Disney To Acquire Maker Studios For $500 Million In Move To Grow Its YouTube Audience

The Walt Disney Co. announced it is acquiring Maker Studios for a reported $500 million dollars, and claimed it would pay an additional $450 million if the popular YouTube video supplier meets specific growth targets.

According to The New York Times, the acquisition will help Disney build out its distribution and programming expertise.

“Maker already has a very large audience that will only keep growing, and that is something that would be hard to build on our own,” said Disney executive vice president for corporate strategy and business development Kevin Mayer in the New York Times report.

The New York Times claims Maker Studios has one of the largest networks on YouTube, managing around 55,000 channels, and generating more than 5.5 billion monthly views from its 380 million subscriber base.

In a report from Reuters on the acquisition, Mayer said the deal will help Disney attract more millennial viewers, as well as provide “a lot of data” to help the entertainment company promote its various businesses to younger audiences.