Exclusive: Disney CMO Asad Ayaz Reveals New Creator Push

On a recent Thursday evening, the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard played host to the world premiere of two films that were never meant to play in a theater at all.

Standing before a buzzing crowd, former YouTube exec Jon Youshaei introduced the films, both from top YouTube creators, kicking off a two-day Created in LA conference sponsored by Disney and carrying all the weight of the 102-year-old global entertainment brand. That it happened following this summer’s breakout success of Obsession and Backrooms — two titles directed by first-time filmmakers with YouTube bona fides — only added to the sense that anything was possible.

Before the lights dimmed and the movies played, Disney president and chief creative officer Dana Walden took the stage to tell the more than 300 creators in the audience “how important you are to all of us.” The next day, over the hill at Disney’s studio lot, CEO Josh D’Amaro likened the work creators do on platforms like YouTube and TikTok to the early innovation of Walt Disney, declaring, “We are at our best when we embrace the best in class storytellers and when we are unafraid to push into new frontiers.”

This wasn’t simply Disney flattering an increasingly powerful constituency. The company is moving to fundamentally expand how it works with creators — beyond promotional partnerships and into development, programming and potentially just about every corner of Disney.

“A lot of our creator engagement in the past has been partnerships tied to some kind of a marketing activation,” Disney chief marketing and brand officer Asad Ayaz tells me in an exclusive interview. “But now how do you extend that and bring these creators into all of the different creative parts of the Walt Disney Company?”

That question has become urgent across Hollywood. YouTube is now the biggest TV platform in the country, digital-native talent increasingly produces theatrical hits and more people can tune in live to an iShowSpeed broadcast than many traditional late-night shows.

Below, Ayaz and I talk about why Disney is making a big creator push now — after the company’s much earlier, famously expensive experiment in the space — and what it actually wants from digital talent.

But first, I broke another exclusive yesterday on Like & Subscribe that illustrates just how intensely media companies are competing for creators.

Four months after selling to Byron Allen in a $120 million deal, BuzzFeed has tapped company alum Anthony Allred II to lead its newly rebranded and expanded BuzzFeed Creative Network, which is adding to its roster across verticals including lifestyle, music, gaming and pop culture. It’s the latest evolution of BuzzFeed’s engagement with talent, stretching back a decade. An earlier program helped BuzzFeed staffers turn their digital work into film and TV projects. (Quinta Brunson and The Try Guys are among its alumni.)

BuzzFeed has signed a new roster of creators including Love Island stars Ace Greene and Bryan Arenales, fitness creator John Gaines and car collector Aamir Dassat, plus social-driven event series GL:DN:HR. The idea is to connect them with BuzzFeed’s audience and editorial infrastructure while giving them opportunities to work with BuzzFeed Studios on projects ranging from digital video brands to theatrical films.

“Creators who are authentic, relatable and have fandom are shaping culture in a way we’ve never seen before,” Allred says in a statement, adding, “BuzzFeed Studios is uniquely positioned to help turn that influence into great content, programming and experiences with its global reach and culture-defining brands.” The digital video veteran — who previously spent six years at Complex Networks, the pop culture brand BuzzFeed acquired in 2021 and sold in 2024 — will oversee all talent relationships as head of talent & creator partnerships.

The investment comes after Allen laid off 180 employees at the company, including at BuzzFeed Studios and food vertical Tasty. When he acquired BuzzFeed he told the New York Times that he was “chasing YouTube and other big tech platforms.”

Now, back to Disney — where Ayaz is trying to solve his own version of that challenge at vastly greater scale. The Disney CMO publicly breaks down his strategy for the first time here:

• How creators are moving from marketing partners to actual Disney talent
• What Disney learned from its $675M Maker Studios flop
• How deals with Dhar Mann, CoComelon and TikTok fit into the bigger strategy
• How Created in LA “supercharged” Disney’s plans
• How Ayaz’s expanded role puts him at the center of Disney’s creator push