Maker Studios Rolls Out New Toolkit, Specific Verticals For Creators

It’s been a big week for Maker Studios, as the multi-channel network announced its plan to divide its partners across four huge units and 20 verticals. Now, a further announcement has revealed a few of the mechanisms that will aid Maker in this plan. It has officially announced both its proprietary platform, Maker Max, and its intention to create specific websites for individual creators.

For creators, Maker Max will offer statistics, forums, easy access to the network’s referral program (through which creators can earn commissions for recruiting their friends), and partner support tools. It has much in common with the toolkits released by other MCNs, and will soon include a greater volume of analytic options.

The creator websites come as no surprise to those of us who saw them coming as soon as Maker Studios purchased Blip. Essentially, Maker’s goal is to draw views away from YouTube (and its inferior revenue split) and towards Blip

. The creator sites will feature Blip embeds, and we can expect them to be closely connected to the new units and verticals Maker is planning. Epic Rap Battles of History‘s home gives us an idea of what these websites will look like, as does the hub for Polaris, the network’s gaming-focused vertical.

“Maker is rooted in supporting talent by offering them the best resources to address their needs, and these new technology products are an extension of that,” said Maker CTO Ryan Lissack. “We’re leveraging our deep experience in online video to offer a suite of technology solutions to reach and engage a highly influential audience at large scale.” To us, Maker’s reorganization seems less about growing audiences and more about moving existing ones to the right places.