Gameface Media, billed as ‘the world’s largest publisher of amateur athletic photos’, has raised US$4,000,000 in a financing round led by Copley Equity Partners. Bialla Venture Partners and multiple individual investors also participated in the financing.
“Gameface publishes the most compelling digital media in the world,” said Gameface Media CEO David Lavallee. “Americans are passionate about sports and love seeing photos of themselves in action. Until Gameface, however, those photos typically consisted of low quality, user-generated content. You simply can’t get a good selfie in a triathlon or a decent action shot of your child in a soccer game using an iPhone on the sidelines.”
Gameface Media is reported to be ‘experiencing tremendous growth among amateur athletes and brand sponsors.’ In 2014, the company gave away nearly 20 million free photos and generated more than 35 million page views per month on its digital platform. Gameface is reported to be on track to double those metrics in 2015.
Instead of charging consumers for this content, Gameface allows brands to sponsor the experience and to ‘weave compelling advertising into the content’. Gameface has created successful engagements for leading brands such as Nike, Under Armour, Jeep, JP Morgan, Disney and Reebok.
“We have a first-hand understanding of how American consumers engage with sports and Gameface Media provides one of the simplest, but most effective digital experiences in this sector,” said Peter Trovato, Co-Founder and Partner at Copley Equity. “Gameface captures athletes at their most memorable moments and allows brands to leverage these moments in an authentic and tasteful way.”
Brand partners have reportedly experienced advertising results that ‘far exceed industry norms’. For example, Gameface often asks consumers to watch a brief video ad for a sponsoring brand before they view their photos. These video ads enjoy very high watch-to-completion rates.
Brands see similar results for campaigns in which they ask athletes to sign up for newsletters and special offers. The brands also see deep engagement on social media from the Gameface platform. The brand’s logo is watermarked on every free photo provided so that when they are shared on social media, millions of unique and natural brand impressions are created.
“We are thrilled to have Copley Equity Partners, Bialla Venture Partners, and many high quality individual investors on our team,” said Gameface’s David Lavallee. “This financing round will allow us to expand our brand sales team and to build our infrastructure to handle the rapidly growing demand for our content.”
www.gamefacemedia.com
www.copleyequity.com
