social influence. The company was valued several months ago at $800 million having easily raised $85 million in a round of funding while boast an impressive list of prominent California VC investors including Sequoia Capital, Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners.

 

Since the new sponsor product model launched a mere two weeks ago, it is still too early to tell how users and bloggers are responding to the changes to their site. What we are sure of however is that it will be interesting to see how far the advertising on the site goes given the value of the company and the sway of the parties that have a vested interest in its ability to generate significant profits.