Digital magazine platform, Issuu, is shutting down its Targeted Distribution (TD) campaigns service, effective April 1, 2016. This, however, is no April Fool’s Day prank!
Headquartered in Menlo Park, California, Issuu is a platform that allows anyone with digital content to upload and distribute their publications in just a few minutes.
Launched in 2011, Issuu’s TD service allowed for publishers to target a specific audience for their publication. Customers start a campaign, create an ad and set up a budget. You choose the type of reader you want to see your ad and Issuu will put it out. You only pay when someone clicks on the ad.
Evidently, this marketing plan has been less than successful since Issuu plans to deep six it on April 1. Issuu has not answered requests for an interview.
On that day, all vouchers for this service will be voided. Issuu says on its website:
- If you have unused vouchers, feel free to run campaigns up until April 1 so your vouchers don’t go to waste!
- Review your past campaigns now and be sure to take screenshots of your statistics for your records.
On April 1, Issuu says the following will happen:
- Any active Targeted Distribution campaigns you have will automatically stop running.
- You won’t be able to create, edit or view campaigns.
- If you have a balance due, you will receive a final invoice.
- If you have unused vouchers, they’ll be voided on April 1. Targeted Distribution vouchers are not transferable into issuu paid subscriptions.
Founded in 2006, in Copenhagen, Denmark, the goal was democratizing print media. Founders Michael Hansen, Ruben Bjerg Hansen, Mikkel Jensen and Martin Ferro-Thomsen, wanted to give both aspiring and established publishers the chance to create their own digital magazines. In 2009, Issuu was named one of Time’s 50 Best Websites and was a Webby Award honoree.
Image: Small Business Trends via Issuu
Aira Bongco
I honestly like the flipping mechanism in the magazines in Issuu. It is so sad that they are going to shut down. I guess it is hard to keep up without having any advertising revenue.
Aira, I’m so glad you enjoy issuu. Joann’s article highlighted a minor change to our services. We’re continuing to grow and expand. We have a diverse set of revenue streams that enable us to continue to expand and connect readers like yourself with the most interesting and exciting content available from more than 2.5 million publishers that use us. I appreciate your continued interest in issuu and invite you to dive in and enjoy. best wishes, Joe Hyrkin(CEO of issuu)
JoAnn McFarland
Aira, Issuu isn’t shutting down altogether. Only its service of targeted distribution campaigns.
JoAnn, I’d like to clarify that issuu is indeed thriving. More than 2.5 million publishers use issuu to serve more than 25 million publications to more than 100 million uniques per month globally. In fact one of the many high quality publishers that use issuu is your very own Small Business Trends, https://issuu.com/smallbusinesstrends. We have a diverse set of revenue streams that enable us to focus on connecting passionate and important creators like yourself with people around the globe who love content relevant to their interests. If you did contact us for comment on your story, no one on my team is aware of it. We’d be happy to discuss and help clarify. Like any fast growing company, we update and change features so that we can focus our resources on products that will more effectively serve our customers. I’m sure your own publication has had columns change or areas of focus change. This update to our service is nothing more than that. In fact, in the last few months, we’ve had a host of vibrant product updates and releases including issuu shopping links, new ways to view content within a twitter stream, launched our Generators Program that celebrates the best young trend setting publishers, updated our iOS app and Android App. We’ve updated our home page so that more people can easily discover content they love and care about. We’ve overhauled our publisher’s home page so that it’s easier to use the tools and services that enable publishers to share and distribute their content and to use the critical business analytics that are uniquely available through issuu. We’ve expanded with our newly opened office in Berlin and will be launching several major products over the next two-three months. Best wishes, Joe Hyrkin, CEO of issuu
Shawn Hessinger
Hi Joe,
Thanks for the clarification! I’m Shawn Hessinger, the executive editor here at Small Business Trends. Would love to chat further about some of the other new things happening at Issuu. Please feel free to get in touch with me directly via our contact section listed at the bottom of the page.
JoAnn McFarland
Mr. Hyrkin, I’m sorry that Aira misunderstood the article, but I think it’s plain in the article that you are only shutting down the Targeted Distribution campaign. I did try to contact someone via press@issuu.com March 3 and again on the 4th. I also tried through the website help and someone sent brief answers, a little late for my deadline. I’m sorry that this has blown way up out of proportion. The goal of the article was to warn those people that were running campaigns to plan ahead for the shutdown.
Best Wishes
JoAnn McFarland