WME has introduced “Creator Labs,” an in-house digital operations unit designed to help its clients build and scale media businesses on YouTube and other platforms, as the agency adapts its services to clients who increasingly own their own distribution, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Housed within WME’s Digital Division, Creator Labs assists podcasters, creators and other clients with channel management, content syndication and related operations. Alongside the new unit, WME has made an investment in video strategy and operations company Astra Media, which has powered projects for clients including Khloé Kardashian and Kevin Hart, and has expanded its creator sales team under Doreen Dinour to secure additional brand sponsorships for client content.

Joanne Lee, who joined WME in 2024 after leadership roles at Meta, YouTube, and Sony Pictures, leads Creator Labs.

“We’ve been investing in it and building this out slowly over the past couple years and testing and iterating around it and have found traction born out of how do we evolve our services for this new day and age? Our clients now own their distribution, so how does the role of an agent change,” said Ben Davis, co-head of WME’s digital group.

Jad Dayeh, co-head of the digital group, framed the move as a response to how YouTube has restructured the entertainment business. “This was largely a reaction to the state of the entertainment industry and the marketplace where we find ourselves, where YouTube has in many ways deconstructed all the different pieces that you have in what historically was a network or distribution operation and put that in the hands of the creator,” he said.

Dayeh added that the team works with clients from the ideation phase through build-out, handling posting, scheduling and distribution to grow a subscriber base without clients needing to staff their own production companies.

Early clients include soccer player Erling Haaland, who worked with the team to launch his YouTube channel and secure sponsorships, and Julian Shapiro-Barnum, creator of “Recess Therapy” and “Celebrity Substitute,” who used WME’s services to land sponsorships for his new YouTube late-night show. WME has hired 11 people to support Creator Labs and Creator Sales, with 50 additional full-time employees and contractors working through Astra Media, and plans to continue expanding the group.

The move puts WME alongside other major talent agencies building dedicated infrastructure around creators’ ownership of their businesses. In June, CAA and Integrated Media Company launched Compound Creative Holdings, a $250 million vehicle to acquire and operate creator-led media companies, separate from CAA’s existing 300-plus-creator representation business. Both moves reflect agencies treating creators less as talent to be booked for deals and more as founders of standalone media enterprises requiring capital, operations, and infrastructure support.

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