The top 18 talent agents for YouTube creators who are changing the influencer business and landing deals for their clients

Andrew Graham; Arleta Fowler; Chris Wittine; Ali Berman; Ruobing Su/Business Insider

Andrew Graham, Arleta Fowler, Chris Wittine, and Ali Berman.

• Since the rise of YouTube influencers, Hollywood's top talent agencies have developed digital-focused departments, and now work with popular YouTube stars like Emma Chamberlain and Shane Dawson in developing multi-platform businesses.
• Business Insider is highlighting 18 power players in the digital talent agent space, based on who is successfully helping shape the careers of creators.
• These talent agents help their clients monetize their online brands, build lasting partnerships with companies through influencer marketing campaigns, and develop consumer products.
• Send your influencer industry tips to this author at aperelli@businessinsider.com.
• Click here for more BI Prime stories.

YouTube creators are dominating the influencer space and building multi-faceted businesses to rise above the whims the algorithm.

These influencers expand their digital businesses by selling consumer products, securing lucrative brand partnerships, and through other avenues. And big creators often have a team of industry professionals by their side helping them run their empires.

After highlighting the top talent managers in the YouTube influencer space earlier this year, Business Insider is now putting a spotlight on the top talent agents. These 18 power players are helping shape the careers of social-media stars in 2019.

Since the rise of YouTube influencers, Hollywood's top entertainment agencies, from WME to UTA, have developed digital-focused departments, and now work with popular stars like Emma Chamberlain and Shane Dawson.

Some YouTube creators have both a talent manager and an agent to help build their digital brand. In those cases, a manager will often help with day-to-day work of crafting the creator's brand, while an agent will work bringing in deals and on broader business strategy. There's also some overlap.

"Agents and managers are really partners in representing talent," said Carolyn Moneta, a digital media agent at William Morris Endeavor. "Traditionally, we are really executing on the vision that the client has, that the manager is helping to materialize. We procure the deals and help negotiate them, whereas managers are really on the ground helping to manager their day-to-day lives and articulate the vision to the agents who can execute on it."

Moneta represents creators like Lilly Singh (14.9 million YouTube subscribers) and told Business Insider that she works to connect clients with top brands and to help clients build out direct-to-consumer products.

"We focus on direct-to-consumer business strategies on the consumer products space, brand partnerships, endorsements, podcasts, and other initiatives for our clients across the company," Moneta said.

Recently, Moneta worked with her clients Ethan and Grayson Dolan, known as The Dolan Twins online (with 10.6 million YouTube subscribers), in developing a direct-to-consumer perfume line.

"When you can own something, rather than endorse it, that is really an important part of their business and can sustain beyond their stardom," she said. "It gives them the control."

Similar to managers, agents earn revenue by receiving a cut of the influencer's earnings, which typically ranges from 10% to 20%, depending on how much the agent does for the client, according to industry insiders.

To form this list, Business Insider relied on a mix of our own reporting, nominations from readers, and industry experts to narrow down the finalists. We chose them based on their experience in the YouTube influencer space, their responsibilities, and their impact on the business of being a creator.

The 18 power players are listed in alphabetical order by agency: