The Independent bets big on individual talent-led verticals with the launch of Independent Studios

The Independent is doubling down on talent-led media production as part of a plan to create valuable intellectual property for sponsorship and capitalize on the booming creator economy.

The U.K.-based digital news publisher has signed YouTube creator Alan Clery as creative director to kick off the launch of Independent Studios, a unit that will produce a new crop of individual talent-led videos, newsletters and podcasts. Clery has established himself as a respected voice in football media and will now produce his own videos for his YouTube football channel ACFC, which launched last week and has gained more than 30,000 subscribers. Now Clery will have the studio’s production, promotional and development resources to grow his following further.

Clery’s signing with The Independent is part of a longer-term strategy to create trusted verticals led by individual talent — both in-house editors who have built loyal followings on The Independent’s own sites, which include BuzzFeed and the Huffington Post in the U.K., and external creators who have built large audiences on other platforms. The Independent had just under 28 million monthly visitors across its sites in February, according to Comscore.

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