SCREENSHOT Media

SCREENSHOT Media is a London-headquartered next-generation media company that publishes short-form news and culture content aimed at 18-24 year olds and operates a social media and influencer marketing agency. Its flagship publisher brand, SCREENSHOT, covers politics and current affairs, technology, culture, entertainment, fashion and sports, with articles kept to roughly 700 words and distributed through its website alongside dedicated TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube and Facebook operations. The company treats each platform as a distinct channel with its own specialist team, producing content native to the platform rather than driving audiences to a single destination.

Alongside the publishing operation, the company runs an agency arm that positions brands within youth culture through influencer and social campaigns. Services span influencer marketing (organic and paid), influencer-led performance advertising, media management, always-on influencer programmes, social commerce, campaign launches, content production, and strategy and data. The agency has built proprietary technology called IRIS that supports briefing, creator matching, live optimisation and measurement, drawing on first-party data and platform signals to distribute content through creators at scale. Named brand clients have included TOMS, Wagamama, Huawei and Calvin Klein.

The business is registered as SCREEN SHOT LTD and is listed in the Alliance of Independent Agencies directory as a social media agency working with brands across the UK, EMEA and the USA, with 25 employees.

Founding story

Shira Jeczmien began SCREENSHOT as a blog while at university, initially as a way for a Gen Z audience to follow trends and current affairs, and was joined by a creative director, Sofia. While working as a consultant writing copy for an app, she funnelled her earnings into hiring interns to write for the site, working from a shared studio in Dalston, London. The company was formally founded in 2018 when Jeczmien was in her mid-twenties, after a £30k friends-and-family angel investment from the founder of The Fair Planet, a not-for-profit news publisher, allowed her to leave her consulting job.

Business model

SCREENSHOT Media operates a two-sided model: an owned-and-operated publishing business producing short-form editorial and social content for 18-24 year olds, and a commercial agency arm that sells social media, influencer and content services to brands. The publishing side monetises through platform partnerships and social media channels including Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube, which the company described as areas of strategic investment capable of generating direct revenue. The agency side takes client briefs for influencer marketing, performance advertising, media management, always-on influencer programmes, social commerce, campaign launches, content production, and strategy and data.

Revenue comes from brand-funded agency work — influencer campaigns, performance advertising, media management, content production and social commerce — and from monetised distribution on social platforms including Snapchat, Facebook and YouTube. The founder has described the business as bootstrapped and self-sustaining, investing in areas that generate direct revenue, with the agency arm intended to support continued self-funding ahead of any Series A round.

Traction

The company reported reaching an audience of more than 200 million per month as of December 2023, with 60% described as actively engaged users within its 18-24 core demographic, and said it grew that demographic by a further 35% across channels over the preceding 12 months as of late 2022. It reported four years of sustainable growth while bootstrapped, listed 25 employees in an agency directory, and cited awards recognition including Commercial Campaign of the Year and the Shorty Impact Awards, plus brand work such as relaunching TOMS.

Latest developments

The agency site describes London and Rome offices, the IRIS proprietary influencer distribution technology, and press and awards coverage including a Commercial Campaign of the Year win and the 8th Annual Shorty Impact Awards. The SCREENSHOT publishing brand continues to publish daily coverage across politics, culture, technology and 'The Future' verticals.