US-based Kotaku is, says Future, the world’s most thought-provoking gaming culture media brand and reaches 11.5 million passionate and engaged global unique users every month, including 1.1 million in the UK. US-based Lifehacker is the website dedicated to living life better in the digital age and reaches 22.7 million highly loyal and enthused global consumer and business tech unique users every month, including 1.6 million in the UK.
The new licensing partnership means that, for the first time, the UK audience will have exclusive fully-localised content created and curated by Future. Kotaku UK will sit alongside Future’s portfolio of games sites, including GamesRadar and CVG – increasing Future’s Games online footprint in the UK by 50% to over 3.3 million monthly unique users. Lifehacker UK will sit alongside Future’s Technology portfolio, including T3, TechRadar and Gizmodo UK – increasing Future’s Technology online footprint in the UK by 29% to over 6.8 million, says Future. Both sites will launch in April.
The partnership builds on the successful licensing deal which saw Future launch Gawker Media’s technology lifestyle brand Gizmodo into the UK market in September 2011, quickly doubling its audience and making it one of the UK’s fastest-growing technology websites.
Nial Ferguson, Managing Director – Future UK, says: “Future is exceptionally proud of the relationship we have built with Gawker Media and we are hugely excited to be bringing Kotaku and Lifehacker to the UK. This is great news for us at Future as Kotaku grows the online reach we have within the Games market to a phenomenal 3.3 million monthly users, while Lifehacker grows our online reach in the Technology market to a staggering 6.8 million monthly users, but more importantly increases our coverage of the Business Technology market. It’s also great news for our commercial partners as they can now reach these enormously valuable audiences in a deeper, more integrated way than ever before. And finally, it’s great news for UK gamers and tech savvy professionals who can now enjoy all that they love about both sites, but with added UK flavour, delivered by best-in-class editorial teams.”
Erin Pettigrew, VP Business Development – Gawker Media, says: “Gawker Media is excited to expand our partnership with Future in the UK to include the Kotaku and Lifehacker brands in addition to Gizmodo. Future has been expert in navigating the UK's blue chip advertising landscape and in growing a highly engaged audience in partnership with our brand. As we expand our partnership to include more brands, Gawker Media sees Future's local expertise and premium approach as a real strength in growing our international presence in a key market outside the US.”
Kotaku UK will be edited by Keza MacDonald, who was UK Games Editor of IGN from June 2011 to January 2014. With over eight years of experience in the games industry, Keza was named Best Specialist Online Writer at the 2011 Games Media Awards and Games Writer of the Year at the 2012 Games Media Awards.
According to Future, Kotaku, embracing the game playing community as a whole, perfectly complements GamesRadar’s insights and gaming analysis, and CVG’s cutting edge first-for-news approach, with only a 10% audience overlap across all three sites.
The Lifehacker UK site will be edited by Dan Grabham, currently Associate Editor of TechRadar, the UK’s biggest technology reviews website. Dan has been reviewing all things tech for the best part of the last decade and was integral to the team which launched TechRadar in 2006 and TechRadar Pro in February last year.
Lifehacker, which delivers tips and advice to busy consumer and business tech professionals on apps, gadgets, financial tools and shortcuts to improve productivity, will fit seamlessly alongside T3’s stylish, aspirational product showcase, TechRadar’s authoritative reviews and exclusives, TechRadar Pro’s news and insights for small and medium sized businesses and Gizmodo UK’s informed yet irreverent take on tech news and rumours.
Kat Hannaford, currently Editor of Gizmodo UK, will be promoted to Senior Editor, Gizmodo UK & Gawker Partnership to capitalise on her experience in successfully bringing Gizmodo to the UK.
Keith Walker, Head of Digital – Film, Games & Technology at Future, says: “It is incredible to be launching two new sites in the UK with such instant scale and reach on day one. By remaining true to both Kotaku’s and Lifehacker’s brand principles, with the addition of localised content for the UK audience, I have no doubt that the editorial teams, under the leadership of Keza and Dan, will be able to grow these sites in the same way that we have successfully grown Gizmodo UK.”
Kotaku UK will be the fourth international edition of the site, with localised versions already available in Japan, Brazil and Australia. While Lifehacker UK will be the third international edition of the site, with localised versions available in Japan and Australia.
