Maker Studios is one of the crop of multi-channel networks (MCNs) creating stars on YouTube – we interviewed COO Courtney Holt recently about its music activities (Bulletin, 24-Apr-13). Now the company is getting a new boss, with CEO and co-founder Dany Zappin stepping aside to become a board member and advisor. Former Endemol exec Ynon Kreiz is the new boss, albeit as executive chairman rather than CEO. “I’m not the first professional help that’s coming on board,” says Kreiz. “It became more obvious that we had to run Maker in sync with the potential in terms of where it can go.” For his part, Zappin told employees that “Ynon has the specific media exec experience that we need to take Maker to the next level”. A sign of the MCN market maturing, perhaps, but also of the challenges these companies are facing. Flush with venture capital, they’re under pressure to work towards exits (likely via acquisition) while discovering that YouTube ads may not be as lucrative as they had hoped (Bulletin, 5-Mar-13), and also facing more scrutiny from publishers over their music licensing strategies (Bulletin, 20-Mar-13).
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Tools: Kaiber
In the year or so since its launch, AI startup Kaiber has been making waves,…