Online entertainment publisher WhatCulture has been acquired by Bath-based Future Plc in an undisclosed deal.
The move means Gateshead-based WhatCulture - which runs 11 YouTube channels with more than eight million subscribers - will benefit from Future's technology.
About 70% of WhatCulture's revenue comes from the US, where Future has three offices.
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The move is part of a double acquisition including data insight platform Waive, which specialises in providing insights on emerging content trends for publishers.
A statement from Future said: "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, Future 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.”
Peter Willis, co-founder of WhatCulture said : “We’re really excited to join an organisation like Future which has seen such amazing success. We have real synergies between our desire to create great original content for our audiences.
"Our YouTube expertise combined with their monetisation and platform know-how will realise great opportunities for further growth in this area and unlock real potential across the business.”
Over the last five years, Future has acquired assets worth £1.4bn and in its fiscal year ended September 30, 2021 Future’s annual revenue grew 79% to £606.8m and operating profit grew to £195.8m. The company has already stated that earnings for FY22 will be ahead of expectations.
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