Viggle
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Viggle was a rewards-based TV loyalty app created by Function(X) Inc., the company of former 'American Idol' and CKX owner Robert Sillerman. Launched in 2012, it let users check in to TV shows from their phones, earning about two points per minute of watched TV, redeemable for gift cards from Burger King, Starbucks, iTunes and others. The company raised $100 million in funding, acquired second-screen platform Loyalize in 2012, and reached more than 10 million registered users, reporting $4 million in revenue for the fiscal first quarter of 2016.
02 / Viggle FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
Viggle burned through cash 'at an alarming rate,' in TechCrunch's phrase, while its point economy never closed: the rewards paid out to users exceeded what advertisers and networks paid in. An agreed $70 million merger with social-TV rival GetGlue was delayed repeatedly and finally called off in 2013. With the loyalty business unsustainable, the company sold the Viggle apps and rewards-program assets to Perk.com for just $4.7 million in early 2016 — a fraction of the $100 million it had raised — and rebranded itself as DraftDay to focus on fantasy sports.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Robert Sillerman's Function(X) Inc. was formed, rolling out the Viggle rewards-based TV loyalty app in 2012.
- Growth and Loyalize
Viggle acquired second-screen platform Loyalize and raised $100 million in funding, growing to more than 10 million registered users.
- Failed GetGlue merger
An agreed merger with TV loyalty rival GetGlue, worth as much as $70 million, was delayed repeatedly and finally called off in early 2013.
- Asset sale
Viggle Inc. sold the Viggle apps and rewards-program assets to Perk.com for $4.7 million (1.5 million Perk shares plus warrants and assumed liabilities), closing February 8, 2016; the company rebranded as DraftDay Fantasy Sports (NASDAQ: DDAY) to focus on its DraftDay Gaming Group subsidiary.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In December 2015 Perk.com signed an asset purchase agreement with Viggle Inc. for the Viggle apps and rewards-program assets.
- 02
The deal, valued at $4.7 million in Perk shares plus warrants and assumed liabilities, was approved by both boards.
- 03
On February 8, 2016 Viggle closed the sale of its applications and rewards-program assets to Perk.com.
- 04
Viggle retained a stake in the upside through Perk shares and earn-out provisions.
- 05
The company rebranded as DraftDay to focus on its DraftDay Gaming Group fantasy-sports subsidiary, changing its trading symbol to DDAY.