BuzzFeed, Inc.

Good afternoon, and welcome to the BuzzFeed, Inc. Third Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. All participants will be in listen-only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. To withdraw your question, please press star, then two. Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Amita Tomkoria, Senior Vice President of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Hi, everyone. Welcome to BuzzFeed Inc.' 's third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. Joining us today are founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, President Marcella Martin, and CFO Felicia De La 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 10-Q 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 gap to non-gap measures is included in today's earnings press release. Additionally, today we published our inaugural investor letter, which includes the details of our financial results, selected sales and operating highlights, and a comprehensive look at our brands. Please refer to our investor relations website to find our investor letter along with today's press release and investor presentation. And now I'll turn the call over to Jonah.

Hi, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to share that we delivered Q3 results ahead of our August outlook on both revenue and adjusted EBITDA in spite of the rapidly shifting platform landscape and ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. Our achievement in the quarter highlights the company's track record as a creator-led publisher with the agility to adapt successfully to changes in audience behavior. Specifically, we grew revenues by 15% year-over-year to $104 million. Revenue performance was led by our content business as we continued to drive early monetization in new content formats. and a wider range of premium advertising opportunities through the December 2021 acquisition of Complex Networks. This drove a better than expected adjusted EBITDA loss of $2 million. Our creative teams continue to ramp up short-form vertical video content, publishing over 5,000 videos across Instagram Reels, YouTube Shorts, and TikTok in the quarter, more than double that of the year-ago quarter. Views of our short-form video content across platforms grew more than 60% versus the second quarter, with robust double-digit growth on each platform. And according to Comscore, Gen Z and millennial audiences continue to spend vastly more time consuming our content than that of any other pure-play digital media company. We achieved these milestones in partnership with our talented network of creators, who leaned into our massive audience reach to publish some of the quarter's top performing vertical video content across multiple platforms. With focused investments across our brand portfolio, we are further cementing our leadership position as a discovery engine for the next generation of internet creators. In turn, we are able to deliver strong returns for our clients and partners in the quarter, helping them to navigate the ongoing headwinds in the digital advertising market. Through our advertising clients have limited budgets to deploy in the current environment, we continue to win on massive audience reach across our combined portfolio, the cultural relevance of our IP, and the trust and safety of our brands. As competition among the largest streaming platforms intensified, many of them returned to us in Q3 to promote their major franchises and tentpole releases. seeking to access our massive audience reach across our brand portfolio and distribution network. With authoritative original programming on everything from celebrity culture to food to fashion, our portfolio of premium IP shows and content attracted new and returning clients looking to enter the cultural zeitgeist. This roster included Shake Shack, Walmart, and Timberland, to name a few. Brand safety is a top concern for advertisers, and in the current environment, advertisers are increasingly faced with major platforms trying and failing to moderate user-generated content. Across our portfolio, we offer advertisers the opportunity to invest directly in high-quality content from trusted brands at Internet scale. We care deeply about helping our customers deliver results. and we are committed to protecting and empowering their brands by associating them with relevant content for the audiences they want to reach. Our strong third quarter performance in verticals such as financial services, where many of the largest financial insurance institutions are longstanding clients, clearly demonstrates that we are delivering on our brand safety promise. Looking ahead, we are on pace to deliver our strongest financial performance of the year in the fourth quarter in line with typical advertising, and commerce seasonality. We are also excited to welcome tens of thousands of fans to the Long Beach Convention Center this weekend for the seventh installment of ComplexCon. This year's event will mark our largest live shopping experience yet at ComplexCon, featuring hundreds of brands spanning more than a dozen categories, including fashion, retail, tech, CPG, beauty, home goods, and more. As we continue to navigate the dual dynamics of the rapid rise of short-form vertical video and an uncertain macroeconomic environment. We are also focused on preserving cash and leveraging our strong audience signal to direct resources towards the opportunities with the highest potential for monetization. In just a moment, I will pass the call to our president, Marcella Martin, who will share more on this. Marcella joined us in August, bringing a wealth of experience spanning strategic and financial leadership roles at leading media and internet companies. She has already proven to be a tremendous strategic partner to me and the broader leadership team, helping us to shape our long-term strategy amidst the rapidly evolving digital media landscape. Before I wrap up, I want to thank our talented employees and network of creators for continuously striving to spread truth, joy, and creativity on the internet. We are committed to making the internet and the world a better place, and we appreciate the support of our shareholders as we execute on this vision. Thank you. I'll now pass the call to Marcella.