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That's more than the company's previous two ventures into the digital space.
The Mouse House purchased gaming community Club Penguin in 2007 for $350 million and social game maker Playdom in 2010 for $563 million.
Maker stands to gain another $450 million from Disney if performance goals are met.
Why invest so much money in a multichannel network?
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It's all about the eyeballs.The New York Times reports Maker receives 5.5 billion views per month across its approximately 55,000 YouTube channels.Here's a look at some of Maker Studio's channels, subscription numbers, and viewers.Polaris A collection of YouTube personalities' original content. 511,529 subscribers 40,544,824 viewsThe Platform A fashion and beauty channel 357,940 subscribers 21,885,330 viewsCartoonium Hosts classic episodes of kid's cartoons along with a few original shows. 58,055 subscribers 5,687,303 views The Mom's View Network for mothers who give parenting and do-it-yourself advice. 205,681 subscribers 19,221,881 viewsAnimonster Consists of various cartoons from a variety of animators. 311,317 subscribers 35,750,586 viewsSome of Maker's YouTube PersonalitiesFelix Arvid Ulf Kjelberg (aka PewdiePie) Suhaimi Abdullah/Getty Images 25.3 million subscribers 3.9 billion views The Swedish video game commentator holds the Guinness World Record for the most YouTube subscribers.Tessa Violet (aka Meekakitty) Tessa Violet/YouTube 988,484 subscribers 69,270,126 views Lisa Donovan / LisaNova (co-founder Maker Studios) Cindy Ord/Getty Images 575,591 subscribers 150,522,739 views Kassem G (co-founder Maker Studios) YouTube/Kirsten Acuna, Business Insider 2.6 million subscribers 410,875,100 viewsMaker Studios is also responsible for one of YouTube's viral channels, Epic Rap Battles of History.The video series, a collaboration of Nice Peter, epicLLOYD, Dave McCary, and Maker, consists of imaginary rap fights between popular cultural figures. Among the channel's most popular spoof is a pretend battle between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates.
All together, Epic Rap Battles of History has received 904.3 million views.How will this help Disney? In the past, Maker Studios has worked with both Universal and Warner Bros. to help market and drive ticket sales for their films "Pitch Perfect" and "Pacific Rim," respectively. Warner Bros. Maker Studios has previously helped studios market films including "Pitch Perfect" and "Pacific Rim."Maker held a contest for fans to participate in a music video with the cast of "Pitch Perfect" while putting together a month-long campaign for fans to create their own giant Jaeger robots for "Pacific Rim." "Pitch Perfect 2" is now slated for a May 2015 release. "Pacific Rim" took off at the international box office lending itself for another possible sequel. This is one area where Maker is most interesting to Disney - to help the company integrate and market its upcoming studio slate. "Maker brings to Disney a substantial digital audience, some of the biggest stars in the space and also a real understanding of how to manage big brands on YouTube," Brent Weinstein of United Talent Agency's digital media division, told The New York Times. "Look at what Maker has done for Epic Rap Battles and Snoop, and imagine what they can do for Iron Man, Mickey and Yoda." In addition to television and film promotion, Maker could lend itself to finding new original talent and content for Disney if it hopes to take off on YouTube.
