LADBible publisher LBG Media (LBG:AIM) is increasingly tapping social media networks like TikTok and Instagram, plus short videos to power growth, and investors like what they see. Shares in the £150 million content company rallied 5% to 74.5p after posting a 10% rise in revenue to £27.2 million for the six months to 30 June 2023.

Video views were up 109% year-on-year to 59.9 billion. Even its more established Facebook presence is getting more clicks and views, up 26% year-on-year. 

This helped LBG’s global audience expand to more than 410 million, versus 315 million this time last year, with 67.1 billion content views in the period, up 87% on the prior period.

The global audience figures include the acquisition of Lessons Learned in Life, what the company sees as an ‘under-monetised’ US Facebook presence, completed in March 2023. It had 19.6 million followers, so the company says. 

But while adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest taxation depreciation and amortisation) was reported up 84% to £3 million, it strips out more than £1.5 million of share-based payments to staff and other ‘adjusting items’, including acquisition costs, team rejig expenses and a one-off cost-of-living payout to staff.  

The underlying bottom line was a £1.2 million pre-tax loss, although that is down from £1.9 million in the first half of 2022. 

SECOND HALF WEIGHTING

LBG said its full-year outlook for 2023 remains unchanged, but it also sees a second half weighting for revenues, expecting a rough 40% to 60% first-to-second half split. 

This, the company says, is not untypical, given big retail events such as Black Friday and Christmas falling in the latter part of the year. 

Looking ahead, LBG Media sees major growth opportunities in the US, with social media networks like TikTok and Instagram, and the company also expects to continue its buy-and-build strategy, with bolt-on acquisitions designed to grab market share off legacy media competitors.

Investors can expect an expanded list of video and audio Vod and Podcasts going forward, ‘using artificial intelligence,’ co-founder and chief executive Solly Solomou says. 

‘We see AI as a tool to produce better content for our clients rather than something which will compete with existing jobs. At the moment we have been implementing AI to carry out video voice overs for our youth and Gen Z research panel LADnation.’

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