YouTube sensation Casey Neistat last week announced he was quitting his daily video blog and now we know why: his app, Beme, has just been acquired by CNN along with its 11-person team. The deal, according to The Wall Street Journal, is valued at $25 million.
CNN announced Monday that it will shut down Beme and allow Neistat to create a new project to attract his online followers to the media company. According to The New York Times, Neistat will have full creative control to build a separate company that lets the audience share “timely and topical videos” and start conversations around current events.
“Casey has tapped into nearly six million really powerful viewers, most of which do not tune in to CNN,” Andrew Morse, global head of CNN Digital, told NYT. “To build this audience authentically, we believe we need to build something new.”
“Our broad ambition is to figure out a way with tech and media to bridge the gigantic divide.”
The project — slated for a summer 2017 launch — will operate as a standalone extension of CNN much like Great Big Story, the media giant’s answer to BuzzFeed. In a press release, CNN says Great Big Story will continue to focus on “untold stories” while Neistat’s project will attempt to build engagement around news topics.