Douglas “10 to Watch” Winner Score $3M Venture Funding to Roll Out Sports Video Network
A new North American digital sports video distribution network will be rolled out by Victoria-based digital news agency SendtoNews thanks to $3 million in venture funding secured by a BC-based investment group made up of RevenueWire co-founders Don Wharton, Elton Pereira, Adrian Pereira, and Myron Pereira.
“We now have the financing to complete the launch of the continent’s first expansive sports video distribution network for the digital age,” said SendtoNews CEO Greg Bobolo. Douglas magazine ranked the company as one of its “10 to Watch” winners for 2012. “Initial interest from newsrooms is very high and we are in active discussions with more than 30 strategic partners.”
Hyper-local to National
The SendtoNews News Partnership Network is a guaranteed, centralized network for multimedia sports content to be gathered and distributed across North America from the hyper-local to regional and national levels.
Traditional and digital news agencies who become partners in the News Partnership Network will instantly plug into a library of sought after, premium digital sports content and thereby access a wealth of new and innovative revenue streams that fuse the best of broadcast advertising with the customizability and monitoring of the internet.
SendtoNews says forging partnerships with more newsrooms across North America is enabling the company to boost its content offerings by acquiring more previously unattainable, premier sport multimedia content from leading content providers and sports organizations. These partnerships mean the company can present unique and compelling advertising opportunities to leagues, teams, big brands and major advertising agencies looking to make efficient, mass-market buys to reach national, regional, local and hyper-local audiences.
{advertisement} Capitalizing on Convergence
The SendtoNews News Partnership Network is positioned at the convergence of two of the most powerful trends in media consumption and advertising. While online video viewership is on the rise, sports content accounts for about 50 per cent of that viewership (gigaom.com).
According to the company, at the same time, sports are one of the fastest growing segments of a $485 billion global advertising market. Spending on sports marketing and advertising by the top 50 North American companies was up 27 per cent in 2010, and global sports spending is projected to increase from $114 billion in 2009 to $133 billion by 2013.
“Viewers in the U.S. alone watch a total of 1.6 billion online sports videos every month,” says Elton Pereira, “providing an attractive market opportunity for any company that can deliver and monetize quality online sports video at scale. We have observed SendtoNews rapidly emerging as a leader in this area.”
The proceeds from the private placement will be used for business development and working capital.
About SendtoNews
SendtoNews debuted its cloud-based multimedia distribution platform at the 2010 Winter Olympics and today distributes content for a growing roster of leading content providers and premier sports organizations including Major League Soccer, America’s Cup Sailing, the Western Hockey League and the American Hockey League.
Headquartered in Victoria with affiliate offices in Vancouver, Toronto, New York and San Francisco, SendtoNews is a trusted source of broadcast-quality sports highlights for thousands of newsrooms across North America and abroad, including CBC, TSN, CTV, Global TV, ESPN, NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, IMG Media, the Globe & Mail, Postmedia and others.
