The acquisition will further strengthen Future’s position in video, notably with its expertise in the monetisation on YouTube. With 11 YouTube channels and over 8m subscribers the brand – which makes 70% of its revenue is from the US – is one of the busiest entertainment based websites of its kind.
With its high-quality and informative content from expert contributors across different genres, topics and mediums, WhatCulture will benefit from the Future proprietary technology stack and operating model to drive the platform effect whilst bolstering Future’s gaming and entertainment vertical.
The organisation has complemented this addition to its stable with the acquisition of data insight platform Waive, a data insight platform which provides intelligence on emerging content trends. This acquisition will extend Future’s Aperture data platform and enhanced data science capabilities. Aperture is Future’s proprietary platform that 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.
Zillah Byng-Thorne, Chief Executive, 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 are particularly excited about the video monetisation expertise and data insight capabilities that Waive will bring to the Group respectively.”