Second Street

What Second Street does

Second Street is an AI-assisted audience engagement and contest promotion software platform that enables publishers and media companies to create interactive campaigns, including quizzes, polls, ballots, sweepstakes, surveys, and photo contests, to drive promotional advertising revenue and first-party data collection. The platform supports over 4,000 brands globally, with notable enterprise customers including Gannett, Hearst, Nexstar Media Group, TEGNA, and Armour Publishing Group, alongside mid-market and SMB broadcast stations and newspaper groups. Core technical capabilities include the recently launched Text-to-Vote SMS voting workflow, Text-to-Enter keyword campaigns, AI-assisted contest creation, and over 1,000 turnkey templates, distributed through a self-service partner portal and direct enterprise sales motion.

The company operates as a wholly-owned product line within Upland Software, Inc. (NYSE: UPLD), positioned alongside Adestra in Upland's Audience Engagement solution portfolio. Revenue is generated through a hybrid model combining recurring software licensing/subscription fees with promotional advertising revenue enablement, where publishers sell SMS keywords, ballot sponsorships, and premium placements to local and national advertisers. Go-to-market is executed via direct enterprise sales to media companies, complemented by event-driven demand generation at industry conferences (e.g., America's Newspapers Mega-Conference), content marketing through The Lab resource hub, and case-study-based storytelling demonstrating measurable customer outcomes such as 10x average revenue growth in promotions and specific wins like $282,000 in revenue for WMBF-TV and $6,000 for KESQ-TV.

Second Street was founded in 2007 and is operationally based in Saint Louis, Missouri, with corporate alignment to Upland Software's headquarters in Austin, Texas. The company employs 51-100 people and has received G2 Leader recognition in Sweepstakes and Audience Development categories. Its strategic focus centers on helping media companies monetize audience engagement amid declining traditional advertising revenue, while building first-party opt-in databases that are increasingly valuable in a cookie-less advertising environment.

Name

Second Street

Legal name

Upland Software, Inc.

Website

https://secondstreet.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Second Street provides AI-assisted contest promotion and audience engagement software to over 4,000 publishers and media companies, enabling interactive campaigns and SMS-based voting workflows that drive promotional advertising revenue and first-party data collection.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Saint Louis

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Software Subscription/Licensing: Second Street provides contest promotion software to media companies and publishers, generating recurring revenue through software licensing and subscription fees. The platform enables publishers to create interactive campaigns that engage audiences and drive advertising revenue.
2. Promotional Ad Revenue Enablement: The platform helps publishers generate new promotional ad revenue by selling SMS keywords, ballot sponsorships, and premium advertising placements around contests and ballots. Revenue is generated through advertiser spending on these promotional opportunities.
3. Premium Sponsorship Opportunities: Text-to-Vote feature creates premium sponsorship opportunities for advertisers, with the company noting that similar engagement tools have helped newspaper groups generate six-figure revenue gains.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Second Street is an AI-assisted interactive promotions and contest software platform that helps publishers and media companies drive promotional ad revenue by engaging audiences through quizzes, polls, ballots, surveys, sweepstakes, and photo contests. The platform includes SMS-based Text-to-Vote and Text-to-Enter workflows, over 1,000 turnkey campaign templates, and integrated keyword sponsorship tools that enable advertisers to purchase premium placements, generating measured ROI outcomes such as 10x revenue growth for customers.

Product overview

Second Street is a contest promotion software platform under Upland Software that enables publishers and media companies to drive promotional ad revenue through interactive audience engagement. The platform offers multiple campaign types including AI-powered quizzes, polls, ballots, surveys, and photo contests, supported by over 1,000 turnkey templates. Key features include Text-to-Vote and Text-to-Enter for SMS-based audience participation, allowing advertisers to purchase keywords and sponsorships. The platform serves over 4,000 brands worldwide and integrates within Upland's broader marketing and customer engagement product suite.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Second Street (Contest Promotion Platform) AI-assisted interactive promotions and contest software for publishers and media companies that drives promotional ad revenue through quizzes, polls, ballots, surveys, sweepstakes, and photo contests.
• Text-to-Vote SMS-based mobile voting feature that lets media companies sell text-to-vote keywords to advertisers for ballots, generating premium sponsorship revenue with instant confirmations.
• Text-to-Enter Customizable SMS keywords for campaign branding and sponsor visibility, with bulk keyword capabilities for large-scale sweepstakes.

Quantifiable outcome

• 10x average growth in promotions revenue for Second Street customers
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers8 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Upland SoftwarecoreOthersSecond Street is a product of Upland Software, a publicly traded enterprise work management software company. Upland Software provides the organizational infrastructure, resources, and distribution for Second Street's contest promotion platform.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Rafflecopter: Giveaway widget SaaS (now part of Vipology/VIP) widely used by media companies for contest-driven audience growth — competes directly with Second Street's contest and opt-in capabilities.
• ShortStack: A SaaS contest, giveaway, and sweepstakes platform used by brands and agencies to run interactive campaigns — directly comparable to Second Street's contest/sweepstakes/promotion offering and target buyer.
• Woobox: Interactive marketing platform with sweepstakes, contests, polls, and hashtag promotions widely used by media companies and brands — direct competitor in Second Street's core contest/promotion category.
• Votigo: Long-standing social media contest, sweepstakes, and voting platform for brands and publishers — directly overlaps Second Street's interactive promotions and voting workflows.
• Gleam.io: Growth marketing platform offering contests, giveaways, and reward-based campaigns with strong adoption among publishers and ecommerce brands — competes head-to-head with Second Street's contest and lead-capture use cases.

Broad incumbents

• Marigold Engage (formerly Offerpop / Cheetah Digital): Enterprise audience engagement and loyalty platform originating from the Offerpop acquisition — broader suite than Second Street but contests and interactive campaigns overlap with Second Street's core offering.
• HubSpot: Large martech suite whose Marketing Hub includes forms, pop-ups, and lead capture workflows that partially substitute for Second Street's contest/sweepstakes tools among enterprise marketers and publishers.
• Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Enterprise marketing platform with journey builder and engagement tools that compete for the same marketing/audience engagement budget as Second Street at large media companies.

Emerging players

• Khoros: Social media marketing and customer engagement platform that supports contests, polls, and UGC campaigns — adjacent competitor sharing Second Street's media and brand customer base.

Others

• Adestra (Upland): Sibling email-centric customer engagement product within Upland Software's Audience Engagement portfolio — not a direct contest competitor but bundled together with Second Street for cross-sell.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/upland-software
• Xx.com/2ndstreetmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/secondstreetmedia

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Second Street