Global talent management company YMU has taken a majority stake in UK-based agency Digital Sports Mgmt (DSM), which represents Warner Bros, Xbox and some top UK FIFA talent.
YMU has clients in sports, music, entertainment, art and more, including actors, athletes and artists from The Rolling Stones to Graham Norton, and this move will see it branch out into gaming and sports.
Digital Sports Mgmt connects brands to world sport through gaming, influencer marketing, sports sponsorship services, activation and live production. It was founded by Rob Wadsworth and Tom Henderson in 2016, having both worked on the FIFA video game franchise.
Digital Sports Mgmt represents top UK FIFA talent like content creators Danny Aarons, ShaunaGames and AJ3, casters Brandon Smith and Richard Buckley and more.
A press release states that the merger comes at a time of growth for YMU.
The merger will also allow YMU Sports to expand its service offering to include esports consultancy, sports marketing, sponsorship brokerage, licensing, and live production.
Tom Henderson and Rob Wadsworth, co-founders and directors at DSM, said: “YMU and Digital Sport Mgmt’s partnership strengthens our position at the crossroads where sport, gaming, technology and entertainment meet and interact.
“Our collective expertise will enrich the services we provide our talent and brand clients and will allow us both to scale into new markets. YMU is the perfect partner to expedite our business plan globally and in turn extend the YMU Group’s premium services into the future.”
Mary Bekhait, group CEO at YMU, added:
“We are thrilled to join forces with Digital Sports Mgmt and diversify our sports division into gaming and esports, marketing activation and sponsorship.”
Mary Bekhait, YMU
“In Rob and Tom, we have found two phenomenal, industry-leading executives and I’ve been incredibly impressed with what they have built with Digital Sports Mgmt.
“Entering into gaming and esports has been one of YMU’s key strategic objectives and with the acquisition of DSM I am pleased to be able to offer further, exceptional expertise and bespoke knowledge to our current and future global sports clients.”
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
