Maker Studios, the digital media company that Disney is buying for up to $950 million, unveiled a slate of original programming and took the wraps off Maker.tv — a consumer destination for monetizing video off YouTube. At its first Digital Content NewFronts event Tuesday evening in New York, Maker showed off existing and new content across 23 vertical network categories for a crowd of ad execs and partners. That included the premiere of the next season of its "Epic Rap Battles of History" franchise and a new branded-content series from documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock.
Maker.tv will include premium content produced by Maker Studios that is not available on YouTube. The content on the website will be windowed, the MCN said. As part of Disney, Maker will work with all of the Mouse House's brands, said Maker exec chairman Ynon Kreiz, including Lucasiflm, Pixar, Marvel, ESPN, ABC and Disney itself. The combined Internet reach of Disney and Maker Studios will be behind only Google and Facebook, he said.