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"Game On" Video Entrepreneurs
“Millions of consumers visit social platforms such as Facebook up to 15 times a day, a level of engagement that no publisher or rights holder is likely to command for their own website or mobile apps,” says Gareth Capon, CEO of real-time video company Grabyo.“The viral nature of social media also means that when users share a great piece of content, it is distributed far more quickly and broadly than a publisher could achieve through traditional channels.”Founded by tech entrepreneur and investor Will Neale, Grabyo was first launched in 2013 with Sky’s Next Top Model as a TV clip-sharing platform for viewers so they could share their favourite TV moments.Having encountered significant challenges from a rights perspective, it quickly pivoted into a real-time video platform for rights holders, enabling them to share the clips themselves while retaining control over what content is distributed and shared on social platforms.In this way it allows rights holders to rapidly capture, edit and distribute video clips from any live video feed across multiple social media platforms to reach mobile audiences, drive engagement and generate ad revenue from sponsors.It was Capon, who had led product development and social TV initiatives at Sky, who identified a growing need for rights holders to follow audiences onto social apps, based on mobile and social app usage upswings and the clamour among brands to engage social media users at scale.When he joined Grabyo as CEO in 2014, Capon immediately began signing deals with a number of UK broadcasters and rights holders covering sport, including Wimbledon, and music, namely the Brit Awards.He also looked to raise investment from sports stars and secured a $2million seed round with soccer stars Thierry Henry, Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie and NBA star Tony Parker.This was followed by the launch of clip-sharing mobile app Grabyo VIP to help rights holders and brands capitalise on the social engagement of stars, who accelerate distribution and monetisation of clips simply by re-sharing them to their fans.
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