HOUSTON: As VYPE Media enters its 13th school year, the Houston-based media company has been agile enough to change with today's media, while expanding their service-offering to meet the needs of their customers and following.
Founded in 2008 by Derek Dusek and Matt Malatesta, VYPE began by covering the Houston area and Southeast Texas markets with print publications and social media.
After being purchased by Work America Capital in 2017, the company's footprint has expanded across Texas including the DFW, Austin and San Antonio markets, and drives over 30 million viewers to its website yearly with the help of its social media platforms, which total over 100,000 followers. VYPE also has affiliates in Kansas and Oklahoma.
"Over the past 18 months, VYPE Media has pivoted from just producing high school sports content, to becoming a resource for high school Athletic Directors." VYPE Chief Executive Officer Shane Hildreth said. "We provide services that help athletic directors and coaches promote all the great content that occurs in and around their athletic programs, at the same time giving them a platform that expands their reach beyond just their community."
VYPE's service-offering has also grown through acquisitions to include live broadcasts, game filming, events, a student-mentoring program and graphics.
The company's newest venture is VYPE Campus – a partnership with private and public school districts is designed to create exclusive content to drive coverage and produce new revenue streams for VYPE Campus clients. Their portfolio of services includes custom magazines and digital content, game film production, live broadcasts, managing social media accounts, producing highlights and documentaries, creating sports graphics, game photography and hosting media days.
"Over a decade of building relationships with administrators, athletic directors and coaches, VYPE Campus has come to fruition," VYPE Chief Content Officer Matt Malatesta said. "This new offering fills a need that we've seen for years. There is so much content in every high school. Great stories of student-athletes and coaches that never see the light of day, until now."
Their existing Campus partnerships include Aldine ISD, Spring Branch ISD, Goose Creek Consolidated ISD and McKinney ISD on the public-school side. VYPE also has private school clients to include The Woodlands Christian Academy, St. Pius X, Fort Bend Christian Academy, John Cooper School, Second Baptist School, Concordia Lutheran, Lutheran South Academy and Frassati Catholic, just to name a few.
"We're essentially creating a custom sports network for districts and schools. It's been great to see VYPE expand and offer sports marketing for high schools," Derek Dusek, VYPE Chief Development Officer said.
VYPE Media is currently in content partnerships with Local 2 Houston (NBC-Affiliate), Entercom Radio-Austin, KUBE TV, H-Town High School Sports and Gow Media's SportsMap and CultureMap, as their leading source in High School sports content.