Online content production company Skyword announced it has closed a $6 million round of financing with Cox Media Group (CMG) as the sole investor. As a new investor, CMG joins early stage investors including Allen & Company, Progress Ventures and American Public Media Group.
The CMG investment will be used to expand the Skyword platform to address new markets, and grow Skyword’s sales, marketing and client services functions, the company said. The Skyword platform manages the process of creating content designed for a search and social driven world. The platform is designed to decrease the cost of quality content creation and maximize its audience reach. The company’s pitch says leading brands, agencies and media companies such as Ology, Everyday Health, education.com and ImpreMedia use the Skyword platform to create thousands of pieces of content each month.
According to its website, Skyword trains freelance writers to create content using “cutting edge methods to drive traffic to their content from search and the social web.” Media companies also have the option of using their own content creators with the Skyword platform.
“Cox is very excited to be investing in Skyword. Our hope is that our long history and their entrepreneurial spirit will make for a great combination and we will both learn more about this rapidly evolving market,” said Alex Taylor, EVP of Cox Media Group. “Skyword’s unique digital content platform allows brands and media companies to not only reach their customers directly with quality content, but to also interact with them like never before. Most importantly, their leadership team is passionate and impressive, and I know they will make a big impact on their customers.”
A representative of CMG will soon join the Skyword Board of Directors, which currently consists of Jim Manzi, former CEO of Lotus Development Corporation and current chairman of Thermo Fisher; Former Senator Bill Bradley, currently of Allen & Company; Bill Kling, founder and President Emeritus of American Public Media Group; and Tom Gerace, founder and CEO of Skyword.
RBR-TVBR observation: Just as the evolving multi-platform environment is blurring the lines between various types of media, it is also blurring the line between for-profit and non-profit media. Here we have Cox – a commercial media company in newspapers, TV, radio and other ventures – investing alongside non-commercial radio giant American Public Media.
