[oddevan]

I'd argue that a large portion of that is ineffective ads. There have been a large number of ads for a free-to-play "choose your own adventure" game, and they are frequently reblogged and mocked. (Might explain why non-rebloggable ads are suddenly showing up in my feed!)

Users already follow tumblr blogs that cater to their interests. Tumblr already knows I follow a Pokémon-themed blog, a How To Train Your Dragon-themed blog, and the official blogs for Instapaper and Apple Music. And Taylor Swift.

Based on those interests, Tumblr should be able to sell ads for, say, the new Pokémon mobile game or Taylor Swift's new concert film (premiering on Apple Music), or whatever. It shouldn't matter whether or not I click or do anything actionable on those ads; what matters is that I see them. It's like television ads in that respect: you're paying to get your message out to a group of people.

So yes, tumblr advertising is currently quite ineffective. But it doesn't have to be.

[tacos]

I once spotted an Etsy card on Tumblr. 7,000+ reblogs. A month later the $3 card was still available. I contacted the artist asking about it. "If I had a nickel..." she said.

Tumblr's just not a place you go when you're thinking about buying stuff. If it doesn't work organically it's not going to work when you bring corporate ads in. Yahoo bought it for display ad inventory and then, oops, the bottom dropped out of display ads.

[oddevan]

> Tumblr's just not a place you go when you're thinking about buying stuff.

I'll agree that the largest part of tumblr's userbase doesn't have the ability to whip out the credit card at the drop of a hat. I'll argue that TV is also not a place you go when you're thinking about buying stuff, yet display ads seem to be working there.

I'll also add some sympathy for that Etsy seller. I have a friend with an Etsy shop, and the bane of her existence is people reblogging a card or print with no link back (or worse, "google images" listed as the source).

[jkaunisv1]

Watermarking images with a name and url is a common practice to help mitigate that problem.