Playbuzz, one of the first storytelling platforms in the digital world, raised $35 million in series C funding in a round led by Viola Growth with participation from existing investors including Disney, Saban Ventures, 83North, Carmel Ventures, firstime and Oded Vardi.

The round more than doubles the company’s existing funding, bringing the total to $66 million.

“Working with top media companies over the last five years has put us in a unique position to identify opportunities for growth and develop innovative technology to improve audience engagement,” said Shaul Olmert, co-founder and CEO of Playbuzz.

“Playbuzz’s evolution into providing monetised content solutions to publishers and brands is of substantial value to our partners in their effort to increase readers’ attention spans and content viewability. Moving forward, Playbuzz will continue to drive engagement with interactive storytelling tools while answering partners’ content, revenue and data needs all in one place.”

The Playbuzz platform is used by the world’s top publishers, including Fortune 500 companies and media conglomerates.  It is also relied upon by top brands who tap the company to create interactive branded content campaigns that Playbuzz then distributes at scale to its existing network of tens of thousands of publishers.

Playbuzz’s platform powers over 12,000 engagements per minute, and boasts 2 to 4-minute average session times, as compared to the 15 second industry average. Branded content campaigns powered by Playbuzz are consumed by 65 per cent of users on average, while the industry benchmark is only at 24 per cent.

“As Playbuzz continues to grow, it will increasingly become a strategic partner for brands and publishers, all of whom must speak the language of modern consumers. The Playbuzz platform enables them to do just that, translating their content to meet the needs of today’s readers,” said Harel Beit-On, founder and general partner of Viola Growth, who has joined Playbuzz’s board of directors as part of the deal.

“Playbuzz’s innovative storytelling tools continue to drive the future of content creation and ensure publishers and brands’ stories are heard. We believe in the company’s excellent management team – with its strong creativity and operational skills – and are excited to join them as they enter this exciting phase.”

Playbuzz will use the investment to expand its global footprint, with a focus on its branded content business to create, distribute and measure native advertising campaigns.