These custom creations make use of the data and behavioral insights Future has collected across its network of websites using its proprietary platform, Aperture. 

The media company is a category leader in technology and women’s fashion and beauty, and it aims to first focus its branded efforts in those spaces. It hopes to use Future Creative to further expand into new categories, such as home.

Expanding through GAS

The launch of Future Creative comes as an extension of a plan laid out by Steinberg in December, called its Growth Acceleration Strategy. 

The two-year plan called for an investment of between $30 million and $40 million in growing its audience, diversifying its revenue and optimizing its portfolio. As part of GAS, Future will eventually hire 200 new staff—150 editorial, 40 sales and marketing and 10 support roles.

Two key hires have been Sharon Yi and Verity Fine Hosken, the senior vice president of Future Creative in the U.S. and creative director of Future Creative in the U.K., respectively. 

Yi, who joined Future in August 2023, most recently served as head of editorial and brand studio at Chief. Hosken, who joined Future in March 2024, comes from the London-based creative agency Fold7.

Steinberg, who joined Future in February 2023, was the former president and chief operating officer at BuzzFeed, which helped pioneer branded digital advertising in the early 2010s.

Related video

Hedging against cookie deprecation

While branded content is more lucrative for publishers, it also acts as a hedge against the looming deprecation of third-party cookies.

When Google finally eliminates the cookie, it will likely reduce the value of ad inventory bought and sold across the open exchange, as its efficacy will be harder to track and measure. 

By standing up a branded studio now, Future hopes to begin working with more clients on a collaborative, direct basis before that inflection point occurs.

“With cookie deprecation headed our way—theoretically—in the first quarter of next year, it’s more important than ever that publishers expand their direct relationships with advertisers and agencies,” Steinberg said.