• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, May 25, 2016

Few types of content can rival spectator sports for sheer engagement, as anyone who has been to a “real” game party with diehard fans can attest. The kind where the host considers handing out valium to prevent damage to valuables.

But the intense interest generated by sports just serves to highlight how lamentably boring sports advertising and sponsorships tend to be. (That's even with Super Bowl ads, which in recent years have disappointed.)

A new online sports media company, 12up, is setting out to change all that by combining native ads and user-generated content. It’s putting its money where its mouth is with a cost per engagement model, only charging advertisers when someone actually interacts with the ads.

On the commercial side, 12up is offering brand advertisers the chance to align themselves with sports content through native placements that integrate brands into stories organically.

Created and curated by the 12up editorial team, this native ad content is sold on a cost per engagement basis,

Launched by Minute Media, which already operates popular football (soccer) fan site 90min in Europe, 12up provides a similar mix of short-form, pop culture-inflected lifestyle content targeted to millennial sports fans, focusing on user-generated content produced by social influencers and their peers.

Fans can post articles, quizzes, videos, and slideshows of their favorite teams from the NBA, NFL, MLB, and NHL, among others, all of it primed for social sharing.

According to Minute Media president Rich Routman, content typically skews away from rote game recaps and stats in favor of stories “behind the game,” including but not limited to “the players, their cars and cribs, wives and girlfriends.”

He noted that sports advertising models have failed to keep pace with content: “While digital sports experiences, advertising technology and editorial approaches have dramatically changed over the last decade, most of the advertising opportunities are a direct copy and paste from previous years. We believe now is the right time to pivot the commercial model and get back to earning brand advertising dollars through engaging social-first storytelling.”

Asaf Peled, founder and CEO of Minute Media, explained the approach: “We have built our business by turning the typical publishing business model and experience on its head. Enabling fans to drive the conversation, through our content curation engine, has built scalable editorial volume that is unmatched in our industry.”

During its private beta over the last two months, 12up has already accumulated 4 million unique users, with 85% coming from mobile and 70% falling in the millennial age bracket.

The company has raised $45 million in funding from venture capitals Battery Ventures, Dawn Capital, Gemini Ventures, North Base Media and ProSieben.