Flipboard Partners with CNN, Acquiring Curation Tech from Competitor Zite, Too
Flipboard is responding to the threat imposed by Facebook's new Paper app by buying another rival and striking a content partnership with news giant CNN.
Flipboard, one of the most popular news curating apps, bought news reader Zite from Time Warner Inc.'s CNN on Wednesday, according to Reuters. The deal includes a content partnership with CNN for Flipboard. Though the terms of the deal were kept confidentially, the news network's own CNN Money valued the deal at as much as $60 million, though a CNN spokesperson called its own site's reporting "inaccurate."
Zite will gradually be shut down and its digital news curation technology, especially its recommendation engine, integrated into Flipboard's app -- with about 15 to 20 Zite employees joining Flipboard's offices, according to Tech Crunch. "By bringing the Zite team and technology to Flipboard, we can deliver an even more personalized experience to every Flipboard reader," Flipboard CEO Mike McCue said in the CNN Money report.
The move signals that Flipboard is taking the launch of Paper, an iOS app for curating news from Facebook's News Feed that the social networking giant launched earlier this year, quite seriously.
It also signals CNN's failure to expand into the cutting-edge digital realm under its own auspices, while at the same time showing CNN's continued interest in partnering with successful digital-native news organizations. In late May of last year, for example, CNN teamed up with Buzzfeed for a new YouTube channel and a content partnership.
Under the deal with Flipboard, CNN will syndicate its over 300 news feeds, including breaking news, tech news, international news, and many other verticals, with Flipboard's app. In addition, Flipboard will feature several CNN TV news shows in its digital "magazines" offerings, including Fareed Zakaria's "GPS Daily", John King's "Inside Politics," and "The Lead with Jake Tapper." CNN and Flipboard also have entered into an advertising partnership on the digital platform.
CNN didn't discuss the size of Zite's active user base on a conference call with reporters, but reportedly only said that Zite's reach was much smaller than Flipboard "by a decent number." In fact, according to the news agency's head of digital media, KC Estenson, "Flipboard has proven to be one of the biggest drivers of traffic so syndicating our content into Flipboard will see us creating custom magazines for our shows and talent."
Flipboard now has over 100 million users, an increase from 85 million late last year, according to Tech Crunch, and CNN offloading its digital content to the popular news reader makes sense. In the deal, CNN will be joining several other high-profile legacy media companies that have partnered with the popular news-reading app. For example, you can currently find content from Vogue, Glamour, Vanity Fair, The Telegraph, Forbes, Esquire, Fast Company, Oprah, and the New York Times on Flipboard. Soon, you'll be able to get the excellent reportage of sites like CNN Money natively on the platform as well.