Time Out Group acquires US service Hugecity, which uses Facebook data to target relevant events at users
Time Out Group has acquired US digital event guide Hugecity, a service which pulls in Facebook data to identify and target relevant events at users.
Acquired: The Hugecity app
The service pulls in the Facebook preferences of its users and their friends, and their locations, to deliver personalised events, and has more than four million events added to its app by Facebook users every month.
The service will be re-branded as Time Out World and re-launched globally by the publisher this month.
Tim Arthur, global CEO of Time Out Group, said the deal would assist the business – which has 46 editions of Time Out magazine in 30 countries – in a global expansion.
“It’s an incredibly exciting time for Time Out globally,” he said. “This acquisition will help us to continue to expand our digital offering to a much wider audience right across the globe.
“We already speak to a combined worldwide audience of over 28 million people but that’s just the start. This move will help us to become the world’s most comprehensive platform of event information and inspiration.”
Hugecity founders Hugh Malkin and Adam Wilson will join Time Out to form Time Out Labs, a new arm of the company aimed at developing new products.
Malkin said: “We can’t wait to create Time Out Labs, to continue to innovate and develop new solutions that we know will help Time Out users make the most of their cities.”
Time Out Group publishes magazines, websites, apps and guidebooks covering events, entertainment and culture in various locations.