LBG Media bounces back and turns a profit as LadBible owner’s audience nears 500 million

LADbible owner LBG Media returned to profit in the first half as its audience hit a new record of almost 500 million users.

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

Its turnover rose by 55 per cent to £42.3m, largely thanks to direct revenues almost doubling to £22m and accounting for more than half of the company’s sales for the first time.

Around three-quarters of the company’s direct revenue comes from regular clients such as Lloyds Bank and Uber Eats, the latter sponsoring a Euro 2024-themed edition of its ‘Snack Wars’ online series.

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 as its combined reader, viewer and listener numbers expanded by a fifth to a record 494 million.

In the United States, where the Manchester-based group bought Betches Media, a company focused on women, last year, its audience now stands at 141 million.

He noted that these figures underscore “unparalleled engagement and broad reach among young adult audiences.”

LBG’s recent high-profile 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 drink tampering.

In July, the new Labour government announced that spiking drinks (putting a drug in another person’s drink without their consent) would become a specific criminal offence.

LBG Media chief executive Solly Solomou said the combination of “key sporting event activations” and increased audience figures underlined the company’s “position as the number one digital entertainment brand for young adults”.

He added: “I am more excited than ever about the opportunity ahead, particularly in the US, where we are growing from strength to strength and where the complementary nature of our combined businesses is already proving successful.”

Following this result, LBG said it was “confident” of meeting its market expectations for calendar year 2024 and that it has a “line of sight” to reach £200m in revenue.

Rachel Birkett, an analyst at Zeus Capital, said LBG is “uniquely positioned to benefit” from the growing shift toward social media advertising because it “reflects the growing importance” of the “Generation Z” demographic.

LBG Media shares rose 1.5 percent to 138 pence on Wednesday morning, meaning they have grown by around 72 percent since the start of the year.