• by Sara Guaglione , September 27, 2017

The interactive media platform and branded content business Playbuzz has raised an additional $35 million in a Series C funding round, doubling its total funding to $66 million.

Playbuzz will use the latest investment to expand its branded content business.

The investment was led by Viola Growth, as well as existing investors Disney, Saban Ventures, 83 North, Carmel Ventures, firstime and Oded Vardi. 

Harel Beit-On, founder and general partner of Viola Growth, will join Playbuzz’s board of directors.

Disney previously participated in Playbuzz’s $15 million funding round in March 2016, led by Saban Ventures, as well as 83North, Carmel Ventures and firstime.

Disney uses Playbuzz across ESPN, ABC and ABC News.

Playbuzz was founded in 2012 by Shaul Olmert and Tom Pachys. Its platform is used by about 13,000 online publishers to create, distribute and monetize interactive stories to drive audience engagement. It uses formats like quizzes, polls, lists and slideshows.

The company also creates native ads in partnership with brands and distributes them across its network of publishers. Playbuzz has worked with Pizza Hut, Unilever and Ford, as well as publishers such as Time, USA Today andthe Daily Telegraph.

“Playbuzz’s evolution into providing monetized content solutions to publishers and brands is of substantial value to our partners in their effort to increase readers’ attention spans and content viewability,” stated Olmert, cofounder and CEO of Playbuzz.

The company claims its branded content campaigns are consumed by 65% of users, on average.

It has more than 150 employees across its offices in New York, London, Tel Aviv, Hamburg, São Paulo, Moscow and Los Angeles.