More than 600 media brands worldwide have adopted Tagboard to take their content production and fan engagement to the next level – with interactive graphics, polling and real-time social content
Tagboard, a leading cloud production and graphics platform, announced $8 million in Series A funding, co-led by Grayhawk Capital and Next Frontier Capital, with strategic investments from Sinclair Broadcast Group and WISE Ventures. Tagboard had previously raised $5.7M in seed funding from investors including long-time partner Keshif Ventures. Tagboard will use the funding to accelerate product development and go-to-market activities – with more than 600 media brands worldwide now using its platform for interactive content production.
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“Tagboard is the fastest growing cloud graphics platform in the world – purpose-built to help major media organizations produce more impactful content from anywhere, while saving time and money” said Tagboard CEO Nathan Peterson. “Today thousands of producers and teams rely on Tagboard to create high-quality broadcast content that millions of people watch every day, driving stronger engagement across screens with more efficiency.”
Why Tagboard?
The hard truth for media organizations today is they face increased competition and pressure to produce content that drives competitive viewership, measurable engagement and ad revenue, all while working with tighter budgets, time, and resources. As the sheer number of options has the attention of viewers spread thinner across linear and digital broadcast, networks not only need to experiment with new interactive content formats to better engage viewers across channels, they also have an imperative to embrace cloud innovation to produce stories in a more efficient and impactful way.
Tagboard removes the complexity and cost of legacy production hardware, empowering producers to create shows from anywhere in the world, whether they are traveling abroad, working from home, or in the broadcast studio.
“Tagboard was built from the ground up to help media organizations solve their biggest production challenges,” said Sherman Chu, Founder & Managing Partner at Grayhawk Capital. “What began as a platform for surfacing live social content to include in stories has quickly become the production platform of choice for major media networks, generating massive efficiencies by helping them to move their graphics systems into the cloud. We are thrilled to co-lead this investment round and the multitude of opportunities that Tagboard has as it rolls out its planned innovation roadmap.”
In contrast to competing solutions, Tagboard prides itself on ease of use, where within an hour of training, anyone from an intern to an experienced producer can create custom graphics on the fly, integrate real-time social content across major platforms, or launch interactive campaigns through QR and polling technology. Legacy technologies can take months of training to learn and many don’t have as broad of access to real-time content as Tagboard.
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“The next generation of producers expects production to be as easy as content creation on Instagram or TikTok,” said Will Price, Founder & Managing Partner at Next Frontier Capital. “Tagboard is delivering that ease of use to media partners, bringing crowd-sourced, real-time content and data driven graphics together in an intuitive platform built by producers, for producers. We couldn’t be more excited to co-lead this investment round and look forward to partnering with Tagboard as they execute on their vision with partners to redefine the future of cloud production and storytelling.”
Tagboard’s cloud production software now used by more than 600 media partners
Since the initial launch of its cloud production and graphics software in 2020, Tagboard has quickly built momentum – with more than 600 media brands now utilizing its platform to bring real-time content, interactive graphics and polling into linear and digital broadcasts. Sinclair Broadcast Group, CNN, NBC Sports, NFL Network, Riot Games, FOX Sports, E! Networks, Major League Baseball, and Turner Sports are just some of the major media partners that now use Tagboard for their global production needs.
“Tagboard has been a key partner of Sinclair for many years, and we’re thrilled to support them as they enhance their product suite to power real-time, interactive storytelling on all platforms,” said Scott Livingston, VP, News at Sinclair Broadcast Group. “Viewers expect to have a voice in the news, and Tagboard allows producers to quickly customize presentations, live data, and interactive experiences for any audience or story without requiring new hardware or changing workflows. That level of flexibility is critical as live production continues to move beyond the four walls of traditional control rooms and the number of distribution platforms expands.”
In 2021, media partners produced more than 20 million stories using Tagboard, with an average of 1,200 graphics incorporated into stories each day. Earlier this month, NBC Sports utilized Tagboard to incorporate interactive graphics and real-time social content into its coverage of the XXIV Olympic Winter Games and Super Bowl LVI.
“When we launched Tagboard in 2011, we couldn’t have imagined the full evolution of our platform to where we are today,” said Tagboard Founder and Chairman Josh Decker. “Our original vision was to create a universal way to search, aggregate and share real-time social content. Fast forward to today and we have become the preferred cloud production software for major media organizations – powering the production of stories, sports and news broadcasts around the world.”
Building on its strong adoption by media brands is Tagboard’s growing partnerships with sports organizations. NFL Media and Tagboard were recently Emmy nominated for Digital Innovation of the Year for their collaboration on cloud graphics production through the pandemic. The company also works with 21 NFL clubs including its longest standing client, the Minnesota Vikings, who helped intrigue WISE Ventures to join the round.
“The Tagboard team has done a phenomenal job working with the Minnesota Vikings over several years and we could not be happier with the product or the team,” said Jonathan Wilf, Partner at WISE Ventures. “Tagboard is a clear market leader in creating interactive live programming to engage with the next generation of fans. We look forward to working with Nathan and his team to drive new product features and expand into additional verticals.”
To keep up with the rapid growth of its business, Tagboard is also announcing several other key leadership and board appointments. Newly appointed Tagboard CEO Nathan Peterson, Sherman Chu of Grayhawk Capital, and Will Price of Next Frontier Capital will act as board members along with Tagboard Founder Josh Decker (Board Chairman). Other key leadership appointments include Joesph Tripp, Chief Revenue Officer; Kirk Dickinson, Chief Financial Officer; and Linka Baumgardt, Chief Strategy Officer.
Tagboard is the world’s leading cloud graphics and production platform – used daily by hundreds of media, entertainment and sports organizations to produce more impactful stories, save time and drive stronger engagement with fans. Tagboard’s proprietary software empowers producers to create shows from anywhere in the world with an internet connection, with an intuitive graphics interface, one click access to social content, and interactive QR code and polling for cross channel engagement.
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