• Unlocking potential to reach eight million adults across combined portfolios
27/03/12 talkSPORT, the UK’s only dedicated national sports radio station, and Future Publishing, the UK’s leading games publisher, are to join forces to offer video game producers the opportunity to access the huge combined audience across talkSPORT and the Future games portfolio in a single deal.
Sales teams from both companies will work together on relevant briefs allowing them to provide clients with ideas driven by bespoke content that can exist on a variety of platforms. talkSPORT and sister title Sport magazine will also look to use Future’s editorial expertise when covering game content across their brands.
The partnership will offer games publishers a single point of access to unlock solutions across a variety of platforms and brands in the talkSPORT and Future portfolios. Future is the only games media owner with reach across print, online, covermounted discs, on-console editions and events, and comprises major multi-media brands including CVG, GamesRadar, Edge and PC Gamer. talkSPORT offers brands both on-air and online creative advertising solutions, as well as print media with talkSPORT’s sister title Sport magazine.
Together, Future’s gaming portfolio and talkSPORT reach nearly eight million adults. Future’s games portfolio reaches over two million people in the UK every month through print, tablet magazine purchases and web traffic, whilst talkSPORT has 3.2 million listeners every week. Sport magazine is the largest sports magazine in the UK and available in both print and iPad editions.
talkSPORT.co.uk has seen increased growth, reaching a record 2.66million unique users at the beginning of 2012. While research suggests that over 50% of the UK population play video games, 78% of talkSPORT listeners say that they play video games regularly and there are clear correlations between sports fans and gaming fans − football game FIFA 12 is the UK’s best-selling sports game ever.
Kurt Edwards, Commercial Director of talkSPORT, says: “Future is the expert in gaming and delivers high volume gamers in scale. And with our mass market offering across a number of platforms, we believe together we can offer compelling solutions to advertisers.”
Rob Elms, Advertising Sales Director for Future, adds: “Combining our expertise in the entertainment industry with talkSPORT’s extensive reach amongst young men, allows us to offer cross-platform, integrated solutions with broadcast scale and depth of engagement.”
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For more information please contact either:
Laura Wootton, Head of Communications for talkSPORT on 020 7959 7913 or laura.wootton@talksport.co.uk
Or
Ben Bolton, Senior Communications Executive for Future on 020 7042 4034 or ben.bolton@futurenet.com
About talkSPORT:
talkSPORT was founded in 2000 and is the United Kingdom’s biggest national commercial sports broadcaster reaching 3.2 million listeners a week across the country. In 2011 it was named Sony Radio Academy UK Radio Station of the Year. talkSPORT is an official partner of the Barclays Premier League, broadcaster of UEFA EURO 2012 and was the exclusive UK rights holder for the IRB Rugby World Cup 2011.
About Future:
Future plc is an international media group and leading digital publisher, listed on the London Stock Exchange (symbol: FUTR). Founded in 1985 with one magazine, today we have operations in the UK, US and Australia creating 200 specialist publications, apps, websites and events. We hold market-leading positions in Games, Film, Music, Technology, Cycling, Crafts and Automotive. Our biggest-selling products include TechRadar, T3, Total Film, BikeRadar, MusicRadar, Classic Rock, GamesRadar and Official Xbox Magazine. TechRadar is the UK’s number one consumer technology website. Future sells 2.9 million magazines each month; we attract more than 34 million monthly unique visitors to our websites; and we deliver over 100 digital editions and bespoke apps on tablet. Future exports or syndicates publications to 89 countries, making us the UK’s number one exporter and licensor of magazine content. Future was named Consumer Digital Publisher of the Year at the Association of Online Publishers Awards 2011.