Daily Mash owner Digitalbox buys The Poke

Online humour site The Poke has been bought by Digitalbox, the owner of satirical website The Daily Mash, student news network The Tab and Entertainment Daily.

The Poke launched in 2002 and “handpicks the funniest content on the web to enable its users to spend time well wasted”, whereas The Daily Mash publishes its own satirical spins on the news

Digitalbox said the acquisition, which was for an undisclosed sum, would “strengthen its position within the satire/comedy space” and make it the UK’s leading destination for online humour by bringing together the reach of both sites. Both currently see about three million monthly sessions.

The Poke’s editor John Plunkett said: “I have enjoyed running this independent UK institution over the last five years as we have built on the success of the brand first brought to life in 2002. As the site continues to prosper in these uncertain times, we see it as a perfect moment to become part of a company with an enhanced tech infrastructure presenting further opportunities for growth alongside The Daily Mash.”

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The Poke generated revenue of around £0.17m in its financial year to November 2021 and Digitalbox said it expected to increase this in the medium term using its Graphene ad stack, similar to how it got The Tab into profit from its first full month of ownership in late 2020 by changing from a direct sales operation to an automated programmatic advertising solution delivered through the platform. Digitalbox said The Tab has seen “significant profit growth” and revenue in the six months to 30 June up 52% year-on-year as a result.

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Digitalbox said that once the integration of The Poke into its business is complete it will “look to optimise the site’s position, before exploring further opportunities for growth on the site”.

Its chief executive James Carter said: “We have a proven and successful approach to integration which releases value from the assets we acquire.”

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