On Wednesday, LA-based sports media company Wave.tv announced that it raised $32 million in a Series A funding round. CoVenture and GPS Partners led the round with participation from new and existing investors.
It’s a well-known trend that Millennials don’t watch as much broadcast or cable television as older generations, and this trend holds true for Gen Z viewers too. But at the same time, watching sports remains just as popular as ever.
Wave.tv launched in 2017 to bring sports content to these digitally native fans. The media brand publishes its own content across platforms like Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, and it’s found great success doing so. The company says it’s become the fastest growing sports media entity and the fourth largest over the past year. The company has 18 distinct brands in its portfolio providing different types of sports content, and across these brands it’s able to reach over 200 million fans and generate 3.2 billion views each month.
It’s been a tricky year for sports, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing several major leagues to suspend games. But luckily, Wave.tv was in a unique position to deal with this due to its diverse array of sports content. Channels across the Wave.tv brand feature everything from axe cutting to workout videos and more.
“We bring fans a far wider array of sports than what can be found on traditional broadcast and elsewhere, which is a byproduct of our partnership with a wide range of leagues and rights holders,” Wave.tv president and cofounder Ishaan Sutaria said in a statement.
Wave.tv says it will use its new funding to create more media brands for more underserved fandoms. It also looks to expand its existing brand line-up to more digital platforms. The company also says it’s looking into IP and talent development, e-commerce, acquisitions, sports betting and more.
“At its core, our business has always been and will continue to be an adaptation of legacy sports media, simply re-imagining the same stories and narratives fans have cared about for generations, into programming best suited for the core and emerging digital platforms where today’s fan spends their time,” Wave.tv CEO and co-founder Brian Verne said in a statement. “Early on that meant developing a deep passion and understanding for how this generation consumes content, and, in many respects, forcing ourselves to not try and reinvent the wheel. Fandom + formats + IP is our recipe for developing new hit programming.”
