Flipboard Launches Interest Collectives for Advertisers

In Partnership with Publishers, New Program Aggregates Audiences Around Popular Interests

For the first time, brands looking for alternatives to programmatic targeting can reach millions of people around specific interests using the new Interest Collectives from Flipboard, the world’s first social magazine. Starting with key verticals travel and technology, ad campaigns that run on Flipboard can now expand to contextually relevant partner sites. To create the first Interest Collectives, Flipboard is teaming up with publisher partners such as Atlas Obscura, Frommer’s and VentureBeat, to bundle inventory around top interests, increasing a brand’s reach as much as tenfold.

The Travel and Tech Collectives launch today, and Finance Collective will roll out over the summer. The Interest Collectives bring together select content from Flipboard curators, creators, email newsletters and high-quality relevant publisher partner sites with the purpose of creating highly engaged audiences at scale around a single interest. For instance, the Travel Interest Collective combines the audience of Flipboard’s popular travel destination with visitors to renowned travel sites such as Atlas Obscura, Explore, Fodor’s and Frommer’s, helping brands connect with people who are looking for destinations, attractions, travel-planning advice and places to stay.

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“Over the past few years, we have partnered closely with Flipboard on a number of initiatives and we have seen substantial referral traffic and engagement from an audience that goes deep on travel,” said Pauline Frommer, editorial director at Frommer’s,. “We view this program as a win-win because it allows us to continue growing engagement on Flipboard, while supplementing our direct sales efforts with new monetization opportunities.”

Similarly, the Tech Interest Collective attracts an audience that’s interested in all things tech, including gadgets, AI and startups, on Flipboard and partner sites such as 9to5Mac, Digital Trends and VentureBeat. The Finance Collective consists of publications like Moneywise that provide financial news, money-saving advice and smart investing tips, allowing brands to align with savvy readers interested in market trends and wealth management.

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“As privacy concerns continue to grow and data collection becomes more restricted, contextual advertising will be one of the most effective ways to reach qualified audiences in quality environments,” said Mike McCue, CEO and cofounder of Flipboard. “We are creating the Interest Collectives to help brands reach individuals united by common interests, with high intent, and actively seeking to learn, share experiences, and form opinions about brands, products, and services, both on and off our platform.”

The Interest Collectives build on the ability for advertisers to connect with audiences in contextually relevant ways via Flipboard’s Interest Graph informed by the platform’s 30,000 topics and indexed via machine learning algorithms based on content from more than 4,000 publishers. This creates an opportunity for brands to scale strategic contextual targeting: advertisers can reach relevant audiences across platforms, formats and devices.

An Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) study found that integrating contextual and audience targeting led to a 68 percent increase in ad effectiveness. Along with the benefits to advertisers, publishers participating in the Interest Collectives are able to show high quality ads to readers, increase their advertiser mix and diversify their revenue. When an ad is served from the open marketplace, publishers have limited control over the context or quality; Interest Collectives restore their ability to ensure high quality and relevant ads.

Flipboard is the world’s first social magazine where people go for information and inspiration. On Flipboard, quality articles, videos, podcasts and products are recommended for enthusiasts, by enthusiasts from around the world. It is a platform that lets people spend time on their interests, develop deeper understanding of issues, and share the best ideas with others by collecting them into their own Flipboard Magazines.