WinView, a two-screen TV synchronization platform, announced the close of its Series A funding round with $3.4 million in equity financing on Tuesday (May 31). With the latest investment, WinView’s total funding to date has now reached $6.5 million.
The company confirmed that its new capital will be used to help ramp up the development and launch of its WinView Games app in time for the start of the 2016 professional football season. WinView enables users to watch live televised sports, while also playing games and competing to win prizes based on the company’s advertising-supported business model.
In a statement announcing the funding, WinView Founder and CEO Dave Lockton said:
“Live sports is premium programming with a massive captive audience, and it is one of the last bastions to engage millennials. Technology and market conditions are now converging and giving rise to position our app, which is uniquely synchronized with live TV, to be a huge mobile engagement and revenue generation opportunity for the networks, leagues and advertisers involved, especially those seeking the coveted young adult male audience. WinView will be a premium gateway for advertisers to access viewers on the second screen.”
According to WinView, in Europe, the market for in-play gaming on mobile while watching live sports on television has already transformed into a multi-billion dollar industry.
In the U.S., the company will target an audience of 57 million sports fantasy league players, as well as an established 200 million television sports viewing fan base.
“Millions of people in the U.S. are already using a second screen, checking stats while they watch, which has set the stage for this next big leap in sports television, enabling the viewer, unlike fantasy, to play along in real time with the live game itself,” Tom Rogers, co-chairmen of the WinView board of directors, explained.
“WinView’s ad-supported business model requires no payment necessary to play but yet has as well all the necessary technology and IP for purposes of games of skill, where viewers could pay to enter to win even bigger prizes. This combination of a great new experience for the TV viewer and a great new avenue of growth for the media business is the biggest venture upside Hank [Ratner, Rogers’ co-chairman of the board] and I have seen in the TV space in years.”
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