Google snaps up FameBit to bring content creators and marketing closer
Google has acquired FameBit, a communication platform which brings content creators and marketers together for sponsorship and branded content deals.
On Tuesday, the tech giant announced the deal on the YouTube blog, claiming the acquisition will "allow creators of all sizes to directly connect with brands."
This could be an important acquisition for Google's YouTube, where monetization issues are a concern and keeping popular, ad revenue-generating content creators on the network remains a challenge.
While schemes such as Google Preferred do give brand advertisers access to the most popular YouTube channels based on their interests, the purchase of FameBit could give individual and fresh content creators a chance to make enough money to stay on the YouTube platform and even the playing field a little.
"We believe that Google's relationship with brands and YouTube's partnerships with creators, combined with FameBit's technology and expertise, will help increase the number of branded content opportunities available, bringing even more revenue into the online video community," Google says.
In a blog post, FameBit founders David Kierzkowski and Agnes Kozera said they "couldn't be happier" with the acquisition, having set up only three years ago and now accounting for over 25,000 branded videos and two billion minutes of watch time.
FameBit says the company's platform will continue to act as a standalone operation for now -- but Google's plans for the future could change that.
"With Google's relationship with brands large and small, and YouTube's partnership with creators around the globe, we hope to connect even more brands to creators, engage more audiences, and make brand marketing more creative and authentic than ever," FameBit says.
The financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.