The best kind of ads are the ones that don’t even seem like ads. These are known as native ads, where the advertisement is practically indistinguishable from the content around it, which is especially easy on a website like Tumblr where of the content is visual and quickly absorbed. The introduction of ads on Tumblr have been the only noticeable difference in the service since Yahoo acquired it back in 2013, however, that level of independence may finally be coming to an end as Yahoo seeks to turn Tumbr into a more profitable service.
Yahoo is planning an internal reshuffle that could effectively end the independence of its most popular acquisition, the visual blogging platform Tumblr. The Information reports that CEO Marissa Mayer spoke about the major changes inside the company at an offsite meeting with executives. She also reportedly asked Tumblr CEO David Karp which Yahoo executive he’d like to report to from now on. Yahoo spent $1.1 billion to acquire Tumblr in May 2013, and it looks like the company is finally planning to seek a return on that investment. Tumblr’s highly visual format makes it possible to serve native ads—that is, ads that are barely distinguishable from the content around them, and thus less intrusive to users. Once ad-free, Tumblr immediately began serving ads after the Yahoo acquisition. These days, your typical Tumblr user can expect to see a sponsored post every ten posts or so while scrolling through their dashboard. Beyond that, however, Tumblr users haven’t seen much Yahoo interference. Tumblr has operated mostly independently since the acquisition.