For this launch, Flipboard expanded the number and type of media partnerships. Hundreds of publishers are now providing video feeds on Flipboard, including Dow Jones, Gannett, Hearst Magazines, Complex Networks, Minute Media, A360 Media, Group Nine Media, The Recount, Bonnier Corp, Refinery29 and Vice Media Group, and Penske Media Corporation with brands such as Rolling Stone and Variety. Video from Euronews, Tribune Publishing and dozens more will be available through a new partnership with VideoElephant.
Moreover, videos from hundreds of independent producers are now available on Flipboard. For instance, Flipboard users can watch and follow vlogger Jessica Neistadt, filmmaker Gene Nagata aka Potato Jet and video journalist Johnny Harris through a new partnership with influencer agency Spacestation Integrations. Other independent creators that are joining Flipboard include serial entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk, AudPop's filmmakers and Underknown, producer of video series such as What If and How To Survive.
Users can access Flipboard TV via a new section in the Explore tab. Video is also more deeply integrated into the entire Flipboard experience with new ways to discover individual clips as well as video-only feeds. For the first time, video plays natively on Flipboard, enabling better recommendations for related videos and giving users additional player controls to easily skip to the next video.
"Today's launch builds on the publisher ecosystem we've been fostering for almost a decade, our foundational vision for content discovery, as well as our recent work around Flipboard TV," said Mike McCue, Flipboard's co-founder and CEO. "The new native video player opens up new opportunities for new user experiences, partnerships and monetization. I expect us to partner with more creators and independent producers in the near future."
New Pre-Roll Ads
Today Flipboard also starts running pre-roll video ads on its platform, addressing a growing demand from advertisers for high quality and brand safe digital video experiences on mobile devices. The increase in the number of videos on the platform leads to a significant increase of Flipboard's video ad inventory, which allows brands to broaden their reach and engage with specific audiences. Lexus is among the first brands to run pre-roll ads on Flipboard featuring videos from its national brand campaign.
Flipboard uses a rev-share model for this new form of monetization, providing publishers and creators with a new revenue source. Simultaneously, this model provides an additional incentive for publishers and creators to embrace the power of curation on Flipboard through the use of Storyboards. For example, several independent video producers Spacestation Integrations represents will use Storyboards to curate their videos into new viewing experiences, broadening their audience and making their content more discoverable while also developing a new monetization channel on Flipboard.
"We push ourselves to be on the edge of growth and curation gives our creators exciting new opportunities to reach and engage new audiences," said Sean Holladay, co-founder of Spacestation Integrations. "Many of the producers we work with already have a large following on other platforms and we believe Flipboard, especially through the use of Storyboard, can drive additional reach."
A Video Everywhere Experience
For media companies and creators that publish video on Flipboard, a new video tab is added to their profile pages. And now Flipboard's Local sections offer video from local newspapers and TV stations, an important part of local news consumption.
Users can follow any of these video feeds, as well as the 20 Flipboard TV channels around top-level topics such as travel, politics, local, lifestyle, sports and news. Videos are now also surfaced in each user's "For You" feed, a personalized content experience based on editorial and algorithmic curation, which is the first thing everyone sees when they open the app or site.
SOURCE Flipboard
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