A startup building 'Twitch for sports' just raised $22 million from investors like Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six
Playback
- Playback is a livestreaming service where creators watch and talk about sports with fans.
- The startup raised $22 million in funding from investors like Alexis Ohanian's Seven Seven Six.
- It also reached a deal with MLB.tv to bring baseball to the platform, following an earlier NBA deal.
Livestreaming startup Playback secured $22 million in funding for its platform that connects creators and fans to live sports, the company announced on Thursday.
Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian's venture capital firm Seven Seven Six is one of the firms backing the startup.
Playback, which calls itself a "Twitch for sports," launched in 2023 as a virtual space for fans to come together and watch creators talk about sports. Creators can livestream games, share commentary, and interact with viewers through a written chat. The platform has attracted creators including NBA players Kevin Garnett, Gilbert Arenas, and Jeff Teague.
RJ Halperin, Playback's CEO and cofounder, comes from the investing and tech spaces. He said sports face a key problem that Playback hopes to solve: young fans are not watching live games as much as past generations have.
He wants to change the way young audiences consume sports.
"Sports is best as a content category when you actually get to feel the community and the social activity that lives around it," Halperin told Business Insider. "Sports thrive off the social energy."
The company's funding came from seed and Series A rounds. Seven Seven Six led Playback's latest round in September. The startup is also backed by Khosla Ventures, which led the seed round in 2022, and NBA Investments.
Playback is turning to creators to rebuild that community and offering access to live sports
The platform also announced on Thursday that it inked a new partnership with Major League Baseball to livestream games from MLB.tv throughout the season. That follows an earlier deal with the NBA's League Pass streaming service that gives creators access to NBA and WNBA games to use in livestreams. Users need subscriptions to League Pass or MLB.tv to see their respective live broadcasts on Playback but can access the creator's commentary for free.
"They've been able to craft a platform that offers sports fans a fantastic experience while partnering with the biggest league names in sports," said Ohanian in a statement.
Playback said it monetizes content through creator-led features like room subscriptions and "power chats," where users can contribute money to streamers. Looking long term, the company aims to add advertisements and sponsorship opportunities.
The startup competes with livestreaming platforms, like Twitch and YouTube, which have made inroads with leagues like the NFL in recent years. Halperin also said sports, overall, compete for user attention with social media platforms like TikTok.
Playback is concentrating on offering more live sports and leagues to set itself apart. Halperin said it feels like a "race against time" to get different sports onto the platform.
"We want to move as quickly as possible to try to build a bigger and bigger library of apps on our platform that allow fans to watch as much content as they want," Halperin said.