Digitalbox PLC (AIM:DBOX) this week told investors that it had delivered 11% revenue growth in the first half of 2025, outperforming a broadly weaker advertising market.
The company said the growth was supported by stronger-than-expected performance in new products and gains in programmatic advertising across its portfolio.
CEO James Carter said some of its brands are up 55% year on year for June and July, and another one reached 130% in one of those particular months.
Proactive: Joining me is Digitalbox CEO James Carter. James, good to speak with you this morning. You announced in March that you were trying to develop the business further. Can you update us on this, please?
James Carter: Good morning Stephen. At the beginning of the year, as many may already know, we undertook a strategic review at the end of last year. This confirmed the plan we announced in March alongside the company results.
We've committed to grow the business and the existing model through a mix of launching and further acquisitions.
During the first half of the year, we've really doubled down on that. We've delivered three new products: Royal Insider, Reality Shrine, and EastEnders Insider. That takes our portfolio to eight website products. We also acquired three Facebook pages.
We did some testing with Media Chain, the company formerly called Social Chain, using their Life Network page with around 5.5 million followers.
That was attached to Royal Insider and proved successful. As part of that acquisition, we also took on two more pages — Funny Cards Against Humanity and British Banter — which we attached to The Poke and The Daily Mash respectively. Life Network was the larger acquisition, but the two smaller pages could also be valuable going forward.
Proactive: How has traffic been against what's been reported as a turbulent landscape?
James Carter: There’s been a lot of concern among publishers about the market, especially with Google introducing more AI-generated overview results in search.
While some publishers have suffered, our audience development has aligned exactly with what we budgeted.
We had a very strong Q1, and Q2 continued to evolve positively.
The back end of Q2 was particularly strong.
We’ve seen promising results around the same areas we’re developing, including The Tab — which has seen a small move into mainstream news — and TV Guide, where we're expanding content around TV programming.
So, broadly, we’re in the right place.
Proactive: So what's driven your 11% revenue growth, James?
James Carter: It's been a combination of factors. We’ve increasingly outperformed the ad market throughout H1. I was looking at some figures yesterday — in percentage terms, some of our brands were up 55% year-on-year for June and July.
One even hit 130% in one of those months.
Programmatic advertising has delivered strong returns across the portfolio compared to the same time last year. Especially at the back end of H1, where 2024 was pretty soft.
Overall, it confirms we’re outperforming the broader ad market, which is a positive signal.
Diversification has also been key. As platforms change, particularly due to AI, monetizing both on and off platforms becomes increasingly important.
On-platform monetization has grown strongly and has added stability to our revenue mix over the past six months.
Proactive: So that’s the past six months, James — what does the future look like?
James Carter: The future is more of the same.
We’ve had strong results. Not everything we launch will work, but some things have exceeded expectations — Royal Insider and Reality Shrine are ahead of plan. Their prospects are strong.
We’re also exploring diversification opportunities, including a direct email business and further acquisitions.
The goal is to increase our diversification to further strengthen the business going forward.
Proactive: I hope you’ll continue to keep us updated with your progress. Thank you very much for speaking with us.