SANTA MONICA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GumGum Sports, the leader in computer-vision powered sports media valuation, today released a report on the division’s exceptionally successful 2018, a year marked by a doubling of clients and employees and more than quadrupling of revenue. GumGum Sports – which measures sponsorships across three distinct channels (television broadcast, online streaming and social media) – also helped clients discover nearly $1 billion in unrealized social media value alone ($905,387,725) in 2018, underlining the need for teams, leagues and brands to monitor and monetize this massive but traditionally difficult-to-measure platform.
Finally, over the past 12 months, GumGum Sports has vastly diversified its portfolio: brands and agency clients now make up 35 percent of its partnerships versus 15 percent in 2017. Brian Kim, who was named division GM in July, listed a number of new deals secured last year, including those with the Canadian Football League, CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation), the Columbus Blue Jackets, the Houston Astros, Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia 76ers, Sixers Gaming GC, Team Dignitas), the Tampa Bay Rays and the Toronto Blue Jays.
“We’re incredibly proud of our team,” said GumGum Sports’ VP Ian Partilla. “We not only grew our reach in terms of client numbers, but also the number of sports we touch.” He noted the record number of sports that GumGum engaged with in 2018 as it served stakeholders linked to the NBA, the NFL, the NHL, the MLB, MLS, MMA, college basketball, cycling and esports. Esports saw particularly high growth for GumGum Sports, whose gaming business grew to make up 10 percent of the division’s revenue. To build on its success in that arena, GumGum Sports has hired former esports pro, Tia Smith (@IAmInertiaGG), as a member of its esports sales unit.
“Our group are major sports fans, and our products were built not only with unique algorithms and artificial intelligence, but by our team’s knowledge and love of the game, watching and understanding where and how rights holders can benefit in-arena and in-stadium,” said vice president Jeff Katz, who started the division in 2016. In addition, he described the 2018 introduction of GumGum’s Scoreboard platform surrounding in-arena NHL sponsorships, a real-time online social benchmarking platform similar to its already-successful Scoreboard for rights holders with NBA partnerships.
2018 was also a year GumGum Sport made in-person inroads among industry decision makers. Katz cited appearances and events where the group was the face of sports media valuation, noting that its executives led panels at two major conferences, Hashtag Sports and Advertising Week. Katz confirmed that new business came from these events, and that GumGum Sports would continue to drive the sports sponsorship measurement conversation around these key moments in 2019.
“GumGum Sports offers an exceptional product thanks to our computer vision expertise,” said Ophir Tanz, GumGum’s CEO. “But what made 2018 such a great year was that we have a team that is not only devoted to the business of sport, but who understand, fundamentally, the paradigm-shifting power of our applied artificial intelligence technology.”
About GumGum Sports
GumGum Sports is a division of GumGum that leverages GumGum’s computer vision technology to help brands, agencies and rights holders go Beyond the Broadcast™ to capture the full media value of sports sponsorships that include visible signage across television and social media. By analyzing live broadcasts, social media and digital streaming, GumGum Sports provides accurate, timely and comprehensive media valuations. They enable rights holders to retain and grow partner revenue and give sponsors the ability to track and optimize media value across a portfolio of sponsorships.