Verizon has invested more than $100 million for a 24.5% stake in online video channel AwesomenessTV. This is a move by mainstream company to find business in a non-mainstream traditional video streaming shows. The audience here would the young mobile-first generation. Hollywood’s DreamWorks Animation had earlier bought AwesomenessTV in 2013, and it was a $113 million deal.
“Verizon has concluded that trying to extract more and more money out of data usage charges is a dead-end street,” said analyst Craig Moffett of research firm MoffettNathanson. The deal with AOL helped them deliver ads on top of videos, and this is “why they bought AOL and why they launched Go90,” he said.
Source: Denverpost
