WME launches Creator Labs as clients build their own media businesses

WME is expanding its digital services with a new team designed to help clients run their own media operations across YouTube and other platforms, The Hollywood Reporter reports.

Called Creator Labs, the in-house group will work with podcasters, online creators and other clients on the practical demands of building a channel. Its responsibilities include managing channels, arranging content syndication and supporting the wider process of publishing and distributing material. The team sits within WME’s Digital Division.

The agency is also taking a financial stake in Astra Media, a company focused on video strategy and operations. Astra has already supported projects involving clients such as Khloe Kardashian and Kevin Hart. Alongside those moves, WME is enlarging its creators sales operation, led by Doreen Dinour, with the aim of securing more sponsorships and advertising for content made by its clients.

A shift in what an agent provides

The new services reflect a change in the relationship between creators and the companies that distribute their work. More WME clients are developing businesses around content they own themselves, rather than relying entirely on traditional networks, studios or other outside distributors. That has encouraged the agency to consider how its role must change when a creator controls both the material and the route to its audience.

Ben Davis, co-head of WME’s digital group, said the agency had developed the offering gradually, testing different approaches before deciding that it was gaining momentum. The work, he indicated, is intended to adapt agency support to a market in which clients increasingly control their own distribution.

Jad Dayeh, who also co-leads the digital group, described the initiative as a response to broader conditions in entertainment. YouTube has separated many of the functions once bundled together inside a television network or other distribution operation, leaving creators to manage those tasks themselves. Creator Labs is intended to give clients access to that expertise without requiring them to establish a full production company of their own.

The support can begin before a project exists in finished form. WME says the team may become involved during the idea stage, then help develop the project and handle matters such as uploading, scheduling and distributing episodes or other content. The broader objective is to help clients grow a subscriber base while avoiding the cost and administrative burden of assembling a large internal staff.

Clients already using the service

Some of the first clients to use the expanded capabilities come from different parts of the entertainment world. Erling Haaland, whose profile rose sharply during the World Cup, worked with the team to create his YouTube channel and find sponsorships connected with it.

Julian Shapiro-Barnum, known for Recess Therapy and Celebrity Substitute, used WME’s assistance to secure several sponsorships for the launch of his own late-night YouTube show. The examples illustrate how the agency’s role can extend beyond negotiating traditional entertainment work: it can also involve shaping a channel, organizing its commercial relationships and helping a creator establish a direct audience.

Creator Labs is headed by Joanne Lee, who joined WME in 2024. Before moving to the agency, Lee held senior positions at Meta, YouTube and Sony Pictures, giving her experience across major technology, video and entertainment companies.

Building a larger operation

WME has so far hired 11 people to support Creator Labs and its creators sales group. Astra Media brings another 50 full-time employees and contractors into the wider operation. The agency plans to increase the size of the group in the future.

The investment and staffing expansion suggest that WME views creator-owned media as more than a specialist service for a small number of internet personalities. As clients take responsibility for their own channels, the agency is positioning itself to provide the operational infrastructure that once sat elsewhere in the entertainment business. Its offering now spans the early development of an idea, the mechanics of distribution and the pursuit of advertising and sponsorship revenue.