Beme Creator Bringing His Brand of Social Media to CNN

By Danny Cardozo | @DannyLCT

News network giant CNN acquired Beme, a social media mobile phone application that allows you to share your own video blogs, and the creative possibilities that can come from this acquisition are endless. As a result, Beme will no longer run its social app and will instead work with CNN to create content relevant to millennial audiences starting in January.

CNN’s main goal in acquiring a lately stagnant company was to reach Beme’s owner Neistat’s increasingly growing millennial viewers in order to expand the news network’s global audience. According to Variety, CNN plans to produce content that is relevant to millennial consumers in a more pertinent media format. The details of this project have not been disclosed.

CNN’s acquisition of Beme may come as no surprise for some as the news network giant previously acquired Great Big Story, an online publication company that recounts extraordinary stories of young people around the world. From that standpoint, acquiring Beme appeared to be a logical move towards further attracting millennial audiences.

Neistat’s Beme team will also join CNN Digital and bring their lengthy and rigorous experience in the social media and app industry to the network. However, they are expected to remain in their Tribeca studio in New York.

The Beme app disabled new users from creating new accounts, but their current users will continue access to request an archive of their content until January 2017, when the app is expected to be completely shut down.

As for the man behind the acquired brand, Neistat will continue to run the YouTube channel that helped him establish a strong and loyal following in the internet realm. In his most recent YouTube post, Neistat claims to be excited about the next chapter of his career with CNN, asking his followers to join him along on the ride.

What do you hope to see from this creative merger? Tweet us your thoughts @Socialmediadel .