Ad Giant Dentsu Aegis Acquires Majority Stake In Digital Talent Management Firm Gleam Futures

Advertising giant Dentsu Aegis Network announced today that it has acquired a majority stake in Gleam Futures — a U.K.-based digital talent management company that represents some of the top YouTubers on earth, including Zoella, the Pixiwoo sisters, Marcus Butler, and Caspar Lee.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Gleam is based in London with offices in Los Angeles, and was founded in 2010 by Dominic Smales, who today serves as the company’s CEO. Gleam counts 37 employees, reps roughly 40 total creators (whose YouTube channels count a combined 60 million subscribers), and clocked $5.5 million in revenue last year.

Smales will continue to lead Gleam as CEO from the company’s current headquarters in London, and Gleam will continue to represent its talent roster independently. Dentsu will keep the Gleam Futures name following the acquisition, and will work to create synergies between Gleam and The Story Lab, which is its content division. In addition to

talent management, Gleam — which has retained 100% of its clients since the company’s founding — also offers online video, publishing, content production, branding, and product launch services.

”This partnership will give our roster unrivaled access to the highly populated and fast-developing markets around the world, as well as strengthen our already established representation in the U.K. and U.S.,” Smales said in a statement “We will continue to develop the careers of our entire roster by helping them build their intellectual property way ahead of the traditional talent management trajectory.”

Adds Tracy De Groose, CEO of Dentsu Aegis, U.K. and Ireland: “Few businesses have led from the forefront of the digital talent revolution like Gleam Futures…We now have a massive opportunity to support the growth of this truly unique talent business by creating powerful collisions between content, creative, and media distribution.”