EXCLUSIVE: Al Brown and Patrick Walker, two of the best-known digital execs working in Europe, have joined creator house Electrify.
Former Vice programming chief Brown has been named EVP Creative and Editorial, while ex-YouTube EMEA boss Walker will become Chief Strategy Officer at the London-based Electify, which is known for investing in digital creators and building their online brands.
Electrify’s media brands include Veritasium, fern, Mentour Pilot, Astrum, Fireship and The Rundown AI, with the overall roster collectively reaching more than 65 million subscribers across platforms.
The hires of Brown and Walker come as YouTube audiences increasingly turn to the TV set to consume the Google-owner video service. Electrify pointed to recent data showing that of the approximately 2.6 billion views and 371 million hours watched, more than 130 million hours – around 36% of total watch time – was through TV screens screens.
Walker has a reputation for straddling the entertainment and tech worlds, and was previously Managing Director, EMEA, at YouTube and Director of Media Partnerships, EMEA, at Facebook, putting him at the center of online video and creator-led media as it was growing. He also ran multi-channel network Rightster (later known as Brave Bison), and was a founding investor and Chief Content Officer at early YouTube network Base79.
Brown spent more than a decade at Vice, where he became VP of Programming for Vice Studios UK and executive-produced series including State of Undress and Gaycation, before going on to senior roles at Future Studios and Independent Studio.
At Electrify, he will work closely with creators and teams across its media brands on existing channels and formats while developing original formats and exploring where established audience relationships can open up new entertainment and original IP.
“A big audience isn’t a brief to make more of the same. It gives you permission to take creative risks, find new talent and build formats that can take those ideas somewhere audiences haven’t seen before,” said Brown.
Walker will focus on finding and bringing in the new creator-founded media brands, developing new platform, distribution and licensing opportunities beyond YouTube; and working directly with creators to build longer-lasting businesses around their audiences and IP. He will also lead Electrify’s relationships with platforms and distribution partners, as the company looks at opportunities across streaming, connected television and other forms of distribution.
“YouTube is already a living-room medium for hundreds of millions,” said Walker. “The opportunity now is to build creator-founded brands that can travel across every screen without losing what made audiences choose them in the first place.”