Autograph, a fan engagement company co-founded by Tom Brady, raised $200 million through 2022 with the vision of selling collectible NFTs. Now the company plans to reward fans for actions they’re already taking, like listening to podcasts or buying tickets.
The newly announced platform (still named Autograph) aggregates published blog posts, news articles, YouTube videos and digital programming into a customizable feed for followers of its 240+ teams, then gives out digital coins to users who watch that content. These coins can be redeemed for real-world rewards like discounted tickets, merchandise and in-person events. Autograph is also building a chat-based social feature that will work with third-party ticket marketplaces. Generative AI is being used to summarize the daily coverage collected by the app.
“At Autograph, we’re all about our fans,” Brady said in a statement. “By bringing together amazing content from top creators in one place, we can give our fans an amazing experience and show them how much we appreciate all they do.”
During the pandemic cryptocurrency boom, Brady’s company was one of the most talked-about, working with ESPN, DraftKings and stars like Simone Biles, Wayne Gretzky, Derek Jeter and Tiger Woods. Former Twitter CEO Dick Costolo, Apple senior executive Eddy Cue and FTX CEO Sam Bankman Freed are among those who sit on the board. (Costro and Cue are still on the board, but SBF, which was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March this year for embezzling billions of dollars from clients, is not.)
In 2022, Autograph inked a deal with the PGA Tour to create a digital collectibles program and launched an NFT-based fan club for Brady during that NFL season, hosting a membership event in Tampa, Fla. But the sports NFT market never recovered from the steep decline it suffered earlier that year, and the company began restructuring.
Autograph reportedly cut more than 50 employees in the first half of 2023. Last fall, the brand launched a beta version of its current platform to Michigan football fans and has since expanded to serve more than 200 fanbases. The company said that “tens of thousands of fans” spent time on the app during development and read more than 1 million articles. Autograph currently employs about 40 people, including contract workers, and is headquartered in Los Angeles.
“On the financial side, everybody remains interested, excited and invested in the future of the company,” CEO Dillon Rosenblatt said in an interview.
Autograph made a conscious decision to maintain their brand identity as they reinvented their products.
“The brand value and recognition that came from working with such great people as the Tigers, AEG, Lionsgate and Simone Biles has been a huge help to us,” Rosenblatt said.
The new platform will ingest public RSS-based posts and allow fans to upload additional content, and in the future the company hopes to further monetize from tickets, merchandise and other products that sports consumers purchase to express their fandom.
“What we’re trying to do is blend content and commerce in a unique way,” Rosenblatt said.
A running number, like Duolingo’s, represents how frequently fans are using the app.Autograph also strikes deals with certain content creators and pays them for marketing support.
“The fandom experience is fundamentally broken and outdated. Our mission is to revolutionize fandom and lead it for the next generation,” Joe Perez, Autograph’s COO and CMO, said in a statement.
Rosenblatt doesn’t rule out blockchain technology either: Autograph’s fan rewards tracker is built on a points system that could potentially be tied to cryptocurrency in the future, and badges earned by performing certain actions resemble unique NFTs.
“This is something we believe in, something we believe in deeply,” he said. “We’re building all of the underlying infrastructure so that when the opportunity arises, we’re ready.”
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