For content material creators on the pinnacle, making a media firm is not the final word purpose. In 2025, there’s a brand new endgame: the creator conglomerate.
As prime creators grew to become mainstream celebrities within the 2010s and early 2020s, a few of them funneled their audiences into creator-powered media corporations — with nice success. Now, creator-owned media corporations like Legendary Leisure and Smosh are a extensively accepted a part of the broader media panorama, punching above their weight class in viewership and engagement because of the fandom pushed by their creator-owners.
However as creators like Dhar Mann and MrBeast attain new heights when it comes to each following and investor curiosity, at the moment’s creator media corporations are evolving into one thing a lot bigger. They’re quickly increasing into new enterprise models past content material manufacturing — and hiring skilled executives to guide the cost. One yr in the past, Mann employed Sean Atkins, a former MTV government, to be the president and CEO of Dhar Mann Studios — and Atkins instantly expanded the corporate into the creator company enterprise, launching fifth Quarter Company to assist different prime YouTubers extra successfully monetize their movies.
“For 3 years post-2020, we have been truly in income decline,” Mann mentioned. “After which, from the date that Sean joined — which isn’t even two years in the past — we’ve got doubled in income.”
The rise of the creator government class
As creator media corporations evolve into creator conglomerates, the executives on the helm are always in communication. In any case, creator conglomerates are a completely new kind of enterprise, and executives coming from extra conventional backgrounds in enterprise and leisure have been tasked with the problem of constructing the playbook for leaders on this burgeoning house.
The 9 creator-company executives interviewed for this text appeared to all know one another, with a number of of them referencing an online of behind-the-scenes WhatsApp chats used to swap notes about subjects like promoting charges, model deal negotiations and behind-the-scenes creator group drama. Atkins, for instance, cited a latest dialogue about rising CPMs in certainly one of his creator-executive WhatsApp group chats.
“You’ll instantly have 5 to 10 presidents, CEOs and COOs saying proper again: ‘I’m seeing this, I’m seeing that. I’m seeing this,’” he mentioned. “It’s actually useful while you’re operating an org, as a result of all people desires all people to succeed.”
One identify that creator firm executives repeatedly cited in interviews for this text was Brian Flanagan, who’s the president of Legendary Leisure and beforehand served as the corporate’s COO between 2016 and 2023. 5 different creator firm executives flagged Flanagan as a pacesetter of kinds inside the creator–government house, with the Legendary president incessantly doling out recommendation to different creator execs by way of textual content or e mail.
“That’s part of my job, to share data. We’ve got on-the-record talks with giant creator corporations, podcast corporations and membership-driven corporations on a regular basis,” Flanagan informed Digiday. “It’s a great deal of dialog, and I believe that it borrows classes from nice broadcast TV previously. The worlds are very a lot alike.”
As creator corporations proceed to construct out their government workers, some want to rent expertise with expertise on each the creator and conventional facet of media.
“Our chief inventive officer, Gabriel Blanco, got here to us from Legendary — however previous to Legendary, he was working in industrial and movie,” mentioned Julie Walsh Smith, the CEO of the creator-founded media firm Complexly. “So, it was vital for us to have someone with a background in conventional movie and TV, but in addition understood audiences on YouTube, particularly.”
How at the moment’s creator conglomerates divide their empire
Content material manufacturing stays the first income stream for at the moment’s creator conglomerates, however trendy creator-owned companies are more and more utilizing content material as a springboard into a variety of different enterprise models.
Right here’s a breakdown of the varied focuses:
Company work:
Dhar Mann’s fifth Quarter Company is a number one instance of how creators have more and more taken on work that will beforehand have been achieved by devoted expertise administration or illustration companies. Past Mann, prime creators from Pokimane to Wendigoon have invested in expertise administration companies in recent times, with Mann describing his company enterprise as a “pure extension” of his different work within the house.
“Over my lengthy profession, I’ve hardly ever been in a enterprise the place each single line is working; there’s at all times one thing that’s working and never working, and so the extra diversified that portfolio is, the higher it’s for the well being of the corporate, when it comes to its skill to proceed to speculate,” Atkins mentioned. “That’s no completely different for a creator. A part of what fifth Quarter [Agency] brings to our firm is a range of threat.”
Mann — whose firm reported earnings of over $20 million final yr — is presently working with the funding financial institution and advisory agency CAA Evolution to lift over $300 million, intending to make use of the funds to amass and handle different YouTube channels. Thus far, nevertheless, Mann has not introduced any traders for the enterprise, with some events balking on the phrases, per a Bloomberg report. Having a extra diversified enterprise — one that features content material manufacturing, company work, reside occasions and extra — may assist potential traders really feel extra comfy opening their purse strings for Dhar Mann Studios.
“If I may flip round in the future and be like, ‘Hey, we’ve got like, six enterprise traces; they’re all 15 % of the corporate,’ I’d be ecstatic,” Atkins mentioned.
IP licensing:
As creator-made content material grows in reputation, creators are constructing complete enterprise traces across the licensing of their authentic content material and mental properties, each for related TV gadgets and past. Dhar Mann, for instance, has a devoted Samsung TV Plus channel, which the creator spun right into a 13-episode authentic content material deal. (Mann informed Digiday that he has a characteristic movie within the works, too, however declined to share extra particulars.)
“Each linear and streaming are bringing us further income alternatives,” mentioned Courtney Hirsch, the CEO of Jomboy Media, which signed a CTV licensing cope with Tubi in August. “Both from the phrases of the deal, or simply the high-level skill for us to inform advertisers, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the presenting sponsor of [Jomboy show] “Talkin’ Yanks;” now you can discover “Talkin’ Yanks” exterior of YouTube, and on all of those streaming platforms.” Hirsch didn’t disclose how a lot advert income Jomboy has made by leveraging its CTV presence, however mentioned that the corporate deliberate to make use of its CTV licensing agreements to signal extra offers with premium advertisers.
Reside occasions and excursions:
In 2025, reside occasions have change into a serious enterprise unit for creators, with creator collectives akin to Dude Good producing a big chunk of their income from annual excursions, each via ticket gross sales and sponsorships. The corporate Actual Good Touring, which focuses on organizing creator occasions, has over 800 occasions on its calendar for 2025, with 224 occasions scheduled between September and the top of the yr, in line with co-founder Brent Lilley.
“Within the first two years, if we had 100 reveals, I’d have mentioned, ‘you’re out of your thoughts,’” Lilley mentioned. “And it’s large and small — it goes all the things from 350 seats as much as small arenas.”
For creator companies constructed round video content material, reside occasions characterize a very juicy content material manufacturing alternative, in addition to a direct income stream.
“The income permits us to unlock larger manufacturing worth budgets,” mentioned Alessandra Catanese, the CEO of the creator-founded media firm Smosh. “And with that, I’m in a position to flip to my expertise and creatives and say, ’what’s the large concept? What do we’ve got that’s not restricted to a YouTube video?’”
Client merchandise:
Client merchandise have supercharged the enterprise of creators akin to Jesser, whose attire model Bucketsquad is bought at nationwide retailers like Dick’s Sporting Items. In September 2023, the creator employed Zach Miller, a former Spotify government, as president of the corporate, with a specific concentrate on rising Bucketsquad’s attire enterprise.
“In 2023, which was our first full yr within the attire enterprise, Bucketsquad attire did just a bit bit over seven figures, and this yr it’s going to do some over eight figures, or I’d say [high] seven figures to low eight figures,” Miller mentioned. “So, you’re speaking about virtually a 10x progress in two years.”
A rising tide
The rise of the creator conglomerate has created alternatives for different companies to develop, past the creator-founded corporations themselves. Corporations like Actual Good Touring, for instance, have benefited significantly from the expansion of reside occasions as a creator income stream, with the corporate presently bringing in income within the “low eight” figures, in line with Lilley. In the meantime, the increase in creators’ shopper product manufacturers has fueled demand for corporations and occasions that exist to advertise these merchandise, such because the Creators in Vogue occasion happening subsequent month in Dallas, Texas.
Final month’s inaugural Creators in Vogue occasion was comparatively and deliberately small, with fewer than 100 attendees, in line with organizer Tobias Hoss. This yr, the occasion’s organizers count on over 1,000 folks to attend, with plans to solely characteristic creator-owned trend manufacturers on the runway.
“It’s much less about competitors and extra about collaboration, and the financial system is rising strongly sufficient that there’s house for everybody,” Hoss mentioned. “So, we actually wish to construct that platform and allow creators to remodel into companies.”
