The Brag Media acquires Epic Digital, promotes Joel King to COO
Brag Media has acquired digital activations network Epic Digital and promoted its chief revenue officer, Joel King, to chief operating officer.
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.
The Brag Media’s COO Joel King, CEO Luke Girgis, & national sales director Stacy Batchelor
The acquisition doubles The Brag Media’s reach to 40 million monthly page views from eight million users.
The addition of Epic Digital’s media partners join Rolling Stone Australia, Variety, IndieWire, Billboard, thebrag.com, Tone Deaf, The Industry Observer, don’t bore us, and more.
After launching in 2019, Epic Digital has activated campaigns for major brands including Apple, Playstation, Bandai, Hasbro, Stan, Sailor Jerry, Lion, EA, and Binge.
Epic Digital’s founder & managing director, Stacy Batchelor, joins The Brag Media in the newly-created role of national sales director effective immediately, reporting to King.
Prior to launching Epic Digital and joining The Brag Media, Batchelor has worked at Evolve Media, Hoozu, Urban Geek Media, Foxtel, and Time Out Sydney.
On joining The Brag Media, Batchelor said: “It’s a no brainer, 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.
“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,” he added.
Epic Digital’s operations manager, Drew Worthington, also moves across to The Brag Media this week joining the campaigns team as a campaign manager.
King, who founded music publication Music Feeds, is the former managing director of Evolve Media and joined The Brag Media in 2020 as commercial lead. He was later promoted to chief revenue officer in 2021 and moves into the COO role effective immediately.
King has worked closely with The Brag Media’s chief executive officer, Luke Girgis, to spearhead another year of triple-digit revenue growth for the business that last year expanded into New Zealand and added new divisions including events, creative and talent management.
“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,” King said.
“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.”
Girgis said King has been instrumental in growing the commercial offering of The Brag Media and will now oversee the growing creative and campaigns teams too.
“Joel is a Bragger to his core. 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,” Girgis said.
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