FameBit was formed in 2013 by high school friends Agnes Kozera, and David Kierzkowski. Kierzkowski had previously co-founded the digital marketing platform, TapClicks, but was wishing to create something more interactive. He was approached by Kozera who was the founder of SeasonsBox, a subscription based gift delivery service, who had been able to perform the majority of her companies advertising through the use of social influencers. The two combined their knowledge to develop FameBit, an interactive link sharing platform that allowed companies to post offers for influencers, and for influencers to search and apply. On September 16, 2013 FameBit received its first round of seed funding from venture companies “500 Startups” & “HighlineVC.” Following their initial round of funding, Famebit was one of 4 companies invited to the New York Extreme Startups investor convention. In February 2014 FameBit was one of two Canadian based companies, out of over 1,000 applicants, accepted into “500 Startups” venture fund. In September 2014 FameBit received 1.5million in additional seed funding from DeNA, Third Wave Digital, and Science Ventures.
Growth & Success
By 2015 FameBit had signed up over 9,000 YouTubers, and had run over 1600 campaigns for more than 1200 brands. At the time the average subscriber count for a FameBit Influencer was 46,000. By the end of the 2015 that number had risen to 21,000 across 6 social media platforms By 2016 FameBit had helped in the creation of over 25,000 branded videos, with and estimated 2 billion minutes of viewing time.
Acquisition by YouTube
On October 11, 2016, Google acquires Famebit, for initially an undisclosed amount, but was later revealed to be 36 million dollars. At the time of purchase it was stated that FameBit had over 50,000 creators registered on the platform. Google planned to merge the platform within their YouTube division. Since being acquired by Google, FameBit has mostly operated without change. The only major visual change made to FameBit's product was an implementation that allows marketers to retarget videos made on FameBit to viewers via Google's Ads. In January 2018 YouTube announced it was going to demonetize smaller YouTube channels, however, smaller channels will continue to be able to monetize off of the FameBit platform.
Business Model
Unlike other influencer platforms, FameBit is not subscription based, instead it is free to sign-up, and the company receives 10% of the transaction fees between Influencer & Brands. FameBit's basic business plan allows brands to post products, and have YouTube content creators to produce content advertising those products for a negotiable fee. FameBit refers to this business strategy as “The Bounty Model”
Product
FameBit offers an online marketing platform that allows brands to post offers to advertise their products on specific social media platforms. Content creators can log into the platform, browse offers, and then negotiate their prices. The platform is free to sign-up, w/ FameBit taking a percentage of the transaction fee between brand and influencer.
Controversy
FameBit has been criticized by brands for allowing YouTubers to join without verifying their followers. FameBit has also been criticized by Content Creators for banning them from the platform due to brand disputes. Several employees have claimed that FameBit promotes a toxic work environment, with 3 out of 4 of their glass door reviews awarding the company 1 star.
