Acquisition of GRV Entertainment Group

07 November 2024

Digitalbox plc

("Digitalbox" or the "Company" or the "Group")

Acquisition of GRV Entertainment Group

Digitalbox plc (AIM: DBOX), the mobile-first digital media business, which owns leading websites Entertainment Daily, The Daily Mash, The Poke, The Tab, TV Guide, and Emmerdale Insider, has agreed to acquire certain online assets, including all associated intellectual property, of the Entertainment Group of GRV Media Ltd ("GRV").  A three-month transitional services agreement with GRV comes into effect from today to support the integration process.

The acquisition includes the purchase of three online assets of GRV, including CelebrityTidbit.com; RealityTidbit.com; and TheFocus.news, and the transfer to Digitalbox of eight employees of GRV that are attached to the websites being acquired. The sites all operate an audience-led, advertising-focused media model in common with Digitalbox.

Adding these websites to Digitalbox's growing portfolio of assets will accelerate the Company's "Verticals Strategy". The strategy is to deliver highly targeted sites, based around the Group's core competence, entertainment, that benefit from fan bases delivering the kind of 'super engagement' increasingly favoured by platforms, like Google and Facebook. In August 2024, the strategy started with the launch of Emmerdale Insider, with further launches and acquisitions planned.

The acquired sites have complementary positioning with Digitalbox brands, The Tab, and Entertainment Daily. During the integration process, Digitalbox will align its content archives and editorial operations with each of these, while migrating them to the Digitalbox platform, monetised by the Graphene Ad Stack.  In the 12 months to 30 September 2024, the assets being acquired generated revenue less than 3% of Digitalbox's revenue to 31 December 2023. 

James Carter, CEO, Digitalbox, said: "GRV is a business we have admired for some time, and we are delighted to reach this agreement. The sites and highly skilled staff will help us expand, as we establish our position as an entertainment powerhouse."

Vic Daniels, Executive Chairman, GRV, said: "As GRV Media has become more focused on sports coverage in recent years, we have been looking to find a good home for our entertainment properties. I have known James and Digitalbox for several years, and I know that we share the same values towards our people and brands. I am delighted that we could make this happen, and look forward to seeing these websites thrive under their new ownership."

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About Digitalbox plc

Based in the UK, Digitalbox is a 'pure-play' digital media business with the aim of profitable publishing at scale on mobile platforms.

Digitalbox operates the following trading brands, "Entertainment Daily", "The Daily Mash", "The Tab", "The Poke", "TV Guide" and "Emmerdale Insider". Entertainment Daily produces and publishes online UK entertainment news covering TV, showbiz and celebrity news. The Daily Mash produces and publishes satirical news content. The Tab is the UK's biggest youth culture site fuelled by students. The Poke expertly curates and editorialises the funniest content from around the web and social media. TV Guide serves as the definitive guide to what is on TV. Emmerdale Insider charts the twists and turns of this ever present British soap staple.

Digitalbox primarily generates revenue from the sale of advertising in and around the content it publishes. The Group's optimisation for mobile enables it to achieve revenues per session significantly ahead of market norms for publishers on mobile.