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YouTube Star MrBallen Launches Management Company & Signs Next Wave Of Creators Including Ryan ‘Nexpo’ Cantu & Nick Crowley; Pair Also Sign With UTA

Peter White
·3 min read

EXCLUSIVE: MrBallen, otherwise known as John Allen, the former Navy SEAL turned breakout podcaster behind Strange, Dark and Mysterious Stories, has launched his own management company.

It comes after Allen launched Ballen Studios with Nick Witters, who previously worked at WME and most recently Night Media, where he managed YouTube creators, last year.

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Ballen Studios has now established Ballen Management to sign the next wave of YouTube creators.

Its first batch of signings including Nick Crowley and Nexpo, otherwise known as Ryan Cantu. The management arm will rep top narrative digital storytellers under the company’s Strange, Dark & Mysterious umbrella. Crowley and Nexpo have separately both signed with UTA.

Ballen Management will look to expand their digital content and storytelling across a range of verticals including television, film, publishing, live touring, merchandising and audio

The new unit will operate independently from the rest of the company, which has a first-look deal with Amazon Music. MrBallen will serve in an advistory role to talent signed to Ballen Management.

Ryan ‘Nexpo’ Cantu & Nick Crowley (Desiree Prieto)
Ryan ‘Nexpo’ Cantu & Nick Crowley (Desiree Prieto)

Nexpo is a digital creator who is fascinated with psychological horror films and covers the Internet Mystery genre. With nearly 3M subscribers, video series include Disturbing Things From Around The Internet and Internet Investigations.

Nick Crowley does documentary-style reporting on his namesake YouTube channel, delving deep into obscure internet lore, dark occurrences, and digital mysteries. With nearly 2M subscribers, videos including The Darkest Moments in TV History and TikTok’s Most Disturbing Mystery.

“John and I worked hand in hand to scale his unique style of storytelling and build a writer’s room, and eventually a full-scale media company around him as a storyteller,” said Ballen Studios CEO Nick Witters. “Throughout the process, we saw a real need for organizations that have the ability to service storytellers and help them scale their businesses, so we decided to build that organization ourselves. Ballen Management aims to work with the most talented storytellers in the world and provide the infrastructure that will allow them to scale.”

“UTA shares the same mission as Ballen Management – to identify preeminent talent, create opportunities, and help grow their brands across a range of business verticals,” said UTA Partner and Head of Audio, Oren Rosenbaum. “With the recent signings of Nick Crawley and Nexpo, we look forward to leveraging our expertise and resources to help them achieve their goals alongside Ballen Management. By working together towards this common objective, we’re confident in our ability to drive meaningful success for these new clients.”

“With so many eyes on your work, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with the day-to-day operations as creators,” said Crowley and Nexpo. “Ballen Management was the first and only real opportunity for us to be represented by a team who truly comprehends the world of storytelling. The clear understanding of the content we produce coupled with the success they’ve found with John, made the decision to team up with Ballen Management and a powerhouse like UTA an easy one.”

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