When Sam Barcroft took on the role of Group CEO at SWNS Group earlier this year, it marked a return to the news business that shaped his early career. But this is not a nostalgic move. Barcroft is clear-eyed about the state of the industry he is stepping back into and impatient with those still clinging to legacy assumptions.
“I got a call earlier this year offering me the opportunity to go into the group as Group CEO,” he says. “The more I thought about it, the more excited I got about it. We are at such an inflection point in the media scene globally, especially in the UK.”
SWNS is best known as the UK’s largest independent supplier of news content to national and international media, with its journalism appearing daily across major titles. But the group now spans six businesses, including PR agency 72Point, design studio Oath, polling company OnePoll, photography business PinPep and video consultancy Creatorville, which Barcroft founded and has now brought into the group.
“It is an amazing set of businesses that really work in synergy,” he says. “They deliver unbelievable value for brands and for news publishers. Getting back into that game was really exciting, especially at a time when it is changing so fast.”
For Barcroft, the opportunity lies in combining trust and scale with platform-native thinking. “SWNS has trust like pretty much no other business in the UK,” he says. “If you then add the ability to speak to people all over the world on multiple devices in multiple ways, that is super exciting.”
That excitement is rooted in hard-earned realism. Barcroft is blunt about the state of the UK production economy, particularly in factual and documentary.
“The TV documentary industry in the UK has basically collapsed,” he says. “We like to pretend it hasn’t, but compared to ten years ago it is wafer thin. If you are starting a production company now and you are not in live events, premium drama or sport, you really need to have a strong word with yourself.”
In his view, the problem is not a lack of talent or ideas, but a refusal to accept that the old model has gone. “Producers confuse the model,” he says. “They think there is still a version of the business where you walk into a broadcaster with an idea, they give you the money up front, you go and make the film and then it gets sold around the world. That was a 40-year bubble. It is over.”
Platforms like YouTube, he argues, have fundamentally rewritten the rules, and not in a way that suits traditional producers. “YouTube is not a lifeboat for the old model,” Barcroft says. “It is a five to ten year game. You show up, you get nothing back for ages, and you keep going anyway. That is why TV producers run a mile from it. It does not fit their business model.”
The trade-off, however, is unprecedented access. “YouTube says we will put your work in front of two billion people for free,” he says. “We will try and sell some ads and if we can, you can have half the money. That is actually a very good deal. It is just nothing like the old one.”
At SWNS, Barcroft is less interested in chasing formats than building systems. He believes the next phase of growth will come from ecosystems that combine content, community and commerce.
“Content is not the product anymore,” he says. “It is the engine. The businesses that will survive are the ones building subscription layers, communities, live events and services around that content.”
This thinking extends to brands, which Barcroft believes are now operating in the same space as publishers. “Brands are becoming broadcasters whether they like it or not,” he says. “Look at Carwow, Red Bull, MrBeast. Content is the business.”
Looking ahead to 2026, Barcroft expects consolidation rather than disruption. “Streaming has stabilised,” he says. “Social is established. The big changes will come from consolidation at the top of traditional media, not from another wave of platforms.”
He is also watching the emergence of new forms of influence. “News influencers are an underserved vertical,” he says. “We will see more of that, and we will see major news organisations start to seriously develop the next generation of on-screen and on-platform talent.”
What he has little patience for is nostalgia. “The old model was extraordinary while it lasted,” Barcroft says. “But it is over. The question now is not whether you like the new rules. It is whether you are prepared to play.”
For SWNS, that means leaning into change rather than defending the past. For the wider industry, Barcroft’s return is a reminder that the future has been visible for some time. What is disappearing now is not opportunity, but time.
