Q4 2023
Investor Letter

Jonah PerettiFounder & CEO

At BuzzFeed, the way we pursue our mission — to spread joy, truth and creativity on the internet — is as important as
the mission itself. We’ve never been a conventional media company focused on just content output. We’ve always
been as obsessed with the medium as we are with the message. By embracing new technologies, pioneering
new formats, and innovating to create new ways to bring our content to life, we have built some of the most iconic
brands on the internet.
Our early teams were responsible for much of the foundational work that established social media. It now seems
commonplace, but when we started it wasn’t the norm for content to be shareable, relatable, identity affirming, andpurpose built to connect people into fandoms and affinity groups based on shared passions. And, over the past
15 years, we’ve been part of this medium emerging, maturing, becoming ubiquitous and inspiring media outlets asdiverse as The New York Times and Mr. Beast.
By employing these same core tenets of identity, fandom, and shareability, I believe we have a tremendous
opportunity in front of us to build the defining media company for the AI era.
To capitalize on this opportunity, we have aggressively refocused our business around:● our iconic brands — BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty, First We Feast and Hot Ones — which, combined, continued
to lead the industry in Q4 terms of time spent, according to Comscore.
● our owned and operated websites and apps, where we have more control over monetization.
● our most scalable, highest-margin, tech-led revenue streams — programmatic advertising and affiliate
commerce.

THE SALE OF COMPLEX MARKS AN INFLECTION POINT FOR BUZZFEED INC.
With that as a backdrop, I would like to share some important and exciting updates on our business.
● We continue to operate in a period of unprecedented change for digital media.
● Last month we announced the sale of Complex for approximately two times its 2023 revenue, in an all-cash
deal that brought in $114 million for the company.
• Our acquisition of Complex in 2021 coincided with a downturn in the advertising market. So, instead ofbeing able to close bigger, bundled portfolio deals, each of our brands ended up competing against
each other for the available smaller opportunities.
● The sale marks an inflection point for BuzzFeed, Inc. as we refocus our business around scalable, highmargin, tech-led revenue streams.
• Complex was an asset that derived revenues predominantly from lower-margin businesses: custom
branded video content and events.
• Following the sale, the majority of our revenue is now generated through programmatic advertisingand affiliate commerce — both capital efficient, high margin, scalable businesses that leverage ourexisting tech infrastructure and have less exposure to the market and secular headwinds that we haveexperienced over the last several quarters.
• Further, selling Complex has allowed us to restructure our business around our own sites and apps,
where we can better control monetization and build amazing experiences for our audience.

2

Q4 2023 Investor Letter•The sale proceeds also improved our liquidity, helping us reduce our debt and interest obligations andoptimize working capital.
● As a result, our company is now organized around the business lines that have historically been the moststable, profitable, and nimble.
• In fact, gross margin on revenues from continuing operations — across BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty,
First We Feast and Hot Ones — was approximately 44%, as compared to a 40% gross margin for the
combined business including Complex — a difference of 400 basis points.

Refocusing our business around scalable, high-margin revenue
To recap our financial performance for our continuing operations, excluding Complex:● Fourth quarter revenues were $76 million, down 26% year-over-year, in line with our revised outlook provided
last month. We delivered fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $15 million, also in line with our prior outlook.
● Full year revenues were $253 million, also down 26% year-over-year. We generated an Adjusted EBITDA
loss of $5 million, versus approximately breakeven Adjusted EBITDA in the prior year.
● For both Q4 and the full year, Adjusted EBITDA remained relatively stable year-over-year despite significant
topline pressure, which reflects the cost savings initiatives we implemented throughout 2023.
However, we aren’t satisfied with this performance. I think it is worthwhile to outline the current dynamics impacting
our revenue as well as some of the strategic decisions we have made to adapt in this environment.

● First, digital publishers continue to be impacted by intense competition for audience time between thelargest platforms. As those platforms try to retain users, they are sending less traffic to publishers, which has
impacted our ability to drive advertising revenues based on audience time spent.
● Second, in a tough market for digital advertising, our clients have often had to forego custom brandadvertising campaigns. This has resulted in lower demand for our custom branded video products andexperiential events.
● Third, with limited budgets, partners want to go deeper on one brand, with one specific target audience.
They are no longer looking for offerings from a collection of brands. In this environment, our brands ended
up competing against one another for fewer opportunities.
To address these headwinds, we have made key strategic and organizational changes that I am excited to sharewith you today.

● First, in order to reduce our dependence on the major platforms for audience traffic, we are prioritizing
new content initiatives on our owned and operated websites and apps — where we have a loyal, highly
engaged audience and more control over monetization. Specifically, we are harnessing the power of AI to
get more leverage on human creativity. This includes leaning into AI-assisted content formats that are moreengaging for our audience, as well as AI tools and tech to make our teams and our clients more efficient.
● Second, we are moving away from branded video to focus on our most scalable, tech-led, and highest
margin revenue lines, specifically — programmatic advertising and affiliate commerce. Together thesebusinesses drove more than $130 million dollars in revenue in 2023.
• Divesting Complex was a significant step in this direction, since branded video drove the majorityof Complex revenue. This was also some of our lowest-margin revenue, positioning us for improved
profitability as a result.
● Third, we are re-organizing our sales team by brand. To enable this, we implemented the restructuring
program we shared with you last month, to reduce centralized costs and direct more dedicated resources
to our individual brands — BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty, First We Feast and Hot Ones. This includes operatingwith a much leaner direct sales team as we leverage our existing tech infrastructure to drive programmatic
advertising revenue.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

LEADING THE INDUSTRY WITH ICONIC BRANDS
I am confident this is the right strategy for the business because it is centered on our leadership in the marketplace.
Across our network of brands, we continue to lead the industry in terms of time spent. In Q4, audiences once
again spent more time consuming our content than that of any other digital media company in our competitive set,according to Comscore. This is driven by strong and differentiated IP across BuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty, First We
Feast and Hot Ones — each with a trusted and established brand identity.
● For BuzzFeed, it is pop culture, entertainment, and curating the best of the internet. As we continue toinnovate around new, AI-assisted formats and develop a more personalized experience we see a huge
opportunity to reach even more young people and deepen engagement with our loyal website and appbased users. In fact, among our app-based audience, we grew time spent per page view quarter-overquarter throughout 2023.
● For HuffPost, it is breaking news coverage and audience-centric stories for a massive, direct-to-front pageaudience. The brand is also reaching its audience in new ways — with expanded shopping content and two
new podcasts — both of which have opened up new sources of advertising revenue.
● For Tasty, it is building the next generation of food creators. With more than 300 million cross-platform
followers — three times the size of its next closest competitor — Tasty continues to lead the way. In 2023,
Tasty drove impressive growth in viewership of its short-form, creator-led content: up 25% year-over-year
to reach 5 billion views across platforms. Tasty has translated this momentum into new opportunities forbrands to partner with us — including sponsorships of creator video series, brand integrations with creator
recipe content and advertiser-sponsored experiences to connect creators and food lovers IRL.
● For First We Feast, it is expanding the Hot Ones universe, and building more IP at the intersection of foodand pop culture. With over 30 billion minutes watched to date, Hot Ones continues to attract premium
episode sponsorships from household names like Sprite, Zelle and Snickers. The franchise has continued tobuild on its cultural relevance and serve the insatiable demand of its fans with spinoff series like Heat Eaters
and new CPG launches like Hot Ones Hot Pockets.

BUILDING THE DEFINING MEDIA COMPANY FOR THE AI ERA
Before I wrap up, I want to reiterate my excitement for the future. We have taken steps to stabilize our business, wehave organized around our most profitable business lines, and we are excited to continue building on this stronger
foundation by innovating to create the future of media.
Most specifically, we have a tremendous opportunity in front of us to build the defining media company for the
AI era. We have only begun to see the power of AI in transforming the way we live, the way we work, and the way
we interact. The internet will be a vastly different place in a few years. AI will emerge as an entirely new medium.
Creativity will flourish. And I believe BuzzFeed, Inc is at the forefront of that change. We are already harnessing thecapabilities of AI to be more creative and more efficient. And while today it is primarily a tool to adapt our existing
business, I foresee entirely new businesses and revenue opportunities emerging as the technology evolves andwe continue to learn from our own experimentation with AI.
I am excited to work alongside you — our employees, creators, partners and shareholders — to realize this vision.
And I look forward to sharing more in my annual letter to shareholders next month.

Jonah PerettiFounder & CEO

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Audience Engagement Trends
AI-ASSISTED AND CREATOR-LED CONTENT DRIVING ROBUST VIEWERSHIPACROSS PLATFORMS
Across platforms, ourcreative teams published

Our short-form
content once again

more thansurpassed

short-form
videosquarterly
views

12K
the highest quarterly
output to date1B

on each of Instagram,
YouTube and TikTok

BuzzFeed continued to innovate with AI in Q4, taking its internet curation skills to thenext level with Shoppy — an AI-powered holiday shopping bot to help consumers find theperfect gift for everyone on their list.

In 2023, Tasty hit 5 billion views of its short-form content across platforms, up an impressive
25% from the prior year.

First We Feast’s hit celebrity interview show Hot Ones wrapped its 22nd season withanother star-studded lineup — including Doja Cat and Mark Ruffalo — averaging more than
10 million weekly views across platforms.

HuffPost continued to reach tens of millions of people with content ranging from breaking
political news and captivating personal stories to holiday shopping content and a new
podcast.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Selected Client Wins
Amazon Prime | First We Feast
Amazon Prime partnered with First We
Feast to drive perception shift and purchaseintent during the holiday season. The
partnership, which spanned both Amazon’s One Prime and Prime Retail categories,
was focused on tapping into the cultural relevance of the hit show, Hot Ones, andincluded two high profile episode sponsorships featuring the hilarious comedianSebastian Maniscalco and the beloved actor Sterling K. Brown. A Hot Ones pre-roll
asset featuring Sean Evans and Camera Guy Bill ran alongside the sponsored episodes
to promote Amazon Prime holiday gifts. The campaign exceeded benchmark for clickthru-rate and demonstrated a lift in brand perception. The program was rounded out
by leveraging the audience scale of BuzzFeed.com through takeovers and highimpact moments throughout the holiday season.

Zelle | Tasty
Tasty and Zelle partnered to bring an immersive, foodcentric experience to life in Chicago with a cozy bakery by
day & groovy speakeasy at night. Tasty fans had the chance
to hang with Tasty Creators, while trying their exclusively
curated seasonal bites and cocktails. The event was
accompanied by a content and media blitz to launch Tasty’s one-of-a kind pop up andbring our audience of more than 300 million cross-platform followers along for the ride.

Paramount+ | HuffPost
Paramount+ and Showtime partnered with HuffPost
over Black Friday Weekend and Cyber Week to promote
their special offer for a discounted annual subscription.
The campaign leveraged our access to deal-seeking
entertainment and retail consumers via organic traffic
drivers to HuffPost content onsite and across social, exceeding all client benchmarks.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Q4’23 Financial Highlights
Operational and financial metrics here are presented on a continuing operations basis, excluding Complex1

TOTAL REVENUETIME SPENT3

Q4’23

$76M

Q4’22

$102M

72M
hours

NET INCOME (LOSS)
Q4’23
Q4’22

$4M

CASH AND CASH
EQUIVALENTS$(61)M

ADJUSTED EBITDA2
Q4’23

$15M

Q4’22

$17M

$36M

The Company determined the assets of Complex Networks, excluding the First We Feast brand, met the classification for “held for sale.”
Additionally, the Company concluded the disposal, which occurred on February 21, 2024, will represent a strategic shift that will have amajor effect on our operations and financial results. As such, the historical financial results of Complex Networks have been reflected as
discontinued operations in our consolidated financial statements. Amounts presented throughout this press release are on a continuing
operations basis.
1

A non-GAAP financial measure. See “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in the Appendix for a reconciliation to
the most directly comparable financial measure in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

2

We define Time Spent as the estimated total number of hours spent by users on our owned-and-operated U.S properties, our content on
Apple News, and our content on YouTube in the U.S., in each case, as reported by Comscore. For additional details please refer to the fulldefinition of Time Spent in the Appendix.
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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

FY’23 Financial Highlights
Operational and financial metrics here are presented on a continuing operations basis, excluding Complex1

TOTAL REVENUETIME SPENT3

FY’23

$253M

FY’22

$343M

306M
hours

NET LOSS
FY’23
FY’22

$(60)M

CASH AND CASH
EQUIVALENTS$(140)M

ADJUSTED EBITDA2
FY’23
FY’22

$36M

$(5)M
$-

The Company determined the assets of Complex Networks, excluding the First We Feast brand, met the classification for “held for sale.”
Additionally, the Company concluded the disposal, which occurred on February 21, 2024, will represent a strategic shift that will have amajor effect on our operations and financial results. As such, the historical financial results of Complex Networks have been reflected as
discontinued operations in our consolidated financial statements. Amounts presented throughout this press release are on a continuing
operations basis.
1

A non-GAAP financial measure. See “Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in the Appendix for a reconciliation to
the most directly comparable financial measure in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

2

We define Time Spent as the estimated total number of hours spent by users on our owned-and-operated U.S. properties, our content on
Apple News, and our content on YouTube in the U.S., in each case, as reported by Comscore. For additional details please refer to the fulldefinition of Time Spent in the Appendix.
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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

ADVANCING CREATIVITY AND ENHANCING THE AUDIENCE
EXPERIENCE WITH AI-INSPIRED CONTENT
BuzzFeed curates the best of the internet for a massive young
audience. By leaning into AI-assisted formats like quizzes, interactive games and chatbots,
BuzzFeed has been able to deepen engagement with its most loyal audience across its
owned and operated websites and apps.

Among our app-based audience,time spent per page view grew
q/q throughout 2023
In Q4, BuzzFeed launched multiple new AI products that were met with strongaudience engagement.

BuzzFeed debuted Shoppy — the AI-powered
shopping assistant designed to help consumers
find the best gift for everyone on their list.

9

BuzzFeed delighted pet parents with a new
AI-powered filter where users could turn theirdog or cat into a plushie.

Q4 2023 Investor Letter

PRODUCING MORE PREDICTABLE SUCCESS IN LONG-FORM
PREMIUM CONTENT
Holiday RomCom EXMas Streams on Freevee andPrime VideoOn November 17, EXmas from BuzzFeed Studios
was released on Amazon Freevee and Prime Video
in time for the start of the holiday season. Starring
Leighton Meester and Robbie Amell as exes who
find themselves stuck together at family Christmas,
the holiday film was featured on must-watch lists in
the New York Times, Vanity Fair, People, The Daily Beast,and Variety. It was among the top-ten most streamed
movies on the weekend of its release, according to
WhipMedia.

BuzzFeed Studios and HuffPost Launch New Podcast
in Partnership with Acast
In November, BuzzFeed Studios and Acast launched
a new podcast, “I Know That’s Right.” Presented by
HuffPost and hosted by HuffPost senior culture reporter
Taryn Finley, the podcast provides an engaging weekly
rundown of the latest in culture, entertainment andtrending conversations. The first episode featured special guest Usher.

Dear David Premieres in Theaters and on Digital
On October 13, DEAR DAVID, the film adaptation of theviral 2017 story of the haunting of a BuzzFeed staffer, wasreleased by Lionsgate in select theaters and on digital. In
support of the film’s release, BuzzFeed Studios launched
an innovative marketing campaign to drive viewership,including targeted out-of-home placements surrounding New York Comic Con and a Dear David
social media chat bot .
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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

ATTRACTING THE NEXT GENERATION OF FOOD CREATORS ON
THE INTERNETOver the past year, Tasty has leaned into creator-led, short-form recipe content, supercharging
the careers of some of the internet’s most promising food creators via the Tasty Residency,
launching new vertical video series that attracted advertiser attention and sponsorship dollars,and extending into new brand partnership opportunities.

In 2023, Tasty’s
short-form content
across platforms
generated

And the Tasty
Residency also
continued to drive
impressive results
for creators

5 BILLION +25%
cross-platform views in 2023

On average, Tasty residents
have seen up to

Residents see

50%

y/y

since joining the program

audience growth

2X

lift in reach andengagement

when creator content isposted to Tasty channels

Zelle | Tasty
Creator-led recipe content also attracted
new brand sponsors in Q4, namely Zelle,
who sponsored Tasty’s first ever experiential
pop-up in Chicago, where fans and homecooks gathered in Chicago to meet some of
the brand’s most popular creators and taste
their recipes IRL.
The event was accompanied by a content
rollout that kept fans engaged, driving
millions of impressions and video views.
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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

FIRST WE FEAST’S HIT CELEBRITY INTERVIEW SHOW ON
YOUTUBE AND MASSIVE IP UNIVERSE AT THE INTERSECTION OF
FOOD AND POP CULTUREHot Ones Wrapped Season 22, Averaging MoreThan 10 Million Weekly Views Across Platforms
Season 22 of the hit celebrity interview show, hosted by Sean
Evans, featured a fan-favorite crossover episode alongside
Chicken Shop Date’s Amelia Dimoldenberg. Other celebrity
guests included Doja Cat, Mark Ruffalo and Tony Hawk, withsponsorships from Hot Pockets, Zelle, and Sprite.

Hot Ones Partners With Panda Express
In November, Hot Ones partnered with Panda Express tolaunch ‘Blazing Bourbon Chicken,’ a limited-time menu
item that combines crispy boneless chicken bites with thesignature Hot Ones Last Dab Apollo hot sauce. The dishwas an instant hit with fans, and is now slated for nationwide
release later this year.

Hot Ones Hot Sauce Pepper Earns
Guinness World Record™
Pepper X, which is featured in Heatonist Hot Ones The
Last Dab hot sauce, earned the Guinness World Record
title as the hottest pepper in the world. Sean Evans led thecelebration of Pepper X’s groundbreaking achievement,
and the special Hot Ones episode featuring Smokin’ Ed
Currie garnered over 5 million views on YouTube.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

ENGAGING READERS WITH RESONANT COVERAGE OF THE
WORLD’S BIGGEST CULTURAL MOMENTS
From breaking political news coverage to captivating personal stories, HuffPost continued
to reach tens of millions of people across news, shopping and podcasts.

Critics Say Matt
Gaetz's Nickname
For New House
Speaker Is
Alarmingly On
Point

I Track Sales For A
Living, And These
Are The Deals I
Recommend For
Black Friday

My Wife Of 45
Years Died. I
Thought I Truly
Knew Her — Until
I Discovered Her
Journals

BuzzFeed Studios and HuffPost Launch
New Podcast Partnership With Acast
In November, BuzzFeed Studios and Acast launched
a new podcast, “I Know That’s Right.” Presented by
HuffPost and hosted by HuffPost senior culture reporter
Taryn Finley, the podcast provides an engaging weekly
rundown of the latest in culture, entertainment and trending conversations. The first episodefeatured special guest Usher. The podcast was featured as an Editor’s Pick on Apple Podcasts.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Q4’23 Financial Results
With the sale of Complex behind us and our restructuring program
nearly fully executed, we believe we are a stronger, more stable, andmore profitable business.
●●●

We now have less exposure to declining, lower-margin branded
video revenues.
We have meaningfully reduced our go-forward headcount andcash cost structure.
And, as a result of paying down a significant portion of our debt,
we have also reduced our go-forward cash interest obligations.

While we still have work to do to address the traffic and revenue
headwinds facing our business — and digital publishers at large —we believe we are significantly better positioned than our peers tonavigate the way forward sustainably and profitably.
Moving on to our fourth quarter results. As a reminder, all financials
and comparables presented here are on a continuing operations
basis, which excludes Complex.
Overall revenues for Q4 2023 declined 26% year-over-year to $75.7
million, in line with the revised outlook we provided last month.
Performance by revenue line was as follows:
●

●

●

14

Advertising revenues declined 25% year-over-year, to $31.9
million, predominantly driven by lower year-over-year direct
sold revenues. Our direct sales channel has been more acutely
impacted by the current trends in the advertising market.
Bundling our brands into a single portfolio proved challenging
during a time in which many of our clients face uncertainty withrespect to their own budgets and spending.
• By contrast, trends in programmatic advertising — whichmakes up the significant majority of our Advertising
revenues — saw a more moderate decline of 11% yearover-year in Q4.
Content revenues declined 34% year-over-year to $27.0 million,
driven primarily by a decline in the number of branded content
advertisers. Amid a tighter digital ad market, we have continued
to experience lower demand for our custom branded content
products, which are typically focused on top-of-funnel ad
spending aimed at driving overall brand awareness.
Commerce and other revenues of $16.7 million declined $1.4
million or 8% year-over-year. Nearly all of our Commerce revenues
are generated from commissions earned on transactions initiatedfrom our editorial shopping content.

Operational and financial metrics here arepresented on a continuing operations basis,
excluding Complex1

TOTAL REVENUE
Q4’23

$76M

Q4’22

$102M

ADVERTISING REVENUE
Q4’23

$32M

Q4’22

$43M

CONTENT REVENUE
Q4’23

$27M

Q4’22

$41M

COMMERCE AND OTHERREVENUES
Q4’23

$17M

Q4’22

$18M

1
The Company determined the assets of Complex Networks, excluding the First We Feast brand, met the classification for “held for sale.” Additionally, the Company concluded thedisposal, which occurred on February 21, 2024, will represent a strategic shift that will have a major effect on our operations and financial results. As such, the historical financial
results of Complex Networks have been reflected as discontinued operations in our consolidated financial statements. Amounts presented throughout this press release are ona continuing operations basis.

Q4’23 Financial Results (continued)
We delivered fourth quarter Adjusted EBITDA of $15.1 million, also inline with our revised outlook. It is important to note that, per US GAAP,
we have not allocated any of the shared expenses to discontinued
operations. As a result, our fourth quarter and full year 2023 Adjusted
EBITDA includes Complex’s portion of shared corporate expenses,
which were significant.
As result of the sale of Complex, the underlying profitability of ourongoing operations has already improved meaningfully. In 2023,
the gross margin on revenues from continuing operations — acrossBuzzFeed, HuffPost, Tasty and First We Feast — was approximately
44%, as compared to a 40% gross margin for the combined businessincluding Complex.
We ended the fourth quarter with cash and cash equivalents ofapproximately $36 million. And, in February we closed the sale ofComplex in an all-cash deal for approximately $114 million, including
additional cash considerations. We used the sale proceeds to:•redeem $30.9 million of the company’s $150 million dollar
convertible note at par value, plus accrued interest of $0.6
million,•eliminate the company’s revolving credit facility by repaying it
in full for $35.5 million, which includes the amount outstanding
plus accrued interest and certain fees, and•finance the strategic restructuring program we announced lastmonth, estimated in the range of $2.5 to $4 million dollars.

NET INCOME (LOSS)
Q4’23

$4M

Q4’22

$(61)M

ADJUSTED EBITDA1
Q4’23

$15M

Q4’22

$17M

CASH AND CASH EQUIVALENTS

The remaining cash proceeds will be retained for working capital
optimization and general corporate purposes.

Q4’23

$36M

As outlined here, we have already made meaningful strides instrengthening our balance sheet and improving overall liquidity. And,
looking ahead, as we lean into our highest margin revenue streams,
we expect to make even more progress toward becoming a cashprofitable business.

Q4’22

$56M

A non-GAAP financial measure. See “Reconciliation of
GAAP to Non-GAAP Financial Measures” in the Appendix
for a reconciliation to the most directly comparable financial
measure in accordance with accounting principles generally
accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).
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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Q1’24 Outlook
For the first quarter of 2024, on a continuing operations basis1:• We expect overall revenues in the range of $42 to $44 million, or 20 to 23%
lower than the year ago quarter.
• We expect Adjusted EBITDA losses in the range of $10 to $12 million, an
improvement of approximately $7 million dollars year-over-year at the midpoint.

Earnings Conference Call•

BuzzFeed, Inc. Founder and CEO Jonah Peretti and CFO Matt Omer will hosta conference call to discuss the results on Monday, March 25th, 2024 at
5:00 PM EST.

• The financial results conference call will be available via webcast atinvestors.buzzfeed.com under the heading News and Events. A replay of thecall will be made available at the same URL. To participate in the conference call,interested parties must register in advance.

1
The Company determined the assets of Complex Networks, excluding the First We Feast brand, met the classification for “held for sale.” Additionally, the Company
concluded the disposal, which occurred on February 21, 2024, will represent a strategic shift that will have a major effect on our operations and financial results. As
such, the historical financial results of Complex Networks have been reflected as discontinued operations in our consolidated financial statements. Amounts presented
throughout this press release are on a continuing operations basis.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Appendix

Definitions
BuzzFeed reports revenues across three primary business lines: Advertising, Content andCommerce and other. The definition of “Time Spent” is also set forth below.
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 tobrands 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.
Content revenues are primarily generated from clients for custom assets, including both long-formand short-form content, from branded quizzes to Instagram takeovers to sponsored content andcontent licensing. Revenues for film and TV projects are also included here.
Commerce and other revenues consist primarily of affiliate commissions earned on transactions
initiated from our editorial shopping content. Revenues from our product licensing businesses arealso included here.
Time Spent captures the time audiences spend engaging with our content across our owned andoperated 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 industrystandard estimates of the time actually spent on our largest distribution platforms with our mostsignificant monetization opportunities. Effective January 1, 2023, we exclude time spent on Facebook
from our measure of Time Spent as our monetization strategy is increasingly focused on advertisingon our owned and operated properties, and Facebook now contributes an immaterial amount ofadvertising revenue. Time Spent on Facebook, as reported by Facebook, was approximately 58
and 184 million hours for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. Additionally,
Time Spent presented above excludes time spent on Complex Networks, as Complex Networks ispresented as a discontinued operation within our consolidated financial statements. Time Spenton Complex Networks, as reported by Comscore, was approximately 76 million and 126 million
hours for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, 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 Spenton First We Feast from our measure of Time Spent for all periods presented above and for futurereporting of Time Spent.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are non-GAAP financial measures andrepresent key metrics used by management and our board of directors to measure
the operational strength and performance of our business, to establish budgets,and to develop operational goals for managing our business. We define Adjusted
EBITDA as net income (loss) from continuing operations, excluding the impact of net(loss) income attributable to noncontrolling interests, income tax provision (benefit),interest expense, net, other (income) expense, net, depreciation and amortization,
stock-based compensation, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, change in fairvalue of derivative liability, restructuring costs, impairment expense, transactionrelated costs, certain litigation costs, public company readiness costs, and othernon-cash and non-recurring items that management believes are not indicative of
ongoing operations. Adjusted EBITDA margin is calculated by dividing Adjusted
EBITDA by revenue for the same period.
We believe Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin are relevant and useful
information for investors because they allow investors to view performance in amanner similar to the method used by our management. There are limitations to theuse of Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin and our Adjusted EBITDA and
Adjusted EBITDA margin may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of othercompanies. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate
non-GAAP financial measures differently than we do, limiting the usefulness of
those measures for comparative purposes.
Adjusted EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA margin should not be considered a substitutefor measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Reconciliations of non-GAAP
financial measures to the most directly comparable financial results as determinedin accordance with GAAP are included at the end of this press release following theaccompanying financial data.

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Forward Looking Statements
Certain statements in this press release may be considered forward-looking
statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as
amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended,
which statements involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Our forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our management
team’s expectations, hopes, beliefs, intentions or strategies regarding the future. In
addition, any statements that refer to projections, forecasts (including our outlook
for Q1 2024) or other characterizations of future events or circumstances, including
any underlying assumptions, are forward-looking statements. The words “affect,”“anticipate,” “believe,” “can,” “contemplate,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,”“forecast,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,”“seek,” “should,” “target,” “will,” “would” and similar expressions may identify
forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean thata statement is not forward-looking. The forward-looking statements contained inthis press release are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future
developments and their potential effects on us. There can be no assurance that
future developments affecting us will be those that we have anticipated. These
forward-looking statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties (some of which
are beyond our control) or other assumptions that may cause actual results or
performance to be materially different from those expressed or implied by theseforward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are notlimited to: (1) macroeconomic factors including: adverse economic conditions in
the United States and globally, including the potential onset of recession; potential
government shutdowns or failure to raise the U.S. federal debt ceiling; current
global supply chain disruptions; the ongoing conflicts between Russia and Ukraine
and between Israel and Hamas and any related sanctions and geopolitical tensions,and further escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and China; the inflationary
environment; and the competitive labor market; (2) developments relating to ourcompetitors and the digital media industry, including overall demand of advertisingin the markets in which we operate; (3) demand for our products and services orchanges in traffic or engagement with our brands and content; (4) changes in thebusiness and competitive environment in which we and our current and prospective
partners and advertisers operate; (5) our future capital requirements, including,but not limited to, our ability to obtain additional capital in the future, to settle
conversions of our outstanding convertible notes, repurchase the notes upon a20

Q4 2023 Investor Letter

Forward Looking Statements (continued)
fundamental change or repay the notes in cash at their maturity any restrictions
imposed by, or commitments under, the indenture governing our unsecured
notes or the facility governing any future indebtedness, and any restrictions on
our ability to access our cash and cash equivalents; (6) developments in the law
and government regulation, including, but not limited to, revised foreign content
and ownership regulations, and the outcomes of legal proceedings, regulatory
disputes or governmental investigations to which we are subject; (7) the benefitsof our restructuring; (8) our success divesting of companies, assets or brands wesell or in integrating and supporting the companies we acquire; (9) technologicaldevelopments including artificial intelligence; (10) our success in retaining or
recruiting, or changes required in, officers, other key employees or directors; (11)use of content creators and on-camera talent and relationships with third parties
managing certain of our branded operations outside of the United States; (12) the
security of our information technology systems or data; (13) disruption in our service,
or by our failure to timely and effectively scale and adapt our existing technology
and infrastructure; (14) our ability to maintain the listing of our Class A common stock
and warrants on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC ; and (15) those factors describedunder the sections entitled “Risk Factors” in the Company’s annual and quarterly
filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should any of
our assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary in material respects fromthose projected in these forward-looking statements. There may be additional risks
that we consider immaterial or which are unknown. It is not possible to predict oridentify all such risks. We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events orotherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

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Q4 2023 Investor Letterinvestors.buzzfeed.com