PewDiePie Dustup Shows Schism Among Video Industry Players, TDG Says

"Legacy brand" content companies and multichannel video programming distributors are held to a higher standard for their content than "so-called ‘Internet companies’ like Google and Facebook," said The Diffusion Group (TDG) senior adviser Joel Espelien in a blog post Tuesday. Pointing to the controversy over YouTube star PewDiePie's content and Disney's Maker Studios division's dropping most of its YouTube channel roster, TDG said AT&T's DirecTV Now, Verizon's Go90 and others have partnerships with new media stars with the aim of original exclusive content on their platforms: "Be careful what you wish for, guys. You just might get it." The research firm said YouTube kicked PewDiePie off only its paid YouTube Red service, but it left his YouTube channel alone since the viewers and ad dollars he drives are "simply taken as a given." Disney's reaction, meanwhile, "seems to be an overreaction," TDG said. "Clearly not everybody’s brand needs to be as squeaky clean as Disney," it said. "But not everybody can get away with YouTube’s casual indifference either."