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§ Private Profile · Los Angeles, CA, USA
theAudience is a company.
theAudience has raised $20.0M across 1 funding round.
Key people at theAudience.
theAudience has raised $20.0M in total across 1 funding round.
theAudience functions as a cultural media company, crafting social content to establish genuine connections between brands and audiences. It utilizes a "Culture Lab" to identify relevant trends and a "Content Studio" to develop engaging narratives and communities. This approach strategically merges marketing, entertainment, and technology for client digital presence, blurring traditional boundaries to create holistic engagement.
Established in 2011, theAudience was co-founded by Oliver Luckett, Ari Emanuel, and Sean Parker. Their insight addressed the burgeoning demand for specialized guidance in managing social media for public figures and brands. They aimed to build influential online communities and manage digital reputations, a vision informed significantly by Luckett's background as a senior vice president at Disney.
The company serves brands seeking to enhance audience engagement by integrating organically into cultural conversations. theAudience’s vision is to embed businesses within the social fabric, transforming them into authentic participants in popular culture, not merely advertisers. It influences the dynamic between cultural trends and commercial goals, driving meaningful interaction and relevance.
theAudience was a stealthy startup founded in 2011 that specialized in managing social media presences for celebrities and entertainment clients, leveraging their massive followings to create content networks and secure endorsement deals.[4][5] Co-founded by high-profile figures including Ari Emanuel of William Morris Endeavor, Sean Parker, and Oliver Luckett (CEO), it managed over 60 celebrities with 300 million Facebook fans by late 2011, expanding to 700 clients generating one billion monthly followers and ten billion impressions by 2013.[5] The company served Hollywood talent, music artists, films, festivals, and even political campaigns like Barack Obama's 2012 re-election social media strategy, focusing on content creation (photos, videos) and monetizing engagement metrics for negotiations.[4][5]
Its growth momentum was rapid in the early social media boom, building from offices in Los Angeles, London, and New York with 50+ employees, but no recent activity appears post-2013, suggesting it may have pivoted, been acquired, or wound down amid evolving platforms.[4][5]
theAudience emerged in 2011 from a meeting arranged by Sean Parker between Ari Emanuel and Oliver Luckett, addressing Emanuel's frustration with clients' inability to control their social media effectively.[5] Luckett, previously co-founder of DigiSynd (acquired by Disney in 2008, where he became SVP co-head of innovation) and Revver (a pioneering rev-share video site), brought deep expertise in social media for brands like Disney properties.[4] Emanuel, a top Hollywood agent personified in *Entourage*, partnered with his William Morris Endeavor agency, while Guggenheim Partners joined as investors.[4][5]
The idea crystallized into a "talent agency for the social media age," managing presences, developing content, and pursuing deals like online endorsements or access to followers for production companies.[4][5] Early traction came swiftly: by end-2011, it handled 60 celebrities' accounts with 300 million Facebook fans; by 2012, 300 accounts across platforms with 800 million followers; and political involvement in Obama's campaign marked a pivotal expansion.[5]
theAudience rode the explosive early-2010s social media wave, when platforms like Facebook were becoming dominant for celebrity branding and Disney-like "brand magic" translation to digital fan engagement.[4] Timing was ideal post-2008 acquisitions like DigiSynd, amid rising influencer power and data-driven Hollywood deals, influencing the ecosystem by professionalizing celebrity social management—pioneering metrics for negotiations and political campaigns like Obama's, which set templates for data-fueled outreach.[5]
It amplified market forces like fan economies and rev-share models (echoing Luckett's Revver roots), helping shift talent agencies toward digital empires and foreshadowing today's influencer agencies amid platform shifts to TikTok/Instagram.[4]
With no visible activity since 2013, theAudience likely faded as social algorithms evolved, Facebook prioritized organic reach less, and agencies internalized social teams—yet its model endures in modern firms like Viral Nation or political consultancies.[4][5] Next could be a revival by founders in AI-driven influencer tools or Web3 fan platforms, shaped by trends like short-form video dominance and creator economies valued at $250B+.
Its legacy as a celeb-social pioneer ties back to the original hook: in a fragmented digital world, theAudience proved audience scale is the ultimate currency, influencing how stars and brands still chase those billion-strong impressions today.
theAudience has raised $20.0M in total across 1 funding round.
theAudience's investors include Capricorn Investment Group, Founders Fund, Guggenheim Partners, Intertainment Media, Participant Media.
Key people at theAudience.
theAudience has raised $20.0M across 1 funding round. Most recently, it raised $20.0M Series A in November 2012.
| Date | Round | Lead Investors | Other Investors | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 19, 2012 | $20M Series A | — | Capricorn Investment Group, Founders Fund, Guggenheim Partners, Intertainment Media, Participant Media | Announced |
