One last multi-channel network (MCN) deal to round off 2014? Media giant Hearst has paid $81.25m for a 25% stake in AwesomenessTV, the youth-focused MCN owned by Hollywood studio DreamWorks Animation. The deal values AwesomenessTV at $325m, with DreamWorks having paid $33m up front with a potential $84m more based on performance targets when it bought the company in 2013. “Their audience size has grown exponentially,” Hearst’s digital entertainment boss Neeraj Khemlani told the Financial Times. “They are reinventing how stars are born and media is created.” AwesomenessTV claims to be profitable – a rarity among big MCNs of its type – and has been packaging up its YouTube content as shows for traditional television networks. “It’s not just a digital media company,” said Khemlani. “We see this as a next generation entertainment company.” The deal comes at the end of a year that saw Disney buy MCN Maker Studios for up to $900m depending on targets; rival Fullscreen valued at between $200m and $300m when investment firm Otter Media bought a controlling stake in it; and Vice Media valued at $2.5bn when it recently took investment from A&E Networks.
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Tools :: We Are Giant
With “fan communities” being on every artist’s team’s mind, we’re fans of the fact that…