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☆ Ad industry veteran John Nardone and PE firm GTCR are hunting for acquisitions to build the next big adtech rollup
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-12 | by ( Lara O'Reilly | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

A little over two years after selling adtech company Flashtalking to Mediaocean for $500 million , John Nardone is on the hunt for his next big adtech exit, he confirmed to Business Insider. Private equity firm GTCR is poised to be the financial sponsor on such a deal. Nardone intends to become CEO of the roll-up company and expects to bring on his own management team. Days before the agreement closed, "Vista swooped in and stole the deal," Nardone said. Before Flashtalking, Nardone sold the adtech company [x+1] to fellow adtech firm Rocket Fuel for around $230 million , and he helped take the digital marketing and research company Modem Media public.

Persons: John Nardone, Mediaocean, GTCR, Nardone, Innovid, — Innovid, Stephen Master, GTCR's Organizations: Business, Vista Equity Partners, Media Locations: Mediaocean, —

☆ BuzzFeed in Advanced Talks to Sell Complex, Backtracking on Digital Media Bet
▼ + stars: | 2023-10-27 | by ( Benjamin Mullin | More About Benjamin Mullin | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

BuzzFeed is in advanced talks to sell Complex Networks, the streetwise digital media company behind the popular ComplexCon cultural festival, at less than half the price it paid for the company two years ago, a sign of the industrywide troubles afflicting digital media. BuzzFeed paid about $300 million for Complex in 2021. Buzzfeed is planning to keep First We Feast, the division of Complex responsible for the popular “Hot Ones” interview franchise, after the transaction, one of the people said. When BuzzFeed went public two years ago, it made Complex a centerpiece of its pitch to investors. Complex was reliably profitable, a milestone that had eluded many in the digital media industry, and its portfolio of brands seemed a natural fit for BuzzFeed’s focus on young audiences.

Persons: BuzzFeed, Buzzfeed Organizations: Networks, LiveNation Entertainment, Main Street Advisors, YouTube

In an email to staff, its president said the "rise of short-form video" has sparked new challenges. A new round of layoffs at creator startup Jellysmack shows how much short-form video apps like TikTok have disrupted the creator-advertising ecosystem in just a few years. Jellysmack initially grew its business by helping creators repurpose YouTube videos on other ad-supported platforms like Facebook and Snapchat. Last January, it announced it had set aside $500 million to buy rights to older YouTube videos with the goal of making a profit from future ad earnings. It separately runs a creator-finance division called JellyFi, a program to help celebrities become digital content creators, and a division called JellySmash Productions that helps creators make and distribute content speedily.

☆ Creator startup Jellysmack has laid off staffers in the US and France. Here's the email its president sent to employees detailing the reasons behind the cuts.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( Amanda Perelli | Shriya Bhattacharya | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +9 min

Creator economy startup Jellysmack laid off staffers in the US and France on Thursday. The creator economy startup Jellysmack on Thursday laid off staffers in the US and France as part of a larger company restructuring, Insider has confirmed. This news comes shortly after the creator economy startup began hiring for a new M&A leader to help integrate companies that it buys. Jellysmack has had several rounds of layoffs in the last year, and laid of staffers in France in February, as The Information reported. Jellysmack go-to-market 2.0Jellysmack's mission has been to help creators go bigger, by bringing them products, services, and infrastructure that helps them grow.

☆ The digital media rollup dream is dead for the moment — now it's all about core brand strength
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-26 | by ( Alex Sherman | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

What's happening in the digital media space echoes trends from the biggest media companies, including Netflix , Disney and Warner Bros. The rollup dream's rise and fallFrom late 2018 to early 2022, the digital media industry had a shared goal. First, digital media companies needed more scale to compete with Facebook and Google for digital advertising dollars. Large legacy media companies such as Disney and Comcast 's NBCUniversal invested hundreds of millions in digital media in the early and mid-2010s. "The digital media rollup has proven successful only when assets are thoughtfully combined with an eye toward consumers," Goldberg said.

☆ Inside the New York Times' heated union fight, where a potential strike looms and the biggest sticking point is pay
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-28 | by ( Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Will reporters at The New York Times really go on strike? The idea, unthinkable just a few months ago, is now on the lips of New York Times Guild members as the union's contract negotiations with management heat up. New York Times reporters have walked off the job before, like as part of a 1962-1963 citywide newspaper strike. But Robles said union members are upset that the Times' strong business footing has not translated into better pay. (The Times spokesperson countered that the paper was not seeing record profits).

☆ The possibility of a strike looms at The New York Times as its union battles management over wage hikes
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Steven Perlberg | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +8 min

Will reporters at The New York Times really go on strike? The idea, unthinkable just a few months ago, is now on the lips of New York Times Guild members as the union's contract negotiations with management heat up. New York Times reporters have walked off the job before, like as part of a 1962-1963 citywide newspaper strike. The union at Wirecutter, the reviews site owned by the New York Times, walked off the job during the Black Friday shopping period last year, for instance. But Robles said union members are upset that the Times' strong business footing has not translated into better pay.

☆ Netflix ratings reflect an effective original content strategy
▼ + stars: | 2016-04-09 | by ( Robert Elder | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Netflix's original series receive higher ratings than other Netflix content, suggesting that the streaming service's focus on original content is satisfying its subscribers, according to AllFlicks data shared with Business Insider. This suggests that Netflix's push to focus on original content is working — a strategy that other streaming services should bear in mind. The Netflix logo is is shown on an ipad in Encinitas, California Thomson ReutersAccording to the data, Netflix's original content rates 11% higher than its licensed content. Nevertheless, the higher ratings attributed to original content can serve as an important pointer for both Netflix and competing streaming services. In this regard, the relatively high ratings of Netflix's original content vindicate the company's investments in original content — at least from a user satisfaction perspective — even if this investment has occurred at the expense of Netflix's overall catalog size.

Persons: Margaret Boland Organizations: Intelligence, Digital Media Industry, Netflix, Business, California Thomson, Hulu, Insider Intelligence, Amazon, Showtime, Amazon Prime, HBO Locations: Encinitas, California, SVOD

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