SABAN Capital Group

Apester Picks Up $12 Million To Help Publishers Embrace Native

Apester, a digital storytelling platform, closed a $12 million Series A, bringing total funding to $17 million. The round, announced April 19, 2016, was led by Blumberg Capital with participation from Mangrove Capital Partners, Wellborn Ventures and others. Funds will be used for R&D, expanding the sales team, and international growth with offices in New York, Tel Aviv, London, Berlin, Tokyo, and an Istanbul outpost planned. Apester’s technology integrates into a publisher’s CMS to embed native-looking interactive units—quizzes, polls, personality tests, and videos—that boost engagement and dwell time, while collecting reader data to inform content recommendations. Notable campaigns include The LAD Bible for McDonald’s, The Weather Channel for Michelin, and Huffington Post’s Clorox content, plus interactive pieces for Entertainment Weekly and The Telegraph, illustrating broad brand and publisher adoption of the platform.

Playbuzz Aims To Help Publishers Get Chatty With Their Content

Playbuzz introduced Convo, a static content unit designed to mimic an SMS chat layout with emoji, images, and GIFs to boost editorial engagement and time spent on articles. The format is part of Playbuzz's interactive content suite (polls, quizzes, videos, slideshows) and is being tested by publishers including Perez Hilton, Distractify, Eat This Not That!, Eslang, and The Huffington Post UK. HuffPo UK highlights that Convo helps present long conversations more neatly and can include images and other interactive elements. Launch partners report averages of more than three minutes spent on Convo-embedded articles. Playbuzz is exploring advertiser-enabled opportunities with publishers. The company has raised $31 million across four funding rounds since 2012, including a $15 million strategic investment in March led by Saban Ventures with Disney participation.

Playbuzz Taps Walt Disney For $15 Million Strategic Investment

Playbuzz, a creation platform for quizzes, polls, trivia, slideshows and videos, announced a $15 million strategic investment on March 31, 2016, led by Saban Ventures with participation from Walt Disney Co. This round lifts Playbuzz’s total funding to $34 million. The strategic funding will support scaling Playbuzz’s self-serve sponsored content offering, a model used by brands such as Ford, Avon, Pizza Hut and American Express, with performance-based pricing (cost per engagement). CEO and co-founder Shaul Olmert noted Disney’s involvement could boost credibility and partner opportunities, while Playbuzz continues to expand its analytics and targeting capabilities. The company has about 100 employees, having just hired its first salesperson in Q4 2015 following a $16 million Series B a year earlier. The investment signals growing interest in branded content and attention as a metric in digital advertising.