BuzzMyVideos Acquires MakeTag To Revolutionise Online Video Experiences Through Interaction
Acquisition adds cutting edge video technology and a talented team to BuzzMyVideos’ growing international online video network
London(22 Feb 2016)
BuzzMyVideos, home to the rising stars of online video entertainment, has today announced the acqui-hire of MakeTag, an Italian tech company focused on the development of innovative technologies for interactive video. The transaction, for an undisclosed sum, marks a decisive step in the growth of the London-based startup founded by Paola Marinone and Bengu Atamer. This first acquisition will strengthen the technology team significantly and bolster its suite of proprietary tech, putting BuzzMyVideos in pole position for leading the technology revolution in online video globally.
Along with the acqui-hire of a highly skilled team, BuzzMyVideos will invest in a new international development hub in Cagliari, Sardinia, in order to attract the best developers. With Apple opening its first ever European IoS development centre in Southern Italy just last month, the development of its tech team in the area proves extremely timely.
The aim of the acqui-hire is combine the MakeTag team with BuzzMyVideos’ growing international team and together offer brands and creators even more direct channels to reach targeted audiences through the use of innovative tech tools. The overall goal being to build tools to optimise online video and make the life of creators and brands increasingly easy, as global online video consumption continues to grow. 20% of global internet users consume online video every day and the daily time spent watching online video grew with 23.3% during 2015 and is expected to grow an additional 19.8% this year. Following this massive growth, more ad dollars are starting to flow towards online video and the spending globally is expected to increase from 8.8% of online ad spend 2012 to 12.8% in 2017, according to ZenithOptimedia.
This is BuzzMyVideos’ first acqui-hire, a move that stands the online video company in the perfect position for its next level of growth. BuzzMyVideos’ network now stands at over 5200 creators from over 100 countries, in various areas of interest, such as beauty, entertainment, music, web series and much more. After raising a $2.5 million Series A round of funding from United Ventures, the online video network has already experienced a +157% growth in views (from Q4 2014 - Q4 2015), reaching more than 600 million monthly views across its YouTube network and forecasting another +160% growth during Q1 2016.
Co-founder and CEO of BuzzMyVideos, Paola Marinone, says:“We’re very proud to have the superb MakeTag team joining forces with our already fast growing international team. Tech is, and always will be, a high priority for serving cutting edge and targeted experiences for the audiences of our creators and brands. This is only the first stage of many interesting developments to come, and we're looking forward to building them together with this bright minded team."
CEO of MakeTag, Antonella Arca, comments: "We're very excited about being acquired by BuzzMyVideos. MakeTag is part of the revolution in online video, and as a part of BuzzMyVideos we'll have the chance to grow and develop the team and together with their expertise in the online video market. We're very much looking forward to creating even more innovative technology solutions - interactive video is no longer synonymous with video online, but is the visual content that pushes the user to the action on video, like in a videogame."
About MakeTag
MakeTag is a startup that designed and developed an innovative technology to create interactive videos.Through the usage of web platforms, video creators can add tags to videos in real time and distribute it to social networks, websites and mobile applications. Through interactive areas the videos is enriched with extra information that engage the audience, making the view of a video an augmented experience.
About BuzzMyVideos
BuzzMyVideos is home to the next rising stars of online video entertainment. The technology-based multi-platform network, specialist in online video content promotion, provides a new generation of talented video creators with the support to grow audiences and monetise video content via their partnership programme. Headquartered in London, BuzzMyVideos was founded in 2012 by Paola Marinone and Bengu Atamer, who together boast 12 years of experience with Google and YouTube. BuzzMyVideos network stands over 5,200 content creators from 100 countries, with over 600 million monthly views across YouTube.