Dive Brief: 

• Brands still aren't sure how to approach advertising on publishing platform Tumblr, or if they should approach it at all—much to owner Yahoo's dismay.
• Tumblr sales chief Lee Brown says the network of 143 million blogs will be providing brands a way to "amplify" their promoted posts by opening up sections of the platform previously untouched by ads, like the "Trending" section that shows the most popular posts. 
• Several big brands and agencies have stated publicly that Tumblr doesn't hold any interest for them because of the lack of targeting options and the abundance of porn. 

Dive Insight: 

The fact that brands, like Toyota, are creating branded Tubmlr pages and then advertising those on Facebook and Twitter—rather than Tumblr—should be a wake up call for the site. In fairness, their original deadline for monetizing the site through advertising was 2014, but that is quickly approaching. The real value the site holds is its young, engaged audience, which the platform will have to be mindful not to alienate in the advertising process.