CNN buys Beme
So one of my favorite YouTubers Casey Neistat recently sold his video app Beme to CNN. For those not familiar with Beme, it’s basically a way to create content that can’t be edited or viewed before being shared.
With Beme, video recording is done via the rear camera in four-second bursts. However, instead of hitting a record button and watching the screen to see what you’re filming, you capture video by covering your iPhone’s proximity sensor, which is the little dot next to the front camera. This means you start recording by placing the phone up against your chest, forehead, or any other location (a finger also works) that would cover the sensor.
Beme was never really able to take off and compete with the likes of Snapchat, so the real reason for the $25 million acquisition seems to be for the new media company that will be created, run by Neistat and his team. Do you think this will prove to be an effective way for CNN to gain more of a millennial following?
The success of Neistat at CNN is tough to predict, but he is a genuinely talented hard worker so I give him a better shot than NBC and Buzzfeed. As long as he doesn't lose his cool being associated with CNN his main demographic of tweens who want a boosted board will follow.
Beme is effectively worthless; the acquisition was most likely structured to pay out Neistat's investors. Wouldn't be surprised if CNN went to Neistat with an employment offer and he negotiated it into a company buyout. Neistat is probably worth $25 million on his own, if not more.
Accusantium sint et fuga quam et a. Iusto architecto quis aut est velit et assumenda. Aut repudiandae vero eum. Esse expedita harum eum totam.
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