The LADBible has become a social media phenomena, with brands such as Pot Noodle and Sky’s Now TV paying for sponsored content on the site. With new stats showing the site attracts more Facebook fans than BuzzFeed in the UK, we look at how it’s become ‘Pinterest for blokes’.
View this video from the Financial Times looking into BuzzFeed’s success.
The challenge
Launched in 2011, the LADBible is a mixture of video and photos, some of it posted by users, the rest harvested from all around internet. Following its growth in popularity it has also spawned a sister site, the Sport Bible. however, the site still needed to be taken seriously by image conscious brands.
The solution
Keen to shed its ‘sexist’ image, the LAD Bible now wants to taken seriously as an outlet for modern young men, and consequently, it has changed focus and tidied its act up. It has even ditching its “Girls” section to make way for more broadly popular content.
Web analytics site Alexa reports Lad Bible is now the 12th most popular website in the UK, above more established resources such as LinkedIn, PayPal and the Guardian.
The sites' links to laddish news stories and user generated content have lead it to become a ubiquitous presence on many people's Facebook newsfeeds.
This ability to attract clicks has made the Lad Bible highly sought after by advertisers, making more than £1m a year from advertising.
Results
The strategy seems to be paying off, and its rivals have taken note. A recent Buzzfeed article observed that The LAD Bible is generating over £100,000 in advertising each month, and that it has "refined quickfire viral publishing into an art form. It spots videos before they become hits."
The range of groups advertising on the site - from PlayStation to Oxfam - is testament to its pulling power.
The LAD Bible also suggests that despite what we may have been told about the death of the lads’ mag, it may in fact be alive and well, and that in this updated, modernised, digital format.
Source: Financial Times
