Tumblr is finally ready to start opening the doors to brands. It will begin with a new tool for placing branded Tumblr posts into its Radar feature starting May 2, said Tumblr founder David Karp, speaking at the Ad Age Digital Conference Wednesday. The details are still being worked out but Tumblr will allow brands to buy a presence on the site through Radar, a feature on the Tumblr dashboard which highlights editorially selected posts.
The move starts to address Tumblr’s big question about how it will generate revenue. In a recent interview, Karp told me he was planning on growing revenues by promoting creativity within the network, especially for users who can highlight their own posts for a fee and buy more themes and designs through Tumblr’s marketplace. But the path for brands has been less clear.