Specialist
Former head of department at BuzzFeed Inc
Agenda
- Operating environment for Buzzfeed (NASDAQ: BZFD) and key trends, including ad spend and programmatic
- Headwinds and tailwinds impacting demand, highlighting deprecation of third-party cookies and challenges to remain relevant to a new generation of consumers
- Competitive analysis for Buzzfeed relative to Vice Media, plus impact of Vox acquiring Group NineDiversified revenue model across custom content, direct-sale advertising and commerce
- Outlook for 2022 and beyond – strategic growth plan post-SPAC (special purpose acquisition company), plus brand and IP advantages from recent acquisition of Complex
Questions
1.
Could you discuss Buzzfeed’s operating environment and summarise its main segments and brands?
2.
Will there be any shifts to BuzzFeed’s growth, given its recent SPAC IPO, and how do you define its strategic growth plan? What’s your sustainable growth outlook?
3.
Vox Media CEO Jim Bankoff recently commented that scale matters in the media business. Why is that the case, given you brought up the ability to make strategic acquisitions as a determining success factor for BuzzFeed? Do you think the company is on the right track to scale with the recent Complex acquisition?
4.
What broader thematic headwinds and tailwinds should we monitor for the marketplace? Could you discuss the demand for advertising and content across entertainment, news, food, etc? Where might BuzzFeed have the highest market growth?
5.
Where do you think ad dollars will be spent in 2022? What quarterly or yearly patterns did you notice in 2021, and what growth trends and shifts are you expecting across digital channels for the next year or so, including streaming, CTV [connected TV] and social media?
6.
You mentioned big tech media platforms such as Facebook, Google and Amazon becoming rising threats. Is their share of the ad spend pie an ongoing risk for BuzzFeed? If we think about Google and Facebook taking a reported USD 0.85 of every digital ad dollar, how should we think about the remaining piece of the pie for BuzzFeed to compete with players such as Vox, Vice, as well as other indirects through newspaper and programmatic exchanges, etc?
7.
How do you think the threat from big tech media platforms impacts BuzzFeed’s ability to scale and capture ad dollars relative to its main competitors such as Vox, with the addition of Group Nine, as well as Vice and other relevant players?
8.
You mentioned Buzzfeed will benefit from the death of the cookie. When might tailwinds or benefits materialise from that? What impact will that have on the company’s operating model? Obviously, there are many uncertainties for cookies going away, but inevitably they will. Do you anticipate BuzzFeed being willing to share its first-party data with SSPs [supply-side platforms] and what might be the pros and cons of that?
9.
An expert in a previous Forum Interview [see Vice Media – Business Model Overview & 2022 Outlook – 20 December 2021] explained Vice’s need to either age up with millennials or age down to Gen Z. How do you compare the strengths and weaknesses of target audiences that BuzzFeed can reach via its content? Does it face a similar challenge here? You mentioned Vox might be in a bit of a better position.
10.
Vice utilises a similar cross-platform and flywheel business model as BuzzFeed. What are the points of differentiation for BuzzFeed, and what will continue to drive differentiation for it over the next 1-3 years?
11.
Might there be any areas of duplication with the addition of Complex and its brands such as Hot Ones, Sole Collector, Pigeons & Planes and ComplexCon? Where could the pro forma company potentially be competing with itself more broadly? What synergies vs inefficiencies might exist when bringing together both companies’ segments and brands?
12.
How does BuzzFeed compare relative to peers regarding its data assets and IP technology? How strong is the company’s IP strategy and what IP opportunities are there for monetisation across business units?
13.
Does gaining scale and market share come down to IP and IT? What else will be the determining success factors for the company and its brands over the next 1-2 years?
14.
BuzzFeed’s commerce segment and the platform seem uniquely positioned, especially to your point of the amount of data considering who and why customers are buying products. How is it uniquely positioned, if you agree? Also, if traffic generation is becoming more expensive, is that a potential risk to the commerce segment?
15.
How does BuzzFeed go to market convincing brands to partner with its shopping vertical, and what growth are you expecting for the company’s commerce segment over the next 1-3 years or so?
16.
Could you rank highest to lowest the growth you’re expecting for BuzzFeed across commerce, content and advertising?
17.
How do you expect industry consolidation panning out for the broader media marketplace over the next year or so? Are there any logical pairings in the marketplace, in your opinion? Are you expecting anything as big as Vox’s addition of Group Nine?
18.
What key metrics should we monitor to assess the health of BuzzFeed’s company performance? What key questions do you think investors should be asking management?
19.
Do you have any final comments?
