LBG Media rebounds to revenue as LadBible proprietor’s viewers nears 500m

LADbible owner LBG Media returned to a first-half profit as its audience reached a new record high of almost half a billion users. 

The digital publisher, which also runs the UniLad website, revealed a £7.1million pre-tax profit for the six months ending June, compared to a £1.2million loss during the same period last year.

Its turnover climbed by 55 per cent to £42.3million, largely thanks to direct revenues nearly doubling to £22million and making up over half of the firm’s sales 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 revenues came from repeat clients such as Lloyds Bank and Uber Eats, with the latter sponsoring a Euros 2024-themed edition of its online ‘Snack Wars’ series.

LBG also benefited from new partnerships with multiple big names, including Costa Coffee, razor brand Wilkinson Sword, and Samuel Adams brewer Boston Beer.

Meanwhile, indirect ad revenue rose by 28 per cent to £19.7million as its combined reader, viewer, and listener figures expanded by a fifth to a record 494 million.

In the US, where the Manchester-based group bought the female-focused Betches Media last year, its audience now stands at 141 million.

It said these figures emphasised an ‘unparalleled engagement and extensive reach with young adult audiences’.

Among LBG’s recent high-profile campaigns targeted at young people were ‘You’re On Mute,’ which aimed to boost voter turnout, and the ‘End Spiking, Now’ campaign to raise awareness of drink spiking.

In July, the new Labour government announced that spiking drinks – putting a drug into somebody else’s drink without their consent – would become a specific criminal offence.

Solly Solomou, chief executive of LBG Media, said the combination of ‘key sporting event activations’ and higher audience figures emphasised the firm’s ‘position as the number one digital entertainment brand for young adults’.

He added: ‘I am more excited than ever by the opportunity that lies ahead, particularly in the US, where we are going from strength to strength and where the complementary nature of our combined businesses is already demonstrating success.’

Following this result, LBG said it was ‘confident’ of achieving its market expectations for the 2024 calendar year and has a ‘line of sight’ to reach £200million in revenue.

Rachel Birkett, analyst at Zeus Capital, said LBG is ‘uniquely positioned to benefit’ from the increasing shift towards social media advertising because it ‘reflects the growing importance’ of the ‘Gen Z’ demographic.

LBG Media shares rose 1.5 per cent to 138p on Wednesday morning, meaning they have grown by around 72 per cent since the year started.