The Brag Media acquires Epic Digital, promotes Joel King

Epic Digital, the premium digital activations network, is now part of The Brag Media.

Announced Monday (Feb. 14), The Brag Media has acquired the Sydney-based business and, in a parallel move, The Brag’s Chief Revenue Officer Joel King is promoted to Chief Operating Officer, with immediate effect.

Also, Epic Digital’s Founder & Managing Director Stacy Batchelor now joins The Brag Media in the new position of National Sales Director effective immediately, reporting to King.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed.

With the pact, Epic Digital’s media partners join The Brag Media’s stable, which includes Rolling Stone Australia, Variety, IndieWire, Billboard, thebrag.com, Tone Deaf, The Industry Observer, don’t bore us, and more.

The acquisition, reads a joint-statement announcing the development, should double The Brag Media’s reach to 40 million monthly page views from eight million users.

Founded in 2019, Epic Digital has built a network covering music, culture and entertainment via The Brag Media, plus popular gaming, anime and esports verticals through partnerships with Funimation, Enthusiast Gaming, Life Without Andy, and HypeBeast, among others.

“Our core focus is delivering high performing cross channel advertising campaigns” across those spaces, reads a statement on the Epic Digital website.

In those intervening years, Epic Digital has activated campaigns for major brands including Apple, Playstation, Bandai, Hasbro, Stan, Sailor Jerry, Lion, EA, and Binge.

The new deal consummates that relationship, explains Batchelor.

“It’s a no brainer,” he comments, “Epic Digital and The Brag Media have been working together for years and it’s been a sensational partnership. This step is the best way forward for both brands, the publishers and our kick-ass clients”.

He continues, “We have done some amazing work in the gaming and anime space and with The Brag Media’s growing sales, creative, and editorial teams, our clients will see immediate benefits.”

Meanwhile, Epic Digital’s Operations Manager, Drew Worthington, moves over to The Brag Media this week joining the campaigns team as a Campaign Manager.

King said the addition of Epic Digital’s partners to The Brag Media’s growing portfolio of premium publishers immediately offers clients access to the largest local audiences in entertainment, music, youth culture, gaming, and anime.

“Our monthly user count grows to eight million. Combined with our events, brand licensing and talent divisions, The Brag Media is now the largest and most dynamic youth publisher and representation business ever to exist in the Australian market,” notes King.

“The Brag Media is continually delivering various new revenue streams for our publishers while creating innovative new solutions for our clients to engage with our audiences.”

King, a veteran music publisher, who founded music publication Music Feeds and is the former Managing Director of Evolve Media in Australia, joined The Brag Media in 2020 as Commercial Lead, a role that saw him working directly with agencies and brands, while managing his own commercial team.

The following year, he was promoted to Chief Revenue Officer.

King worked closely with The Brag Media’s chief executive officer, Luke Girgis, to power to the business to a year of triple-digit revenue growth, reads a statement, as business expanded into New Zealand and added new divisions including events, creative and talent management,

King has been instrumental in growing the commercial offering of The Brag Media and will now oversee the growing creative and campaigns teams too, notes Girgis.

“Joel is a Bragger to his core,” enthuses Girgis. “An exceptional results-focused operator makes this promotion a realisation of the inevitable. I can’t wait to work with Joel across every aspect of our business in his new role as COO. Joel’s ability to find clarity in complexity is second to none.”

This article originally appeared on The Industry Observer, which is now part of The Music Network.