YouTube megastar and beauty guru Michelle Phan has yet another business venture up her sleeve. Phan partnered with Dutch entertainment company, Endemol, to create an online video network, ICON, launching in the U.S. and U.K today. The network will subsequently launch in Europe and Asia this summer and fall.
In an official press release, Phan stated, “I am first a creator, but my ongoing objective is to leverage my personal success, to help mentor new and existing talent, and further help them achieve their goals.”
ICON will feature original content from several other influential YouTube personalities, in addition to 27-year-old Phan. These digital influencers, combined, already boast more than 2.4 billion views on YouTube. Phan’s own YouTube channel will still exist but she will also be creating original content on ICON for DailyMotion, Roku and other major social media sites and apps. ICON has also entered into syndication partnerships with AOL and Scripps Network.
In an interview with Adweek last November, Phan revealed that her online career launched after she was turned down for a makeup artist job at a department store beauty counter. She rose to YouTube fame in 2007 when she posted her first video and garnered 40,000 views within a week. Her online audience eventually grew to over 7.5 million subscribers and over 1 billion views, and YouTube approached her to develop her own network, FAWN (For All Women Network). In 2012, she also founded Ipsy, a popular beauty subscription company. Her other projects include creating a makeup line with L’Oreal and writing her first book, MakeUp: Your Life Guide to Beauty, Style and Success - Online and Off.
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