BuzzFeed, Inc. Delivers Strong Q3 Financial Results
Affiliate Commerce Revenues Grew 53% Year-Over-Year, Including BuzzFeed's Biggest Prime Day Ever in July
Programmatic Advertising Revenues Grew 9% Year-Over-Year
BuzzFeed, Inc. Led Its Competitive Set In Audience Time Spent, Growing versus Q2 and Last Year to Reach 80 Million Hours, according to Comscore(1)
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 12, 2024--
BuzzFeed, Inc. (Nasdaq: BZFD) reported improved year-over-year profitability in the third quarter (ended September 30, 2024) generating net income from continuing operations of $2 million and Adjusted EBITDA(2) of $11 million, near the high end of the Company's outlook shared on August 12, 2024. Third quarter revenues exceeded the Company's outlook, growing 7% year-over-year, with strong growth in two of BuzzFeed, Inc.'s largest and highest-margin revenue streams - Affiliate Commerce and Programmatic Advertising.
"In Q3, we delivered significant improvements in each of our key operating and financial measures -- time spent, revenue and Adjusted EBITDA -- growing each year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter," said Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed Founder & CEO.
"Commerce was a particular highlight," Peretti continued. "We delivered our most successful Prime Day ever in July, with performance that outpaced Amazon's own Prime Day growth and contributed to Q3 affiliate commerce revenue growth of 53% year-over-year for BuzzFeed."
"These strong Q3 results underscore the successful execution of our strategy to stabilize the business. Refocusing the business around our most scalable, tech-driven revenue lines has propelled growth in our programmatic and affiliate revenues and positioned us to deliver consistent topline growth and expanded profitability in 2025 and beyond."
Third Quarter 2024 Financial and Operational Highlights for Continuing Operations (excluding Complex)(3)
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BuzzFeed4 delivered Q3 revenues of $64.3 million, growing 7% compared
to the third quarter of 2023
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Advertising revenue declined 3% year-over-year to $26.1 million
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Programmatic advertising revenue grew 9% year-over-year
to $17.3 million
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Content revenue declined 7% year-over-year to $17.4 million
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Commerce and other revenues grew 45% year-over-year to $20.9
million
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Affiliate commerce revenues grew 53% year-over-year to
$19.6 million
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Net income from continuing operations was $2.0 million, compared to a
net loss from continuing operations of $(12.0) million in the third
quarter of 2023, a year-over-year improvement of approximately $14
million
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Adjusted EBITDA was $10.5 million, compared to Adjusted EBITDA of $0.3
million in the third quarter of 2023, a year-over-year improvement of
approximately $10 million
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Time Spent5 increased 2% year-over-year to 80 million hours
Business and Content Highlights
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Q3 audience time spent with our content grew 13% versus Q2 and 2%
year-over-year to 80 million hours, outpacing our peers, according to
Comscore.
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Our flagship BuzzFeed brand continued to lead the way in time spent
among its competitive set, garnering vastly more time spent both overall
and among its core demographic of Millennial and Gen Z.
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BuzzFeed, Inc. generated $10.5 million of Adjusted EBITDA in Q3, a
nearly four-fold increase versus Q2.
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The company posted a record Prime Day in July, with strong double-digit
growth in revenues year-over-year, outpacing Amazon's overall Prime Day
growth6.
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The BuzzFeed brand continued to make progress in building audience
loyalty in Q3, growing both logged-in users and loyal users -- those who
visit more than once in a 7-day period -- versus Q2.
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In fact, in September, the percentage of loyal users reached its
highest level in nearly two years.
Today's call will be focused entirely on our Q3 results. In the coming weeks, we look forward to sharing an update on our debt, balance sheet, Q4 financial outlook, and the results of the strategic review process we initiated last year with our financial advisors.
These statements are forward-looking and actual results may differ materially as a result of many factors. Refer to "Forward-Looking Statements" below for information on factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.
Please see "Non-GAAP Financial Measures" below for a description of how Adjusted EBITDA is calculated. While Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure, we have not provided guidance for the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure -- net income (loss) from continuing operations -- due to the inherent difficulty in forecasting and quantifying certain amounts that are necessary to forecast such a measure. Accordingly, a reconciliation of non-GAAP guidance for Adjusted EBITDA to the corresponding GAAP measure is not available.
Quarterly Conference Call
BuzzFeed's management team will hold a conference call to discuss our third quarter 2024 results today, November 12, at 5PM ET. The call will be available via webcast at investors.buzzfeed.com under the heading News and Events, and parties interested in participating must register in advance at the same location. Upon registration, all telephone participants will receive a confirmation email detailing how to join the conference call, including the dial-in number along with a unique PIN that can be used to access the call. While it is not required, it is recommended you join 10 minutes prior to the event start time. A replay of the call will be made available at the same URL.
We have used, and intend to continue to use, the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.buzzfeed.com as a means of disclosing material nonpublic information and for complying with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD.
Definitions
BuzzFeed reports revenues across three primary business lines: Advertising, Content and Commerce and other. The definition of Time Spent is also set forth below.
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Advertising revenues are primarily generated from advertisers for ads
distributed against our editorial and news content, including display,
pre-roll and mid-roll video products sold directly to brands and also
programmatically. We distribute these ad products across our owned and
operated sites as well as third-party platforms, primarily YouTube and
Apple News.
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Content revenues are primarily generated from clients for custom assets,
including both long-form and short-form content, from branded quizzes to
Instagram takeovers to sponsored content and content licensing. Revenues
for film and TV projects are also included here.
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Commerce and other revenues consist primarily of affiliate commissions
earned on transactions initiated from our editorial shopping content.
Revenues from our product licensing businesses are also included here.
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Time Spent captures the time audiences spend engaging with our content
in the U.S. across our owned and operated sites, as well as YouTube and
Apple News, as measured by Comscore. This metric excludes time spent with
our content on platforms for which we have minimal advertising
capabilities that contribute to our Advertising revenues, including
Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, Snapchat and Twitter. There are inherent
challenges in measuring the total actual number of hours spent with our
content across all platforms; however, we consider the data reported by
Comscore to represent industry-standard estimates of the time actually
spent on our largest distribution platforms with our most significant
monetization opportunities. Time Spent presented above excludes time
spent on Complex Networks, as Complex Networks is presented as a
discontinued operation within our condensed consolidated financial
statements. Time Spent on Complex Networks, as reported by Comscore, was
approximately 10.0 million hours through the date of Disposition,
February 21, 2024, and 13.4 million and 63.4 million hours for the three
and nine months ended September 30, 2023, respectively. Time Spent on
Complex Networks, as reported by Comscore, previously included Time Spent
on First We Feast, as First We Feast was historically under the Complex
Networks' measurement portfolio of Comscore. However, the historical Time
Spent on First We Feast cannot be reasonably bifurcated from Time Spent
on Complex Networks. Accordingly, for comparability of Time Spent, we
have excluded Time Spent on First We Feast from our measure of Time Spent
for all periods presented above and for future reporting of Time Spent.
About BuzzFeed, Inc.
BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across pop culture, entertainment, shopping, food and news, our brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, and buy now--and into the future. Born on the Internet in 2006, BuzzFeed is committed to making it better: providing trusted, quality, brand-safe news and entertainment to hundreds of millions of people; making content on the Internet more inclusive, empathetic, and creative; and inspiring our audience to live better lives.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
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November 12, 2024 16:40 ET (21:40 GMT)
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