Flipboard Will Introduce Video Ads

Facebook and Twitter aren't the only companies pushing forward with video ads this year.



Flipboard, a popular social news reading app, is planning to introduce video advertising in September, CEO Mike McCue announced during an appearance at a ReadWrite event in San Francisco on Wednesday night.

The first video advertiser on the platform will be Chanel, with more advertisers to come later.

"We are continuously enhancing our full page ad units so they are engaging, fast and complimentary to the Flipboard reading experience," Christine Cook, head of revenue at Flipboard, told Mashable in a statement. "You'll see subtle animated gif's like those produced by Van Cleef and Arpels, multi-action links like those currently running for Levi's in Esquire to shop in their site or explore their brand magazine in Flipboard, and coming in September Lufthansa, Conrad Hotels, Chrysler 200, Gucci and Chanel will run video in their full page ads as launch partners for this latest enhancements."

Flipboard initially started out four years ago as a traditional news reader, but it has since expanded to let users create magazines and now embraces ecommerce as well with the launch late last year of shoppable catalogues.

The startup raised $50 million in December at a valuation of $800 million. Earlier this year, it acquired rival Zite from CNN.

-http://mashable.com