FanSided Taps OpenWeb for Community Engagement, Bringing Quality Conversations Across Nearly 300 Sports and Entertainment Media Properties

NEW YORK, Nov. 18, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- OpenWeb, a leading audience engagement and conversation platform, today announced its partnership with FanSided, one of the fastest-growing networks of fans in sports, entertainment and lifestyle, providing its audience engagement and conversation platforms to FanSided's nearly 300 media brands. Through the partnership, OpenWeb will enable FanSided's 2 million daily readers the ability to better engage in high-quality community interactions with other fans, and its editorial content.

"As a technology-first media company, we value innovative tech that allows us to provide the best user experiences while fostering a community with our sports and entertainment fanbases," said Betsy Cohen, VP of Product at FanSided. "OpenWeb's technology has provided our 300 websites with a platform that enables our readers to have authentic conversations, increasing the scale and quality of FanSided's audience engagement."

Comments on FanSided's media properties nearly doubled since implementing OpenWeb's technology. According to data from OpenWeb's State of Online Conversations Report, readers who comment on sports-focused publications visit 10% more content pages than commenters on other publications such as news or technology. Sports is one of OpenWeb's highest performing verticals in regards to retention rate, typically seeing 40% of visitors returning month over month.

"We're excited to welcome FanSided into our network," said Nadav Shoval, CEO and Co-Founder of OpenWeb. "As an established sports publisher, one that is continuing to show growth and innovation through content and engagement, we look forward to supporting its media properties and nurturing positive, thriving, communities and conversations."

Through this partnership, OpenWeb continues to show its dedication to working with publishers such as Salon, AOL.com, Refinery29, TechCrunch, with its holistic approach towards quality community moderation and brand safety. For more information on OpenWeb and its capabilities visit https://www.openweb.com/who-we-are/.

About OpenWeb
OpenWeb (formerly Spot.IM) is on a mission to democratize and improve conversations online. The platform utilizes AI and machine learning to incentivize healthy dialogue, decrease toxicity, and create thriving, engaged communities. OpenWeb works with more than 1,000 top-tier publishers and hosts 100 million active users each month.

Founded in 2012, OpenWeb has 100 employees in New York City and Tel Aviv and is backed by world-class investors including Insight Partners, AltaIR Capital, ScaleUp, Norma Investments, and Index Ventures. To learn more about OpenWeb's quality conversation platform visit OpenWeb.com, or follow @OpenWebHQ on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram.

About FanSided
FanSided is one of the fastest growing networks of fandom-focused sports, entertainment and lifestyle sites on the internet. Launched by two brothers who wanted to put their own spin on the coverage of their beloved Kansas City Chiefs, FanSided grew to be a thriving collection of more than 300 communities dedicated to bringing fans together to share their common passions. In January of 2020, Minute Media acquired the company from Meredith Corp.

SOURCE OpenWeb