Hi-Fi, which has been in live beta for the past year, is now open to everyone and has launched Marketplace, a new service enabling publishers, businesses and individuals to own hashtag sites called Tagtopics. Publishers can generate advertising revenue via targeted native ads within their Hi-Fi communities. 

?As a publisher of enthusiast content, we?re in business to serve the most dedicated fans of every topic we cover,? said Sean Holzman, chief digital revenue officer at Bonnier Corp. 

?Platforms and tools, like Hi-Fi?s hashtags, that help us better identify, engage and message qualified audiences enable us to deliver a great customer experience and, significantly, to earn revenue directly from the platform by serving the most relevant advertising and promotions,? he said. ?These are the types of new opportunities we want to explore as part of our continued growth.

 

?On Hi-Fi, hashtags create value differently from how we?re accustomed to using them. Instead of aggregating every post using the same term, Hi-Fi hashtags serve as the address for branded, content-rich mobile communities. On Hi-Fi, #Wakeboarding takes you directly to Bonnier?s branded hashtag site for Wakeboarding Magazine.?

Hi-Fi?s hashtag sites are community destinations featuring curated content that is organized by category and topic. Tagtopics are hosted on the Hi-Fi network for $2.99 a year while social curators build Tagtopics with an eye toward creating communities and keeping the content relevant. 

 

Consumers on the Hi-Fi app see content from hashtag sites that reflect their interests, with the content flowing directly into their newsfeed. Users can directly follow specific hashtag sites to keep up with the latest content in real-time. 

Users can also discover new content by checking out featured, spotlighted and related categories. Additionally, users can live stream, post links, photos, videos and GIFs on Hi-Fi, vote on content and purchase their own hashtags. 

For publishers, the platform is positioned as a Web site companion designed to support how content is consumed on mobile. For example, Flurry Insights? research shows mobile users spend 90 percent of their time on apps compared with just 10 percent on their mobile browser, challenging publishers to find ways to get their content into apps. 

Publishers can repurpose their Web content in a mobile newsfeed format that users can follow in real-time. Content is automatically published via RSS and live streaming directly into a Tagtopic community. 

Ads are served through Google?s Native Express or are sold by Hi-Fi. 

Hi-Fi is meant to be a central location where brands and publishers can engage with consumers who are seeking content that matches their interests. The challenge will be encouraging consumers to download the Hi-Fi app. 

Besides Bonnier Corp. and Outside Television, content from Fox News, Elite Daily, PopSugar and ESPN are on the platform. 

By giving users a way to more directly filter the content that appears in their social news feed based on their interests, media companies hope to be able to better engage with an audience that is interested in the content they are serving. 

?As a new platform, there?s still a lot to learn and discover about the Hi-Fi platform?s potential,? Mr. Holzman said. ?As a premium publisher, the platform affords us the opportunity to create immersive, 360-degree experiences for our audience and brand partners, leveraging our expertise in editorial and photography, to which we can add live streaming and archival video in a branded mobile environment.

?Mobile and digital are very important growth areas for us. We like to be first to market on new platforms we feel work well within our digital, mobile and social strategy,? he said. ?As early adopters, we feel there is more of an opportunity to own the conversation and benefit from initial user growth and user acquisition on a new mobile platform, such as Hi-Fi.?