SWNS Media Group Acquires Creatorville and Appoints Sam Barcroft as Group CEO

SWNS Media Group, one of the UK’s leading providers of news, factual content, and creative communications, has acquired Creatorville, the digital content consultancy founded by media entrepreneur Sam Barcroft.

The acquisition sees Sam assume the role of group chief executive officer and become a shareholder in SWNS Media Group. Current CEO Paul Walters will become non-executive chair and co-founder Andrew Young will become a non-executive director. Martin Winter will remain as SWNS managing director and Chris Pharo will remain as CEO of 72Point.

The move sees SWNS Media Group expand its capabilities into the creator economy, combining its long-standing expertise in journalism, earned media and brand communications with Creatorville’s expertise in social video, digital publishing, and audience-first content production.

Together, they will support growth across the group’s businesses currently comprising:

72Point - creates newsworthy and impactful campaigns in a page-ready format that achieve high volume coverage across print, digital, social,and broadcast. Its blend of news and PR thinking produces high-quality creative work that is editorially-robust and attractive to publishers.

SWNS- creates and distributes trusted news and lifestyle content to the world’s leading media outlets viaa proprietary newswire platform. As a result of its scale, quality and reputation it enjoys unparalleled relationships with publishers and plays a vital role in the global media ecosystem.

OnePoll- powers online market research and PR surveys with global human experiences; a dedicated in-house market research team carrying out insightful studies providing a framework for engaging, interesting and relevant content.

Creatorville becomes a new division within the group and will support the growthof standout content brands, create new video formats, and nurture next-generation talent.

Sam Barcroft, group CEO SWNS MG, said, “SWNS Media Grouphas always been an innovative and entrepreneurial business. By bringing Creatorville into the group, we’re combining SWNS’s journalistic depth and 72Point’s first class creativity and broad spectrum of brand and agency clients with additional social-first firepower. Together, we’ll help clients connect with fast-changing audiences through impactful storytelling.”

Paul Walters, chair of SWNS Media Group, added, “I’m delighted to welcome Sam to SWNS Media Group as our new Group CEO.Our shared long-term vision is to transform our business into the UK’s most exciting and effective media group. By combining our proven expertise in news generation and creative communications with Sam’s leadership in building communities around outstanding content, we will build our business on our shared journalistic foundations, amplified by the creativity, agility, and reach of a digital-native production studio.”

Sam, best known for founding Barcroft Studios and growing it into a globally respected digital content business - ultimately selling to Future Publishing in 2019 - brings deep experience in leading creative teams and developing original formats for new audiences. Through Creatorville, he has advised major media organisations including Channel 4, Hearst Networks and News UK on digital video strategy and IP development.