The German influencer network Mediakraft will close. The network became known mainly in 2014 when the German YouTuber Simon Unge publicly stirred up sentiment against the network: He wanted to get out of his contract. Before that, LeFloid had already left.
This is Mediakraft:
- Mediakraft was founded in 2011 and was considered one of the largest German multi-channel networks in 2014. At that time, it had about 150 employees. Mediakraft had contracts with popular German YouTube stars like LeFloid and Simon Unge in 2014.
- In 2014, the network made headlines because of conflicts with these major stars. First, LeFloid left, later the conflict with Unge attracted a lot of attention. He felt so uncomfortable in the network that he went public to get out.
- In 2017, the company was acquired by MMO publisher Gamigo. They are closing Mediakraft at the end of 2021 and laying off the employees. Mediakraft and the “influencer business” are said to be less scalable than other parts of the company, according to Gamigo.
“I won’t be treated like a piece of shit”
That was the major conflict with Unge back then: In 2014, the then 24-year-old German YouTuber Simon Unge released a 12-minute video in which he said: He is making a fateful decision (via chip.de).
In the video, he announced he was parting ways with Mediakraft. He accused them of wanting to drive him into personal bankruptcy, claiming they were not interested in his creative ideas and were hindering him in his work.
He said he felt “like a piece of shit” and didn’t want to put up with it any longer. He stopped his channels “ungespielt” and “ungefilmt”.
Mediakraft denied the accusations back then, stating that they had agreed on a collaboration with clear contractual rules. But Unge did not adhere to these rules and harmed the entire network.
There are hopes for a swift and amicable end (via stern.de).
It was a major scandal in 2014 that made it to the mainstream media. YouTube was compared to the music industry, influencers to musicians, and networks to record labels.
Mediakraft not profitable enough for MMO publisher Gamigo
Why is Mediakraft closing now? According to the business report from Gamigo, which acquired Mediakraft in 2017, it was decided on August 27 to abandon the entire influencer business division of the company. Because it is only growing in the single-digit percentage range – other business areas would scale much better.
It is said that the company was able to reach a termination agreement with all employees. The business will conclude at the end of 2021.
The dissolution of Mediakraft affects about 10% of the group’s worldwide employees, it is said.
Today, Simon Unge is in a very different position than he was 7 years ago. We recently reported on MeinMMO that he has started a successful podcast:
Podcast by MontanaBlack and Unge is successful, but receiving criticism: Too much advertising
