Thursday, May 23rd, 2019

4:00 PM – 4:45 PM, Herscher Hall, Guerin A, Webcast Live

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

Panelists will discuss revenue opportunities on the major streaming platforms for gaming content and commentary.

- 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.

Chris Saint, (@saintpiercing)

Mari Takahashi, (@atomicmari)

Brian Foster, Sr. Director of Creators, Mobcrush

Niles Heron, CSO, Popdog

Moderator - Michael J Lambie, Head of Product, CreatorIQ

 

Mari Takahashi, Co-Founder of SmoshGames: IG: @AtomicMari, YT: AtomicMari 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.

 

Niles Heron, Chief Strategy Officer, Popdog; TW: @nilesheron, IG: @nilesheron: Niles firmly believes that entrepreneurship is about building good systems (solving problems at scale). Niles left esports in late 2007, and worked for the better part of 10 years across corporate, creative, and entrepreneurial settings helping design and implement systems to drive growth, productivity, and value. This work took him from Detroit to Los Angeles, San Francisco, and back to Detroit with companies in BioTech, Automotive, Aerospace, Technology, and Entertainment. He’s been a part of a number of startups -- a few exits, a few exciting failures -- and has invested heavily in trying to make paths like the one he took more accessible to the under-represented spaces he came from. He’s taught and mentored at incubators and accelerators (TechStars, Gener8tor, Detroit’s TechTown), spoken across the country at events about the the value of entrepreneurship and startups to founders and the communities they live in, and is a respected voice in the Detroit Startup ecosystem. He was honored by Crain’s Detroit Business as a 20 in their 20s award winner in 2015.

 

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.

 

Michael J Lambie, Head of Product, CreatorIQ; IG: @mjlambie; LI: Michael J Lambie: Michael J is head of product for CreatorIQ. Prior, he spent 2 years as Sr. Research Director at 20th Century Fox in the international theatrical marketing group under the media and research team, 10 years at Nielsen in a number of different departments. Additionally, he built out and ran the advertising product for ContentNext which sold to Guardian UK in 2008. He currently serves as an advisor to the Carnegie Mellon, Heinz School Master's in Entertainment Management program and is currently a member of the Television Academy under the executives and interactive peer groups.