BuzzFeed, Inc. Hosts Investor Day, Outlines Strategic Vision for the Future of Digital Media

BuzzFeed, Inc. (Nasdaq: BZFD) today hosted a virtual Investor Day featuring CEO Jonah Peretti, President Marcela Martin, CFO Felicia DellaFortuna, and other company leaders presenting their plans to transform the company and lead the digital media industry into the future.

“We have reached another inflection point on the internet. We are here today to share the strategic and organizational changes we have made to transform our business and lead the digital media industry into the future,” said Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed Founder & CEO.

Virtual attendees viewed presentations from Peretti, Martin, and DellaFortuna, as well as leaders from across the BuzzFeed, Inc. portfolio: General Manager (GM) of BuzzFeed Jess Probus; GM of Complex Donnie Kwak; GM of Tasty Hannah Bricker; GM of First We Feast and Hot Ones Chris Schonberger; and Head of Sales Andrew Guendjoian.

The company introduced a portfolio-wide go to market strategy — focused on Creators, Artificial Intelligence, and Cultural Moments — and discussed its progress in each of these areas.

1. BuzzFeed is using generative AI to innovate around new content formats and establish the blueprint for AI-driven revenue growth across the company.
   ○ Audience time spent with our Infinity Quizzes is 40% higher relative to our traditional quiz format.
   ○ Audience time spent with our Under the Influencer chatbot game is 4x higher than static quizzes.
2. Tasty has made tremendous progress in growing its creator network and establishing the blueprint for creator-driven revenue growth across the company.
   ○ Creator content performs 2x better when it’s published on Tasty handles instead of a creators account.
   ○ Our residents grow their audiences by an average of 50% throughout the program.
3. Complex is taking advantage of the fragmented media environment as one of the few companies that can deliver culturally relevant moments at scale.
   ○ Every year, tens of thousands of fans and hundreds of brands alike look forward to Complex’s highly anticipated IRL event — ComplexCon.
   ○ The last season of Hot Ones also contributed a number of huge cultural moments, with the Jenna Ortega episode alone generating more than 100 million views across platforms.

Financial highlights from the presentations include:

• BuzzFeed, Inc. rolled out additional KPIs² the company will use to measure progress in growing revenue and profitability. In addition to using industry-standard reporting to measure Time Spent on BuzzFeed, Inc. properties and YouTube and Apple News, the company is also introducing new metrics, including:
  • the number of advertisers,
  • revenue retention, and
  • average spend per advertiser.
• Additionally, in terms of profitability and cash flow, the company expects:
  • Adjusted EBITDA¹ in the high teens millions for FY 2023,
  • Adjusted EBITDA¹ margin expansion in 2024 and 2025, and
  • to be cash flow positive in the medium term.

For further details, please see our Q1 2023 form 10-Q as filed with the SEC on May 10, 2023.