Flipboard reaches 20m users, adds curated video channels

30 Aug 2012

Having reached 20m users and 3bn flips per month, Flipboard is celebrating its milestones with the addition of six curated video channels featuring content hosted by YouTube.

The 3bn flips per month refers to the way in which users scroll through the content on Flipboard, which aggregates stories from across the web, be they garnered from users’ social media accounts or high-profile news services, and presents them in a clear magazine-style format. Built with the tablet in mind, the app is also popular on smartphones.

The 20m users milestone is a big one considering the app had just 5m at the end of last year. The recent growth is likely down to the decision to bring the app to Android, which also saw Flipboard cosying up to its new platform hosts with Google+ and YouTube integration.

Going further than the dedicated YouTube section, though, the service has now added curated channels that bring users to the most relevant video content for a specific topic. There’s Cooking TV, Science TV, News TV , Catwalk TV, Influencer TV (featuring plenty of TED talks and the like) and Music TV. (Hey, remember when they had music television on television?)

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com