Tumblr Is On Fire. Now Over 6 Million Users, 1.5 Billion Pageviews A Month
MG Siegler
Jul 19, 2010

One year ago, in July 2009, Tumblr was going strong. They had 255 million pageviews that month. By November of last year, that was up to 420 million pageviews. But some new stats which Tumblr is releasing today show an explosion in growth since then. Tumblr is now at 1.5 billion pageviews a month — their Quantcast data confirms this.

For the first time, Tumblr is now a top 50 site in the U.S. in terms of traffic as gauged by Quantcast. And only half of Tumblr’s 6.25 million users are in the U.S. Those users are now posting some 4.5 million posts a day — that’s up from 650,000 new posts a day a year ago.

Perhaps most impressive of all the numbers though is that Tumblr is now growing by 300 million pageviews per month. That means that their growth is larger than the entire network was a year ago. And if that data holds, they’ll surpass 2 billion pageviews sometime in September. They’re also growing by 25,000 new users a day, so they should hit 7 million users next month.

Speaking of half of Tumblr’s users being outside of the U.S., the service is launching each of their themes in 5 languages starting later this week. Users will have a choice between English, French, Japanese, German, and Italian for each of these themes. And more will be coming soon, founder David Karp says. There will be a new set of tools that theme designers can use to take advantage of this new language support.

Below is the Tumblr premium Scaffold theme in Japanese.

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  • mike

    never heard of it lol

  • Henry

    Congrats to Tumblr on their usage metrics! Now if they only knew how to make money it might actually be a viable business.

  • Jon

    They're killing it.. Posterous, et. al shall be dead soon.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joped Joseph Engo

    And yet, they *still* don't have any "share it" type functionality on posts. How the hell do they expect posts to "become viral" if they don't make it easy for users to share them on Twitter, Facebook and Digg.

    I have contacted them numerous times requesting the feature and never got a response.

    Tumblr is cool but just too damn limited. Hell, where the hell is RSS ? They went as far as shutting down a 3rd party developer because they were providing RSS for users.

    Wish someone would create a WordPress plugin to duplicate their bookmarklet functionality (including mirroring).

  • http://ninanord.posterous.com/ ninanord

    Could it be that Tumblr is hitting it’s second wave of users? My impression is that lots of young people (>20) have used this service up til now.

  • Alfonso

    I love their gorgeous templates which creates beautiful canvases not solely based on text. (eg. http://backtothewild.tumblr.com/ and http://metathis.tumblr.com/)

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/tailormypc tailormypc

    I still don't quite understand where the appeal is for Tumblr, it is so easy to set up a real blog that I don't understand why someone wouldn't just make a WordPress blog. Even a self-hosted blog on a dedicated server can be set up in under 10 minutes by a novice.

    When was the last time you saw a tumblr blog show up in a Google search?

  • http://stephensclafani.com/ Stephen Sclafani

    They added these features recently. They are under /customize -> Services tab.

  • Phil

    Huh? You can add anything you want to a Tumblr blog. Mine includes two share widgets. Tumblr posts "become viral" plenty.

    They also definitely come with RSS: http://staff.tumblr.com/rss

    And WordPress did copy their bookmarklet. They even said so. It's not up to par though.

  • http://a022digital.com Andrew C

    Where is RSS? Type in your blog name/rss: examplesite.tumblr.com/rss
    Incredibly simple, as it should be.

    And I, for one, think its brilliantly refreshing to see a service/network/site focus on usability and features rather than scrambling for the next 'viral' hit- I dont need to see 15 share buttons on every site for everything from twitter to Buzz to Mr Wong. I get why sites like TC put them out there as huge buttons- their ad revenue depends on eyeballs; but Tumblr has no motivation to pull artificial traffic. But if you do want to add some, its very easy to go get a snippet of code from ShareThis and copy+paste it into your theme code.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/initlabs initlabs

    Wonder how they are planning to make money, I don't think they are making money from paid templates. I love tumblr, I have a lot of my content on it, but worried about how long the service will be around.

  • http://www.nicoladagostino.net Nicola D'Agostino

    When? Yesterday, actually.

    nda

  • http://www.cogzidel.com/web_development/application_development Bala

    Wow… kewl. Congratz to Tumblr

  • http://www.facebook.com/joped Joseph Engo

    No, I am saying that when someone is viewing my posts … they have no way to single click a button and have it posted to their wall or posted to twitter.

  • http://Figuremeout.tumblr.com Craig

    When I name searched myself.

    The best thing about tumblr IS how easy it is to share just about anything one would share online: links, photos, quotes, etc. I’ve used a lot of other blog hosts such as blogspot and I could HTML coding if i had to yet, I rather focus on posting not how to use the site. After over a year, I’m more than happy with the people vie met, the things vie learned, and the interesting things I’ve seen on this site.

    It’s awesome to see it getting in the eye of the general Internet public.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joped Joseph Engo

    So, why doesn't the link to the RSS feed surface on my pages ? I don't see anyway to enable this.

    Ya, the "press it" bookmarklet is very very limited. Thats why I am hoping someone creates a better version of it. I sadly just don't have the time or I would do it my self.

  • Phil

    There are 478 Tumblr Themes: http://www.tumblr.com/themes/

    You'll find plenty that have RSS links.

  • http://a022digital.com Andrew C

    I use WordPress when I need a fully featured blog or site but Tumbler is much better for quick posts or linkblogs or for those new to online publishing. Its actually interesting to read about how tumblelogs (read: Tumblr) came about as a way to aggregate cool things you find while 'tumbling' around the internet.

    And I definitely disagree that a novice can setup a self-hosted WP site in 10 minutes… maybe if they have a server that provides Fantastico or some other One-click install service, but even then I'd be surprised to see a n00b start a self-hosted site that is 100% ready ane customized in <30 minutes

  • Henry

    The larger they get, the worse off they are. Increased costs with no revenue is not a good thing. Going from a completely free service to a paid service is nearly impossible without alienating your entire user base. Godspeed Fred!

  • http://a022digital.com Andrew C

    If you have a Mac, you can try out their beta backup tool: http://staff.tumblr.com/post/286303145/tumblr-bac...

    I make a local copy every couple of months and seems to work great.

  • http://www.facebook.com/joped Joseph Engo

    You don't need 15 buttons … 3 or 4 of the top services works just fine. People are lazy, if you expect someone to actually copy and paste the URL to send it out some where else … you are out of your mind.

    Are you really trying to suggest that making a post viral is artificial traffic ???

    Sure, I could modify the theme … I could also setup my own wordpress install and write a plugin to do the same functionality. Hell, while I am at it why don't I write my own webserver and database.

    Why should *I* have to do it ?! This type of functionality should be built in, I don't have time to do it. I just want to make it work and carry on with my day.

  • http://christo27.tumblr.com Christo27

    The reason I have a tumblog is because I wanted to start a Picture a Day project for 2010 and share it. I found that Tumblr had an easy photo posting option, and there were plenty of themes that were picture oriented for me to use. Now, I'm doing a song a day thing too, because I wanted to try out the audio posts.

    (if you want to look at the theme I used, click on my name, its linked to the tumblog)

  • http://www.facebook.com/ikirigin Ivan Kirigin

    This is neither a race horse nor a zero sum game. Both Posterous and Tumblr are doing well.

    Congrats, Tumblr-ers!

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ceejayoz ceejayoz

    They're making money on premium themes, for one.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ceejayoz ceejayoz

    Yes, because non-technical users want to rent a server, maintain WordPress patches, purchase a domain and DNS service, etc.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/ceejayoz ceejayoz

    Simple solution – you don't go to a paid service. You add new features that are paid from the start.

    Turning a free theme paid would get pushback. Adding new premium themes like they have been lately doesn't get the same pushback.

  • Ed Penano

    Tumblr is great for quick Posts and many n00bs that are looking to step into the foray of blogging. Moreover, it’s very simple to use. Point-of-entry is simple. I think that’s why we are able to aee a traffic spike so quickly.

  • http://intensedebate.com/profiles/worldserpent charmian

    I just wish they would release a Windows version.

  • http://www.Spirofrog.de Schulze

    Strong Service, but what’s the Value for businesses. Is there any?

  • Jose

    In the time you’ve posted 5 comments on here you could’ve added the share links.

  • Eric Atkins

    Tumblr’s iPhone app is amazing. It is so easy to post and queue posts while on the go. The app is the main reason I choose Tumblr over WordPress.

    In fact, I’m developing client sites on Tumblr instead of WordPress.

  • http://andresgalindo.us Andres Galindo

    While not as viral as twitter with it’s retweets, the concept is the same. Quick updates to a user base which may or may not be following your tumblr stream. That in itself depends on the quality of post made to tumblr.

  • aaron

    the community of tumbr will be fuming its getting publicity like this ahaha, ive had tumblr for years now and recently as more and more people join its being destroyed quicker and quicker

  • http://www.yksityislaina365.fi Lainaa

    The design features are so clean and nice with Tumblr, Go Tumblr! =)

  • http://si---.tumblr.com Si

    They could argue that that’s a feature. You want that functionality? get yourself a tumblr account, hook it up to FB / Twitter and reblog.

    Not saying I agree – walled garden etc.

    I have no idea why – it’s kinda paradoxical, but I love reblogs and how easy it is for content to go viral – much in the same way and for the same reasons that I hate re-tweets. Maybe it’s the perceived higher value of of tumblr-postings when compared to tweets…

  • http://www.music-explained.com/ john barnes

    Tumblr is an amazing service….love it. It really is the easiest way to blog, which I think is its appeal….a joy to use.

  • http://juanvidelasanchez.wordpress.com juanvidelasanchez

    The problem I see with tumblr is that its all reblogs of reblogs from stuff on other sites………that I already know.

  • http://www.jimbernard.net Jim Bernard

    The idea that they are growing at 300m pvs PER MONTH was hard to believe given what Tumblog is, dynamics of the web, etc. So I started to dig a bit deeper using the TechCrunch articles, Tumblog self-reports and Quantcast as sources. While it is impossible to verify that all the items are apples to apples, here are the apparent figures:

    July 2010:
    > 1.4 to 1.5 billion pvs on 38M users for an average pv per user per month of 36.
    > 126M visits for an avg 11pvs per visit, and 3 visits per month for each user
    > 135M posts per month that average 10 pvs each
    > 6.2M people who use the service–let’s call them “bloggers.” This means they are doing 220-240pvs per blogger per month.
    > According to Quantcast 2% of their audience are “addicts” and generate 38% of traffic. That means 772M folks are doing 570M pvs at a rate of 738 each per month.

    Tumblog claims to be growing at 300M pvs per month and authors at 750k per month. If this is true each new author is coming in at 400pvs which is nearly double the average rate per author for July. Perhaps indicates they are taking on some big names or doing white-label for publishers or something. Hard to move those averages that much on such a huge base.

    Year over year growth is so large that it is hard to believe. Pageview 2000% growth (68M to 1.4B) in Quantcast and 600% (255M to 1.5B) self reported. User growth of 990% (3.9M to 38.6M) in Quantcast. Post growth of nearly 700%.

    In general these seem a reach to me. Can a microblogging platform really draw 38M users to do an AVERAGE 36 pages each per month? Is it likely that on 126M visits they would AVERAGE 11pvs each? Is the growth of this category/service really close to 1,000% per year?

    I’m guessing there is something else going on here, either around how they are instrumenting the metrics, some kind of use by non-bloggers (media sites? porn?) or some sort of traffic gaming going on. In any case, I’ll eat my hat if they grow at a rate of 300M pvs per month for another year. Not going to happen.

    Finally, I have to say that I use the Internet ™ all the time and rarely do I end up on a Tumblog. So where are all these sites that are generating all of this attention?

  • http://luzfosca.tumblr.com/ Facie Populi

    Tumblr is fantastic ! Extreme simplicity.
    I like and recommend …

  • http://rraaaarrl.tumblr.com Socky McSockpuppet

    To all the tumblr naysayers: you either “get” Tumblr, or you don’t. Right now, I prefer tumblr to twitter because, to me, tumblr is like twitter only with picspam. I love nothing more than browsing images and looking for inspiration with images. I personally find peoples’ random choices of images and art posts far more interesting than random 140 character posts.

    Why does everything on the internet NEED to be “monetized” to the MAX? One of the reasons I have all but abandoned my twitter for my tumblr is that I got fed up with attention whores, obvious commercial shills and porn bots following me on twitter.

  • Buc

    How exactly would you know that you “rarely” end up on a Tumblr blog? Tumblr blogs are customizable to the point they can appear to not even look like the average/typical Tumblr, including having their own domain names and self-install features that are available to give the appearance of an actual website. I’ve been on Tumblr blogs that I had zero idea they were so, had I not been logged in and saw the “Follow” button in the corner. A few sites that I’ve frequented for years, as a matter of fact, are now Tumblr hosted.

    Also, you do realize part of Twitter’s explosive traffic is due to celebrity figures joining and giving it more exposure, right? The same is said for Tumblr. Musicians such as Katy Perry, John Legend, countless photographers (such as Terry Richardson) and other recognizable figures use the service. This is part of why its grown ridiculously over the past year.

  • http://darklordascending.tumblr.com Jake

    Tumblr is about the dashboard and the community more than the blog itself. On a wordpress blog, people can see your content all in one place. On a tumblr dashboard, they can see the content of each and every person they follow – much easier then visiting the websites of each of those people.

  • http://darklordascending.tumblr.com Jake

    Mostly, it is ruined by users who can’t spell or punctuate correctly, let alone capitalize the first letter of a sentence. Just saying.

  • http://cinderwench.tumblr.com/ Kelley Marie

    tumblr’s tagline should be: “the easiest way to share porn”

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