Beyond the Platform: Pennant Makes Video Streaming Personal
In the future, a quick Google search (or your personal AI assistant) may skip YouTube or Vimeo to find the latest video from your favorite performer. Instead, it will send you to a beautifully curated site focused exclusively on that artist. There, you will be able see the artist’s entire catalog of videos, buy a ticket for a virtual show, connect directly with the artist, and subscribe to support the artist financially while accessing exclusive content.
This is why Glen Nelson Center made a Horizon Fund investment in Minneapolis-based Pennant, a technology that enables performing artists to launch their own custom-branded subscription video channel and connect directly with their patrons and fans. With this early-stage investment, APMG joins Groove Capital as the first institutional investors in this promising new video platform.
Pennant is a 2022 Next Challenge finalist working to revolutionize the video streaming industry. Their target customers are performing artists and performing arts organizations with large, active fan bases. Using Pennant, artists and organizations can deepen the relationship with their fans - as opposed to sending them to a third-party platform like YouTube where there is nearly infinite competition for attention. Pennant enables the artists to generate recurring revenue by directly engaging fans through subscriptions.
“Pennant represents the next stage of streaming video. It’s not just the platform, it’s about building a relationship and engaging with your audience through video.”
“This investment is a huge opportunity for our company,” said Jeff Lin, Pennant’s CEO. “We are also excited APMG is using Pennant as part of their broader digital transformation initiative creating the future of public media.”
Pennant is working directly with APMG’s YourClassical team to launch channels for five up-and-coming artists who will be featured on Performance Today, the most listened-to classical music radio program in the United States. “Pennant represents the next stage of streaming video, said Liwanag Ojala, APMG’s Chief Digital Transformation Officer. “It’s not just the platform, it’s about building a relationship and engaging with your audience through video.”
Stay tuned for more news about Pennant and other new Horizon Fund investments.
