NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 29, 2016) - DraftDay Fantasy Sports Inc. (DDAY) has agreed to acquire Rant, Inc. in a move to become a market leader in social publishing. As a complement to its existing Wetpaint publishing business, Rant brings an expanded reach into sports, lifestyle, and entertainment publishing. In their best months combined, Wetpaint and Rant have received over 50 million monthly visitors to their properties. The combined properties currently have approximately 15 million fans on their Facebook pages and generate up to 300 million video views per month. Wetpaint and Rant will have an editorial team of 30 writers and will be able to draw upon content from more than 400 pre-screened writers.
Rant, Inc. is a leading digital publisher that publishes original content in 13 different verticals, most notably in sports, entertainment, pets, cars and food. Rant has delivered up to 11 monthly visits per visitor across its network, twice as much as industry leaders Buzzfeed and Vox in some months. Adweek reported that Rant's flagship RantSports.com property was ranked #1 by Quantcast for target digital ad buying for the 2015 holiday season, indicating the power of reaching a targeted audience.
Wetpaint (Wetpaint.com) is the fastest growing entertainment news destination for millennial women. Covering the latest in television, music, and pop culture, Wetpaint reaches over 10 million entertainment enthusiasts on a monthly basis. Armed with our proprietary and patented Social Distribution System (algorithm), the Wetpaint editorial team publishes and socially optimizes more than 60 pieces of content daily. With over 10 million followers on Facebook, Wetpaint shows up within social feeds and drives traffic to the website.
Robert F.X. Sillerman, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The merger of Wetpaint and Rant creates a formidable entrant in the exploding social publishing realm. While each enjoys unique and often unparalleled reach and access, together they create a broad and highly relevant source of must read content for highly desirable audiences. Leap frogging into the upper echelon of a growing market, we fully expect this to be the spring board for more growth and acquisitions."
Brett Rosin, Founder and CEO of Rant, Inc., stated, "We are excited to further accelerate our growth in social publishing and digital media through the combination of Rant and Wetpaint. Rant's audience reach across all verticals, Wetpaint's social distribution platforms, and both teams' ability to create innovative and engaging content will create a phenomenal opportunity for users and advertisers alike. Our team is hungry to remain one of the fastest growing media companies in America since 2011. The combination with Wetpaint will provide significantly enhanced scale to continue that growth."