BuzzFeed says that its revenue rose by more than 50 percent in Q2 of 2021, reflecting improvements in the advertising and ecommerce spaces.
In a revised filing with the SEC, the digital media giant sys that its planned acquisition of Complex Networks from Hearst and Verizon and its planned merger with the SPAC 890 5th Ave. Partners remains on track for Q4 of this year.
Advertising revenue was up 79 percent in Q2 to $47.8 million, driven by higher programmatic advertising and a return to a healthier advertising environment (Q2 of 2020 was the worst quarter for advertising during the COVID-19 pandemic), while ecommerce and other revenue rose by 82 percent to $17.1 million as consumer spending improved. Content revenue was up 5 percent to $24.2 million.
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“Our data-informed approach to content creation and capital allocation allows us to capitalize on secular trends in advertising and commerce and helped fuel our significant topline growth in the first half of the year,” BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti said in a statement Thursday, “This impressive performance in the year to date lays the foundation for what we expect to be an exciting second half, with the anticipated closing of the acquisition of Complex Networks and our simultaneous emergence as a public company.”
BuzzFeed will be the first of the digital media giants to go public when its merger with 890 5th Avenue Partners closes. It announced its plans in June, valuing the combined company at $1.5 billion.
That valuation, however, also served as a sticking point for other companies looking to go public via SPAC mergers. Vice Media, which had been in talks with another SPAC, ultimately put its plans to go public on hold after talks around raising additional investor money tied to the merger stalled, a source familiar with the matter said. Instead, the company raised $135 million in financing from existing investors, including James Murdoch’s Lupa Systems.
Other digital media firms, including Group Nine Media, Vox Media, and Bustle Digital Group, are exploring whether to go public as well, with Group Nine sponsoring a SPAC that, if it completes a merger, would take both it and its target company public.
