Monday, December 01, 2014

Tumblr Expands Sponsored Capabilities

Tumblr has introduced “Tumblr Sponsored Apps,” a new mobile ad unit to attract more advertising dollars. The new ad unit will allow publishers to target the Tumblr community with creative sponsored posts that are designed to encourage users to download mobile apps from the iTunes App Store and Google Play through an “Install App” button.

The main difference between Facebook and Twitter’s mobile app install ads and “Tumblr Sponsored Apps” posts is that Tumblr’s posts are overlaid with an “Install [the app]” call to action. These posts will initially show up on mobile users’ dashboards, but will also be displayed as regular posts on Desktop without the “Install” message. Essentially desktop users can still organically see the sponsored posts associated with the ad and will be able to further reblog or share the content.

Max Sebela, creative strategy manager at Tumblr explained, “The core is that the native functionality allows marketers to talk to the community the same way any advertiser would be able to on Tumblr. Users don’t just download the app, but they can also share the content that is treated like other posts on Tumblr.”

The platform debuted “Tumblr Sponsored Apps” with three business partners: Gree, Big Fish, and TwoDots, all of which are gaming companies. In addition to the sponsored posts and mobile app ads, Tumblr will test a variety of ad formats in the “Tumblr Sponsored Apps” program to gauge its online community’s interest.

Tumblr says currently it has 400 million global monthly unique users, and 65% of its users access content through the mobile app. Its total mobile engagement has grown 84% year-over-year.


Sources: Tumblr, TechCrunch, ClickZ

No comments: