Verizon Picks Up Stake in AwesomenessTV

NEW YORK: Verizon has agreed to acquire a 24.5 percent stake in AwesomenessTV as part of a deal that will also see the companies working to create a new mobile video service.

Once the transaction is complete, the multiplatform youth-media company is expected to be valued at around $650 million. DreamWorks Animation, which acquired AwesomenessTV in 2013, remains the company’s majority stakeholder with an approximate 51 percent ownership of outstanding shares. The remaining 24.5 percent will be owned by Hearst. Brian Robbins, AwesomenessTV’s founder and CEO, and Brett Bouttier, its president, will continue to lead the company.

Besides its equity investment, Verizon will pact with AwesomenessTV to create a short-form, mobile video service. The new service will operate as a new and independent brand and feature premium transactional content geared toward a variety of audiences. The service will launch as part of the go90 offering, with Verizon funding the initiative through a multiyear agreement with AwesomenessTV.

The new content service will initially be exclusive to Verizon platforms in the U.S., though AwesomenessTV will retain the right to sell content worldwide.

“In addition to delivering compelling scripted and non-scripted series with high production values, AwesomenessTV has demonstrated an ability to zero in on programming that Gen Z and Millennials want to watch,” said Marni Walden, the executive VP and president of product and new business innovation at Verizon. “The content AwesomenessTV has produced for go90 has exceeded all our expectations with shows such as Guidance and Top Five Live. That’s why we want to be in the AwesomenessTV business.”

“This deal gives us the resources to work with the biggest talent in front of and behind the camera to create this new branded service and produce the most premium short-form content ever, made specifically for the device racking up the fastest growing viewership—the mobile phone,” said Robbins. “With Verizon joining DreamWorks Animation and Hearst as part of our equity ownership group, we benefit from the strategic insight and resources of the entertainment and communications industries’ most visionary companies and leaders. Our goal is to be the media company of the future, where content and distribution go hand in hand—we are now one giant step closer to that future.”

“The creation of this new branded service represents a transformational step, not just for AwesomenessTV, but also for the entire mobile video landscape,” said Jeffrey Katzenberg, the CEO of DreamWorks Animation. “This agreement is clearly impactful for AwesomenessTV—with annual revenues expected to more than double in the first 12 months of content delivery—and even more exciting is the expansion of our relationship with Verizon, one of the world’s most powerful marketers and content distributors, and their commitment to explore with us this incredible opportunity.”