Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six leads Series A financing round MLB becomes second major league after the NBA to partner with the platform Social live streaming platform Playback, which allows content creators and fans to watch sport events together, has raised US million in fresh funding. Playback describes itself as the ‘Twitch for sports’, providing […]
- Alexis Ohanian’s Seven Seven Six leads Series A financing round
- MLB becomes second major league after the NBA to partner with the platform
Social live streaming platform Playback, which allows content creators and fans to watch sport events together, has raised US million in fresh funding.
Playback describes itself as the ‘Twitch for sports’, providing a virtual space for content creators to live stream games. Creators can then choose to provide reactions and commentary of the match they are watching, and can interact with viewers.
The platform allows creators to monetise content through subscription offerings, fan donations and paid ‘Power Chat’ messages. Additionally, fans can form their own communities on the platform to watch live games together.
In 2023, the platform officially partnered with the NBA, with subscribers to the league’s direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming service NBA League Pass able to stream live games on Playback. The company has since welcomed creators such as former NBA ace Gilbert Arenas and the ‘No Dunks’ podcast onto the platform. According to Playback, the average connected League Pass user on the platform watches 7.5 hours of games each week.
The Series A round was led by Alexis Ohanian’s venture capital firm Seven Seven Six, with participation from Khosla Ventures and National Basketball Association (NBA) Investments. Khosla Ventures led the Seed round for the platform in 2022.
Playback has also agreed a partnership with Major League Baseball (MLB) which allows MLB.TV subscribers to connect their accounts for social viewing. With 55 per cent of Playback users outside the US, MLB hopes to engage its global fanbase. Playback hopes to attract more partnerships ad advertisers moving forward.
