Currently we create revenue via paid posts and ads. You find these in exactly two locations in the app:
- The fifth position in the local feed
- In the Picture Feed
There are two different formats:
- Boosted Posts – the local takeover. A Jodel, which reaches all Jodelers around for the booked time and is being shown on the 5th position in the feed.
- Display Ads, that advertisers book with us. These are being shown in the Picture Feed but in the future also on the 5th position in the feed in case no boosted post is being booked.
What data is used for advertisement? Very simple: Advertisers do not always want to reach every user with advertisement but only specific groups, e.g. only female students in Germany. For the allocation of advertisement we use the information where you are right now as well as information such as age, gender, occupation (if you even gave this information to us). In a few cases we also use channels you follow: a company creating fitness products might just want to reach all users that follow @fitness or @football. There is no other data being used. We do not analyse content that you write or engage with. We do not have any access to external data and advertisers will never get access to the above mentioned data.
You can even deactivate this functionality. Just be aware that this will result in many more ads for you: if you are a male student and deactivate personalised ads you will not only get to see ads directed to male students but literally any ad that there is on Jodel – for students, apprentices, high schoolers or employees, males and females. Thus enabling personalized ads effectively filters out many irrelevant ads for you that you then do not get to see.
How does Jodel not earn money? Despite many requests we will never ever sell any data of yours.
We also currently do not use any advertising networks. This could change in the future, depending on how our own formats develop đ
Why does Jodel need money? As already mentioned in earlier blog entries we are currently trying to become financially independent. This will enable us to sustainably offer Jodel as a service and make sure we can continuously develop the app. You can find the blog articles here (about our monetization efforts in general) and here (about the boosted post feature). We are by now roughly 30 people in the office and have a lot of servers to pay for. In order to be able to improve Jodel also in the future and offer the service we need to be able to cover these cost.
Why the boosted post/digital ad column? Boosted posts are our favorite format as they are closest to what we want to achieve with Jodel itself: connect people to their local community. We believe this local content is actually relevant to the community and thus a lot less intrusive than classical online advertisement. It is a post that is shown at the 5th position in the feed to every other Jodeler around, just like a regular Jodel.
A boosted post cannot be booked by two users in the same location. You can book the post as private people via the app or also as a company (www.jodel.com for more infos) to basically take over your local feed for the booked time.
The only speciality about this post is that it remains on the 5th position for the booked time and that for the first time you can add an E-Mail address or a weblink. Since the start at the end of 2018 the boosted posts have been used in very cool ways: from the promotion of own songs, news about events and parties in the location up to hiring new employees and Rick Astleys – âNever gonna give you upâ. And the best about the feature: you can comment and vote on these ads just like on every Jodel. And best? If you donât think this post is relevant to you just downvote the Jodel and it disappears for you.
We love to hear your #feedback and are looking forward to your creative ways of using the boosted post feature.
Marius & the Jodel-Team