[a]list Video summit Brings Together Industry Powerhouses

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[a]list Video summit is now only just over a month away and already over 85 brands will be in attendance to get the full download on the video marketing boom. From mobile streaming apps to AR and VR, there’s a lot shifting in the landscape of video and there’s an urgent need for marketers to leverage new strategies and develop to stay on top.

Multiple keynotes from exciting innovators in the space have been confirmed including Facebook’s head of industry for film and television, Jonathan Murtaugh, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville, and beauty arbiter Michelle Phan.

“We are really excited to have Michelle Phan and Marcelo Camberos tell the story about how they leveraged the community she originally built on YouTube to build a business empire centered around ipsy. It’s a story that has not been revealed before and I think all marketers interested in Influencer Marketing will walk away from it smarter,” says [a]list summit producer and [a]listdaily executive director Jay Baage.

“This year we have also seen the emergence of Facebook as the first real competitor to rival YouTube in scale in terms of online video distribution, not to mention in terms of ad dollars. Jonathan Murtaugh, who leads Facebook’s team that works with entertainment marketers, will do a keynote that will give the audience a glimpse of what is in the future from his perspective that will have direct effect on all marketers in the room.”

Beyond keynote speakers, there will be fireside chats, panels and presentations galore:

8:30 am

Registration and Breakfast

9:00 am

Summit Welcome – Get Ready for the Video Storm!

Chris Younger, Principal and Director of Strategy, Ayzenberg

9:15 am

Morning Keynote: Shaping the Future of Mobile Video

Jonathan Murtaugh, US Head of Industry for Film and Television, Facebook & Instagram

9:45 am

Presentation: Constant Content – Millennial Video Consumption Habits

Andy Tu, EVP Marketing, DEFY Media and Zach Smith, SVP, Branded Content, DEFY Media

10:10 am

Fireside Chat: Latest Trends in Branded Content Development

StyleHaul’s CEO Stephanie Horbaczewski and Chief Content Officer Mia Goldwyn. Interviewed by Shira Lazar, What’s Trending.

10:30 am

Networking Break and Refreshments

11:00 am

Keynote Interview: Changing the Way you See The World

Academy Award-winning Documentary Filmmaker Morgan Neville. Interviewed by Matt Bretz, VP and Creative Director, Ayzenberg.

11:30 am

Showcase – Innovators In Video Ad Tech

From programmatic to native and interactive ads: three of the most innovative video ad tech companies will showcase the latest solutions to improve performance and appeal of video assets across platforms. The presenters will then join together for a conversation about how new technologies will create opportunities for advertising and change the way you think about media.

Presentation 1 – Case Study: Building a new “Influencer Ad Unit”
Nathan Lindberg, VP of Global Sales at Curse

Presentation 2 – TBA
Rob Ciampa, CMO, Pixability

12:05 pm

Fireside Chat: How Brands Can Shine on Snapchat

Dan Altmann, Co-Founder & CEO, Naritiv. Interviewed by Jim Louderback, Brand Strategist and Venture Partner at Social Starts.

12:25 pm

Presentations: Marketing Opportunities In Streaming eSports Video

Live and on-demand eSports action, programming and news is now becoming a mainstream form of entertainment with millions and millions of fans around the world and several dedicated networks. Hear from three experts from some of the hottest companies involved in this industry about how brands can grab millennials’ and Gen Z’s attention through eSports.

Presentation 1 – An Entertainment Force to Be Reckoned With
Andy Swanson, VP, eSports, Twitch

Presentation 2 – The Value of Competitive Play in Guild Wars 2
Steve Fowler, Head of Global Marketing, ArenaNet

1:00 pm

Hosted Lunch

2:00 pm

Afternoon Keynote – What’s Next in Influencer Marketing

Michelle Phan, YouTube Superstar and Founder ipsy. Interviewed By Marcello Cambreros, CEO and Co-Founder, ipsy.

2:30 pm 

Panel: Going Native Winning Multi-Platform Video Strategies

The world’s biggest publishers are now getting onboard with Facebook Instant Video, Snapchat and other platforms offering them to publish natively. Sure, there are challenges in this new integrated video landscape, but with the right strategy and partners, there are even greater opportunities to reach new viewers who will engage with your brand on the platform of their choice.
Panelists: Juan Bruce, CEO and Co-Founder, Epoxy; Vincent Juarez, Principal and Director of Media, Ayzenberg
Moderator: Jocelyn Johnson, Founder, VideoInk

3:00 pm 

Networking Break and Snacks

3:15 pm 

Fireside Chat: What Next in Data Driven Content Creation

New Form Digital. Speaker TBA. Interviewed by Allison Stern, Co-Founder & VP Marketing and Business Development, Tubular.

3:15 pm 

Presentation: Is Audio the new Video

Noah Eichen, Creative Director, Ayzenberg

3:40 pm 

Presentation TBA

4:25 pm 

Influencer Roundtable: What Video Creators Want from Its Brand SoulMates

Moderator: Steven Lai, Talent Group Director, ION

5:00 pm 

Cocktail Reception with DJ and Open Bar

Mobile Gaming ‘Hasn’t Even Come Close To Peak’

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Mobile gaming generates billions in revenue each year, with big hits like Clash of Clans and Candy Crush Saga bringing in millions of dollars daily from die-hard players. The mobile game business globally has already surpassed the revenues from console games. Even so, mobile games have yet to reach their peak, according to N3twork CEO Neil Young.

Pocket Gamer reports that Young, who recently spoke at Develop:Brighton 2015 event, explained that mobile has a big future ahead of it, especially with the usage of augmented reality and virtual reality. “I’m a big believer in that future,” he said. However, we’re not likely to see their potential for the next three years, where it could reach its “significant scale.”

Young went on to explain how he “rebooted” N3twork, originally intent on aiming at social networks, to instead focus on mobile games. He believes there’s plenty of life left in the market yet, proclaiming, “we’re not even close to peak mobile gaming.”

While some companies are concerned about user size, Young instead focused on yield per user, with the typical consumer spending $3.50 for Candy Crush Saga, but then splurging on Puzzle & Dragons to the tune of $28. As a result, these top-grossing games can easily generate $10 billion a year.

Where this success lies, Young believes, is in finding the key free-to-play approach, as many games like Clash of Clans have already done. “I think you have to unlock the potential of a new business model,” he explained. “Fundamentally, we need to make games where people want to pay, not where they need to pay.”

He also believes that “console-quality” games isn’t quite the way to go, as technically innovative as it may be. Instead, he proposes games that can get started quickly (within a ten second time frame), and ones with repeat play value that consumers can come back to – like Candy Crush Saga after all lives are recharged. If games are run as a service – and one that’s convenient to customers – and introduce regular planned events with “managed moments of drama”, they have a better chance to succeed.

Now Hiring This Week: July 15th

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[a]listdaily is your source for the hottest job openings for senior management and marketing in games, entertainment and social media. Check here every Wednesday for the latest openings.

Read a case for and against job hopping before you find your next position.

  • Riot Games – Brand Manager (Los Angeles, Calif.)
  • Ubisoft – Senior Digital Marketing Manager (San Francisco, Calif.)
  • 2K Games – Director of Digital Marketing (Novato, Calif.)
  • Hulu – Social Media Manager (Santa Monica, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Account Director (Seattle, Wash.)
  • Ayzenberg – Senior Tech Developer (Pasadena, Calif.)
  • Ayzenberg – Social Media Intern (Pasadena, Calif.)

For last week’s [a]list jobs postings, click here. Have a position you’d like to place with us Email us at pr@ayzenberg.com.

EA And Xfinity Team Up For Cloud Gaming

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Although not every venture into the medium has been a success (looking at you, Onlive), cloud gaming has come a long way – particularly with Sony, which has taken its PlayStation Now service to new heights over the last year. Now, Electronic Arts wants a piece of that pie.

VentureBeat has reported that Electronic Arts, the publisher behind hit games like the Mass Effect series and the forthcoming Star Wars: Battlefront, has teamed up with cable giant Comcast to create a new cloud gaming service. Called Xfinity Games, the service will enable customers to play EA games free of charge using either a smartphone or tablet that will work in conjunction with an X1 cable box.

The trial service, which will kick off with a beta today, will enable game images to appear on a television, and users can select which games they want to play right on their device. An X1-enabled box will be required, as the cable connection is needed to get the utmost quality out of the games.

“We’ve been looking at the game market for many years, looking for the right opportunity to create a great experience for our customers,” said Bryan Witkowski, senior director of strategic development at Comcast, speaking with GamesBeat.

Don’t expect to be playing Mass Effect 3 or Battlefront right away, though. The service will start small with more casual games, including Real Racing 2, Monopoly, NBA Jam On Fire Edition, Plants vs. Zombies and World of Goo, among others.

“We are launching our beta (today),” said EA vice president of marketing Katrina Strafford, speaking with Polygon. “It will include 20 games, most which, but not all, are from EA. We have relationships with publishers across the industry and it’s absolutely something we’ll explore more as we get feedback from players about what they’re liking, what games are really making sense for them in this medium and we’ll learn and go from there.”

As for future titles, Strafford stated, “We’re taking EA’s brands and making games and experiences specifically for this new audience that we think we can reach in partnership with Comcast on the X1.

“These games are made specifically for this platform and for this service. So whereas some of the games we may bring to EA Access are console games that maybe were in development for a year or two, these are games that are made specifically for this platform and not on that kind of cycle. So I think that gives us some of that nimbleness to react to what this new audience is finding most interesting.”

Those interested in hopping in the beta for Xfinity Games can do so at this page. While it may not make the company a competitive service right away (PlayStation Now has 125 games and counting in its subscription service), it’s a vital first step in what could be a big journey. The demo video for the service is below.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=0MdJxO3_fA0

Apple Rules the World’s Most Powerful Brands

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It’s amazing to see what some companies are worth these days, but also no surprise considering the contributions they make to the market. Their value is more than just what they have in the bank and their assets; the world-class brands top companies possess have considerable weight as well. When it comes to brands, Apple is leading the pack these days.

Forbes recently posted a list of the top 100 Most Valuable Brands in the world, and Apple easily conquered this list, with a brand value of $145.3 billion (an increase of 17 percent over last year) and a brand revenue of $182.3 billion. In addition, the company also spends a whopping $1.2 billion in advertising, making it the clear leader in the Technology department.

The rest of the top ten are easily recognizable names, but the distance between first and second place are staggering. Taking the second place spot is Microsoft, whose brand value is nearly half that of Apple’s at $69.3 billion. However, it has $93.3 billion in brand revenue, and spends $2.3 billion in advertising – nearly twice what Apple spends. Nevertheless, second place isn’t a bad place to be, as Microsoft shows a ten percent increase in value change over last year.

Rounding out the top ten in brand value are Google ($65.6 billion), Coca-Cola ($56 billion), IBM ($49.8 billion), McDonald’s ($39.5 billion), Samsung ($37.9 billion), Toyota ($37.8 billion), General Electric ($37.5 billion) and Facebook ($36.5 billion). Each of these companies show a positive increase in brand value over the previous year, save for McDonald’s, which decreased by a paltry one percent.

Other noteworthy names on the list include Disney (at #11, with $34.6 billion), Amazon (at number #13 with $28.1 billion), and Pepsi, way down at #29 with $19 billion – a distant second from its rivals at Coca-Cola.

This list has a lot in common with Brandz’ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands list, which we reported on earlier in the year. Apple was number one on that list as well, but Google was a close second on that particular list, followed by Microsoft, IBM and Visa. Obviously, some changes are notable here, especially when it comes to the technological side of things. Still, for comparison’s sake, there are some interesting statistics here.

The entire list can be found here, and features a variety of companies in various areas, including Alcohol, Consumer Packaged Goods, Financial Services and even Tobacco. However, Technology seems to be the stronger category, as six of the top ten companies specialize in this field. And with Apple and Microsoft ruling the roost with a big lead, that’s not likely to go away anytime soon.

Android Vs. iOS Battle Heats Up In China

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China’s mobile games market will reach $6.5 billion in revenues this year, more than one fifth of the $30.1 billion generated worldwide. This positions China as the world’s biggest market for smartphone and tablet games, ahead of the US with an anticipated $6.0 billion in revenues this year. China is on the strategic radar of every global game company, but many Western publishers are still seeking the best strategy to penetrate this extremely dynamic market. Until now, the market lacked a single source of data on the Chinese mobile landscape covering both the iOS and Android ecosystem. Today, market analytics firm Newzoo and TalkingData, China’s leading provider of mobile intelligence, announce a world-first monthly report that covers performance of all device brands, app stores, games, genres and publishers: The China Mobile Games Monitor.

Local Chinese Android Stores Take 12 percent of The Global Market
Globally, Google Play will take 38 percent of the pie, while other Android app stores will account for 18 percent of total revenues. Most impressively, local Android app stores in China alone will generate revenues of $3.6 billion in 2015, or 12 percent of the global mobile games market. Globally, iOS will account for 42 percent of worldwide revenues, or $12.5Bn, of which $2.3Bn will come from China. The remaining $600 million from China’s mobile games market is generated by Google Play and feature phones. The seemingly fragmented Android ecosystem in China makes many developers reluctant to tap into the enormous revenues generated outside Google Play and iOS. However, a data-driven app store strategy, including penetration, usage and crossover of stores, is necessary to optimize monetization and maximize reach with minimum effort and resources. In fact, the China Mobile Games Monitor shows that more than half of Chinese mobile gamers can be reached by focusing on three to four local stores out of the list of more than 20. Thus, this dynamic app store ecosystem is becoming less fragmented and more inviting than ever for publishers.

Apple Gains Market Share in China as Active iOS Devices Surpass 250 million
With 257 million active devices and a 32 percent coverage rate in China in May 2015, Apple is China’s top brand in devices used. Samsung and Xiaiomi, China’s second and third brands, both have less than half of Apple’s usage numbers. Newzoo’s recent financial analysis also revealed that Apple generated more than $37 billion in China in 2014, making it the top technology brand in China by revenues. As a reference, Apple’s turnover was double that of Huawei and Lenovo and almost three times that of Tencent and Xiaomi in their home market. According to the China Mobile Games Monitor, the iPhone 6 surpassed the iPhone 5s just this May as the most used iOS device in China. Illustrative of Apple’s successful move to bigger screens is the fact that the iPhone 6 Plus took third position following a month-on-month jump of 27 percent, or an astounding additional 10 million devices used, compared to April. These recent developments will most probably lead to an upward adjustment of projected iOS game revenues for China.

Tencent #1 Publisher in China by Revenues; Blizzard Climbs The Ranks
Tencent, the world’s number one company by game revenues, is the unchallenged top grossing publisher in China on both iOS and Android. The China Mobile Games Monitor shows that in May 2015, Tencent published 29 of the top 100 grossing Android games and 59 of the top 100 grossing iOS games. Additionally, Tencent’s Myapp surpassed 360 Mobile Assistant as the number one app store by installs in China in May 2015, with its store installed on 26 percent of Android devices and used by close to 20 percent of all Android users in that month. NetEase generated the second highest revenues in iOS in May 2015, driven by the mobile version of its blockbuster RPG Meng Huan Xi You (Fantasy Westward Journey) while in Android, iDreamSky is runner-up to Tencent. Western publishers also saw success; Blizzard jumped five spots to become the ninth grossing iOS publisher while Supercell has held the number five position for the last few months. As the popularity of Minecraft has exploded this year in China, Mojang is the most successful Western company that publishes directly into the Android app stores.

The China Mobile Games Monitor; A Newzoo/TalkingData Joint Product
The China Mobile Games Monitor is a new service developed by market analyst Newzoo and Chinese mobile intelligence leader TalkingData. The report is the world’s first single source of data on the complete Chinese mobile landscape, covering all operating systems, device brands, app stores, game genres, games and publishers month-on-month performance. The monthly report aims to be the ultimate resource for companies that want to enter the Chinese mobile games market, prioritize and optimize local sales and marketing for those already active in China, as well as benchmark performance with competitors in terms of revenues, channels and in-game metrics. The service consists of a basic report available for $17,990 for 12 months and a premium service priced at $47,990 for a full year.

About TalkingData
TalkingData is China’s largest independent Big Data service platform with focus on the mobile Internet. TalkingData offers the best-in-class Big Data products and services varying from mobile app analytics, mobile ad tracking, mobile game analytics, mobile market intelligence, DMP (Data Management Platform), industry consulting, etc. Today, 80 percent of the Top 50 developers in China rely on TalkingData to track their app metrics, analyze user data points, and optimize monetization. Industry giants such as China Merchants Bank, Citic Bank, Ping An Group also rely on TalkingData’s enterprise Big Data solution to build their core data infrastructure towards the mobile era.

Contact
Grace Meng
Global Business Manager
yuanyuan.meng@tendcloud.com

About Newzoo
Newzoo is an innovative global market research and predictive analytics firm with a primary focus on games. Newzoo provides its clients with a mix of market trends, financial analysis, revenue projections, consumer insights, data modelling solutions and predictive analytics services across all continents, screens and business models. Newzoo works for the majority of top 25 public companies by game revenue globally, many independent game developers as well as leading global hardware and media companies. Newzoo is headquartered in Amsterdam with international offices in Shanghai and San Francisco.

Contact
Emma McDonald
PR & Marketing Manager
emma@newzoo.com

ESPN Tracks the Growth of eSports

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We’ve discussed eSports at great lengths in the past, whether it was their landmark television debut with ESPN’s Heroes of the Dorm and increased attention from publishers. But some new statistics indicate that they’re about to grow to even bigger heights.

ESPN recently published an article in its magazine (and online) discussing the growth of eSports over the years, broken down through a series of charts, which you can find below.

“Some 205 million people watched or played eSports in 2014, according to market research firm Newzoo — meaning that if the eSports nation were actually a nation, it would be the fifth largest in the world,” explains the article. “And while eSports have long been biggest in Asia, especially gaming-mad Korea, North America and Europe now claim 28 million eSports fans and the number is growing by 21 percent a year.”

As you can see from this chart, the time spent watching eSports has increased dramatically, to 3.7 billion hours last year, across an audience of 89 million fans. That’s nearly three times over what numbers reported back in 2012.

Twitch, the streaming channel purchased by Amazon late last year for $970 million, has also played a huge part in the eSports game, as we previously reported.

As you can see from this chart, the site registers 16 billion gaming minutes watched per month, with 11 million broadcasts per month. A lot of that traffic comes from eSports-driven athletes, as well as titles that are popular amongst that spectrum, including DOTA 2 and League of Legends.

Males continue to be a big part of the eSports audience, with the biggest group coming from ages 21-35, making up 35 percent of that group. However, ladies aren’t being left out, as they take up a strong percentage in their own right, indicating that they enjoy it just as much as the boys.

Then there’s viewership of eSports activities. As you can see, nothing can come close to the Super Bowl — at least, not yet, although League of Legends based tournaments have gotten 27 million viewers, with DOTA 2 not far behind with 20 million. That’s more than most sporting events, including the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup Finals and the World Series.

YouTube followship has also seen a tremendous increase in gaming fans over the years. In fact, only music has the lead with 85 million viewers, while gaming is close behind with 79 million — more than movies, TV shows and Spotlight content combined.

ESPN’s final chart shows that there’s money to be made in the world of eSports. All the members of team Newbee managed to make over $5 million from winning the title at the DOTA 2 International tournament last year.

Speaking of the International, this year’s prize pool has managed to set a new record, according to eSports Nation. Valve has managed to raise a whopping $15 million in prizes for this year’s event. As you can see from the chart below, that’s a huge bump over last year’s $10 million offering, and far more than other tournaments have recently offered.

SuperData Research also provided a number of additional statistics revolving around eSports, which can be found below.

In this chart, you can see the indirect and direct revenue generated by eSports enthusiasts – and it’s big business. $111 million alone comes from corporate sponsorships, while the rest is attributed to prize pool contributions, merchandise and ticket sales, totaling well over $140 million for North America.

Breaking each market down by region, North America is a small second place compared to Asia, which has a total of $374 million generation from the worldwide market of eSports. Europe is in third with $72 million, while other regions total $24 million.Â

eSports is continuing its amazing growth – and it’s not about to stop anytime soon, especially with The International right around the corner.

A New Battle For Facebook News Feed Prominence Begins

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Brands are literally pinning the hopes of ad sales on Facebook around a new feature that the company has introduced, enabling users to “pin” favorite messages on their feed not only from friends, but also from key companies.

Through a new post on its Newsroom page, Facebook has detailed how users can customize their News Feed, using a personalized stream of stories built from the people and pages that users connect to on its social site. “The goal of News Feed is to show you the stories that matter most to you,” says the post. “To do this, we use ranking to order stories based on how interesting we believe they are to you: specifically, whom you tend to interact with, and what kinds of content you tend to like and comment on.”

And the thought that users could do more than “like” a company’s page – and instead make them a favorite on their feed – could be a dream come true for certain brands, according to a story from Ad Age. With this, it “gives hope to marketing executives who felt burned by an overcrowded news feed that meant even fans rarely saw their updates,” per the article.

Facebook previously offered an advertising tool to companies where their pages could be advertised in the user’s side news feed, giving them the opportunity to increase “likes”. With this new feature, though, they’ll have to go the extra mile to remain relevant in users’ news feeds.

Any news pages designated as vital to that user will enable them to “see any new stories they’ve shared since your last visit to Facebook at the top of News Feed, with a star in the top right of their post so you know why they’re at the top,” says Facebook in its post. “You can scroll down to see the rest of your News Feed normally.”

https://player.vimeo.com/video/132961281

However, this change doesn’t have everyone convinced, according to Nate Elliott, an analyst for Forrester Research. “In 2007, Facebook said, ‘Buy ads from us so that people will like your page, and you can deliver your message to them,’ and then they slowly whittled away that bargain. Now, in 2015, they’re going back to marketers and saying, ‘Buy ads so you can get your message to them.’ We’ve heard this promise before.”

Speaking with the New York Times, the site explained that companies will “get the chance to persuade those fans to add them to the ‘see first’ list so they don’t miss a thing.”

Brian Blau, an analyst for Gartner, added, “Businesses are going to be able to understand what kinds of people are the most passionate about them, and that’s a really good signal for them to have.”

Whether it will be a success in the long run has yet to be seen. But that isn’t stopping Facebook from working on its other business venues, including an increase in video presence and other advertising models.

 

Disney Making Games a Big Part Of D23 Expo

BY

Disney’s annual D23 Expo is set to kick off next month at the Anaheim Convention Center, and it will celebrate everything about the company, including forthcoming films like Disney/Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur and various products based on popular brands, including Marvel and Star Wars. However, this year’s event will also feature a huge focus on video games.

Disney Interactive has announced that a number of video games will be included in a special presentation both in the Hall D23 theatre and the pavilion on the show floor, where attendees can try out forthcoming titles.

Disney Infinity 3.0 Edition, which features various characters and events from the Star Wars universe as well as sets based on the box office hit Inside Out and Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron, will take primary focus. Attendees will be able to check out a number of sets available within the game, as well as try out its new toy Box modes. In addition, a variety of figurines for Disney Infinity 3.0 will be given out, including a show exclusive. (Last year, Mickey’s Apprentice figurine was handed to attendees before becoming publicly available early this year.)

Other Star Wars games will take presence at the event as well. EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront, which was introduced to the public for the first time during the Star Wars Celebration in April, will be on hand with a new multiplayer demo, similar to the ones presented during the Electronic Entertainment Expo and San Diego Comic-Con, with up to 40 players being able to jump into the fight. Bandai Namco will also feature its recently released Star Wars Battle Pod arcade game, with a unique dome-like shooting experience. The trailer below shows Battle Pod in action.

Other games will be featured at the event as well. Square Enix’s forthcoming Kingdom Hearts III – which combines role-playing elements with characters and locales from the Disney universe – will be presented, along with a number of mobile games, including Star Wars: Commander and Frozen: Free Fall, should attendees feel the need to take a break.

Even though they’ve been on the show floor in the past, video games seem to be taking a larger presence at this year’s D23 Expo – and considering the popular buzz behind Disney Infinity 3.0 (which releases next month for various consoles) and Battlefront (which arrives on November 17th for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC) – that’s a good thing.

For more information on the event, be sure to check out the official D23 Expo page.

 

Why ViralNova Chose To Go With Zealot

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by Todd Longwell

For Sean Beckner and his company ViralNova, it’s a case of good things come to those who wait. For a more than a year, he had been spurning investors looking to buy in to the digital publisher, which specializes in highly-shareable videos and listicles with titles like “What This Widower Was Handed After Dinner Left Me in Tears” and “Do You Ever Wonder If Horses Love Big Bouncy Balls.” Then, after a seven-month courtship, he finally sold the company to Zealot Networks this week in a deal combining cash, stock and earn-out that is reportedly worth $100 million.

It’s been a quick, steep climb for ViralNova. The site was launched in May 2013 by Ohio-based web designer and SEO consultant Scott DeLong. By November of that year, it was claiming more than 100 million unique monthly visits, putting it in league with top viral content purveyors BuzzFeed and Upworthy, which respectively reported 130 million and 87 million unique visits during the same period.

There were rumors that DeLong was looking for a big cash-out. Instead, he brought on Beckner as the majority partner in March 2014. With Beckner as CEO, ViralNova moved its operations to Midtown Manhattan and expanded its staff from two to twenty-four, while repeatedly turning down offers from venture capitalists and other interested parties.

It was a risky move, given the volatility of the viral content space, where fortunes can change with a tweak of Facebook’s algorithms. But it paid off.

Beckner spoke with VideoInk about the future of ViralNova and why he chose to sell to Zealot, the cash-rich company co-founded by former Maker Studios CEO Danny Zappin.

Read the interview…

This article was originally posted on VideoInk and is reposted on [a]listdaily via a partnership with the news publication, which is the online video industry’s go-to source for breaking news, features, and industry analysis. Follow VideoInk on Twitter @VideoInkNews, or subscribe via thevideoink.com for the latest news and stories, delivered right to your inbox.