Mobile advertising expected to turn first profit for Tumblr

David Karp, founder of Tumblr, seeks to profit from allowing users to promote their own posts on the mobile app.

According to Forbes India, David Karp created the social network Tumblr six years ago as a place for viewers to express themselves. Each user’s content is displayed in a stream of photographs, videos, and text, which other members can ‘heart’ or ‘reblog’ to build solidarity.

As of November, Tumblr is one of the top 10 websites in terms of Internet traffic on Quantcast. Its 170 million unique monthly visitors even surpass Bing’s.

Despite its exponential growth, Tumblr has yet to make a profit.

Vice President Derek Gottfrid noted in an interview that mobile Tumblr users have quadrupled in the last half year alone, implying they have decided on this setting to introduce changes, reports Bloomberg.

To remedy the problem, Karp is going to extend advertising capabilities to smartphones, allowing users to pay to promote their posts, much like they already do on the website.

Although vehemently opposed to advertising on free blogs in the traditional scene, Karp believes this is a successful compromise that will please everyone.

Lee Brown, head of Tumblr sales, expects the company to profit because the cost of an average advertisement is “just under six figures.”

The function has already been tested internally, and the company is now seeking advertisers for trial runs, such as Target, Lionsgate, Christian Dior, and Adidas.

Karp remains optimistic in his media ventures as he looks to the future. “The growth we’ve seen in the last year just totally overshadows everything that came before it. To be honest, it’s a place I never thought we’d be.”