CNN buys Casey Neistat’s Beme app, brings the YouTuber in-house
techcrunch.comNever heard of this app, yet...
> Something else Neistat authentically shared onstage was Beme’s raise and burn rate — $6.6 million in funding, with a burn rate of $180,000 per month
guess I am in the wrong business...
No surprise really. Beme failed to be a revenue generating business; maybe it was never intended to be. It barely even succeeded at being what it was - a video sharing social network. The only out for Beme was to sell. What continues to surprise me, is how willing some companies are to buy garbage apps.
Yeah I was wondering what he was going to do with the company, it seems to be popular between the current middle school -> high school age group.
I'm not sure how CNN is going to be able to utilize it.
I guess CNN is backing on his current fanbase (mainly teens) staying loyal to him as they graduate from HS and move to college. CNN knows that demographic likely won't have a cable subscription, so this feels like an alternative platform to capture that audience or at least try to. Time will tell if it's a successful strategy.
We'll likely never find out the terms, but I doubt anyone made money out of this deal with the exception possibly of Casey via his new contract with CNN. With over $6m raised, best-case scenario is the investors were made good and the employees walked away with greater long-term certainty and a stable paycheck.
They are shutting it down in coming weeks; team will focus on CNN endeavors.