Bargain-hunting Black Friday shoppers have given a major boost to Future, the Bath-based specialist media group with a strong online presence and chalking up record sales on its sites.
The group, which owns technology sites TechRadar, GamesRadar and Tom’s Guide, enjoyed its highest-ever audience and eCommerce figures on November 29. 
With the exponential rise in online shopping over recent years, Black Friday – the day after the Thanksgiving holiday in the US – has emerged as a key date in the digital retail calendar.
Future, which earns the majority of its revenue from its US operations, achieved a 44% year-on-year increase in eCommerce-related actions, such as buy button clicks, across its sites on Black Friday.
eCommerce-related clicks on Tom’s Guide – the US-based tech review and top picks site – soared by 306% while Google Analytics recorded a 13.5% increase in users over Black Friday 2018. TechRadar achieved its best single day, reaching more than 3.5m people.
Among the most purchased products across Future’s sites on Black Friday were an HP touchscreen laptop, Google Pixel 4 smartphone and the Playstation VR. Subscriptions to streaming services such as Hulu and Disney+ were also among the most popular buys…
Future chief content officer Aaron Asadi said: “We see that our brands and platform are becoming increasingly important to online shoppers across the world. Consumers want to spend with confidence, and our fantastic, expert buying advice across consumer tech, games, music, homes and so much more, gives them exactly that.
“Today Future is an essential step on the specialist consumer journey - every year more and more people are coming to our websites before going to retailers. That’s a wonderful compliment and a responsibility we take very seriously, so we are proud of our success and look forward to 2020.”
Future also achieved record-breaking traffic performance and ad impressions across its portfolio on Black Friday, including on campaigns for Dell and Google.
UK chief revenue officer Zack Sullivan added: “The results from Black Friday demonstrate the ability of Future brands to put high-quality content in front of in-market consumers, helping them to make the best buying decision for themselves through this peak shopping period.
“The increases from last year not only show growing consumer interest in buying online but also that Future brands are meeting the increasing needs of our audiences, cutting through the noise of Black Friday and finding great products and deals.”
Future’s media division operates in sectors such as technology, games, music, home interest, hobbies and B2B with brands that include TechRadar, PC Gamer, Tom’s Guide, GamesRadar+ and Guitar World.
Its magazine division focuses on publishing specialist content, with 75-plus publications including Classic Rock, FourFourTwo, Total Film and What Hi-Fi?
The firm acquired Tom’s Guide as part of its £100m July 2018 takeover of leading US digital media publisher Purch.
