BuzzFeed, Inc. on Tuesday reported a Q4 revenue increase of 18% to $145.7 million, reaching a total revenue of $398 million in 2021 — but time spent on BuzzFeed-owned sites and outside platforms is in decline, as is its quarterly commerce revenue.
This is BuzzFeed’s first earnings announcement for quarterly and full fiscal year results since acquiring Complex Networks and trading publicly in December 2021. BuzzFeed, a digital media company based in New York City, was the first to go public. HuffPost was also acquired by the company in February 2021.
In Q4, BuzzFeed’s $16.7 million of revenue came from commerce — an area the company is aiming to prioritize over its content and advertising. Commerce revenue dropped 26%. Advertising was the company’s largest revenue driver at $69.1million. Content revenue was $59.9 million, an increase by 33%. It’s a signal that BuzzFeed will have a difficult time meeting some of its own commerce growth projections — some $150 million in 2022 — pitched to investors last year.
The quarter’s net income increased 29% year over year to $41.6million. Adjusted EBITDA (earnings after interest, taxes and amortization) fell 12% to $34.2million, or 23.5%, which is 12% of revenue. The time spent on BuzzFeed and third-party platforms fell 4% to 186,000,000 hours. Complex will be included in the company’s revenue projections. “by a low single digit percentage year over year”In Q1 2022.
BuzzFeed attributed commerce slowdown to Facebook’s shrinking platform and declining engagement and said it would continue its “social first”Approach other apps that are growing faster, such as TikTok.
“2021 was a year of significant milestones for BuzzFeed,” founder and CEO Jonah Peretti said in a statement. “We became the first publicly traded digital media company, delivered double-digit growth in revenues and profits, and completed the acquisitions of HuffPost and Complex Networks — both of which are already making important contributions to the company’s financial performance.”
BuzzFeed’s FY2021 total revenue was $397.6million, an increase of 24% over the previous year. The 2021 advertising revenue was $205.8million, an increase of 37% over the previous year. Commerce revenue increased 19% to $61.6million, while content revenue rose 9% to $130.2million. Year-over-year, net income increased 132% to $25.9million. According to BuzzFeed, its commerce content generated $600 million in attributable transactions for 2021. This is almost ten times the amount since BuzzFeed was launched in 2016. BuzzFeed’s commerce revenue was $4 million in 2016.
BuzzFeed closed the year with cash and cash equivalents in excess of $80 million. This includes one-time payments to close its acquisition with Complex Networks, and merge with 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, Inc.
Although the company had previously projected that its 2022 total revenue would be $653 million, more than half of it’s revenue came from advertising. Many revenue projections were made based on growing the company’s commerce from $52 million in 2020, to $150 million by 2022, and $330 million by 2024.
The biggest challenge for BuzzFeed has been Peretti’s attempt to pivot the company from media and content to an e-commerce player. The company presented a pitch deck last year to investors and projected a profit of $117million by 2022. This will mainly come from ecommerce through content commissions and merchandise.
BuzzFeed’s public debut in trading last year following its merger with 890 Fifth Avenue Partners, has seen share prices drop by 50%. They were trading at around $9 during December and are now trading below $5 for the past three months.
