Robbins to exit AwesomenessTV

The co-founder and CEO of youth-skewing digital network AwesomenessTV is leaving the DreamWorks Animation (DWA)-owned company.

Brian Robbins

Brian Robbins announced his resignation to staff on Wednesday and will be replaced by Brett Bouttier, president of AwesomenessTV.

Robbins, who executive produced series such as One Tree Hill and Smallville prior to co-founding AwesomenessTV as a YouTube channel in 2012, has not yet revealed his next move.

AwesomenessTV has had a variety of different high-profile investors over its lifespan, having been taken over by DWA in 2013, which later sold stakes in the company to Hearst and Verizon before being itself taken over by Comcast last year.

Focusing on ‘Generation Z,’ the company’s original programming has been released across mobile and streaming services, as well as on traditional broadcast networks and linear TV.

It has produced series such as Royal Crush, Guidance and Cheerleaders alongside online stars including Meg DeAngelis and Jenn McAllister.

Earlier this year it emerged that the company would not be progressing with the mobile streaming service it was set to launch alongside Verizon.

This resulted in the departure of former ABC exec Samie Falvey, who had joined the company in 2016 to oversee the venture.

AwesomenessTV and Verizon are instead planning to focus on producing youth-skewing content for the US telecoms giant’s existing streaming service go90.