Bill Owens, who ran CBS’s 60 Minutes, is moving into the creator economy. Owens has joined Newpress as executive producer, his first role since leaving the newsmagazine last year. The appointment lands as Newpress confirms it is raising $12 million in a funding round led by Emerson Collective, the organisation founded by Laurene Powell Jobs.
The startup, founded by YouTube filmmakers Johnny and Iz Harris, builds channels around creators who explain complex subjects to audiences that trust them directly. Owens starts on March 1.
Who is writing the cheque
The round pulls together media operators as well as creator-economy money. Jesse Angelo, CEO of Checker Media; David Leavy, former COO of CNN Worldwide; and Brent Montgomery, CEO of Wheelhouse Entertainment are investing. Patrick Steel, former CEO of Politico, is also investing and joining the board. Popular YouTube creator Mark Rober is an investor too.
For a company built on creator credibility, that mix matters: it pairs institutional media experience with direct knowledge of what works on YouTube.
The plan: 12-16 expert-led channels
Newpress says it will launch a handful of new shows over the next few months, with a longer-term target of 12-16 channels led by creators who are subject-matter experts. Owens will work with creators to develop shows and strengthen production.
- First new shows arrive in the coming months
- Long-term goal is 12-16 creator-led channels
- Owens starts as executive producer on March 1
Owens described the move as a chance to combine traditional standards with a different distribution model. “We have the unique opportunity to bring the highest standards of traditional journalism to a genuinely new model,” he said in a statement.
Why this matters for ScreenStat readers
This is more than a single hire. It is a concrete signal that serious nonfiction is being packaged for audiences who already trust individual creators over legacy brands. For media planners and streaming professionals, creator-led news channels represent a new class of inventory: personality-driven, context-rich and scaled outside the traditional network schedule.
Owens’s point about legacy institutions struggling to reach a huge audience is the strategic rationale. Linear news reaches fewer younger viewers; creator channels meet them where they already watch. That does not make every creator a safe media buy, but it changes the evaluation frame from reach alone to reach plus trust and editorial control.
Newpress’s co-founders framed the company around a simple premise: people navigating a complex world want to learn from humans they trust. The funding from Emerson Collective gives that premise institutional backing.
The next test is execution. If Newpress reaches its 12-16 channel target, it would create a meaningful alternative to conventional news and explainer programming on YouTube and beyond. The first slate will show whether the formula attracts sustained advertiser interest, not just subscriber loyalty.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
