LBG Media returns to profit as LadBible owner’s audience approaches 500 million
- LBG Media reported a pre-tax profit of £7.1m for the six months ended June
- The group’s direct income represented more than half of turnover for the first time
LBG Media, owner of LADbible, returned to profit in the first half of the year and the number of users reached a new record of almost half a billion.
The digital publisher, which also operates the UniLad website, reported a pre-tax profit of £7.1m for the six months to June, compared with a loss of £1.2m in the same period last year.
Turnover rose 55 per cent to £42.3m, largely driven by direct revenues which almost doubled to £22m, accounting for more than half of the company’s turnover for the first time.
Taste test: Actors Austin Butler and Timothée Chalamet (pictured) compare British and American food as part of LadBible’s ‘Snack Wars’ series
Around three-quarters of the company’s direct revenue came from repeat customers, such as Lloyds Bank and Uber Eats, the latter of which sponsored an edition of its online series ‘Snack Wars’ themed around Euro 2024.
LBG also benefited from new partnerships with several big names including Costa Coffee, razor brand Wilkinson Sword and Samuel Adams brewer Boston Beer.
Meanwhile, indirect advertising revenue rose 28 per cent to £19.7m, while combined readership, viewership and listening figures increased by a fifth to a record 494m.
In the US, where the Manchester-based group bought female-focused Betches Media last year, its audience now stands at 141 million.
According to the magazine, these figures highlight “unparalleled engagement and reach among young adults.”
Some recent high-profile LBG campaigns targeting young people include ‘You’re On Mute’, which aimed to increase voter turnout, and the ‘End Spiking, Now’ campaign to raise awareness of alcohol ‘spiking’.
In July, the new Labour government announced that drugging – adding drugs to someone else’s drink without their consent – would become a specific offence.
LBG Media CEO Solly Solomou said the combination of “major sporting events” and increased viewing figures underscores the company’s “position as the number one digital entertainment brand for young adults”.
He added: ‘I am more excited than ever about the opportunities ahead of us, particularly in the US, where we are becoming increasingly successful and where the complementary nature of our combined businesses is already bearing fruit.’
Following the result, LBG said it was “confident” of achieving market expectations for calendar year 2024 and had “visibility” of achieving £200m in revenue.
Rachel Birkett, analyst at Zeus Capital, said LBG is “uniquely positioned to benefit” from the increasing shift to social media advertising as it “reflects the growing importance” of the “Generation Z” demographic.
LBG Media shares rose 1.5 percent to 138p on Wednesday morning, meaning they have grown by around 72 percent since the start of the year.
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