Thursday, November 14th, 2019

3:00 - 3:45 PM, Herscher Hall, Guerin A, Webcast Live

The Emergence of Gaming Influencers: YouTube Gaming, Twitch and beyond

- Monetizing livestreaming content with ads and brands

- Do's and don'ts of live streaming.

- Effective branding and how to grow a following.

- Twitch vs YouTube Gaming.

Amber Howard, Esports & Gaming Agent, Abrams Artists Agency

Brian Foster, Sr. Director of Creators, Mobcrush

Mari Takahashi, (@atomicmari)

Moderator - Chris Saint, (@saintpiercing)

 

Amber Howard

Esports & Gaming Agent, Abrams Artists Agency

IG: @amberhowardaaa

Amber is a talent agent at Abrams Artists Agency who focuses on gaming and esports clients. Representing some of today’s hottest names in gaming, Amber has helped clients grow their personal brand within the esports space and beyond. Prior to joining Abrams, Amber worked in the esports and gaming department at Warner Brother’s digital gaming arm, Machinima, where she

 

 

brought the industry into more traditional verticals of content branding and entertainment by overseeing talent development, 360-talent engagement, and launches for various games. Amber has been ensconced in the esports community and culture and has been one of a few women leading the expansion of this entertainment vertical as a viable business model. She has worked with various partners on game development, helped cross gamers into traditional avenues, and headed up the casting and negotiation for Machinima’s property, “Transformers: Combiner Wars.”

 

Brian Foster

Sr. Director of Creators, Mobcrush

Twitter: @mobrush

LinkedIn: Brian Foster

As Senior Director of Creators, Brian brings over 7 years of experience from a variety of digital media and entertainment companies. Brian began his career at Fullscreen as head of gaming and started the Arcade Community at Fullscreen in 2012, leading gaming talent relations and packaging. In that time, he was able to scale the gaming division to nearly 20,000 channels. As Director of Integrated Marketing of Legendary Digital Networks, Brian developed and marketed custom video and social-forward packages for Nerdist, Geek & Sundry and Amy Poehler’s Smart Girls. He also managed and scaled live activations, driving revenue for large scale live social partnerships for events such as Comic-Con and South by Southwest. Brian brings experience in production and talent management to Mobcrush, working with a variety of creators in the world of live streaming.

 

Mari Takahashi

Co-Founder of SmoshGames

IG: @AtomicMari

YT: SmoshGames Channel

Mari Takahashi is one of the most popular names in the world of online video, recognized by Forbes as a top gaming influencer and digital pioneer. As a founder, host and producer of award-winning gaming brand SMOSH Games, Mari launched the channel on YouTube in September 2012 as an extension of the digital comedy powerhouse SMOSH. With Mari at the helm, SMOSH Games became the fastest-growing channel to reach 1 million on YouTube and now has over 7.4 million subscribers. In her role as a producer, Mari collaborates with executives and a range of brand and agency partners on the creative development and execution of gaming-focused branded content initiatives. With well over 2 million social followers, she is a passionate gamer, digital creator, social media expert and influencer. Mari is passionate about inspiring other young people to pursue careers in STEM. She recently worked with Puma in their effort to spotlight female gamers; and walked in beauty giant Olay’s NYFW “Face Anything” campaign for being a fearless female in a male-dominated industry. Last year, Mari was named to the prestigious PureWow 100 list by five-time New York Times best-selling author, and super-entrepreneur Gary Vaynerchuk. The list honors 100 women emerging in culture across the fields of arts, entertainment philanthropy, activism, sports and more — making bold moves to "wow" the world. As a consummate competitor, Mari was featured on CBS’ millennial-themed season of SURVIVOR; and was a prima ballerina with the Oakland Ballet Company. She lives in LA with her husband Peter.

 

Chris Saint

IG: @saintpiercing

YT: Chris Saint

Chris Saint is a British Reality TV star and celebrity body piercer working in the heart of Hollywood.  He was the stand out star of the hit show "Tattoos After Dark" on Oxygen/NBC/E4/TLC which then aired in over 15 countries worldwide. Chris is the most popular body piercer in the world and has a celebrity client list with huge names like Chris Martin (coldplay), Dakaota Johnson (50 shades of grey) and Paris Jackson to name a few.  Chris moved into live streaming and VR/360 content creation in 2016 and was the mastermind and host behind the Forbes Featured streaming show "DSN" where celebrity guests would sell their old, unwated items in a QVC style way while telling the audience stories of how they obtained the items for sale. Chris now streams gaming content almost every single day, multicasting to Youtube, Facebook, Twitch, Mixer & Periscope live from a Tattoo shop in Hollywood, occasionally stopping to pierce a client live on camera.