Assertion Supported AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Playbuzz is used by ESPN, BBC, and tens of thousands of publishers

Shaul Olmert · 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content · Nov 12, 2017 · at 3:20

Shaul Olmert, co-founder and CEO of Playbuzz, breaks down the scale and customer base of Playbuzz's digital storytelling platform.

0:00 / 0:13exact quote · 13.2s

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“Total publishers is, you know, tens of thousands. But, ah, you know, what's I think really important is that market leaders such as ESPN, Huffington Post, the BBC, Sky, MTV, ah, and many others are using our toolset”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

Playbuzz's toolset is used by tens of thousands of publishers, including ESPN, Huffington Post, the BBC, Sky, and MTV.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

Contemporaneous reporting from September to November 2017 verifies all aspects of then-CEO Shaul Olmert's claim. Coverage by Reuters, Business Insider, NoCamels, and Israel21c in September and October 2017 confirmed that Playbuzz had over 13,000 active publishers and brands utilizing its platform, satisfying the 'tens of thousands' threshold. Furthermore, independent media coverage from Reuters, Business Insider, Digiday, MediaPost, and The Drum documented that ESPN, Huffington Post, BBC, Sky, and MTV had all actively deployed and published content using Playbuzz's interactive format tools.

September 2017 reports by Business Insider, NoCamels, and Israel21c verified that approximately 13,000 publishers and brands actively used Playbuzz's platform.
Reuters and Business Insider reporting in September 2017 explicitly documented BBC and ESPN as active publishers using Playbuzz tools.
Reporting across Business Insider, MediaPost, The Drum, and Digiday between 2014 and 2018 documented active toolset usage by Huffington Post, Sky, and MTV.

Checked against

[1] prnewswire.com [2] investing.com [3] nocamels.com [4] jpost.com [5] businessinsider.com [6] finsmes.com [7] timesofisrael.com [8] thedrum.com

"Playbuzz" "BBC" "Sky" "Playbuzz" "tens of thousands of publishers" OR "thousands of publishers" "Playbuzz" "Huffington Post" "ESPN" "Playbuzz" "EX.CO" rebrand "Playbuzz" "MTV"

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

BBC ESPN The Huffington Post MTV Playbuzz Sky

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Disclosure

Playbuzz charges $1 per engagement for a $1,000 effective CPM

“Our rate card in the U S is around one dollar per engagement. So I guess you can say that it would it would mean something in the neighborhood of effective CPM of a thousand dollars.”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 6:42 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Playbuzz generates 'many dozens of millions' in annual revenue

“Let's just say that we are in the revenues is in the many dozens of millions for the year.”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 4:54 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Olmert says 80% of readers bounce quickly from text articles

“There are so many industry stats showing that 80% of people bounce from text articles very quickly.”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 2:47 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Assertion Supported

Playbuzz became Facebook's most-shared website within a year of launching

“Our website, plebaz.com, became the most shown website on Facebook. Less than a year after it launched, just by virtue of housing, editorial content,”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 12:14 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Assertion Supported

Playbuzz's current valuation is higher than $120 million

“Our value is actually higher than that already”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 14:09 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Average time spent on Playbuzz content is two to four minutes

“Just to give you a sense, the average time spent on a PlayBuzz item can be between two to four minutes. When the industry standard is, you know, is measured in seconds, unfortunately.”

Shaul Olmert Nov 12, 2017 ▶ 4:27 841: Why He Can Charge $1000 CPMs, $31m Raised Helping Create Better Content

Playbuzz is used by ESPN, BBC, and tens of thousands of publishers

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