“A huge part of my particular audience sees news and media as largely broken,” Mr. Neistat said in an interview. “My dad sees it as the word of God, but I think the young people definitely do not.”

Beme saw early traction, especially among Mr. Neistat’s avid personal following, but failed to capture a large part of the social sharing market amid competitors like Instagram, Facebook and others. Snapchat, the disappearing video and photo sharing app, seemed to tap into much of the raw types of content and feelings Mr. Neistat said he and his team were trying to capture.

Many of the ideas that came out of Beme will be applied to a new, separate start-up company that will exist as an extension of CNN. Mr. Neistat and his team will be given full creative control to come up with a new project.

Beme’s audience is something that CNN, a 36-year-old cable news destination, is striving to attract. Jeff Zucker, president of CNN Worldwide, has frequently stated the network’s ambition to become a “digital company,” far from its roots as a 24-hour news channel.

The deal comes as other established media outlets attempt to branch out from their core offerings and invest in outside start-ups and new ventures. NBCUniversal recently invested $200 million in BuzzFeed, the new media start-up, and also put $200 million into Vox Media, a competing company that is home to technology, sports and political news sites. AMC Networks announced this month that it had taken a minority stake in Funny or Die, the digital comedy site founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.