Steven Bartlett has teamed with Authentic Brands Group to launch OBSN, an investment venture aimed at creator businesses.
The new venture combines Steven.com, Bartlett’s global creator holding company media, with Authentic, a global brand and entertainment platform. It merges Steven.com’s experience building creator-led media and global audiences with Authentic’s platform for developing and scaling brands and intellectual property.
Announced in New York on Monday, OBSN (short for Obsession) is “designed for the world’s most ambitious and consequential creators”, with a platform offering news, analysis and live experiences for the creator economy that is designed to become its definitive voice and home.
Steven.com is responsible for Bartlett’s show Diary of a CEO, which has over 22 million followers and subscribers over its various platforms, as well as several other major creators. Authentic operates more than 50 brands in over 150 countries and has teams focused on Authentic owns more than 50 brands and operates in more than 150 countries, with teams across product, licensing, strategic partnerships, digital commerce, content and experiences.
Steven.com will lead on OBSN’s media, technology, data, and audience-growth engine, while Authentic will bring expertise to brand building, product, licensing, strategic partnerships and global distribution. Through OBSN, partners will see opportunities to deploy hundreds of millions of dollars in the near term into creator-led businesses that meet their criteria.
Partnerships formed through OBSN will be tailored to the individual ambitions of the creator, be it developing products, expanding a media operation, pursuing partnerships or chasing global expansion. The offering is more than mere capital, it provides infrastructure, expertise and long-term partnership to help the business endure.
Bartlett said: “The next generation of global media companies and consumer brands will be built around creators. But a global audience of millions is not yet a company, and it certainly should not be the ceiling of a creator’s potential.
“Steven.com understands how to build media and audiences around creators, and Authentic understands how to build and extend brands around the world. OBSN brings those capabilities together so ambitious creators can reach the full scale of their ambition. We are aiming to deploy up to $400m in creator businesses over the coming years, OBSN is at the heart of that strategy.”
Matt Maddox, President and CEO of Authentic, added: “Creators are redefining media and shaping the future of entertainment, with many poised to become multigenerational brands in their own right.
“We are excited to partner with Steven Bartlett and his exceptional team to launch OBSN and create a powerful new model for creators and their businesses. By combining our complementary capabilities, we will identify, invest in and scale creator-led IP – capitalizing on a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strategically deploy hundreds of millions of dollars across the creator economy and build the brands of tomorrow.”
OBSN’s creator economy media and experiences business is already live, with more than one million followers on Instagram. It is planned to expand across new content formats, channels and live experiences, including festivals and official awards.
