Warner Bros. today signed a deal to acquire Machinima, a fandom and gaming culture programming service. Machinima will be folded into the recently established Warner Bros. Digital Networks.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed but, according to Variety, the transaction values Machinima at around $100 million.
Craig Hunegs, president of business and strategy for the Warner Bros. Television Group, said Machinima will give Warner Bros. a chance to boost engagement with DC Comics properties.
“Machinima is a strong gamer and fandom content and social brand with enormous reach and high engagement with audiences that play our games and are big fans of DC films and television shows,” said Hunegs in a statement. “Machinima also produces great, high quality content for their community, and together we can create an even more compelling experience and do some really exciting things involving our key franchises. This acquisition is another meaningful move forward as Warner Bros. develops more direct relationships with our consumers.”
Warner Bros. has been an investor in Machinima since 2014. Since that time, Machinima said it’s been able to jump from being a YouTube multichannel network to a multiplatform programmer. Under CEO Chad Gutstein since 2014, Machinima has opened a full-service production studio and landed content partnerships with distributors including Playstation Vue, Amazon Prime, Verizon’s go90, China’s Sohu and The CW Network.
“We’ll now be able to take full advantage of Warner Bros.’ intellectual property, sales and distribution, while still creating content for social and premium digital platforms that gamers and geeks love. Plus, we’ll be fully embedded and can help Warner Bros. continue their incredible digital marketing successes. It’s honestly a win-win,” said Gutstein in a statement.
Machinima will be a wholly owned part of Warner Bros. Digital Networks, a division the studio founded in 2016 to pursue digital and OTT offerings. WBDN works in step with Time Warner’s Turner and HBO divisions to plot strategy for current and future OTT services.