Endemol Shine North America Shuts Down Digital Studio

Endemol Shine North America is shutting down its digital studio, Endemol Shine Beyond USA, and laying off the team producing shows for online platforms such as YouTube Red. 

Five employees are being impacted by the closure, including president Bonnie Pan, who joined the company in March 2016 after serving in roles at Maker Studios and Yahoo. 

“We constantly review our approach to ensure that we are at the forefront of market trends and producing the very best creative content for both our brand and platform partners,” a company spokesman said Wednesday in a statement. “Moving forward, all digital programming initiatives in the U.S. will be run organically within the core infrastructure of Endemol Shine North America and its subsidiary production companies.”

Beyond launched in 2013 as the digital arm of the production company behind Fear Factor and Big Brother. Some of its earliest moves were to create a small, curated network of creators by aligning itself with digital and traditional stars such as Michelle Phan and Pitbull. But the studio has seen turnover at the top, saying goodbye to president Will Keenan in 2015. It named Adrian Sexton as interim president before appointing Pan to the position.

Under Pan, Beyond focused on producing programming for digital buyers with a focus on behind-the-scenes talent. It developed and produced The Keys of Christmas for YouTube and launched original series Capturing Everest with SportsIllustrated.com. 

The studio had a number of other digital projects in the works. It is expected to evaluate the deals on an individual basis and explore opportunities within the organization. Endemol Shine is also still producing programming for digital platforms and recently sold the series Best.Cover.Ever., produced in partnership with Ryan Seacrest, to YouTube Red. 

VideoIink first reported on the studio’s shutdown. 

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