Corporate advertisers have found that content shared by athlete endorsers receive 6x the engagement that same content would receive, if shared on their own platform. However, brands struggle to get athletes to share their content as intended. Athletes want to build their personal brands and provide their fans with high quality content, but lack the bandwidth to create with so much of their focus on the field. opendorse has built the solution to both issues, a marketing platform that provides brand partners with direct access to an endorser’s personal social media channels; while giving athletes a way to access, approve and activate content from their brand partners in a single click.
Howie Long-Short: There is an ongoing shift occurring in the way sports rights holders distribute content, with an increase in broadcast related video being shared by professional athletes; as sports leagues look to increase distribution and grow their audience. That makes sense to me. Athletes have the reach and influence, while the leagues own the rights and can pre-package the content for distribution. Everyone seemingly benefits. It’s worth noting that the 2,400 athletes on the opendorse platform have a combined reach of 800 million followers, 4x ESPN’s reach when you combine all their social channels.
Fan Marino: opendorse was founded by former Nebraska Cornhusker football players Blake Lawrence and Adi Kunalic. The Lincoln (NE) based company has maintained its ties to the program, recently closing on a $3.5 million series A round with more than 1/3 of the capital coming from former Huskers; including Bears CB Prince Amukamara.
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