StreamElements Acquires Gamer-Centric YouTube MCN ‘Paragon’

Following its recent $100 million fund raise, StreamElements has acquired gamer-centric multi-channel network Paragon, through which it says it’s bringing hundreds of YouTubers into the fold.

The financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. StreamElements, which creates engagement and monetization tools for both live and VOD creators, has said it wants to focus more on the YouTube and VOD content space.

In a unique twist, StreamElements will not be taking a cut of creators’ programmatic ad revenues after the acquisition, it says — a diversion from how the MCN business model has long functioned. Instead, StreamElements — whose business model is centered around bringing creators brand money — will help creators land scaled sponsorship opportunities, and will be taking a cut of these deals.

StreamElements also takes a cut of merch sales that are transacted on its platform — though all of its creator engagement and monetization tools are free to use.

Paragon, for its part, reps hundreds of creators — who have surpassed 1 billion collective views over the past year — including SypherPK, xNestorio, and Kiingtong.

“One of our goals is to grow our footprint in the VOD space by introducing new features alongside our renowned community support,” Gil Hirsch, StreamElements’ CEO, said in a statement. “By making Paragon part of the StreamElements family, we are able to directly help many popular YouTube creators evolve their offerings and increase their audiences even more.”

All told, StreamElements says it powers over 1.1 million creators across Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, and Trovo with live stream overlays, alerts, chat bots, digital merch storefronts, and tipping features.