Barcroft rebrands as Future Studios

Future plc, the global platform for specialist media, has announced that Barcroft Studios, the leading factual content business acquired in December 2019, has now rebranded as Future Studios following a strong period of growth.

The award-winning production business, led by Chief Creative Officer John Farrar, has enjoyed a sustained period of growth in both linear production and digital since its acquisition, having recently been commissioned by Channel 4 to co-produce the reboot of classic TV show GamesMaster, the Future PLC brand set to make a return to E4 and social channels later this year.

And following the success of ‘Totally Game’, the original short form documentary series produced in collaboration with Future’s games division, the company is in production on three new ‘Future Originals’ – an anthology gaming series, a factual series focusing on the paranormal, and a new true crime strand, in partnership with Future plc brand Marie Claire.

Future Studios Chief Creative Officer John Farrar says “With several new series in production for our terrestrial, cable, and digital clients as well as exciting new projects in development from across Future’s incredible portfolio of media brands including our GamesMaster reboot, we felt it’s a natural next step to rename the business Future Studios as we look ahead to the next phase of our growth.”

In additional to a range of projects currently in development and production for linear broadcasters around the world, Future Studios produces over 50 short form episodes per month across its various social media channels and recently launched ‘Transformed’ and ‘Dating Different’, two original formats with episodes regularly receiving over 10 million views across social channels. The business has also become established as one of the UK’s leading producers of original content for Snapchat.

Future Studios’ Truly YouTube channel continues to grow with over 490m views since January 2021 and 3.2 billion minutes viewed on Facebook in the same period.