If you like to read your feeds through Flipboard, don’t be too surprised if you start seeing advertisements over the next few months; the social reader has signed a deal with magazine heavyweight Conde Nast that will see ads appear on content from that particular publisher, starting with American Express now and Lexus ads beginning in October.
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The ads, which will read as fullscreen with a tap taking the reader to either the brand’s website or Facebook page for more information, are being modeled on the magazine advertising format rather than traditional web ads, according to Flipboard CEO Mike McCue:
In many cases, people often look to magazines for the advertising. That’s not the case with web ads. It has a lot to do with the format of online ads. The fact that the ads are eating into the content whether it’s a skyscraper or a pop-up. With our ads, it will have a similar look and feel to what’s in a magazine. In a lot of ways, it will be regarded simply as additional content.
The ads will begin to roll out in The New Yorker, Wired and Bon Apetit shortly; Flipboard is also in discussion with all of its other content partners – including Hearst Magazines, News Corp. and the BBC – to add advertising to their content as well.
“I think people recognize that the ads are a great way to keep content free, which is what users really value,” said McCue.
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Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.