• by Ray Schultz , Columnist, March 17, 2026

Future, the publisher of 175 specialist brands like Tom’s Guide, TechRadar, Who What Wear, Marie Claire, GamesRadar+ and Homes & Gardens, has debuted an audience intelligence engine designed to help advertisers reach consumers who have shown intent. 

The new platform, Helix, integrates data science and predictive AI with Future’s first-party data.

The goal? “By applying data science and predictive AI to our first-party data, Helix identifies the audiences most likely to deliver results and measures their impact across the full path to purchase, says Michael Peralta, chief revenue officer at Future.

Today’s advertisers seek more than scale or reach — "they’re looking for certainty about which audiences will actually drive outcomes,” Peralta notes.

Helix was preceded by Aperture, the audience data platform launched by Future in 2021, and can be seen as the next step in the evolution of this form of intelligence. 

Initial testing across 20 campaigns in the fashion, retail and technology sectors showed that Helix could drive double-digit increases in CTR, resulting in hikes in performance metrics like Return on Ad Spend, the company claims.

According to Future, Helix is built on three strategic pillars:

• Precision — By mapping intent across Future’s specialist media ecosystem, Helix helps advertisers reach consumers when they are ready to convert. 
• Prescription — Helix recommends specific audience segments based on conversion behavior.
• Performance  —Future is offering what it calls the Performance Pledge to early U.S. advertisers. It guarantees click-through rates.

Helix is now being launched in the U.S. market, and will be rolled out in the U.K. at a later date.