Future’s acquisition spree continues into video and social

Future has continued its acquisition spree by buying a specialist gaming reviews brand and a social listening start-up.

The publisher has bought WhatCulture, a social-first online publisher that creates YouTube videos focused on the gaming and entertainment market, and data insight start-up, Waive, which uses machine learning to identify social trends.

Future said the two acquisitions will bolster its diversification of revenue streaming and support its editorial strategy and social media offering.

WhatCulture, founded in 2006, will increase Future’s video expertise and reach. The brand’s 11 YouTube channels collectively have more than eight million subscribers. More than two-thirds (70%) of its revenue comes from the US.

Meanwhile Waive uses machine learning tech to identify and predict trending social topics across online platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Reddit. Future’s ambition is for the business to improve its editorial teams across the company to forecast trends and improve publishing brands’ ability to create engaging content.

Over the last two years Future has acquired erstwhile rival publishing brands, such as several from Dennis and TI Media, as well as price comparison business GoCompare as it pursues a diversification strategy that positions the business further into ecommerce.

Zillah Byng-Thorne, Future’e CEO, said: “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.”