Awesomeness (company)

Awesomeness, LLC, a digital media and entertainment network owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation, was founded in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola. The studio made films and TV series for streaming services aimed at Generation Z. It started as a YouTube channel and multi-channel network called AwesomenessTV, creating web series for teens and young adults, and later branched into talent management, branded content, music, publishing, and retail.

In 2013, DreamWorks Animation bought AwesomenessTV. The next year, Hearst Corporation took a 25% minority stake. Verizon Communications acquired another roughly quarter of the company in 2016 for $159 million, valuing it at $650 million, and struck a multi-year deal for AwesomenessTV to produce content for Verizon’s streaming service go90. After NBCUniversal bought DreamWorks Animation (creating internal conflicts because Verizon was a Comcast competitor) and go90 shut down, Viacom purchased AwesomenessTV in 2018 for about $50 million—far less than its 2016 valuation. The studio then focused on long-form series and films, most recently for Paramount+ and Nickelodeon. In October 2025, Awesomeness and its production slate were folded into Paramount Television Studios, the TV production arm of Paramount Skydance.

Robbins and Davola launched AwesomenessTV in July 2012 through YouTube’s Original Channel Initiative, producing web series for tweens and teens. Robbins, who had worked on shows like One Tree Hill, Smallville, and Nickelodeon’s All That, noticed his own sons shifting from TV to short-form online video. In 2009, he had produced an independent film for Nickelodeon starring YouTube comedian Lucas Cruikshank’s character Fred, which became the year’s highest-rated basic-cable film among youth and spawned a franchise. The channel debuted with 15 series in development, including the talk show IMO, stunt series The Blow-Up Guys, teen drama The Runaways, and Awesomeness Sports featuring professional and youth athletes. Davola likened the channel to MTV, calling it maverick and new for young audiences. Brett Bouttier became COO in November 2012, and that December AwesomenessTV launched its own multi-channel network.

DreamWorks Animation announced its plan to buy AwesomenessTV for $33 million on May 1, 2013, and the company later developed a YouTube channel for DreamWorks franchises.