That’s where BOMESI and Breakr come into play.
Breakr is a platform that white-labels tech for streamlining creator payments and provides access to payroll financing. BOMESI licensed Breakr’s tech to create its SASA platform, a digital infrastructure that centralizes publisher management and financial workflows to address diverse-owned media’s cash-flow crisis. The platform gives publishers access to capital, enabling payment cycles as fast as 48 hours and giving creators transparency into payment schedules.
Justin Barton, CEO of AdGrid, has been testing SASA and said instant payments are a game changer for the advertising industry.
“In tough times like this, it is mutually beneficial for us to pay talent as soon as possible versus the standard 60-120-day payment cycle,” Barton said.
Breakr: Patient Capital Meets Publisher Infrastructure
Breakr started in the music industry, managing payments for influencers that promote top records globally. The platform has worked with major music industry clients, such as UMG, Sony, The Orchard and Live Nation.
But, lately, Breakr has been working more with digital publishers, including BOMESI, AdGrid and Adweek, to help them pay writers and influencers in a more timely fashion.
Notably, Breakr does not help its publisher clients secure ad campaigns, said Breakr co-founder Anthony Brown. “We provide infrastructure, not campaigns, so publishers can focus on content while we handle the financial mechanics.”
BOMESI handles the task of bringing advertising demand to its publisher network. Its SASA platform handles the publisher onboarding process in a similar fashion to influencer networks: publishers answer a set of questions about their audience, demographics and reach. This granular data then allows BOMESI to package and sell inventory to brands, while Breakr ensures timely payments without the guesswork.
“We’re not trying to extract value from publishers; we’re trying to build trust,” BOMESI’s Johnson said. “Our goal is to make sure no one’s guessing when they’ll get paid.”
According to AdGrid’s Barton, SASA’s onboarding process was easy, and BOMESI was helpful through the process. He added that the platform has helped Snackable Media, a company that acquired AdGrid, streamline payment processes across its large publisher portfolio, and using one centralized database has reduced payroll errors.
Building Sustainable, Scalable Infrastructure
Both BOMESI’s Johnson and Breakr’s Brown emphasized that this partnership is about more than addressing publishers’ short-term cash flow issues. They said both companies want to create sustainability and long-term growth for small and Black-owned businesses.
By fronting payments and providing transparent financial infrastructure, BOMESI and Breakr can enable publishers to focus on content, talent retention and business development, Johnson said.
“We want these businesses to last beyond 2020—and 2025—and become 100-year institutions,” he said.
Making structural changes to a publisher’s payment model can have immediate, tangible results.
“The relationship is still new. We are building a foundation for now,” said Barton. “However, I don’t see why this wouldn’t allow us the elasticity needed to secure multimillion-dollar deals in the very near future.”
And when publishers finally get paid on time, everyone wins: Brands get high-quality content delivered consistently, and culturally important media can thrive.