Digitalbox has reported growing revenue and profit from its collection of popular online newsbrands.
The company – which publishes sites including Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Tab and TV Guide – reported full-year revenue up 30.6% to £3.6m for 2024 and adjusted profit (EBITDA) of £624,000 (up from £20,000 a year earlier).
Digitalbox makes most of its money from programmatic advertising, and it reported that yields from this were up more than 10%. It has also doubled subscription revenue from satirical news website The Daily Mash to £200,000. And it is also seeing growing direct revenue from Facebook which is paying Digitalbox for engagement as a partner under its Content Monetisation programme.
Digitalbox acquired CelebrityTidbit.com, RealityTidbit.com and TheFocus.news in November.
TV Guide was said to have grown traffic 90% year-on-year in Q4 and is on target to repay its purchase cost within two years of being acquired.
Traffic for The Tab was said to be up 15% in the year and The Poke was up 22%.
Overall, Digitalbox reported audience up 10% for its network of sites which also includes Royal Insider, Reality Shrine and Emmerdale Insider.
The Tab claims to be the UK’s biggest youth culture site for students and The Poke shares humorous content from around the internet and social media. TV Guide offers an online listing of UK TV schedules.
Chief executive James Carter said the launch of subscriptions for The Daily Mash came about because ad revenue was challenged by the fact tech platforms could not tell the difference between satire and fake news. He said a recent price increase from £20 to £30 had made no difference to renewal rates.
Asked about the impact of changes at Google and Facebook on Digitalbox, he said: “Traffic from both Google and Facebook has been in decline over the last five years. But more recently Meta has been rediscovering the value of news content and started rewarding people for that financially.
“We are biased towards the entertainment sector and good shows offer great engagement with consumers.” He said that content around a hit TV show, such as Married at First Sight, can drive millions of visits per month to The Tab.
He said that Google Discover was a useful source of traffic, albeit an unreliable one – with Entertainment Daily recently blocked from the platform with no explanation given. Carter questioned why other publishers, such as Reach, seem to be ubiquitous on Google Discover despite operating sites which many view as offering poor usability.
TV Guide, despite offering heavily commoditised content, still attracts good web traffic, Carter said, with the recent Chinese Grand Prix driving strong traffic as viewers went online to find out what time it was being shown.
Carter said: “We believe Digitalbox is well-positioned in the open advertising market, with the agility to adapt in real time while maintaining strong demand for its high-quality inventory.
“Global insights indicate a steady and measured market recovery throughout 2025, and we see no reason to question these forecasts at the current time. With improving conditions ahead, we are confident that the business is strategically placed to capitalise on the market’s anticipated resurgence.
“Our portfolio has been expanded and is now more diverse and balanced than at any time in the Company’s history. This offers greater resilience and higher growth potential.
“Over the next three years we have an ambitious plan to at least double the size of the business. This will involve organically launching and expanding brands to build audiences in English-language markets.“
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