In its continuing quest to take over the content world, Comcast is once again splashing out with a big investment into journalism and listicle juggernaut BuzzFeed.
According to sources cited by Recode, NBCUniversal — Comcast’s TV and movie division – is finalizing a deal to pour $200 million into the digital publisher, which will result in a valuation of about $1.7 billion for BuzzFeed.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because NBCUniversal invested $200 million in BuzzFeed in 2015, with a resulting valuation of $1.5 billion.
A rep for BuzzFeed wouldn’t comment on the deal to Recode, but did say the company has a “great relationship” with NBCUniversal.
“We’re always talking about broadening the relationship as part of our plan to grow as an independent company,” she said. NBCUniversal declined to comment.
Although BuzzFeed missed its revenue goals in 2015, since then the publisher has been nabbing some revenue dollars, largely in part to its video brand Tasty and other branded video projects. To that end, half of BuzzFeed’s revenue this year could come from video, The New York Times reported, with that share predicted to hit 75% in the next two years. Getting this $200 million will no doubt help with that effort.
Comcast has striving to break into the curated online video craze that has all the marketing and advertising kids excited. In Sept. 2015, the company launched Watchable, a curated video service that posts video clips from digital partners like BuzzFeed and Vox, both of whom received substantial financial investments from Comcast.
NBCUniversal is doubling its bet on BuzzFeed by investing another $200 million [Recode]
by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist
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