Tumblr’s New Ads Offer Bloggers A Way To Make Money

Tumblr is expanding its advertising offerings in a way that could help grow their revenue and give the platform’s bloggers a source of their own. News of this expansion comes just days after its parent company, Yahoo, was sold to Verizon for $4.8 billion dollars. While the platform has offered native ads through Yahoo’s Gemini system and other forms of sponsored content for a while, these options never delivered the kind of profits Yahoo probably expected when it acquired the social-blog mashup for a billion dollars in 2013.

This new option, announced on Tumblr’s company blog, uses a revenue-sharing option popular with many video media networks like YouTube and YouNow. The millions of creators on Tumblr can allow ads to appear on their blog for a portion of the profits generated from their display to viewers.

Tumblr is wasting no time in rolling out this new feature. Paid placement begins immediately across its network, which boasts over 550 million monthly active users. Bloggers on the platform will need to opt into the program for participation, although the company hasn’t released details about that process yet. The company hasn’t released details on how that revenue split will work but promise more information in the days ahead.

With direct revenue from their content, more Tumblr bloggers may see the opportunity to create content as a business and it could jumpstart more influencer marketing on the platform. Tumblr sees this move as an extension of their Creatrs program, which connects brands with likeminded bloggers that are interested in working together.

Is Verizon Interested in Tumblr?

While Tumblr cannot predict how many of their over 300 million bloggers will choose to participate in the sponsored program, almost 70 percent of its users are Millennials. That’s a highly-coveted and often hard to reach target audience that is likely to be of interest to Verizon. With such a mobile-friendly app as the delivery vehicle, Verizon may want to tap into their new network to get exposure for their mobile products. Certainly, the ad market is increasingly mobile-focused as more content is consumed on handheld devices with each passing quarter. Tumblr may also help Verizon with international growth since more than half of the platform’s users are based outside of the US.

Tumblr founder David Karp trumpeted the new offering on his own blog, noting that this project “will be one of the biggest projects we’ve ever launched at Tumblr.” He added, “It’s been a busy summer—a new GIF maker, live video, new messaging stuff—and there’s a whole lot more on the way.”