Flipboard, the mobile content curation app, has announced a fresh, innovative approach towards advertising on its platform. The digital platform which boasts a whopping 90 million monthly users has teamed up with Rubicon Project; a global company known for bridging the gap between brands and content creators. Their initiative is unique – an invite-only premium advertising platform that has been created primarily with larger brands in mind.
From the statement release, it is evident that Flipboard’s advertising partners expressed their desire for more controlled and automated access to Flipboard’s unique inventory. The invite-only marketing model is Flipboard’s response to these desires. As Mike McCue, founder and CEO of Flipboard eloquently puts it, “We developed our private marketplace to fit our premium advertisers’ unique needs for a high-quality environment and support for impactful mobile ad formats.”
This compelling move to a more exclusive advertising model is not just beneficial for Flipboard and its partners. Rubicon Project, an automation giant with extensive knowledge of the mobile marketplace, stands to gain hugely from this partnership too. Gregory R. Raifman, President of Rubicon Project, expressed his delight over the new partnership, citing Flipboard’s commitment to aggregating content from top-tier publishers and brands.
This joint venture doesn’t come without its fair share of criticism, though. Skeptics have pointed out that Flipboard’s exclusive approach to advertising deviates from the traditional model of open-to-all brands. However, Flipboard is standing firm, citing its preference for quality over quantity. This move emphasizes Flipboard’s commitment to nurturing its unique platform that converts web content into a social magazine format, a feature that sets it apart from other social media services.
While this initiative might place a ‘premium’ tag on advertising on the platform, the larger strategy behind it seems to be Flipboard’s focus on providing value. By offering curated adverts to its vast user base while refraining from bombarding with irrelevant ads, Flipboard ensures a symbiotic environment where users and advertisers can interact in a meaningful way.
As we observe the future of this premium advertising initiative, one thing will remain certain – innovative advertising models like these can significantly impact the brand-user relationship and Flipboard is staking its claim in this evolving landscape.