Maker Studios is merging with the content & media team at Disney
Maker Studios is undergoing yet another shake-up at its new Disney home.
The digital entertainment company is merging with parent company Disney's Content & Media department, which is part of its consumer products and interactive media division, Mashable has confirmed.
Courtney Holt, Maker Studios' top exec, will move to new corporate role at Disney as EVP of media and strategy.
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"Merging Maker Studios with Content & Media allows DCPI to continue to expand audiences — across both physical and digital content," Holt wrote in a memo to staff, obtained by Mashable. "And, by taking a broader digital content offering to market, we can truly differentiate ourselves to advertisers and distribution platforms."
Variety first reported the news.
The news comes just two years after Disney dished out a whopping $675 million for the world's second-largest multiplatform network.
Maker Studios, which will still operate out of its Culver City location, boasts a network of about 55,000 independent creators who collectively draw in 10 billion views per month.
This year, the digital entertainment company made great strides in its efforts to ramp up its original content with several new series — such as Scare PewDiePie, a YouTube Red series that just wrapped filming of its second season; the digital talk show Party Fun Times, hosted by Taryn Southern; and the skateboard travel adventureThe Unge Quest, starring German gamer Simon Unge.
But content couldn't help salvage the company's corporate woes.
Ynon Kreiz, the CEO who helped facilitate the Disney deal, left Maker Studios in January.
Two months later, Bonnie Pan, Maker Studios' executive vice president of programming, left the company to tackle the role of president at Endemol Beyond.
In May, the company scaled back its digital Newfront presentation, holding an intimate breakfast for brand clients only. Then, in July, Maker Studios went through a round of layoffs.
Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media -- which Mashable profiled in May -- is located in Burbank. The division, led by Andrew Sugerman, aims to get all things Disney — ranging from movies like Alice Through the Looking Glass to new Disney products — to resonate on the Internet. Its core brands include Disney Style, Oh My Disney (a Millennial focused property, like Buzzfeed with a Disney lens), DisneyFamily and Babble. They also distribute original content through their portfolio of sites and owned apps, including Disney GIF and the Star Wars app.
A person familiar with the consumer products and interactive media division said the move will help both Maker Studios and Disney combine resources, and further integrate influencers with Disney IP.
Holt echoed this notion in his memo.
"Maker Studios will add to Content & Media’s capabilities around short-form content creation and distribution, making this a natural fit," he wrote. "Also, many of our teams have already integrated with DCPI across sales, finance, communications, marketing, legal, technology, and HR, so it makes sense to pull together the distribution, franchise, network and studio teams in one segment."
Saba was a Los Angeles-based reporter who covers all things digital entertainment, including YouTube, streaming services and digital influencers. Prior to that, she spent two years at the Los Angeles Times covering entertainment for the Calendar and Company Town sections. Saba grew up in Santa Monica and graduated from Boston University with a B.S. in journalism and B.A. in political science. When not reporting, she is usually binge watching shows online or looking for new coffee shops to frequent.
