TMB Leans Further Into Video as Open Web Revenues Waver

The digital media company TMB, formerly Trusted Media Brands, is on pace to generate nearly $200 million in revenue in its most recent fiscal year, which ends in June, according to chief executive Bonnie Kintzer.

Though the company isn’t sharing financial specifics, the figure represents a single-digit decline in overall revenue compared to last year. Contributing factors include softness in the digital advertising market, shifting patterns in search traffic and flat streaming performance due to a drop in CPMs during the holiday season.

However, the company, which houses titles like FailArmy, Reader’s Digest and The Family Handyman, is strategically combating market headwinds by expanding its streaming and social video business across its broader portfolio.

“We are now primarily video-focused, which is a big change,” Kintzer said. “We are very diversified, so we can shift according to where the money is.”

TMB generates the bulk of its editorial content by acquiring the licenses to user-generated video content and monetizing that content across its social and video distribution channels. The model keeps the cost of content production low, but it also leaves the company subject to the shifting whims of social media algorithms.

Overall, 46% of TMB’s digital business comes from web advertising, 35% from streaming and social advertising and 19% from licensing, according to Kintzer.

But web revenues are wavering, and the company is committed to its video pivot.

Shifting focus

According to a 2024 IAB report, total digital video advertising spend, including CTV, social video and online video, is projected to grow 16% this year—nearly 80% faster than total media overall.

The company’s strategy of expanding video through connected TV (CTV) and YouTube offerings follows that shift in advertising demand, which is moving from the open web to walled gardens of premium video. 

Amid the new strategy, TMB has worked to build out its social and streaming video businesses, which include its presence on FAST channels, revenue shares with Facebook and its growing footprint on YouTube.

The company currently has more than 100 shows across the FAST channels it appears on, which span providers including Samsung, the Roku Channel, Pluto and LG.

It recently launched a new channel, At Home With Family Handyman, and the company also has a partnership with Atmosphere, the digital-out-of-home network. Overall, streaming consumption across its portfolio has risen 16% year over year.

Social revenue, which includes Facebook and YouTube, grew 13% for the company over the last year, and TMB anticipates that this year both social and streaming will grow 10%.

Much of the company’s success in the last year has come from YouTube. The social video platform has continued to expand its total market as more consumers tune in on their connected TVs. According to a January 2024 report from Statista, YouTube viewing now makes up 26% of total CTV consumption.

At TMB, revenue from YouTube is up nearly 50% in the first four months of the year, and watch time has increased 72% in the same period. 

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Leaning into success

Even before the strategy shift, the company already had the groundwork for success in video.

Several of TMB’s most popular channels, including FailArmy and The Pet Collective, generate millions of views per video. The two channels have 17 million and 7.5 million subscribers, respectively, with compilation videos of epic fails and cute pets garnering upward of 100 million views. 

The company plans to continue efforts to diversify its revenue by expanding more into affiliate revenue, primarily through its brand The Family Handyman, according to Kintzer. 

Plus, in response to declines in search traffic, TMB is working to more efficiently monetize its site visits. It plans to do so through better content recommendations, which encourage visitors to consume more content, without increasing ad load.

“We look to control the things that we can control,” Kintzer said. “We look at what’s happening in the marketplace, and we act accordingly.”