It’s been an interesting few years for CNN. The network had been starved for ratings but found their savior in the form of Trump, who they set themselves against. Ever since, the ratings have stabilized, but the very little credibility the network had was flushed down the drain in the process.
In their attempts to expand the network’s footprint and appeal to the youth, who may be liberal but still dislike their news coverage, CNN’s made some terrible investments. The most egregious of these was their expensive decision to partner with a no-talent YouTube “star,” which has resulted in millions of lost dollars and all-around embarrassment.
As reported at Business Insider, Casey Neistat of YouTube fame will see his app “Beme,” which he sold to CNN for $25 million, shut down due to its abysmal performance.
CNN brought Neistat on board with the purchase of Beme, hoping that he could turn the platform into their exclusive outlet for digital storytelling. Neistat rocketed to YouTube fame from nowhere, gaining an absurd and amount of followers in next to no time. So CNN was keen to cash-in on his skyrocketing popularity.
However, Neistat’s initial rise has since plateaued, and interest in the app, which comes with the baggage of being associated with CNN, has bee incredibly unpopular.
On Thursday, in a video announcing the amicable breakup, Neistat told his fans that he didn’t think CNN was a “good fit” for him and his brand of storytelling. What makes CNN’s gambit to use Neistat’s popularity all the more amusing is that rumors are CNN president Jeff Zucker only found out about him because of his teenage son, which resulted in an offer very soon after.
Along with Neistat, 22 people worked on the project, and while the network says it’ll try and find new roles for some of them, there will be quite a few layoffs. Let this be a lesson to the morons at CNN who think they can take a lightning in the bottle YouTube personality and turn him into some serious news storyteller. It doesn’t take a genius to see the millions of reasons why it was a bad decision from the start.
Source: Business Insider