Creator Economy Dynamo Steven Bartlett Partners With Authentic Brands to Launch OBSN Brand Development Venture

Rising entrepreneur Steven Bartlett has teamed with Authentic Brands to launch OBSN, a business venture designed to support creators and facilitate the development of consumer products and services built around top creators.

The deal calls for the partners to create a platform devoted to “providing news, analysis and live experiences for the creator economy” in addition to serving as a vehicle to help creators develop and manage a range of businesses.

Bartlett is the founder of Steven.com, which bills itself as the “operating system for the creator economy.” The U.K. businessman who counts more than 5 million Instagram followers hosts the popular digital series “The Diary of a CEO,” which has helped grow Bartlett’s profile in the attention-economy sweepstakes.

The OBSN partnership marries Bartlett’s understanding of developing and operating creator-driven business ventures with Authentic Brands’ expertise in managing products, licensing programs and retail relationships. The partners vow to “deploy hundreds of millions of dollars in the near term into creator-led businesses that meet their criteria.”

“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,” said Bartlett.

“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 $400 million in creator businesses over the coming years, OBSN is at the heart of that strategy,” Bartlett said.

OBSN will help build the careers of creator clients as well as nurturing IP and business opportunities that the company opts to invest in and help run. Bartlett will detail the vision behind OBSN in a live conversation set for Sept. 14 in New York with Jamie Salter, founder and executive chairman of Authentic Brands, and Maggie Sellers Reum, founder of Hot Smart Rich.

“Creators are redefining media and shaping the future of entertainment, with many poised to become multigenerational brands in their own right,” said Matt Maddox, president and CEO of Authentic. “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.”

(Pictured: Steven.com’s Steven Bartlett and Authentic Brands’ Jamie Salter)