Maker Studios heads to television

BY JOSHUA COHEN

Maker Studios is prepping for its television debut. The multichannel network with a talent roster of more than 55,000 YouTube channels worldwide that was recently acquired by Disney for upwards of $950 million will use its new multinational mass media parent company’s assets to its advantage.

Maker announced at Cannes, France’s global entertainment market MIPCOM that it’s set to air a “Maker branded special” in October 2014 on the Disney Channel as part of the cable network’s annual programming event “Monstober.” The special will be comprised of two 11-minute episodes airing together as a standard 22-minute TV program and will feature an “unscripted clip series hosted by top digital and traditional talent” showcasing the best “Halloween-themed content from the Maker network” in addition to “vignettes and sketches” produced specifically for the Disney Channel.

Maker will also produce a similar special for Disney’s XD cable and satellite channel, featuring the best prank videos from Maker’s network.

The “Monstober” special is what Maker hopes will be the first in a prolific catalog of branded blocks of programming, packaged especially for television (and, presumably, other premium, subscription-based video-on-demand platforms). With an extensive list of creators producing thousands of videos a month, garnering more than 9 billion monthly views around the globe, the MCN undoubtedly has an exhaustive amount of programming that can be culled together for any particular type of clip show, in any particular market, for any particular type of audience.

Maker Studios also announced more blocks of curated programming are in development with Disney Channels Worldwide. If the specials stateside do well, except television programs to hit cable and digital broadcasts around the world, both on and off Disney owned-and-operated entities.

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