Disney rebrands all Youtube content under Disney Digital Network

Disney has gathered all of its original Youtube content under a new umbrella: the Disney Digital Network. With a roster of over 300 channels, reaching an audience of more than a billion viewers, the rebranded channel is an attempt to ensure that the entertainment conglomeration has a tighter control over the output of its creators, and that the content itself is more tightly molded to the Disney brand and its 'family' values.

"Disney is not only one of the most loved and trusted brands among kids and families, but also the most intimate brand for Millennials," reads a mission statement on the Network's homepage. "Disney stories and characters mean something to people, and that very personal connection is at the heart of everything we do."

Channels from Maker Studios, the arm of Disney's YouTube production which featured most of its gaming content - and previously allowed to operate reasonably independently - will now come under the new Polaris channel brand. Polaris will carry almost all of the DDN's gaming content in the future.

In part, that's likely a response to the recent scandal involving Felix 'PewDiePie' Kjellberg, previously the poster boy for gaming-related YouTubers. In February this year Kjellberg was dropped by Disney after publishing a video containing messages of anti-semitic hatred. Following that, over 80 staff were laid off at Maker.