Minute Media Ltd. is an international digital media publisher based in London, England, with an associated research and development center in Tel Aviv, Israel. From founding as soccer publication 90min in Israel, the company has grown into a major new media holding company of a number of properties in the field of sports news and commentary, including The Players' Tribune and the FanSided blog network.

The company employs 230 people and generates a reported $170 million in annual revenue, derived primarily from advertising. It is owned by venture capitalist and sports fan Asef Peled.

Company history

Establishment

Minute Media was first established in 2011 under the name 90min, a digital publication dedicated to soccer.[1][2] The company's founders included Asaf Peled, Yuval Larom, and Gili Beiman.[2]

Peled declared a decade later that the company's protracted growth has come as a surprise. In an April 2021 interview he stated “When we got started, I had no idea what we were actually building and I had very little operative experience. I wanted to found a startup in order to be able to be involved in sports, which is something I always loved.... I figured we’d build a small company, mess around with it for a few years, and move on."[3]

Today the company employs about 230 people in various capacities, with offices in the United Kingdom, Israel, and the United States.[2] The company's various brands bring together approximately 4,000 content producers, who generate 20,000 unique items each month on behalf of 350 million monthly site visitors.[3] About 90% of the company's revenue is derived from advertising.[3]

About 100 of the company's employees are based in Tel Aviv, most of whom work on technology and product development.[3]

In general, Minute Media describes itself as "a platform for creating and distributing everything that isn’t dependent on broadcast rights," according to its founder.[3]

In May 2020, Minute Media launched its own technology brand, Voltax Video.[4]

Content

The company initially derived much of its content from amateur creators, although it has moved towards a revenue-sharing business model as creators gained experience and proficiency and moved towards professionalism.[3] According to founder Asef Peled, "If an athlete uses our platform to share a personal story with their fans, we won’t pay them, but if they work together with us as part of their campaign with an advertiser, then we’ll share part of the revenues. For that reason, the cost of content production on our platform is very low compared to traditional media."[3]

Most of Minute Media's focus has been geared to the American market, with founder Peled observing that "Americans tend to be more willing to pay for content and in addition, most American fans support teams in several sports, so it was easier for us as a young company to build up our commercial side there..."[3]

Acquisitions

Mental Floss was acquired by Minute Media from the estate of Felix Dennis in September 2018.[5]

In March 2019, Minute Media acquired The Big Lead, a news blog with heavy coverage of sports and popular culture, from newspaper giant Gannett.[6]

In November 2019, Minute Media announced the acquisition of The Players' Tribune, a digital media company founded by former New York Yankees star Derek Jeter.[2] The division is a media company which allows elite athletes to create their own content for public distribution, thereby bypassing the traditional model of making use of an intermediary publisher.

In January 2020, the company revealed its acquisition of FanSided, a network of more than 300 focused blogs dealing primarily with American professional and collegiate sports.[2]

Digital content brands

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Spangler, Todd (2020-02-26). "Minute Media, Owner of The Players' Tribune and FanSided, Set for More M&A After Raising $40 Million". Variety. Retrieved 2023-12-13.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Minute Media Makes Fourth Acquisition in Two Years". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Ravet, Hagar (2021-04-14). "Minute Media gave fans their content fix during sports' darkest days". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  4. ↑ "Minute Media expands Voltax Video offering for publishers". CTECH - www.calcalistech.com. 2021-07-01. Retrieved 2023-08-20.
  5. ↑ Sarah Jerde, "Minute Media Acquires Mental Floss," AdWeek, September 23, 2018.
  6. ↑ Andrew Marchand, "Sale of The Big Lead Leaves Website Founder Jason McIntyre Out," New York Post, March 14, 2019.
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