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Ive always wondered, how do they bring in revenue? Do they at all? I currently use at least 4 tumblr blogs and Im not paying them so where is the money going t

Ive always wondered, how do they bring in revenue? Do they at all? I currently use at least 4 tumblr blogs and Im not paying them so where is the money going to be made up after they run out of funding?

zds 16y ago
The LA Times published a piece on Tumblr earlier in the year that includes pieces of their projected revenue strategy -http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/tumblr-ads.html http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/tumblr-ad.... At the moment, it looks like themes are the central piece in their monetization plan.
kloncks 16y ago
From their Terms of Services: Some of the Services require payment of fees. Subscriber shall pay all applicable fees, as described on the Site in connection with such Services selected by Subscriber. Tumblr reserves the right to change its pricing and to institute new charges at any time, upon ten (10) days prior notice to Subscriber, which will be posted on the Site and e-mailed to Subscriber along with a link to the modified fee schedule so that you can review it. Use of the Services by Subscriber following such notification constitutes Subscriber's acceptance of any new or increased charges. -------------- Or, it could just be that they're making money by raising it from VCs.
- jacquesm 16y ago
  > Or, it could just be that they're making money by raising it from VCs. I hope that was a joke.
  - c1sc0 16y ago
    A joke came back from 1999 to haunt you. s/VC/angel/ and it could very well apply to some startups these days, probably not Tumblr, but still ...
- edash 16y ago
  Tumblr actually built out a feature set that was to be called "Tumblr Plus" ala Vimeo. This included group blogs and many other features that have since been released in the past year. Ultimately, Tumblr's venture capitalists (including Fred Wilson) encouraged them to release those features as part of the free product and continue to focus on growth rather than monetization. "Wilson added that 'some businesses should be allowed to scale and that takes capital — going for revenues and profits too early in some businesses is a mistake.'" http://gigaom.com/2010/04/20/tumblr-gets-more-money-now-it-just-has-to-make-some/ http://gigaom.com/2010/04/20/tumblr-gets-more-money-now-it-j...
  - pclark 16y ago
    minor semantics, but I believe Karp decided it was best to focus on growth over revenue.
bradgessler 16y ago
They charge some users for "premium themes".
- edash 16y ago
  Here's more information on premium themes: http://staff.tumblr.com/post/470140037/premium-themes http://staff.tumblr.com/post/470140037/premium-themes
rokhayakebe 16y ago
It seems like that is secondary to them. They maybe doing well enough.

zds 16y ago

The LA Times published a piece on Tumblr earlier in the year that includes pieces of their projected revenue strategy -http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/tumblr-ads.html http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2010/04/tumblr-ad.... At the moment, it looks like themes are the central piece in their monetization plan.

kloncks 16y ago

From their Terms of Services: Some of the Services require payment of fees. Subscriber shall pay all applicable fees, as described on the Site in connection with such Services selected by Subscriber. Tumblr reserves the right to change its pricing and to institute new charges at any time, upon ten (10) days prior notice to Subscriber, which will be posted on the Site and e-mailed to Subscriber along with a link to the modified fee schedule so that you can review it. Use of the Services by Subscriber following such notification constitutes Subscriber's acceptance of any new or increased charges. -------------- Or, it could just be that they're making money by raising it from VCs.

jacquesm 16y ago
> Or, it could just be that they're making money by raising it from VCs. I hope that was a joke.
- c1sc0 16y ago
  A joke came back from 1999 to haunt you. s/VC/angel/ and it could very well apply to some startups these days, probably not Tumblr, but still ...
edash 16y ago
Tumblr actually built out a feature set that was to be called "Tumblr Plus" ala Vimeo. This included group blogs and many other features that have since been released in the past year. Ultimately, Tumblr's venture capitalists (including Fred Wilson) encouraged them to release those features as part of the free product and continue to focus on growth rather than monetization. "Wilson added that 'some businesses should be allowed to scale and that takes capital — going for revenues and profits too early in some businesses is a mistake.'" http://gigaom.com/2010/04/20/tumblr-gets-more-money-now-it-just-has-to-make-some/ http://gigaom.com/2010/04/20/tumblr-gets-more-money-now-it-j...
- pclark 16y ago
  minor semantics, but I believe Karp decided it was best to focus on growth over revenue.

bradgessler 16y ago

They charge some users for "premium themes".

edash 16y ago
Here's more information on premium themes: http://staff.tumblr.com/post/470140037/premium-themes http://staff.tumblr.com/post/470140037/premium-themes

rokhayakebe 16y ago

It seems like that is secondary to them. They maybe doing well enough.