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12up looks to capitalize on millennial sports audience, engagement model

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By Doug Zanger, Americas Editor

May 27, 2016 | 2 min read

Minute Media, parent of 90min, a popular and, according to the company, fastest growing football media platform in Europe with more than 47m unique monthly visitors, is looking to make inroads in the US sports market with launch of 12up. 12up relies on “snackable,” social-first, user-generated content that is targeted to the millennial audience. The goal is that the citizen journalist and influencer approach will appeal not only to the intended audience, but advertisers as well.

“With 12up, we’ve found a new, differentiated lifestyle voice in sports,” said Rich Routman, president of Minute Media. “We believe 12up fills a void in the sports media landscape for fans and brands, especially given the scarcity of sports media brands that can deliver the millennial audience at scale.”

Sports fans can create articles quizzes, slideshows, videos, listicles, and endless other multimedia content to tell the stories behind the game, integrating sports into pop culture. At present, there are more than 100 new pieces being developed by citizen journalists and the company’s editorial staff.

One key component of the platform is the revenue model. The company says that it is the only sports property that earns brand advertising dollars using a cost per engagement model. This approach affords brands more opportunity to have “ownership of the brand experience and content offering” through native placements.

“We are excited to expand the Minute Media platform to 12up and the US audience,” said Asaf Peled, founder and CEO of Minute Media. “We have built our business by turning the typical publishing business model and experience on its head.”

12up has been relatively quiet in its private beta stage the last two months, building up to reach more than 4m unique users, 85 per cent of which have come through mobile, with 70 per cent of the audience in the 18-24 age range.

Minute Media closed a $15m round of funding last October and its total funding is $45m. Across Minute Media properties, audience growth has climbed from 7.5 million unique visitors up to 47 million global unique visitors in the past 18 months, with more than 110 million monthly users engaging with Minute Media content through social platforms.

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