Acquisition-hungry Bath media group Future has snapped up another two businesses in a move that strengthens its video and data insight offerings.
WhatCulture.com, a digital-only entertainment publisher, and data insight platform Waive, are the latest in a string of takeovers at Future, whose titles span Techradar, Horse & Hound and Marie Claire.
Gateshead-based WhatCulture is a digital-only brand focused on the gaming and entertainment market. Its website and 11 YouTube channels have, respectively, 3m users and 8m-plus subscribers. Around 70% of its revenue comes from the US.
In was launched in 2006 by publishing articles under the banner of Obsessed With Film, aiming to be a news destination and conversation hub about all things Hollywood.
It has since expanded into TV, gaming, music, history, science, technology, comics, sport, and literature, and become the biggest unofficial wrestling website in the world.
Future said WhatCulture would further strengthen its position in video, notably with its expertise in the monetisation on YouTube, while bolstering its gaming and entertainment offering.
The acquisition of Waive, a data insight platform which provides intelligence on emerging content trends, will extend Future’s ‘Aperture’ data platform and enhanced data science capabilities.
Aperture allows advertisers to access Future’s rich first-party audience data captured across its vast portfolio of brands, helping them reach high-intent target audiences.
The pair of acquisitions – financial details of which have not been disclosed – maintain Future’s track record for growth through strategic takeovers. Last year it snapped up publishing group Dennis, which added another 12 titles to its stable, including The Week and Science & Nature, for £300m.
That followed the 2020 acquisitions of GoCo, the firm behind Go Compare insurance, which it bought for £594m and TI Media, which added 40 titles including Horse & Hound, Woman & Home and Wallpaper, for £140m.
Future chief executive Zillah Byng-Thorne said: “We are delighted to welcome both WhatCulture and Waive to Future.
“We look forward to working with WhatCulture to further diversify our content and revenue streams, and we are particularly excited about the video monetisation expertise and data insight capabilities that WhatCulture and Waive will bring to the group respectively.”
