Austin's Rooster Teeth sells to YouTube giant Fullcreen

by Garrett Reim
November 11, 2014
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Fullscreen has bought fellow YouTube MCN and production studio Rooster Teeth for an undisclosed amount. Austin-based Rooster Teeth is known for a variety of online video series, including 'Red vs. Blue,' a show crafted around characters from the Halo video game series. The deal will also give Fullscreen several new non-video properties including music sales, merchandise and live events. 
 
“Rooster Teeth is one of the strongest and most authentic media brands in the world amongst 18 to 34 year old, male-skewing audiences,” said George Strompolos, Fullscreen CEO and founder in a statement. “The combination of its massive reach, unique creative voice and insanely powerful community makes it a perfect match for Fullscreen.”
 
Founded in 2003, by CEO Matt Hullum and creative director Burnie Burns, Rooster Teeth publishes comedic videos on YouTube and through its own site RoosterTeeth.com. The YouTube MCN has nearly 8 million subscribers and its website boasts about 1.75 million members. Additionally, Rooster Teeth has several side businesses, including music sales, merchandise, video games and live events like RTX (Rooster Teeth Expo), a convention in Austin celebrating gaming and Internet culture. In its third year, the expo attracted more than 30,000 people.
 
As the online video space continues to consolidate and grow, Rooster Teeth felt they would need the backing of a much larger network. Particularly, Fullscreen's size and connections should help Rooster Teeth secure additional sponsor dollars.
 
“It was clear to see over the last decade that all media was slowly moving online. It seemed an inevitably. In the last two years, that steady movement has become a sprint. Now, everyone is running this direction. The inevitable has become imminent,” said Burnie Burns in a blog post. “Crafting a 12 year series or a 90-minute movie takes a lot of time and demands all of one's attention. The alliance with Fullscreen will enable me to meet those challenges. We now have a multi-million dollar production fund backed by some of the biggest names in media.” 
 
Fullscreen is based in Los Angeles, includes more than 55,000 content creators, and has more than 450 million subscribers. The MCN is known for content creators like The Fine Bros and Devin Supertramp. In September 2014, it sold a majority stake to Otter Media, a joint venture by AT&T and The Chernin Group. Otter Media was founded in April 2014 with $500 million to invest in online video companies and also has majority stakes in Crunchyroll and CreativeBug.  
 
Rooster Teeth will operate as a subsidiary of Fullscreen in Austin, with Hullum continuing on as CEO and Burns as creative director.
 
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