Disney Digital Network is an American multi-channel network located in

Culver City Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. It was originally the successor to Maker Studios, co-founded by Lisa Donovan,

Danny Zappin Danny Zappin (born 1975)Eriq Gardner"Maker Studios Lawsuit: Inside the War for YouTube's Top Studio,"''The Hollywood Reporter'', October 24, 2013. is an American businessman. He is the co-founder of Maker Studios, and the founder, president and ...

, Scott Katz, Kassem Gharaibeh,

Shay Carl Shay Carl Butler (born March 5, 1980), known professionally as Shay Carl, is an American YouTube personality. He has three YouTube channels, two of which ("shaycarl" and "SHAYTARDS") have over three million subscribers. Butler and Corey Vid ...

, Rawn Erickson II, Ben Donovan, and Philip DeFranco in 2009. Maker Studios was acquired by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

in 2014 for $500 million, and was absorbed into the newly formed Disney Digital Network in 2017. Outside the United States, the former Maker Studios had significant audiences in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

, and was aiming to expand its Asian operations, where it once had 700 million monthly unique views. Ran by René Rechtman (who now runs Moonbug Entertainment), president for the international division, Maker had plans to build a headquarters in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

for its commercial, production and marketing activities outside the USA. An Asian hub had been established in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, which offered limited commercial and marketing support before the company was sold to The Walt Disney Company. Following the Disney acquisition, the company suffered multiple rounds of layoffs, executive shuffling, and partner cut-offs.

History

As Maker Studios

2009–2012: Foundation and early years

Maker Studios was founded in 2009. In June 2012, Maker Studios announced that over 1,000 channels signed under the network have received and accumulated over 1.1 billion views for the month of June 2012. At the time, YouTube channels under Maker Studios collectively earned over 90 million subscribers. In October 2012, Maker Studios surpassed

Machinima Machinima, originally machinema () is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. Most often, video games are used to generate the computer animation. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words ''m ...

to become the number one independent YouTube network. However, since that time, according to comScore, in December 2012, Fullscreen passed Maker to become the top ranked YouTube-based network.

2012–2013: Ray William Johnson dispute

From late 2012 through 2013, Maker Studios and

Ray William Johnson Ray William Johnson is an American internet celebrity best known for his eponymous YouTube channel and his web series on that channel, ''Equals Three''. In 2013, the channel surpassed 10 million subscribers and had over 2 billion views, making ...

were involved in a public feud that received considerable media attention. Maker Studios formerly produced Johnson's ''Equals Three'' and ''Your Favorite Martian'' series. In October 2012, Johnson announced he would be leaving Maker Studios in an episode of ''Equals Three''. Johnson also formed his own production studio, Runaway Machine (formerly Runaway Planet). Johnson has stated online that he left Maker Studios due to the pressure the company put on him into signing a contract which gave Maker a 40% share of his channel's

AdSense Google AdSense is a program run by Google through which website publishers in the Google Network of content sites serve text, images, video, or interactive media advertisements that are targeted to the site content and audience. These advert ...

revenue and 50% of his show's intellectual property rights. He stated that they were using "thuggish tactics" to pressure him into signing the contract, one of which was allegedly leveraging his AdSense account for the intellectual property rights to Your Favorite Martian. He also claimed that Maker Studios CEO,

, is a convicted felon, which he was not made aware of, when teaming up with Maker Studios. Zappin later publicly admitted to this claim. This was one of the first such publicized contract disputes between a YouTube content creator and their multi-channel network. In December 2012, Maker announced that it had closed a $36 million round of financing led by Time Warner Investments.

2014: Acquisition by Disney

On March 24, 2014, Maker Studios, Inc. agreed to sell itself to

for $500 million, rising to $950 million if financial milestones were met. On April 14, 2014, Relativity Media submitted a competing bid of up to $1.1 billion, but Maker denied the bid. In 2014, Jukin Media partnered with Maker Studios, giving Maker Studios access to Jukin's library of video clips, and giving Jukin access to Maker's operational resources, The partnership also resulted in the launch of a dedicated website for ''FailArmy'', Jukin's owned and operated entertainment brand. In December 2015, the company became a subsidiary of

Disney Consumer Products Disney Consumer Products, Inc. is the retailing and licensing subsidiary of the Disney Parks, Experiences and Products segment of The Walt Disney Company. Previously, Consumer Products was a segment of Disney until 2016, then a unit of Disney Co ...

and the Disney Interactive division of

. The Network also partnered with Fusion TV in a deal that falls under the corporate umbrella of

As Disney Digital Networks

In February 2017, Maker Studios had around 60,000 YouTube partnerships, but announced that it intends to reduce this to about 1,000. Many partnered YouTubers had been unhappy with the terms of their contracts, including difficulty with ending contracts. On May 2, 2017, Disney absorbed the studio into the newly formed Disney Digital Network. On January 19, 2018, Twitch signed a deal with Disney to secure exclusive content from some of the entertainment giant's top YouTubers, including

Markiplier Mark Edward Fischbach ( ; born June 28, 1989), also known as Markiplier, is an American YouTuber. Originally from Honolulu, Hawaii, he began his career in Cincinnati, Ohio, and is currently based in Los Angeles, California. In addition to u ...

, Jacksepticeye, Strawburry17 and LuzuGames. A total of four YouTubers (with a combined total of over 44 million subscribers), are involved in the deal, and each will manage their own channels on Twitch. In 2017, DeFranco had bought back Maker Studios (automatically by proxy making DDN, not to be confused with Discovery Digital Networks, into a separate company). However, DeFranco has absorbed it into his new MCN and Digg copycat under the ownership of DeFranco Inc. (Originally owned by

Revision3 Revision3 was a San Francisco-based multi-channel television network that created, produced and distributed streaming television shows on niche topics. Founded in 2005, it operated as a subsidiary of Discovery Digital Networks since 2012. The ...

and later owned by Discovery Digital Networks through Rev3 until the shutdown of both of them in 2016 and 2017) named Rogue Rocket.

Key personnel

Courtney Holt was the chief strategy officer of Maker Studios. Due to Danny Zappin stepping down as the company's CEO,

Ynon Kreiz Ynon Kreiz (Hebrew: ינון קרייז; born 1965). is an Israeli-American businessman and current Chairman and CEO of Mattel.. He served as Chairman and CEO of Fox Kids Europe from 1997–2002, Chairman and CEO of television and digital product ...

, former CEO and Chairman of

Endemol Endemol B.V. was a Dutch-based media company that produced and distributed multiplatform entertainment content. The company annually produced more than 15,000 hours of programming across scripted and non-scripted genres, including drama, reality ...

became the CEO of Maker Studios in May 2013. Prior to Kreiz becoming the CEO of Maker, he was the company's chairman. Ryan Lissack is the current CTO of Maker Studios. In December 2015, Courtney Holt replaced

as CEO, coming a year after

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

's acquisition of the group.

Content

Maker Studios produced videos for channels on YouTube, including ''

Consider the Source Consider the Source is an American instrumental trio from New York City. Formed in 2004, the group has released six studio albums, four live albums, and one compilation. They have toured extensively across the United States, Israel, Turkey, and ...

'',

Tessa Violet Tessa Violet Williams, previously known as Meekakitty, is a singer-songwriter, video blogger, actress, music video director, and former model. Originally a vlogger, over the years Tessa Violet's online content became devoted to her musical care ...

, Chuggaaconroy, Yves Bole, KassemG,

Timothy DeLaGhetto Tim Chantarangsu (born March 6, 1986), formerly known as Timothy DeLaGhetto (and previously Traphik), is an American internet and television personality. He is best known from the improv comedy show ''Wild 'N Out'' where he was a cast member bet ...

, Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist's '' Epic Rap Battles of History'' (seasons 1-5), Joseph Garrett's '' Wonder Quest'' and ''

I Wonder I Wonder may refer to: Songs * "I Wonder" (1944 song), a song by Pvt. Cecil Gant; covered by Roosevelt Sykes (1945) and several others * "I Wonder" (Kanye West song), 2007 * "I Wonder" (Kellie Pickler song), 2007 * "I Wonder" (Rosanne Cash song ...

'', KingManProds, Sam Macaroni, along with several others that have almost as many viewers as

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...

. Maker's first three channels produced for YouTube included ''Maker Music Network'', ''Tutele'', and ''The Mom's View'', with both '' Maker Music Network'' and '' Tutele'' channels shutting down within six months of their launch. Maker Studios have also signed celebrities such as famous rapper

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...

and his YouTube channel WestFestTV, actor

Robert De Niro Robert Anthony De Niro Jr. ( , ; born August 17, 1943) is an American actor. Known for his collaborations with Martin Scorsese, he is considered to be one of the best actors of his generation. De Niro is the recipient of various accolades ...

's Tribeca Enterprises, and

Kevin Smith Kevin Patrick Smith (born August 2, 1970) is an American filmmaker, actor, comedian, comic book writer, author, YouTuber, and podcaster. He came to prominence with the low-budget comedy buddy film '' Clerks'' (1994), which he wrote, directed, ...

. In 2013, the most popular Maker production was '' Epic Rap Battles of History'', which averaged 30 million views an episode. Maker's most successful channel was

PewDiePie Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg ( , ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie ( ), is a Swedish YouTuber known for his Let's Play videos and comedic formatted videos and shows. Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage ...

, who was the most-subscribed user on YouTube. He was signed under the Maker sub-network Polaris and later Revelmode until February 13, 2017, when Maker dropped him as a result of the international backlash to jokes and actions that media outlets widely described as

anti-semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

. During his time with the network, Maker produced his YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) show '' Scare PewDiePie'' with Skybound Entertainment. Disney Digital Network in 2017 produced '' Hyperlinked'', a series distributed on

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

and based on the story of the social network Miss O and Friends, and '' Club Mickey Mouse'', a reboot of ''The Mickey Mouse Club'' airing exclusively online on social media.

Brands

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

* Marvel *

20th Century Studios 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

* Searchlight Pictures * Oh My Disney * Disney Style * Babble * Disney Family * Disney Eats * Polaris * The Platform

Television appearances

* '' Disney FHO - Friends Hanging Out'' (2015–2016) * '' Polaris Primetime'' (2017) * '' Polaris: Player Select'' (2017–2020) * '' Parker Plays'' (2017–2018) * '' Club Mickey Mouse'' (2017–2018) * ''

Legend of the Three Caballeros ''Legend of the Three Caballeros'' is an animated television series based on the 1944 animated Disney film ''The Three Caballeros'' and features the characters Donald Duck, José Carioca and Panchito Pistoles. It was first released in 2018 in th ...

'' (2018) * '' Disney Dream Job: Game Designer (2018 TV Special)'' * '' Disney Comics in Motion'' (2018–2019)

References

External links

Official website for Maker Studios
(

Archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials – in any medium – or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual ...

)
Official website for Disney Digital Network
(

) {{Authority control 2009 establishments in California 2014 mergers and acquisitions 2017 disestablishments in California 2019 disestablishments in California Companies based in Culver City, California Defunct entertainment companies Disney acquisitions Disney Interactive Internet properties disestablished in 2019 Internet properties established in 2009 Internet television channels Maker Studios Mass media companies disestablished in 2017 Mass media companies established in 2009 Mass media companies of the United States Multi-channel networks The Walt Disney Company subsidiaries