Dhar Mann’s Creator City could be “incredibly powerful” for creator businesses

Creator Dhar Mann is launching a four-acre production campus in Los Angeles designed to bring creators and businesses together under one roof.

Announced at Advertising Week New York, Creator City is due to open during Super Bowl weekend in February 2027, with five soundstages and facilities for producing content and hosting live events.

Mann said the aim is to create a dedicated home for the creator economy, similar to the physical hubs that have developed around other industries.

“The creator economy was built on technology and platforms, but unlike the industries around it, it has never had a physical home of its own, the way technology has Silicon Valley, finance has Wall Street and entertainment has Hollywood,” Mann said.  “Creator City is Dhar’s vision for that home.”

Sean Atkins, chief executive at Dhar Mann Studios, said the project was designed in part to make it easier for creators and brands to form relationships.

“Creators have trust, ideas, audience and cultural fluency. Brands have products, budgets and real business problems to solve. But too often, both sides are still trying to find each other through cold outreach, generic briefs, agency layers and rooms that are not really designed for doing business,” he wrote on LinkedIn.

“Creator City is our attempt to take what worked for us and make it bigger. A place where the conversation starts earlier. Because the best partnerships usually start with a better question: What can we build together that neither side could build alone?” he added.

Mann used his role as Advertising Week New York’s first chief creator officer to set a goal of brokering $100 million in creator-brand deals during the event. He told Digiday that the amount had already been pledged by marketing executives, although the commitments had not been formalised as deals.

Meanwhile, Creator City has already drawn interest from elsewhere in the creator industry, particularly around its potential to help creators build businesses beyond their social followings.

Sedge Beswick, who founded influencer marketing agency SEEN Connects and now runs business and creator community NXT LVL, told The Daily Influence the concept could be “incredibly powerful”.

“I'm a huge believer that people buy from people. Some of the best opportunities in my career haven't come from a formal meeting or an email. They've come from being in the right room, having a conversation and building a relationship.

“If Creator City can facilitate more of those moments, whilst giving creators the tools, connections and confidence to build businesses beyond their social following, I think it could be incredibly powerful.”

Beswick also sees an opportunity for Creator City to help close the gap between building an audience and building a sustainable business.

“Digital platforms have democratised the creator economy... You can build an audience, launch a product and sell globally without leaving your bedroom. There's a difference between building an audience and building a business.”

She said she would like to see Creator City become “as much an incubator for creator-led businesses as a home for content creation”.

“The next generation of successful creators won't just be measured on views and followers, but on the businesses, jobs and IP they build,” she said.