Disney buys YouTube “MCN”

Maker Studios, one of the many so-called “Multi Channel Networks” that sign up YouTube creators and bring them under a common banner and branding, is being bought by Disney – yes, that Disney – for a frankly staggering $500m.

You read that right. Five hundred million dollars. For an organisation that essentially organises other people’s content under its own brand and then helps to flog advertising for them.

Clearly the world has gone mad. Even madder is the extra $450m USD that could be paid in addition, depending on certain criteria.

Maker’s 55,000 contracted channels have a claimed aggregate of 380 million subscribers. Big numbers, sure. Worth almost a billion dollars..?