Sidemen’s Arcade expands roster with Max Fosh and others ahead of upfront

Arcade, the management company behind the Sidemen, is expanding its activities and has added a new collection of creators to its roster ahead of the company’s first upfront.

Arcade says it is relaunching as an entertainment company that builds Europe’s biggest creators into media brands across content, commerce and culture. Alongside commercial partnerships, the firm will focus on IP development across content and live.

It has expanded its creator line-up to include Max Fosh, creator collective Friends From Work (Arthur Frederick, Arthur Hill, George Clarkey and ItalianBach), John Nellis, Faith Kelly, Generation Football, and Jack Croft and Will Murray, co-founders of restaurant Fallow.

The company will continue to partner with the Sidemen, Europe’s biggest YouTube group, the first in Arcade’s line-up of top creators.

Next Thursday, Arcade will host Europe’s first creator media upfront event in London, giving more than 150 advertisers, brands and partners an exclusive preview of creator content slates, alongside audience data and insights.

Arcade’s next phase of growth is backed by a seven-figure investment from Lumina Media.

The relaunch comes as Arcade appoints Matt Elek as CEO, with co-founder Jordan Schwarzenberger stepping back from the day-to-day running of the company while retaining an active role.

“Creators aren’t just building channels anymore; they’re building entire media brands – longform, IP, live, branded entertainment,” said Schwarzenberger. “Arcade gives our partners access to the biggest creator media brands in Europe, which operate with the same scale and sophistication as a broadcaster or streamer, but with the trust and audience reach only these elite creators have.”

Thomas Benski, founder and CEO of Lumina Media, added: “We invested in Arcade because we believe they have the team, talent and ambition to build one of the defining companies in the creator economy. They’ve already built something special. Our role is to give Jordan, Matt and the team the backing, network leverage, growth company experience and resources to take that ambition to the next level, and we’re incredibly excited about what they can build from here.”