BuzzFeed, Inc.

Good afternoon, and welcome to BuzzFeed, Inc.' 's first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. Later, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session, and instructions will follow at that time. If anyone should require operator assistance, please press star, then zero on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this call will be recorded. I would now like to introduce BuzzFeed's SVP of Investor Relations, Amita Tomkoria.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to BuzzFeed Inc.' 's first quarter 2022 earnings conference call. I'm Amita Tamkoria, SVP of Investor Relations. Joining us today are founder and CEO Jonah Peretti and CFO Felicia Della Fortuna. Before we get started, I would like to take this opportunity to remind you that our remarks today will include forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause these results to differ materially are set forth in today's press release and in our quarterly report on Form 10Q filed with the SEC. Any forward-looking statements that we make on this call are based on assumptions as of today, and we undertake no obligation to update these statements as a result of new information or future events. During this call, we may present both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. The use of non-GAAP financial measures allows us to measure the operational strength and performance of our business, to establish budgets, and to develop operational goals for managing our business. We believe adjusted EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA margin are relevant and useful information for investors because they allow investors to view performance in a manner similar to the method used by our management. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP measures is included in today's earnings press release. The press release and an investor presentation are available on our website at investors.buzzfeed.com. And now I'll pass the call over to Jonah.

Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining today. I'm incredibly proud of all our team has accomplished in the first quarter. We completed the unification of the sales, business, and admin teams across BuzzFeed and Complex Networks. We demonstrated agility across our editorial, video, and news teams in serving rapidly evolving audience and consumer preferences. And we delivered Q1 revenue and adjusted EBITDA in line with our March outlook, led by robust performance in our content business. We generated revenues of $92 million, representing year-over-year growth of 26%. With the introduction of lightweight video products and the acquisition of complex networks, Our content business is stronger than ever, and we are achieving immediate monetization of new content formats. Complex Networks is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. With this acquisition, we are now offering advertisers a wider range of branded content opportunities, helping them lean into platform shifts and positioning us to drive stronger revenue growth through our content business. Q1 also marked the one-year anniversary of the HuffPost acquisition, the business continues to perform incredibly well, with Q1 revenues and engagement both growing strongly year over year. Looking ahead, we expect Q2 revenues to surpass $100 million for the first time in our history. This is nearly double the level of Q2 2020, a significant accomplishment in just two years, driven by the efficient integration of our recent acquisitions. Last quarter, I spoke about how we are entering another period of evolution in digital media. User engagement data from analyst surveys and third-party tracking points to the fact that short-form vertical video has clearly emerged as the fastest growing content format for young audiences, with TikTok rapidly gaining share relative to traditional platforms. As the major tech companies like Meta and Google make investments to compete, They have reported that formats such as Reels and Shorts are capturing an increasing share of overall audience time spent on their respective platforms. As competition for audience and time intensifies, demand for our content is also rising. All of the major platforms are seeking culturally relevant, vertically optimized video content to serve their audiences. And we are a trusted partner in providing this content to them at scale. We have seen this before. As new formats emerge, demand for our content grows. The monetization journey starts with branded or exclusive content as a precursor to scaled advertising and commerce solutions. This is where we excel. Our diversified business model enables us to drive immediate monetization through branded content on behalf of advertisers. Our business has proven resilient through such seismic market shifts. We prioritize innovation and operating agility to capitalize on these shifts and lead the industry forward. Unlike many others in our ecosystem, the strength of our diversified business model is only reinforced as the industry faces a range of macroeconomic challenges. Amid rising inflation, ongoing supply chain disruptions, geopolitical uncertainty, and increased data privacy regulations, we continue to be a trusted one-stop shop for advertisers. we are helping brands solve the biggest challenges in the marketplace today. These include getting reliable audience data, navigating the world of influencers and creators, and leaning into platforms and formats our audiences are going to next. To serve rising demand from audiences, platforms, and advertisers for short form vertical video, we are leveraging our tried and true approach to content creation and distribution. Our proprietary tech stack and highly scalable content flywheel have enabled us to produce high quality content at massive scale and lower cost. With this approach, we can also capture deeper audiences' insights in two ways. First, by extending these capacities to new platforms and formats. Second, by applying our learnings to maximize engagement across platforms. Despite the challenges that individual platforms are facing, Overall, digital media consumption is growing, and we are not betting on a single platform to win. Instead, we are investing in audience-driven strategies where we see the highest potential for long-term growth and monetization. We meet our audiences wherever they are, across our owned and operated properties, and on traditional and emerging platforms. Our track record shows we can successfully evolve to reach young audiences wherever they choose to go next. This enables us to grow audience reach and engagement and generate growing, sustainable financial returns over time. With this as a backdrop, I'm excited to share progress we have made in three key strategic areas. First, introducing new vertical video products for advertisers. Second, unifying our creator program. And third, expanding our best-in-class first-party data services, starting with vertical video. Last month, At BuzzFeed Inc's first ever upfront in New York, we announced the launch of Upshot, a lightweight branded video product for advertisers developed exclusively for vertical formats, including Reels, TikTok, Shorts, and our own sites and apps. Each platform has made investments in their own vertical video format. But importantly, Upshot is the most comprehensive platform agnostic solution designed to help advertisers achieve influence at scale. With tons of original short-form video content from our major brands and on behalf of clients distributed across our network, we have already developed strong audience signal around vertical video. Upshot combines these learnings with the power of our category-leading brands, cross-platform scale, and creator infrastructure. In doing so, we are removing the friction for advertisers, making it easier to develop creator-led, vertical-optimized campaigns that cut across platforms. The early feedback from clients has been very positive. We look forward to working with our advertising partners to scale up shops across platforms, including our own, and drive robust advertising revenue growth over future quarters. We have also expanded our existing relationships with a large tech company. We are creating original content for Reels on Facebook and Instagram, Shorts on YouTube, and TikTok. In just one example, our animation series, The Land of Bogs, has seen exponential viewership growth on YouTube Shorts in recent months, with daily views regularly surpassing 10 million. With this approach, we are growing audience reach regardless of where young people choose to spend their time, and we are helping the major platforms scale adoption of their own short-form video solutions and maximize returns on their investments. We are also making selective investments in our TikTok channels, where engagement with our original video content continues to grow robustly. Our presence on TikTok is anchored in our major brands, such as Complex Network's Hot Ones interview show. Already loved on YouTube, we are introducing recut Hot Ones content on TikTok. Meanwhile, Casey has gained incredible momentum on TikTok with video views and engagements in the month of April alone, surpassing Q1 totals. TikTok is also ripe for rapid iteration. Some of our most successful TikTok channels are built around native animation, a direct result of leaning to powerful audience signals on the platform. These are just a few examples of how we're capitalizing on the emergence of new content formats to expand the reach of our brand to entirely new audiences. With tons of original content across our brands, that is vertical optimized, we can also offer advertisers access to hard-to-reach consumers in a frictionless way, from lightweight product placement to editorial sponsorships that are tightly integrated with our vertical video content. BuzzFeed continuously strives to be at the forefront of audience shift, leaning into our distinct advantage, a two-way connection with our audience. Our largest brands were built around identity and engagement, We know how to harness the power of shared identity to maximize audience engagement. We have also been a creator-led publisher from the start with deep expertise in creating compelling first-person narratives that resonate with online generations. Shared identity and first-person storytelling are powerful forces in the rise of short-form vertical video. And as you can see, we are bringing our expertise in these areas to the advertising clients and platform partners. further strengthening our position as a one-stop shop for advertisers and helping the major platforms to maximize their own investment in vertical video. Turning to our second strategic area of investment, we introduced a unified creator program across BuzzFeed and complex networks known as Catalyst. Catalyst brings together category-leading brands, a diverse roster of talent, and best-in-class creator tools and services from both companies. Some of the biggest careers in media and culture have started at BuzzFeed and Complex. As part of the integration, we unified the BuzzFeed and Complex Network's creator programs under a single brand name known as Catalyst. Catalyst serves our combined network of more than 100 creators with a comprehensive set of technology, product resources, and tools to power their entire content creation and monetization engine. As an advertiser, it can be difficult to navigate the world of influencers and creators. By partnering with us, advertisers have access to a trusted network of talent. We help them identify creative partners that are ideally suited to represent their brand while leveraging our relationship and infrastructure to execute their campaigns effectively and efficiently. With the launch of Catalyst, we are further cementing our leadership position in attracting and retaining the next generation of internet creators. We expect to more than double the size of our creator network this year, And we are solving an important challenge for advertisers looking to tap into highly lucrative, influencer-led marketing opportunities across multiple platforms. And finally, all of these solutions are powered by our expanded first-party data offering. In the absence of individual targeting capabilities, advertisers are prioritizing access to rich first-party data, cross-platform insights, and contextual alignments. Data has always been key to BuzzFeed's ability to create content and brands that scale. Last year, we rolled that data into a single offering for advertisers known as Lighthouse, our proprietary first-party data solution that allows advertisers to tap into our rich audience and platform insights to optimize the effectiveness of their ad campaigns. With an expanded portfolio of category-leading brands, including BuzzFeed, KC, Complex Networks, HuffPost, and BuzzFeed News, Our clients can now tap into our proprietary insights across an audience of more than 150 million people, according to Comscore. Our audience spans food lovers, sneakerheads, young parents, luxury shoppers, you name it. And as the number one destination for Gen Z and millennial audiences, we can offer advertisers access to highly reliable data around consumer preferences to achieve influence at scale. This is the reason we continue to attract the biggest advertisers in every category. Our clients include major CPG retailers like Target and Walmart, leading entertainment brands like Disney and Paramount, and some of the largest banks and financial institutions. By extending BuzzFeed's Lighthouse capabilities to the Complex Network's family of brands, we have a best-in-class first-party data offering to support our advertising partners in a cookie-less future. Through focused investments in these three strategic areas, vertical video, first-party data, and creator programs, as well as the rapid integration of complex networks into the company, we are increasingly well-positioned to serve the growing demand for brand-safe, culturally relevant content, deepen our competitive moats, and help to shape the next generation of the Internet. Importantly, these three areas of investment are synergistic and aligned to become more than the sum of their parts. With a cross-platform, creator-first approach to vertical video, powered by our rich first-party data, we are able to offer our partners a comprehensive solution to the biggest challenges they face in the marketplace today. As a result, we are poised to deliver another successful quarter. We expect Q2 revenues to surpass $100 million for the first time and drive strong profitability. And with ongoing execution of our investment priorities, I'm confident we can continue to lead the industry forward in scaling and monetizing new content formats across existing and emerging platforms. I am grateful for our talented network of creators, journalists, and producers who inspire young audiences every day with original food, news, and entertainment content, and who are shareholders and partners for their continued support as we execute on our vision to make the Internet a better place. With that, I will turn the call over to our CFO, Felicia Della Fortuna, who will take you through our financial results and outlook.