Skip to content
MarketScale
‹ Back to IndustriesSports & Entertainment

The Metaverse is a Brand’s “Betterverse”

Justin Hochberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Virtual Brand Group, sums up his company’s mission in one easy sentence, “We put you in the Metaverse.” Hochberg joined Christine Russo to explain how Virtual Brand Group harnesses the power of web 3.0 for I.P. by creating consumer experiences to socialize, shop, make friends, and develop products in…

This story was produced through MarketScale. See how Sports & Entertainment teams put it to work with Events & Onsite Capture.

Promoted content from What Just Happened on MarketScale.

Share

Get featured

Want to get featured in MarketScale Sports & Entertainment?

Create a free MarketScale workspace and get your company's expertise featured across our Sports & Entertainment coverage. No credit card, no demo required.

Start free

Justin Hochberg, CEO and Co-Founder of Virtual Brand Group, sums up his company’s mission in one easy sentence, “We put you in the Metaverse.” Hochberg joined Christine Russo to explain how Virtual Brand Group harnesses the power of web 3.0 for I.P. by creating consumer experiences to socialize, shop, make friends, and develop products in the virtual and physical world simultaneously.

Hochberg believes that the term Metaverse should not be synonymous with confusing. If Hochberg gets his way, people could soon think of the Metaverse as synonymous with a different word: opportunity.

“If you are a brand of any nature, from entertainment to sports, you now thought you had your business organized,” Hochberg said. “You were in E-comm, and you were in retail, and you did events at South by Southwest, and maybe you had a catalog, and you did social, and maybe if you were really advanced, you did live streaming. Today you wake up, and you’re like, wow, we thought we were an omnipresent brand, and all of a sudden, we are not because we are missing out on hundreds and hundreds of millions of consumers that are spending hundreds of hours a month on platforms like Roblox, Sandblox. Decentraland, etc.”

Virtual Brand Group brings companies into this brand-new world of the Metaverse. “We operate their businesses in the Metaverse,” Hochberg said. “We take all the operational risk by becoming a licensee of them and then building out their presence in first Roblox, or Sandbox. Then we operate a proprietary set of technology that allows us to create the assets once, and then spin them into any way we possibly can.”

One question remains whether the Metaverse will become an open or walled platform. Now, it appears as if there is room for both options. “The Metaverse is a series of technologies that people are using to build various experiences with different economic models,” Hochberg said. But while the opportunity door is open, brands should explore those options.

Will It Be Possible to Create A Fully Autonomous Store?

The Future of eCcommerce Platforms in the Gaming Ecosystem

What Just Happened

Part of this channel

What Just Happened

CEO interviews and roundtables at the edge of retail and tech

Visit the channel

Your experts belong here

Every story in MarketScale Sports & Entertainment starts with a company putting its venue operators, production crews, and partnership teams on the record. Buyers are already reading this topic. The only question is whose experts they find.

Rights holders and partners back the operators they know, and coverage is how they get to know yours.

Get your team featuredSee how it works15 minutes, straight to a calendar.

Follow Sports & Entertainment Insights

Get new expert content in your inbox.

Sports & Entertainment: are you visible to AI?

Before they reach out, Sports & Entertainment buyers ask AI engines which vendors to trust. Explore how your experts, customers, and partners can become useful content for buyers and AI search.

Free plan

You just read one Sports & Entertainment expert. Your company is full of them.

This article was produced through MarketScale. The same platform turns your venue operators, production crews, and partnership teams into the articles, video, and social content Sports & Entertainment buyers are searching for. Create a free workspace and see it with your own people. No credit card, no demo required.

NPS +73 · 1,000+ creators · 38+ countries

What you get, free

Your own MarketScale workspace, up to 10 people
One professional video edit a month for qualifying companies
Media requests to your crowd, remote recording, AI writing tools
$0, no credit card, nothing that expires

More Sports & Entertainment Insights

SBJ's Tech Awards: Winners Span Data, Performance, Fan Access

SBJ's Tech Awards: Winners Span Data, Performance, Fan Access

Sports Business Journal's fourth annual SBA: Tech awards, held in May 2026, named winners including Elevate's EPIC data platform, Plantiga, OneCourt and Retailcloud. The ceremony also recognized TGL's multi-vendor tech stack and individual executives.

  • 01OneCourt's haptic tablet converts live game-tracking data into vibrations for blind and low-vision fans and won Sports Technology of the Year.
  • 02Elevate's EPIC platform covers consumer insights, ticketing and property analytics across data from 450 million individuals and 1.7 billion devices.
  • 03Plantiga's AI-paired insole sensors for athlete rehabilitation and load management are approved for in-competition use by NBA, NFL and FIFA.

Sep 12, 2026

Pre-World Cup Forecast Projected $135M in Lost Naming-Rights Value

Pre-World Cup Forecast Projected $135M in Lost Naming-Rights Value

In June 2026, before the FIFA World Cup concluded in July, a Navigate analysis commissioned by Sports Business Journal projected that U.S. stadium naming-rights sponsors would forgo up to $53.5 million in domestic media value and $134.8 million globally because of FIFA's clean-stadium branding policy. The figures were pre-tournament estimates, not measured post-event results, and no post-tournament data has been reported.

  • 01Navigate's projections, published by Sports Business Journal on June 12, 2026, estimated pre-tournament what naming-rights sponsors would forgo in media exposure during the World Cup.
  • 02FIFA's clean-stadium policy required host venues to be free of existing commercial branding during the tournament, which concluded in July 2026.
  • 03MetLife Stadium, which hosted eight matches including the final, had a projected loss of $15.7 million to $19.7 million in combined U.S. and international media value against an $18.5 million average annual naming-rights payment.

Sep 12, 2026

Pollstar names winners of 2026 Excellence in Concessions Awards

Pollstar names winners of 2026 Excellence in Concessions Awards

Pollstar published its 2026 Excellence in Concessions Awards on Sept. 2, naming winners across categories including new menu items, technology, sustainability and special-event food programs at venues such as Yankee Stadium, Honda Center and Kaseya Center. Winners were chosen by Pollstar's editorial staff with industry input.

  • 01Pollstar recognizes leading venue food, beverage, and hospitality programs in the U.S.
  • 02The awards highlight hospitality projects across the live entertainment business, from stadium concessions to venue bars and lounges.

Sep 11, 2026

Explore More Sports & Entertainment Insights

Read more expert perspectives from across Sports & Entertainment.

Browse Sports & Entertainment Hub

For B2B teams

Your experts could be publishing here

Stories like this one run on content MarketScale captures from real practitioners. See how your team's expertise becomes coverage in Sports & Entertainment and beyond.

Book a 15-minute demo

Or call us. No forms required. We pick up. 214-945-2512