Digitalbox PLC Pre-close Trading Update & Notice of Results (9511Z)
January 16 2020 - 2:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMDBOX
RNS Number : 9511Z
Digitalbox PLC
16 January 2020
16 January 2020
Digitalbox plc
("Digitalbox" or "the Company")
Pre-close Trading Update & Notice of Results
Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media
business, which owns Entertainment Daily and The Daily Mash, today
issues a trading update in respect of its year ended 31 December
2019. This is Digitalbox's first year as a digital media business,
following the acquisitions of Entertainment Daily and The Daily
Mash in the first quarter of 2019.
The Company is pleased to announce that trading for the year
ended 31 December 2019 has delivered better operating margins than
forecast, with adjusted profit before tax (1) being ahead of market
expectations, and revenue slightly ahead.
The progress has been led by Entertainment Daily, which produces
and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and
celebrity news. Entertainment Daily has seen average monthly users
continue to grow, and in December, historically its peak month, it
had over six million unique users visiting its site. This success
has been driven by Digitalbox's Insights programme, which provides
a detailed analysis of user behaviour to better inform content
strategy.
During the year, the Company has sought to broaden the sources
of its users, and in doing so, Entertainment Daily has seen growth
of 127% (compared with the equivalent period last year) in its
Google-sourced traffic. The site's highly engaging and
mobile-optimised content has flourished within the Discover feed.
Discover is Google's system which presents relevant content to
users based on their behaviour before performing a search on a
mobile device.
The Daily Mash, which the Company acquired in March 2019, has
been successfully integrated into Digitalbox's technology platform,
Graphene. The site is now benefitting in terms of increased revenue
from advertising. Audience levels increased year-on-year by 15% in
the second half of 2019 with 'Six phrases that instantly single you
out as an absolute b*llend' being the most viewed story, with c
560,000 views. Furthermore, there has been another successful
series of the BAFTA-nominated The Mash Report on the BBC.
The results for the year ended 31 December 2019 are expected to
be announced on 26 March 2020.
James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox plc, said: "The success of the
Insights programme and our focus on mobile-optimised content has
meant 2019 has been a record year for Entertainment Daily. Our
editorial team has carefully curated stories from across the world
of celebrity, TV and the Royal family, and these have dominated the
most-viewed content. The list of the site's biggest stories
demonstrates the popularity of news featuring UK TV personalities,
and the UK's enduring love of celebrity gossip, and stories about
soaps, and big stars like Ant & Dec being continually popular
from year to year. As well as recent royal news keeping the
audience engaged, the biggest single story of last year was the
BBC's Matt Baker emotionally quitting the One Show live on air
after nine years fronting the programme.
"The completion of the integration of the Daily Mash has seen
further growth in revenue as it benefits from our proprietary
technology platform. We are continuing to evaluate opportunities to
acquire more digital publishing assets. As 2019 has demonstrated,
we can generate increased revenue from them with our technology and
expertise."
Note 1 - profit before tax adjusted for listing costs,
amortisation and a share option scheme charge
ENDS
Digitalbox c/o Newgate Communications
James Carter, CEO
WH Ireland (Nomad and Broker) Tel: 0117 945 3470
Mike Coe / Chris Savidge
Alvarium Capital Partners (Broker) Tel: 020 7195 1400
Alex Davies / Hugh Kingsmill
Moore
Newgate Communications (Financial Tel: 020 3757 6880;
PR)
Robin Tozer / Isabelle Smurfit digitalbox@newgatecomms.com
About Digitalbox plc
Based in Bath, UK, Digitalbox is a 'pure-play' digital media
business with the aim of profitable publishing at scale on mobile
platforms. The company's operating model has been developed and
refined since publishing operations began in December 2015.
Digitalbox operates two trading brands, "Entertainment Daily"
and "The Daily Mash". Entertainment Daily produces and publishes
online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity
news. Entertainment Daily has averaged c. 2.2 million unique users
per month over H1 2019, with 13 million monthly UK sessions. In
March 2019, Digitalbox acquired leading online satirical website,
The Daily Mash. The Daily Mash has over 4 million visits per month,
and more than 900,000 Facebook followers.
Digitalbox generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and
around the content it publishes. The Company's optimisation for
mobile enables it to achieve revenues per session significantly
ahead of market norms for publishers on mobile.
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
END
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