Fullscreen Acquires Videogame Media Firm ScrewAttack
The March madness for multichannel networks continues: Fullscreen, one of the biggest YouTube MCNs, has acquired small videogame-focused media company ScrewAttack.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. ScrewAttack runs a YouTube channel with 849,000 subscribers and a website with news, reviews, commentary and original programming about the videogame scene. It also has an offline presence with the annual ScrewAttack Gaming Convention.
With the acquisition, Fullscreen will rebrand its gaming-focused hub, Fullscreen Arcade, as the ScrewAttack Network. That will encompass that MCN’s existing 14,000 gaming channels, which deliver more than 750 million monthly views.
ScrewAttack “will provide a beachhead for our creator network and support our ongoing programming strategy in gaming,” Fullscreen head of talent Larry Shapiro said. “They’re speaking in the voice of the game community. Authenticity is a key factor.”
News comes after a string of recent MCN dealmaking: Disney on Monday announced it will buy Maker Studios in deal worth up to $950 million, while German broadcasting giant ProSiebenSat.1 is buying a 20% stake in Collective Digital Studio. Earlier this month, Warner Bros. led an $18 million investment in Machinima, a videogame-focused MCN that has been losing viewers.
ScrewAttack has eight employees, all of whom will join Fullscreen, including founder Craig Skistimas. The group will remain based in Dallas. “Together with Fullscreen, we can amplify our efforts and interact with an even larger part of the videogame community to feature content that excites, pleases and entertains,” Skistimas said in a statement.
It’s Fullscreen’s second acquisition, after buying 12-person mobile-video startup Supernova, which was previously called Viddy, in January.
ScrewAttack had previously been an affiliate of Fullscreen. One of the things that spurred Fullscreen to buy the company was ScrewAttack’s original content formats — including the head-to-head Death Battles (e.g. Batman vs. Spider-Man), and Top 5 and Top 10 lists. Shapiro said Fullscreen plans to adapt those formats to its other channels.
Fullscreen’s network includes talent, including The Fine Bros., filmmaker Devin Super Tramp, super-group O2L and recording artist Lindsey Stirling. The company, founded in January 2011, has received funding from Comcast Ventures, Chernin Group and global ad agency WPP.
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