Innovative data solution unites retail media behavioural signals with Future’s vast audience data to deliver greater results for advertisers

Today, Future has signed a significant data partnership with Ocado Ads, the retail media network of the UK’s fastest-growing retailer, and Permutive, the leading data collaboration platform for incremental outcomes. This collaboration will securely integrate Ocado’s extensive shopper behaviour data into Future’s powerful audience targeting solution, Aperture, offering unparalleled audience targeting that delivers more relevant and timely ads for our advertising partners.

This groundbreaking partnership will empower Future to enrich its already robust first-party data with unique insights derived from Ocado’s customer base, where 100% of purchase behaviour data is captured. By securely combining Future’s high-intent audience data with Ocado’s real-time purchase signals, Future can unlock new levels of audience segmentation and targeting based on our reader’s purchase needs.

“This partnership with Permutive and Ocado Ads will help us to enrich Aperture, Future’s powerful audience targeting solution,” said Jamie Samuel, Director of Commercial Product at Future. “By combining our first-party data with Ocado’s purchase behaviour data, we’re leveraging even more trusted signals to deliver more meaningful purchase-cycle aligned ads, translating to stronger sales and ROI for our advertisers.”

Key Benefits for Advertisers:

• Enhanced Campaign Performance: Leveraging real-time data from both Future and Ocado, advertisers can execute more effective, timely, and relevant campaigns across Future’s vast network of specialist media brands. This ensures messages resonate with audiences actively considering purchases at key retail moments.

• Unrivalled Audience Targeting: Enables the creation of highly valuable audience segments. By combining Future’s high-intent data with Ocado’s granular category segments, new opportunities emerge for FMCG and CPG brands to reach highly relevant in-market consumers.

• User Privacy By Design: Leveraging Permutive’s privacy-safe technology, this data collaboration ensures responsible data collaboration, maintaining the highest standards of data privacy.

Ben O’Mahoney, AdTech & Data Partnerships Lead at Ocado Ads commented, “By securely combining our rich, first-party customer purchase insights with premium publishers’ deep understanding of their audiences, the output is unparalleled opportunities for advertisers to reach high-intent consumers with relevant messages.”

“Publishers and advertisers are navigating a complex landscape, where delivering better outcomes is critical. Our partnership with Ocado Ads offers a unique advantage by uniting their precise customer purchase insights with premium publishers’ deep understanding of audience consideration,” said Joe Root, CEO and Co-founder, Permutive.

This strategic alliance underscores Future’s commitment to innovation and its dedication to providing advertisers with the most sophisticated audience targeting capabilities that deliver truly powerful results. See more about our advertising solutions here.

You can read more about our innovative partnership with Ocado Ads and Permutive in Digiday

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Today, Future, the global leader in specialist media, announced Advisor, its latest technological innovation harnessing data and next-gen AI. This powerful AI content categorization engine leverages the power of machine learning and large language models for real-time, in-depth content analysis, revolutionizing how we connect with our audiences and deliver value to advertisers.

Built In-House, Delivering Real-World Results

Developed by Future’s expert data science, engineering, and product teams, Advisor is already integrated across 50 of Future’s leading brands. From fashion powerhouses like Marie Claire and Who What Wear, tech and gaming authorities Tom’s Guide and PC Gamer, to trusted news sources like The Week, Advisor is driving measurable outcomes across three core areas:

• Elevated User Engagement: With more personalized content recommendations, Advisor has led to a remarkable threefold increase in on-site clicks. Our users are discovering more of the content they love, deepening their connection with our brands.
• Optimized Ad Performance: Advisor enhances campaign efficiency and targeting for our advertising partners. It enables them to reach their target audiences with greater impact, significantly enhancing key performance metrics and ensuring their messages resonate more effectively.
• Supporting eCommerce Growth: Advisor is proving invaluable in guiding users through their shopping journey to purchase. This seamless experience has led to a noticeable increase in revenue per session.

The Symbiotic Future of Storytelling and Technology

“We believe as a publisher, AI presents a unique ‘win-win’ opportunity to serve our audiences better while delivering greater value to advertisers,” said Matt Trotta, SVP of Commercial at Future. “Great storytelling and innovative technology should work hand in hand. With Advisor, we’re powering an elevated user experience through more personalized content, while allowing us to increase ad relevance, improve monetization and strengthen our best-in-class targeting capabilities.”

“Enhancing our ability to understand what a user wants to read doesn’t just improve the experience for our audiences, it directly powers more intelligent targeting for our advertising partners,” said Jamie Samuel, Director of Commercial Product at Future. “That’s why we consider Advisor a dynamic, evolving technology, with every improvement we make to its recommendation engine strengthening both our editorial offerings and the commercial value we provide, in turn elevating the entire Future ecosystem.”

Future Commitment to AI-Driven Innovation

Advisor is the latest innovation to emerge from Future’s ongoing strategic investment in artificial intelligence. It exemplifies our unwavering commitment to enhancing value for both our vast user base and our esteemed advertising partners with solutions that are personalized, performance-driven, and scalable.

Learn more about Future’s unique portfolio of brands and our innovative advertising solutions here

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Produced alongside the experts at Future Creative, Future’s latest shoppable formats and customized packages capitalize on the high purchase intent of Future’s audiences and go beyond traditional digital ad design. The interactivity of the ads make it simple for users across the company’s premium portfolio of specialist brands to explore a sponsor’s products across desktop or mobile while continuing to enjoy a premium content experience relevant to their interests and buying needs.

Sponsors can leverage Future’s shoppable ad offerings to help users instantly browse and shop multiple product variations as they scroll through content across digital, social and email, including:

Window Shopper, which engages consumers as they scroll, capturing their attention and driving more clicks to the advertiser’s product. It creates an immersive carousel experience and is ideal for multiple products.

Hot Tip, allows users to tap on any hotspot to view detailed product information within a client’s product range. The hotspots can be fully customized with colors, animations and other interactive features and have been tested to drive conversions for up to 15 products.

An e-commerce powerhouse, consumers come to Future every day with high-intent, turning to the company’s vast portfolio of specialist media brands to seek practical information about specific buying needs before making a purchase.

Matt Trotta, SVP of Commercial at Future commented: “As retail media networks surge, Future is leveraging our decades of experience driving consumers to action with our content. With these shoppable solutions, we’re continuing to apply our expertise in e-commerce to the digital ad product experience so our clients can see meaningful performance outcomes, such as higher conversion rates from their target consumers.”

Glenn Iceton, Commercial Director at Future commented: “Our ability to move customers through the purchase funnel is distinct, and our custom ad formats are designed to accelerate that process. Combined with our unique blend of passionate audiences, exceptional reach and first-party targeting capabilities, we are enabling clients to engage more effectively with their customers.”

One new offering is the ​a​bility for advertisers to partner with Future’s in-house branded content studio, Future Creative, to leverage ​multiple shoppable touchpoints across platforms as part of a larger branded content feature.

To capitalize on its high-intent audiences, Future first introduced interactive video ads and livestream shopping capabilities with Who What Wear and has continued to expand interactive capabilities across editorial, advertising and branded content.

Discover more about Future’s branded content and advertising solutions here.

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In the fast-paced world of videogames, to stay ahead you need insider knowledge, insight into the latest trends, and expert advice that can shape your next move.

That’s why Future is excited to announce the launch of Knowledge, a new industry resource designed for professionals within the videogame community — from developers and marketers to publishers and newcomers looking to break into the industry.

What is Knowledge?

Knowledge is a free weekly newsletter from a team of industry experts and the creators of the award-winning Edge magazine, providing real-world insight, actionable advice and exclusive commentary from industry leaders who influence the world of videogames.
Knowledge provides an invaluable resource to discover new opportunities and keeps prosumers at the cutting edge of gaming trends.

What Knowledge offers

• Insider Insight: Discover perspectives from influential figures within the game industry to learn the secrets of their success.
• Actionable Advice: From publishing to marketing, our experts help you grow your knowledge and become more effective in your field.
• Industry Analysis: Features and op eds dig deep into the workings of the increasingly complex videogame industry.

Knowledge is led by an expert team of games industry veterans: Editor in Chief Pat Garratt, previously the founder of VG247, has decades of experience in games media, Managing Editor Marie Dealessandri has written on every aspect of the videogame industry for over a decade for GamesIndustry.biz, MCV and Develop, and Tony Mott, Editorial Director, of Future’s videogame magazine portfolio, has a game production and marketing background alongside his vast experience leading the Edge brand.

Patrick Garratt, Editor-in-Chief of Knowledge commented, “Knowledge is a fantastic opportunity to create a B2B videogame publication designed to help developers, publishers and investors make sense of the gaming industry’s recent transformations. I’m excited to launch what I’m certain will be an enduring facet to Edge’s unique reputation and brand.”

Marie Dealessandri, Managing Editor of Knowledge commented, “I’m delighted to be working alongside Pat and the Edge team to grow the brand in a direction that feels like its natural next step, bridging the gap between prosumers and industry professionals…. we’re hoping to be a place where developers can find the guidance they need, keep up to date with the latest news, and connect with their peers.”

Be Part of the Industry’s Best

Almost 5,000 developers, publishers, prosumers and industry leaders are already signed up to receive Knowledge with the first edition of the newsletter launching today. To get unparalleled videogame industry insight, sign up to get Knowledge delivered to your inbox every Friday.

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Future, the global platform for specialist media, today announces the appointment of Kevin Li Ying as Chief Executive Officer. The appointment will take effect from 31 March 2025.

Kevin joined Future over 20 years ago and has been a key contributor to the successful transformation of the company from a traditional print publisher into a leading global digital media platform of today. Kevin is currently EVP of B2C, the Group’s largest division. In this role he has had full responsibility for all B2C brands, editorial and revenue generation consisting of commercial advertising, ecommerce, subscriptions and newstrade revenue whilst ensuring technology and data are central to the B2C offer.

Prior to this, Kevin was Chief Technology Officer, a position he held for 8 years. In this role, and his earlier role as Chief Technical Architect, Kevin led the development of the Group’s proprietary technology and infrastructure, including the creation of its eCommerce technology.

Current CEO Jon Steinberg will step down from the Board on 30 March 2025 and will act as Senior Advisor until 30 June 2025 to ensure a smooth transition with Kevin.

Richard Huntingford, Chairman at Future, said: “I am delighted to announce the appointment of Kevin as CEO following a comprehensive search process. Kevin is a strong visionary leader with an unmatched knowledge of the Group, from its tech stack to its revenue streams. In his current role as EVP of B2C, the Group’s largest division, he has been successfully delivering on the execution of the Growth Acceleration Strategy and is therefore perfectly placed to lead the next phase of Future’s growth. I also want to thank Jon for his contribution to the Group during his tenure and to wish him well for the future.”

Kevin Li Ying, incoming Chief Executive Officer for Future, said: “It is a great honour and a true privilege to have been asked to lead Future, a company that I love and I am proud to have helped to transform over the last 20 years. I look forward to continue to execute on the strategy, and am excited about our growth opportunities, building on our track record of innovation and producing excellent content and products to attract valuable audiences through a platform-agnostic approach. I also want to thank Jon for his leadership and counsel during his time with the Group.”

Find out more about Kevin and Future’s Leadership team here

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Future, the global platform for specialist media, today published its results for the financial year ended 30 September 2024.

Financial highlights

• Revenue was flat year-on-year at £788.2m (FY 2023: £788.9m), with +1% organic growth, offset by adverse foreign exchange (mainly USD).
• Profitability was in line with expectations with 28% adjusted operating margin reflecting investment from the Growth Acceleration Strategy (GAS), resulting in an adjusted operating profit decline of (13)% to £222.2m (FY 2023: £256.4m). Statutory operating profit was down (23)% to £133.7m (FY 2023: £174.5m) mainly reflecting adjusted operating profit movement.
• Future remains highly cash generative with adjusted free cash flow of £222.3m (FY 2023: £253.2m), representing 100% of adjusted operating profit (FY 2023: 99%). Cash generated from operations was £230.0m (FY 2023: £241.0m).
• Leverage reduced to 1.1x (FY 2023: 1.3x) with net debt at the end of the year of £256.5m (FY 2023: £327.2m). Total available debt facilities at the end of September 2024 were £650m (FY 2023: £900m).
• £68.6m was returned to shareholders during the year comprising £64.7m through share buybacks (FY 2023: £13.0m) and dividends of £3.9m (FY 2023: £4.1m). New share buyback programme for up to £55m starting in January 2025.

Growth Acceleration Strategy

• In December 2023, we launched the Growth Acceleration Strategy (GAS) to ensure Future is well-positioned to capitalise on future opportunities in its attractive and growing markets. This is a two-year investment programme of £25m-£30m to drive acceleration in a compounding model.
• We’ve made good progress in the first year of the plan, resulting in Future’s return to organic growth. We’ve added over 100 new team members across sales, editorial and back office and progress against our three strategic pillars includes:
  • Growing a highly engaged and valuable audience – Increased focus on brand leadership and content to drive premium monetisation
  • Diversifying and increasing revenue per user – Adding new routes of monetisation and driving market-leading positions to improve yield
  • Optimising our portfolio – Ensuring we have the right portfolio of assets is a continuous process.

Outlook

Our return to revenue growth in H2, driven by the execution of our Growth Acceleration Strategy, puts Future in a good position to achieve current market expectations for FY 2025. We expect to continue to operate at an adjusted operating profit margin of 28% for the coming year reflecting the planned incremental GAS costs, and to maintain strong cash conversion.

Beyond FY 2025, we now expect to deliver accelerating organic revenue growth, in line with current market expectations.

Jon Steinberg, Chief Executive Officer at Future, said: “We launched our Growth Acceleration Strategy one year ago and have made good strategic progress. We have invested in sales and editorial roles, successfully diversified and grown revenue per user, and we have further optimised our portfolio. Importantly, the Group has returned to organic revenue growth during the year, underpinned by a strong H2 performance.”

“The execution of our strategy combined with our strong financial characteristics, including a flexible cost base and highly cash generative profile, creates further optionality and positions the business well.”

“Looking ahead, whilst we remain mindful of the macro environment and the ongoing evolution of the media landscape, we are confident that the ongoing execution of our Growth Acceleration Strategy will drive long-term accelerating organic revenue growth.”

To read the results in full, go to our Investor Results Page

The post Future Announces FY 2024 Results appeared first on Future.

For the first time, Future has made its expert features, images and articles available to search, browse and purchase instantly for editorial and commercial use worldwide. 

A digital library of Future’s licensable content, the Future Content Hub launches with half a million articles, full editorial features and beautiful images from Future’s award-winning editors, journalists and photographers.

New and archive content will be added weekly from across Future’s leading specialist media brands including, PC Gamer, Wallpaper*, Woman & Home, FourFourTwo, TV Times, Country Life and Guitar World.

Rachel Shaw, Head of Print Licensing at Future comments:

“Future has a vast and extensive portfolio of incredible content spanning over 125 years. We are excited to open this up globally to publishers and creative industries that wish to license premium editorial content from trusted brands at competitive prices. With the launch of the Future Content Hub, we have made Future’s expert content available to buy and access instantly online.”

From publishers and marketing agencies to educational institutions and research organizations, the Future Content Hub provides access to unique and evergreen commercial and editorial content that will inform and engage audiences. 

Future Content Hub benefits include:

• Award-winning editorial content: Access rich and diverse editorial archives from one of the world’s leading specialist media companies. Future’s content is created by passionate teams of editorial and creative experts.
  
• Searchable content: Browse by category or keyword to discover over 550,000 images, articles and full editorial features. The Future Content Hub offers collections featuring the finest curated content.
  
• Buy online: Multiple licensing options with instant purchase and download options available.
• Convenience and cost saving: Save on cost and resource by utilizing trusted content with proven success in the licensing marketplace.
• Constant evolution: New content will be added to the site on a weekly basis. In addition, Future is delving into the analogue archives to unveil unseen historical images from TV Times and Country Life. 

To find out more about the Future Content Hub, visit www.futurecontenthub.com.

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ISA makes shopping for a new look as easy as asking a question, answering user queries based on Who What Wear’s expert shoppable reviews, buying guides, and product recommendations.

ISA has been specifically built for digital audiences looking for:

• Trusted shopping recommendations – ISA provides top recommendations for specific items users want to shop and style, such as “dress ideas for a fall wedding,” “best ballet flats,” or “red lipstick.”
• What’s trending – ISA’s built-in prompts allow audiences to kick off a conversation based on the latest trends and Who What Wear’s most popular content. Catering to users uncertain about what item they want.

“At Who What Wear, we love leaning into technology to bring the user experience across our platforms to a new level,” said Hillary Kerr, Senior Vice President of Women and Luxury at Future. “We are excited about the potential of AI to amplify our best-in-class editorial content, and make it even easier for our audiences to find and discover the top fashion and beauty products and insights our Who What Wear audience come to us for every day.”

“Who What Wear is known for its expert shopping recommendations across fashion and beauty, and ISA is all about providing our audience with a new way to shop smarter,” said Kat Collings, Editor in Chief of Who What Wear US. “Especially as we head into the busy holiday season, ISA is an incredible AI-powered resource to help our audience source editor-approved gifts more quickly and efficiently.”

Further, Future announced plans to integrate advertisers and brands looking to leverage ISA’s cutting edge technology to reach Who What Wear’s audience of highly engaged fashion lovers in a unique and efficient way.

“Future is a prime destination for brands looking to reach consumers during key phases of the customer buying journey,” said Elizabeth Bagdasarian, Senior Vice President of US Sales at Future. “With ISA, we’re leading the way in supplying advertisers with an opportunity to experiment with AI alongside us, while reaching high-intent consumers and supporting the expertise and trust of the dedicated and talented team of editors that make up Who What Wear.”

Audiences can start engaging with ISA here. Future will continue to improve ISA over time, taking user feedback and insights into account. Users interested in learning more about ISA can find details on Who What Wear.

The post Who What Wear Introduces AI-Powered Shopping With “ISA” appeared first on Future.

Future, the global leader in specialist media, announced the launch of Future Creative, a global, full-service branded content studio combining Future’s strategic and creative expertise. Future Creative offers advertisers the ability to reach passionate audiences with creative branded content solutions that drive awareness, change brand perception and inspire consumer action.

With the new studio, Future’s clients can reach valuable consumers across every stage of the customer journey by leveraging the company’s vast portfolio of market-leading brands across gaming, tech, fashion, homes and more.

ENGAGE AUDIENCES AT EVERY TOUCHPOINT

Future Creative reflects the breadth of Future itself, with insights-driven storytelling capabilities across print, digital, social, audio and experiential optimised to delight and engage audiences at every touchpoint. The studio will leverage Future’s in-house influencer marketing team dedicated to connecting brands with creators to best achieve campaign goals.

“Future Creative reaffirms our commitment to quality storytelling for both our passionate audiences and our valued brand partners,” said Jon Steinberg, CEO of Future. “By tapping into our results-oriented creative expertise and editorial know-how, advertisers have the unmatched ability to develop brand content that resonates more deeply and authentically with passionate and highly engaged audiences.”

The introduction of Future Creative marks a firm commitment from Future in building out a robust global branded content offering to serve its diverse roster of clients, including major consumer brands​ and retailers across the US and UK including, Nordstrom, Saks, Levi’s, Old Navy, Aveda and M&S Home.

FUTURE CREATIVE LEADERSHIP

Future Creative is led by Sharon Yi in the US and Verity Fine Hosken in the UK. Yi is an award-winning marketing executive who has led marketing and studio agencies at Chief, Condé Nast and Refinery29. Hosken previously worked at creative agency Fold7, where she delivered award-winning creative and was named one of Campaign’s Faces to Watch.

“We have the differentiated ability to place our brand partners in the middle of the conversation within a passionate audience. Future Creative is an unprecedented opportunity for brand partners to form a deeper connection with their target audiences and, ultimately, convert awareness into action,” said Sharon Yi, Senior Vice President, Future Creative.

“With Future Creative, we’re excited to take an unexpected approach to brand storytelling, offering valuable audiences and a diverse portfolio of multi-platform brands you won’t find elsewhere,” said Verity Fine Hosken, Creative Director, Future Creative. “W​e couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to create stories for our partners and our audiences who ​are looking for more than a one-size-fits-all​ approach to marketing.”

To learn more about Future Creative visit hellowearefuturecreative.com

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Future, the global leader in specialist media, has introduced Future Elevate, a suite of premium services aimed at expanding the revenue streams of publishers by leveraging Future’s deep expertise in operating, growing and monetizing a diverse portfolio of specialist content that fuels the passions of 490 million people worldwide.

DESIGNED BY PUBLISHING INSIDERS, FOR PUBLISHING EXCELLENCE

Developed by Future’s expert team of publishing and ad industry insiders, Elevate empowers publishers with monetization solutions and tools across three strategic pillars to deliver cost-effective and sustainable success amid an ever-changing media landscape:

Maximize your revenue

Publishers have the ability to leverage Future’s proprietary ad-tech stack, Hybrid, award-winning audience data platform, Aperture, as well as a dynamic team of direct and premium programmatic sales experts to unlock diversified revenue growth through future-proofed, data-driven monetization strategies.

Grow your audiences

By tapping into Future’s decades-long expertise in publishing high quality, brand-safe specialist content while growing traffic and driving audience engagement, publishers can grow their brand’s community and cross-platform scale in a way that exceeds the demands of advertisers.

Streamline your operations

A best-in-class team of ad operations and technology experts with a proven track record of success in helping media brands grow gives publishers the support and resources needed to optimize their own operations, all while taking advantage of a competitive revenue share model.

GROW YOUR BUSINESS THROUGH FUTURE’S EXPERTISE

Nick Flood, Global Ad Product & Revenue Operations Director at Future comments: “With over 200 owned and operated brands in our portfolio and a best-in-class proprietary ad tech stack, we know precisely what it takes to grow and succeed in the long-term, all while innovating to meet the evolving demands of advertisers. We look forward to helping publishers navigate monetization strategies and transform their business models so they can best serve their audiences while optimizing for the future.”

Publishers that have already benefited from Future Elevate’s powerful suite of monetization and optimization solutions have seen effective results that have elevated their business.

Fiona MacDonald, co-founder of ScienceAlert.com added: “Our partnership with Future has delivered revenue growth year-on-year, enabling our editorial team to focus on publishing timely, trusted science news to enlighten and entertain millions of readers each month.”

Discover more about Future Elevate here

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