• by Steve McClellan  @mp_mcclellan, January 5, 2016

WPP’s GroupM and Fullscreen, the digital platform that supports content creators on YouTube and elsewhere around the world, have created an influencer marketing partnership called Playa. The agreement was disclosed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas late Tuesday. Terms were not disclosed.

The partners said Playa would start with a team of Fullscreen influencer marketing specialists based at the company’s New York sales headquarters who will help WPP/GroupM clients develop and execute ideas and evaluate results. Additional staff will be added at GroupM offices on an as-needed basis.

The operation is now up and running and the day-to-day operations head (not yet disclosed) will report to Fullscreen CEO George Strompolos.

“Influence has changed,” said Rob Norman, chief digital officer, GroupM. “New voices are needed for the digital generation. Celebrity ebbs and flows so much faster now and brands need to capture that flow and to exploit micro audience segments.”

WPP first invested in Fullscreen in 2013 in a Series A funding round that also included Comcast Ventures and The Chernin Group. The agreement to start Playa extends that initial relationship. “Essentially, we’re turning a craft process into a scaled practice and organization,” a GroupM rep said.

“Influencer marketing is a must for every brand trying to reach their audience cross-platform in an authentic way,” said Strompolos, a co-creator of the YouTube Partner Program who founded Fullscreen in 2011.

Fullscreen claims 600 million subscribers who generate more than 5 billion video views across its global network each month. The network has 65,000 creators, including Grace Helbig, The Fine Bros. and Jack and Jack, among others.

For now the Playa partnership is designed as a U.S. endeavor, the GroupM rep said.