UPDATE: Jan. 25,Taiwan 2018, 1:03 p.m. EST This piece has been updated after Casey Neistat removed his video announcing his split with CNN.
Almost two years ago, CNN made a blockbuster move to bring in one of YouTube's biggest stars with the dream of making a next-generation news outlet for young people.
On Thursday, CNN announced that it's throwing in the towel on that effort. The company is parting ways with Casey Neistat and folding Beme, the digital operation he had been running with his co-founder, Matt Hackett.
CNN, like most TV-based media companies, has been feverishly working to develop its digital side. Its Great Big Story video venture has found some success with social-friendly content.
Beme, however, never materialized. The closure, first reported to BuzzFeed News, highlights just how optimistic many old media companies became about digital news and video efforts directed at young internet users, only to see a variety of experiments fail.
“You can’t be afraid to take chances if you want to stay on top of an industry that is changing every day,” said Andrew Morse, general manager of CNN's digital business, in a statement “This was a chance worth taking — we built products and developed key talent that has made CNN stronger.”
Neistat published a video to his YouTube channel announcing the move. He offered a stark assessment of his time at CNN.
"Looking back at my time [at CNN], I think that we did a lot of interesting things. I think that... you know, maybe I struggled more in that environment than I had anticipated," he said.
The video later disappeared from Neistat's channel but was reuploaded by other YouTuber users. A copy is embedded here:
Hackett, who cofounded Beme and helped build Tumblr, published a blog about the move that was passed along to Mashable.
"Ultimately, while we have built some valuable things, we didn’t hit the escape velocity the business needed to exist independently," Hackett wrote.
When the move first happened, Neistat was trumpeted as part of CNN's future, even appearing alongside Jeff Zucker and Anthony Bourdain on a Hollywood Reportercover. CNN reportedly paid $25 million for Beme, which at the time had been around for only about a year.
Since the acquisition, Beme published a handful of videos to YouTube but little else.
Some Beme staff will be offered jobs in other parts of CNN, according to BuzzFeed.
Whale Vomit Episode 5: Startup Monarchy
Preview Skype's controversial millennial
Stolen 'Diablo' fan art is being used as a symbol of Ukraine's fight against Russia
This dancing Ariana Grande fan is the world's most inspiring concertgoer
How to Easily Make iPhone Ringtones Using Only iTunes
Apple's expected to ship 15 million Apple Watches by the end of 2017
Arkansas thieves forgo cunning scheme and just ram an ATM with a big ol' forklift
Arkansas thieves forgo cunning scheme and just ram an ATM with a big ol' forklift
Q&A with tendercare founder and CEO Shauna Sweeney
Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 poses for the camera next to cigarette butts
10 Tech Predictions for 2017
Jerry Lewis, legendary entertainer and humanitarian, is dead at 91
Foo Fighters and Rick Astley just Rickrolled an entire music festival
Elon Musk continues to tweet the Elon Musk
Robin Triumphant
'Game of Thrones' finale preview video: Let's rumble
Moonhack breaks a world record for kids coding, again
The solar eclipse shows up beautifully in weather forecast models
Waitin’ on the Student Debt Jubilee
Game of Thrones: A dragon dies in 'Beyond the Wall,' but it gets worse
Limericks from beyond the Rings of Saturn by Anthony MadridWaterman Redux by Anthony MadridArcade by Lucy SanteStaff Picks: Odes, #Ads, and Amazing Grace by The Paris ReviewLook, It’s Earth Day by The Paris ReviewReframing Agnes by RL GoldbergA Space for Bette Howland by Honor MooreModernism’s Debt to Black Women by Cody DelistratyCooking with Martial and Catullus by Valerie StiversGangster Bedtime Stories by Rich CohenBooks Only a Mother Could Love by The Paris ReviewPoetry Rx: Mother’s Day Edition by Sarah KayWhat Our Contributors Are Reading This Spring by The Paris ReviewQueerness, Cyborgs, and Cephalopods: An Interview with Franny Choi by Spencer QuongCooking with Martial and Catullus by Valerie StiversAdonis’s Poems of Ruin and Renewal by Robyn CreswellThe Ideal Place to Disappear: An Interview with Julia Phillips by Jennifer WilsonSomething Always Remains by Trevor PaglenSo What If Lincoln Was Gay? by Louis BayardEscaping Samuel Johnson by Peter Martin The Mr. Mantarian Subterfuge: A Story of Dog Boarding Living and Dying by the NBA Schedule A Loaded Deck: Bawdy Playing Cards from the Middle Ages Remember the Oddity That Was “Closed on Account of Rabies”? Watch a Strange, Spooky Documentary About Isak Dinesen Party on the Thames: The “Frost Fairs” of the Little Ice Age Linda Pastan Talks About Her New Collection, “Insomnia” When Your Conscience Has a Headache: The Gossip Hangover The Answers to Our Hink Pink Contest Abandon All Hope: Rowan Ricardo Phillips on the 76ers Pink Cigarettes: Notes on Lighting Up On Lesley Blanch and Women Travel Writers The Worst Thing for Writing Is Envy Hiroki Tsukuda’s “Enter the O”: A Haunting Alternate Reality Staff Picks: Raymond Pettibon, Jane Campion, Maggie Doherty The History Behind Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” One Percent: Geoff Dyer on Photos of Income Inequality Doddering Old Men: On Henry de Montherlant’s “The Bachelors” Queen Bitch: Alex Abramovich on David Bowie A Pocket Atlas of Remote Islands
2.1282s , 8199.671875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Taiwan】,Information Information Network