Lad Bible Group CEOs plan for growth: £200m, IP, M&A and more

Digiday sat down with Lad Bible Group CEO Solly Solomou to uncover what’s next for the publishing group, which owns titles such as LADBible, SPORTBible, Betches Media, in the year ahead.

Solomou on the outlook for the year ahead

Last year marked what Solomou described as a “good step” toward Lad Bible Group’s ambition of becoming a “global entertainment powerhouse.” This year, the goal is simple: maintain that momentum and push even closer to reaching it. 

In practical terms this means working toward making £200 million in global revenue. Naturally, advertising will continue to be a cornerstone of those efforts, but so will strategic moves like growing its presence in the U.S., commercial deals with AI platforms and expanding IP management, said Solomou. Then there’s M&A. 

“We’ve got an M&A pipeline that we’re continually looking at but we are very picky on the acquisitions that we make,” said Solomou. “We see that as an opportunity to accelerate towards our $2 billion line of sight.”

Solomou on navigating a volatile market for traffic referral

Even with the business booming, Solomou knows the media landscape can turn on a dime. One of the biggest thorns in a publisher’s side? The relentless decline in traffic referrals from social and search platforms. 

Solomou and his team learned this lesson the hard way when Facebook shook up its commercial model last summer, cutting into the revenue Lad Bible Group earned from ads on the platform. While the team managed to bounce back, the incident reinforced a cold, hard truth: keeping an audience is just as tough as building one.

For Lad Bible Group, that means continuing to lean heavily on Facebook, YouTube and Snapchat – the platforms that drive its ad dollars and the ones it knows best. Of course, platforms are going to do what platforms do, often at the expense of publishers. The trick, Solomon said, is being ready to roll with the punches. 

Maintaining a 50/50 revenue split between direct ad sales and platform-driven ads is central to the group’s approach. “The plan is to do what we can to keep that balance intact,” Solomou added.

Solomou on TikTok

TikTok features in Lad Bible Group’s revenue plans, but its not a primary focus – at least not yet. The video app’s relationship with publishers is still evolving, and its lack of a dedicated publisher team has made it challenging to strike substantial deals. For now, TikTok plays a supporting role in the group’s strategy.

That could change as the platform matures. Solomou sees potential in TikTok Shop as a space for Lad Bible Group to explore as it continues to diversify its revenue streams. 

“We’ere watching closely,” said Solomou, hinting that TikTok’s commerce capabilities might offer fresh opportunities down the line. 

He expanded on the point: “It [TikTok Shop] provides income streams for creators through affiliates. From an indirect perspective that’s going to be different in terms of the monetization opportunity.”

Solomou on IP 

These days, publishers are increasingly positioning themselves as IP owners, crafting formats that can evolve into standalone brands. Few endorsements validate that ambition better than Snoop Dogg’s. The rapper personally requested to appear on the publisher’s “Snack Wars” last summer, likening it to the popular  YouTube show “Hot Ones”. 

“That’s the kind of IP that we want to continue to develop and build on,” said Solomou.

But its not just about selling ads around that type of content. It’s also about creating productions that brands are eager to sponsor directly. Solomou sees this as one of the most exciting opportunities for Lad Bible Group, especially as more advertisers venture into entertainment. In fact some brands like e.l.f Beauty even have their own in-house entertainment team. Its these types of advertisers – the ones looking to go beyond traditional ad spots – that Lad Bible Group is setting its sights on.  

“By increasing the type of IP that we have across the line, not just social formats, we’re able to make our brands more distinguishable as well as offer clients more access points to our audience,” said Solomou. 

Solomou on working with AI platforms 

AI platforms and publishers are locked in a thorny standoff. Publishers are increasingly frustrated – and in some cases, filing lawsuits -–over AI platforms using their content to train systems without offering fair compensation. 

Solomou gets the grievances but has taken a different tack: collaboration over conflict. It’s a stance Lad Bible Group has long embraced, maintaining strong relationships with platforms like Facebook even as the platform distanced itself from the broader industry. 

The same applies to AI platforms. Lad Bible Group is already an enterprise customer of OpenAI, partnering on projects like language translation experiments. 

“For us, it makes more sense to work with these platforms than against them,” said Solomou. “We want to lean into that despite the commercial model not being exactly sussed out.”

His comments reflect the broader dilemma facing many publishers today. Despite the risks, they’re doubling down on partnerships with platforms because the financial stakes are too high to ignore. All they can do is lean in and hope the gamble pays off.