
Ranker Evolves from Internet Funhouse to Big Data Purveyor
Sam primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Previously he was Marjorie Deane Fellow at The Economist, where he wrote for the business and finance sections of the print edition. He has also worked at the XPRIZE Foundation, U.S. Government Accountability Office, KCRW, and MLB Advanced Media (now Disney Streaming Services). He holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson, an MPP from UCLA Luskin and a BA in History from University of Michigan. Email him at samblake@dot.LA and find him on Twitter @hisamblake
Ranker has made a profitable business of crowdsourcing lists and rankings on everything from action movies to ice cream flavors. Now, it wants to sell that data.
The Los Angeles-based media company announced this week it has surpassed 1 billion user votes for its lists and with that data will launch Ranker Insights, a new service targeting the marketers, studios and entertainment platforms vying for consumers' attention in a crowded online space.
"This marks the open-for-business milestone," David Yon, who was brought into the company to lead Ranker Insights, told dot.LA. "Ranker is now available for B2B data licensing."
Ranker Insights will be the company's next step in its evolution from a website where someone can vote on their favorite U.S. president, fast food burger and Marvel Cinematic Universe character to a purveyor of consumer information, feeding the entertainment industry as it navigates a world dominated by streaming.
But in an industry awash in analytics, Ranker may face challenges in convincing customers that its data are valid. Although the company released a white paper with some description of its backend processes, it will likely need to peel back the curtain to prospective buyers.
Ranker is likely to face questions about the steps it takes to comply with Europe's complex data protection rules (GDPR), for example, and exactly how it is able to separate the signal from the noise, media analyst Dan Rayburn told dot.LA.
"There may be value there but the data's only as good as the methodology and how it's being collected," Rayburn added. "Everybody's always questioning that."
Ranker says that savvy companies know how to value its hoard of data. The company boasts over 160 million statistically relevant relationships and correlations on a range of consumer likes from their hamburger preferences to their favorite city in South America.
Chief executive Clark Benson, a serial entrepreneur who started Ranker 10 years ago because he liked lists and rankings and wanted to democratize them on the internet, said that within five years Ranker Insights could eclipse revenues generated by Ranker.com.
Ranker currently makes most of its money from its website via ads from streaming services such as HBOMax or consumer companies like Unilever. It's been profitable for over four years and though it's raised $7 million in venture funding, Ranker has financed its recent growth with its own cash, Benson said.
What Makes Ranker's Data Unique
The value of Ranker's data, the company says, starts with its volume. Those 1 billion votes and counting – which imply three votes per second over the company's 10 years of operating – come from over 70 million users. 40 million users visit the site on a monthly basis, according to the company. Voters spend over 4 minutes per visit and vote about 11 times per list.
"A lot of TV networks and studios, pay-TV and video on-demand platforms are not yet fully leveraging the power of data," Yon said.
Although the company's focus has been on building up rankings around entertainment – TV, movies, music and celebrities – the site also includes subjects like food, sports, fashion and history. There's data on favorite skin care products, grapefruit drinks and beaches in Hawaii. This variety and volume means Ranker can extract insights based on correlations.
"You start to build a connected graph that's not just about people's TV preferences but interconnected preferences," Benson said. For example, discovering the kind of music that fans of "Breaking Bad" enjoy, or the type of car to which "Call of Duty" fans aspire.
Building upon its data collection, the company launched Watchworthy in March. It poured a "7-figure investment" into the app and directed most of the company's product and engineering resources there over the past year. And it's paid off. The app had 13,000 downloads in its first month and Benson said it could ultimately drive half of Ranker's direct sales. Already Watchworthy has attracted some of Ranker's biggest advertising deals to date, Benson added.
But the app that gives television show recommendations for viewers based on their preferences has a larger purpose. Ranker will sift through the data from its website and Watchworthy to feed its Insights service.
Who will use Ranker Insights?
Yon — who has been in the data licensing business for over a decade, including stints at entertainment software company Rovi and TiVo — sees Ranker's data as valuable information for a variety of entertainment companies.
Streamers could use it to improve their own content recommendations and to guide decisions on which shows to produce and/or acquire. Studios could use the data to make casting decisions. Talent agencies may be interested in insights on which actors and directors positively correlate with which kinds of content and brands, Yon said. And the data could help content makers and brands alike to target audiences.
"When you look at the hundreds of millions of dollars companies spend on data, it's a huge market," Yon said. Ranker has done one-off data deals in the past but now it's Yon's task to consistently tap that market.
Device-makers, too, may find the data useful, especially as voice-activated search becomes more common. Yon says these queries tend to be more subjective and granular than text-based searches, which brings challenges in providing useful results. Ranker's data, he says, has the depth and richness to help meet that challenge.
"Sometimes living in your own bubble and ecosystem doesn't give you the insights and visibility you need, such as what's the right content, the right recommendations, the right ad targeting," said Yon.
But being an outsider can also be a disadvantage. Ranker won't be able to take into account every factor that a content provider considers when making programming decisions.
"Many times a (streaming company's) recommendation engine will recommend certain content where the licensing window is expiring or where the licensing cost is cheaper," Rayburn said.
That gap could diminish the value of Ranker's data.
Rayburn noted the biggest thing ad-based streamers are missing is the ability to provide personalized, programmatic advertising. That requires an improvement in the backend technological infrastructure, not data the likes of which Ranker Insights can offer.
"They're (already) kind of drowning in data," Rayburn said.
But Ranker Insights is more likely to find demand, he suggested, from the less data-savvy companies like traditional networks and studios.
Yon's challenge will be to convince potential customers that Ranker can provide value. Based on his experience, he expects it may take up to a year to get into the full swing of data dealmaking.
"Everyone says they're agile, but they usually have 6-12 month roadmap commitments," he said. "If you knock on a company's door today, unless you're extremely lucky, you have to get on their radar, build some mindshare, make it easy for them to take a spin when they have time on their hands and eventually you build the business case and then you strike the kinds of deals we're going for."
The 6-12 months that Yon says he has to build a proof of concept for Ranker Insights starts Tuesday. If he succeeds, he is optimistic about its prospects.
"It could easily exceed the revenue that we generate from Ranker and Watchworthy," he said.
---
Sam Blake primarily covers entertainment and media for dot.LA. Find him on Twitter @hisamblake and email him at samblake@dot.LA
Subscribe to our newsletter to catch every headline.
Los Angeles is home to around 5,000 startups, the majority of which are in their young, formative years.
Which of those thousands are poised for a breakout in 2021? We asked dozens of L.A.'s top VCs to weigh in. We wanted to know which companies they would have invested in if they could go back and do it all over again.
Boiling
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGaW1hZ2VzJTNGcSUzRHRibiUzQUFOZDlHY1EwRjdlRzlxY3JFd1lNVS12T2VTWng1NFd6VFdWUktaMFpyQSUyNnVzcXAlM0RDQVUmaG89aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZlbmNyeXB0ZWQtdGJuMC5nc3RhdGljLmNvbSZzPTEwMDImaD1jOGIyM2Y5YWNhNGNhNDY3NzZhNmUzNTU3MWI2YzAzNjcwOTU1Nzg0ODQxZDdiZGIyZjAxMzUxNjdkN2I5NWY2JnNpemU9OTgweCZjPTE2MDM4MjI5MTgiLCJleHBpcmVzX2F0IjoxNjY1MTY5NTcxfQ.iTVRhSe0UulUxSyMUZ4QA7_0njADdWe3QEJ28-xW6m0/img.jpg" id="a03b9" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="03faa4898896a9ce5be09d51dc104b73" alt="Pipe logo" />Pipe
<p><a href="https://www.pipe.com/" target="_blank">Pipe</a> provides financial services to help cloud service companies tap into their deferred cash flows, allowing them to continue growing without taking on debt or giving up ownership. For subscription-based businesses, this makes it "as if all of your customers converted to annual plans overnight," according to the company.</p><p>Founded by Harry Hurst, Josh Mangel and Zain Allarakhia, the company <a href="https://dot.la/pipe-taps-60-million-seed-extension-2646245409.html" data-linked-post="2646245409" target="_blank">raised $66 million of seed funding earlier this year</a> in a deal led by Craft Ventures and Fin Venture Capital.</p>Clash App Inc.
<p>Created by former Vine-r Brendon McNerney and entrepreneur and marketing expert P.J. Leimgruber, <a href="https://www.clashapp.co/" target="_blank">Clash App</a> is a short form video platform similar to TikTok, but without built-in sound libraries. It's geared toward empowering creators with innovative monetization options and inclusive communities.</p>XCLAIM
<p><a href="https://www.x-claim.com/" target="_blank">XCLAIM</a> has created an electronic platform where bankruptcy claims that take a notoriously long time to process can be digitally traded. Founded in 2018 by Matthew Sedigh, who has operated in the corporate restructuring field for more than a decade, the company says "rather than wait years for the bankruptcy court process to issue payment distributions, creditors can now access immediate liquidity by selling their claim to interested buyers." Earlier this year, it raised a $4 million seed round led from Luma Launch, First Round Capital and Freestyle Capital.</p>Simmering
<img lazy-loadable="true" src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vbWVkaWEucmJsLm1zL2ltYWdlP3U9JTJGaW1hZ2VzJTNGcSUzRHRibiUzQUFOZDlHY1JlR3QzLWlHSmFtYVJnLXNwSXVYcDc5N0xOdnpTYWhYYVloQSUyNnVzcXAlM0RDQVUmaG89aHR0cHMlM0ElMkYlMkZlbmNyeXB0ZWQtdGJuMC5nc3RhdGljLmNvbSZzPTYwNiZoPWU3NzNhYTkwODZkNmE4OWQwMWU0ZjZkODk0ODU1ZWEyZDIzMmU3YTYyNzJjYTU3Mzk3MmI0NmQ0NjAxMDY3YzMmc2l6ZT05ODB4JmM9MjQ3NDg5MDE0MiIsImV4cGlyZXNfYXQiOjE2NzAzMzU0NjB9.iqCUfvVUI22AGAz-QYPiS7XFb26sw3mGaU8seorLqxQ/img.jpg" id="44f84" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="cbdc9b0cdf21d3873eef2a40647ae810" alt="Freck Beauty logo" />Freck Beauty
<p><a href="https://freckbeauty.com/" target="_blank">Freck Beauty</a> manufactures beauty products intended to make the user feel seen. Remi Brixton, the company's chief executive officer, founded the startup in 2015 when she was in search of a freckle makeup product. When she couldn't find one, she launched her own, the FRECK OG. The East Los Angeles-based company raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in a deal led by KarpReilly and Stage 1 Fund earlier this year.</p>The Skills
<p><a href="https://www.theskills.com/" target="_blank">The Skills</a> wants to be the <a href="https://dot.la/the-skills-2649267338.html" target="_self">master class on sports </a>and life. The Los Angeles-based startup launched two months ago and offers classes from gold medal Olympians — including swimmer Michael Phelps and volleyball player Kerri Walsh Jennings — and Grand Slam tennis Champion Maria Sharapova. In December, it closed a $5 million seed round backed by Boston-based Will Ventures, Global Founders Capital, 8VC, Maveron, Hack VC and Correlation VC.</p>Mapped
<p>Founded by Shaun Cooley, former chief technology officer of Cisco's Internet-of-Things (IoT) and Industries division, <a href="https://www.mapped.com/" target="_blank">Mapped</a> provides IoT services in El Segundo.</p><p>The company raised $3 million of seed funding in a deal led by Greycroft earlier this year, putting its pre-money valuation at $9 million. </p>DataPlor
<p>Created in 2016 by Geoffrey Michener, <a href="https://www.dataplor.com/" target="_blank">Dataplor</a> indexes micro-businesses in Mexico (and will soon be expanding to other countries in Central and South America) and sells the data to larger companies.The company relies on contractors in those countries to collect the information from local businesses. It raised $4 million from ff Venture Capital, Quest Venture Partners and Space Capital earlier this year and expects to use it to expand into more Latin American countries. </p>Grow Credit
<p>Launched by serial entrepreneur <a href="https://joebayen.medium.com/a-black-founders-guide-to-raising-a-2m-institutional-seed-round-a8687f95087f" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Joe Bayen</a>, <a href="https://growcredit.com/" target="_blank">Grow Credit</a> helps customers improve their credit score by providing credit for subscription services like Netflix and Spotify. Their MasterCard can help consumers with thin or damaged credit scores and the small line of credit can be upgraded for a fee. The company closed a $2 million seed round earlier this year with participation from Mucker Labs.</p>Outer
<p>The two-year-old Santa Monica-based company has seen business boom during the pandemic as retail stores shut down and online orders surged. The direct-to-consumer outdoor furniture brand <a href="https://dot.la/outer-furniture-raise-2646187491.html" data-linked-post="2646187491" target="_blank">uses backyards as showrooms</a> and <a href="https://dot.la/how-outer-aims-to-disrupt-the-outdoor-furniture-industry-2647872107.html" data-linked-post="2647872107" target="_blank">raised $4.3 million in a seed round</a> earlier this year led by Mucker Capital. Founded by Jake Liu and Terry Lin, a former designer at Pottery Barn, <a href="https://liveouter.com/" target="_blank">Outer</a> aims to appeal to Restoration Hardware and Pottery Barn shoppers. </p>WhatNot
<p>A livestreaming reseller of collectibles like FunkoPop vinyl figurines, Pokémon cards and sports cards, <a href="https://www.whatnot.com/" target="_blank">WhatNot</a> taps into a growing retail trend and promises that the collectibles are verified, much like sneaker reseller GOAT. </p><p>The startup secured $4 million in seed funding this month from Scribble Ventures, Wonder Ventures, Operator Partners, Y Combinator, Liquid 2 Ventures, Twenty Two Ventures and other investors. The company plans to use the funds to expand into video games, comics books, designer toys and vintage fashion.</p>Fourthwall
<p><a href="https://fourthwall.com/" target="_blank">Fourthwall</a> is the developer of an internet platform that helps content creators launch fully-branded websites focused on interacting with fans. Their website tag phrase is "Make a living doing what you love," which is complemented by their model, which provides creators 100% ownership of their website and brand.</p><p>Founded by Walker Williams and Will Baumann, the company has raised $4 million to date, from investors Defy Partners, Lightspeed Venture Partners and Initialized Capital Management.</p>Shop LatinX
<p><a href="https://shoplatinx.com/" target="_blank">Shop LatinX</a> calls itself the "leading beauty, fashion, and lifestyle ecommerce designed by and made for Latinas." The brainchild of two Los-Angeles-based Latinas, Brittany Chavez and Raquel Garcia <a href="https://dot.la/techstars-la-2646304264.html" data-linked-post="2646304264" target="_blank">launched their website</a> before Black Friday in 2016. It features more than 200 brands.</p>First Resonance
<p>Founded by former SpaceX software engineer Karan Talati and Neal Sarraf, <a href="https://www.firstresonance.io/" target="_blank">First Resonance</a> promises to ease the workflow for manufactures with software intended to provide greater visibility into production and test product development lifecycle. The company raised $1.75 million of seed funding last year from Wavemaker Partners, Stage Venture Partners and PLG Ventures, among clothes.</p>Vurbl
<p><a href="https://vurbl.com/" target="_blank">Vurbl</a> offers curated, one-stop-shop of what it calls the best audio on the internet, which can include podcasts but also goes well beyond that from religious sermons to court arguments. The new platform founded by CEO Audra Gold is being built with the <a href="https://dot.la/vurbl-raises-1-3-million-to-build-the-youtube-of-audio-2647713757.html" target="_self">$1.3 million pre-seed round Vurbl closed in September</a> led by AlphaEdison with participation from Halogen Ventures and Ten13.</p>PocketWatch
<p>Former Disney executive Chris Williams founded <a href="https://pocket.watch/" target="_blank">the studio</a> that produces family-focused content from YouTube stars. This year it launched clock.work, an advertising agency designed to help major brands reach kids. Investors include Viacom, Greycroft, Third Wave Digital and United Talent Agency, along with strategic angels including Robert Downey Jr. and Jon Landau.</p>PocketList
<p><a href="https://pocketlist.app/" target="_blank">The app</a> allows renters to see and share apartments that will soon be available before they're listed — reducing the time properties sit vacant and potentially heating up competition among apartment hunters. It launched <a href="https://dot.la/renter-app-2646416605.html" data-linked-post="2646416605" target="_blank">earlier this year</a>. The company has $2.8 million in seed funding led by David Sacks' Craft Ventures along with Abstract VC, Wonder Ventures and angel investor Spencer Rascoff, co-founder of Zillow and dot.LA.</p>Quilt
<p>The audio-based social platform promises to be the spot for "live, supportive, feel good conversations—just like hopping on the phone with a friend when you need it most." It lets people start a conversation around any topic or join by listening. <a href="https://www.beta.wearequilt.com/" target="_blank">Quilt</a> raised an undisclosed amount of venture funding from Freestyle Capital in 2019.</p>Tonebase
<p>Founded by Abhi Nayar, Chris Garwood and Igor Licthmann, <a href="https://www.tonebase.co/" target="_blank">Tonebase</a> provides high-level music education online. Yale School of Music alumnus Garwood and Lichtman<a href="https://news.yale.edu/2018/01/22/first-person-how-we-are-bringing-high-level-music-education-masses" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> told their alma mater that it built with the idea </a>that it was "a way for people everywhere to learn from the very best musicians around the world — individuals who, due to their busy performing and teaching careers, are traditionally accessible to only a select few." The company has raised an undisclosed amount from Launch fund, e.ventures and other undisclosed last May. </p>Second Spectrum
<p>Launched in 2013 by Jeff Su, Yu-Han Chang and Rajiv Maheswaran, <a href="https://www.secondspectrum.com/index.html" target="_blank">Second Spectrum</a> already has deals with the NBA and English Premier League. This year it scored another one with Major League Soccer to use its optical tracking system to evaluate and analyze performance. </p><p>Second Spectrum puts their tracking cameras inside the stadium. Machine learning and AI-powered analytics provide detailed data that helps coaches and others better understand the game from player speed and deceleration to shot velocity in near real time. That technology can also be used on broadcast platforms to give fans more insight. The company raised about $20 million backed by CAA Ventures, Raine Ventures and The Chernin Group in 2018.</p>Toucan
<p>Founded by CEO Taylor Nieman, Shaun Merritt and Brandon Dietz, <a href="https://dot.la/slingshot-aerospace-ceo-2646797521.html" data-linked-post="2646797521" target="_blank">Toucan</a> is a Chrome browser extension that lets people learn a new language. It scans websites you visit and translates some words into the language you want to learn. The Santa Monica-based company most recently raised a $3 million round backed by GSV Ventures, Amplifyher Ventures, and Wonder Ventures, among others. </p>Serve Automation
<p>Created by former SpaceX engineers, <a href="https://serveautomation.com/" target="_blank">Serve Automation</a> aims to change the way foods get delivered. It has secured $7 million in a seed round and is operating in stealth mode. </p>- Meet 3 Early Stage Science Startups at First Look's Showcase - dot.LA ›
- What Early Stage Startups Should Be Thinking About COVID-19 ... ›
On this week's episode of Office Hours, you'll hear from Steven Galanis, founder and CEO of Cameo, which offers a marketplace of celebrities that will record a custom-crafted message for a fee.
- Watch: Our Virtual Fireside Chat with Cameo Founder and CEO ... ›
- Office Hours Podcast: Bill Gurley On Startups, Venture Capital and ... ›
- Cameo's CEO On How He Plans to Disrupt Hollywood - dot.LA ›