When Yahoo purchased Tumblr last year, many wondered just what they intended to do with the blogging site. Industry insiders asked questions like: Will the old-fashioned Yahoo take away Tumblr’s edgy feel? Will teens leave Tumblr now that the company that their parents use for news and email owns their favorite blogging site? Perhaps most importantly, how does Yahoo plan to monetize Tumblr?
Tumblr, while it is very popular with the teen market, has been slow to turn a profit. While it does provide sponsored posts to advertisers, Tumblr does not provide robust posting and analytics tools like other popular social media platforms like Facebook.
Introducing the New Yahoo Advertising
At CES (the Consumer Electronics Show), we may have gotten the answer to the Tumblr monetization question as Yahoo announced the new Yahoo Advertising.
According to a blog post by Yahoo, “The new Yahoo Advertising includes a comprehensive suite of web, mobile, and video ad products across native, audience, and premium display, which are accessible through a new buying platform. These products are supported by Yahoo’s data and analytical tools, with insights into the daily digital habits of more than 800 million people worldwide.”
How does this affect Tumblr?
Yahoo is now including Tumblr’s sponsored posts with their Yahoo Advertising Platform. By putting Yahoo’s Native Advertising, Display Advertising, Tumblr Sponsored posts, and various analytic tools in one place, Yahoo hopes to simplify the process of purchasing advertising on its platforms. In addition, Yahoo claims that its new advertising tools will allow marketers to target customers based on demographic information like gender and geographical location.
Improved Content
In addition to building better advertising tools, Yahoo is also attempting to improve the overall quality of its content. They have brought on Katie Couric to serve as their “global anchor” to improve the quality of their news offerings, and launched their first “digital magazines,” Yahoo Food and Yahoo Tech.
Yahoo hopes that by improving and simplifying its ad platforms, and improving the quality of their content, they will be able to increase advertising revenue. The content and ad improvements are just a part of CEO Marissa Mayer’s overall plan to turn Yahoo around after years of decline.
