B&TB&TB&T
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Search
Trending topics:
  • Cairns Crocodiles
  • Nine
  • Seven
  • Cannes Lions
  • State of Origin
  • WPP
  • NRL
  • B&T Women in Media
  • Thinkerbell
  • Pinterest
  • AFL
  • imaa
  • Anthony Albanese
  • Meta
  • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • AI
  • ARN
  • TV Ratings
  • Radio Ratings
  • Sports Marketing

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
Reading: Will Digital Publishers Ever Recover From COVID-19?
Share
B&TB&T
Subscribe
Search
  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Technology
  • Regulars
    • Agency Scorecards
    • Best of the Best
    • Campaigns of the Month
    • CMO Power List
    • CMOs to Watch
    • Culture Bites
    • Fast 10
    • New Business Winners
    • Spotlight on Sponsors
  • Jobs
  • Awards
    • 30 Under 30
    • B&T Awards
    • Cairns Crocodiles
    • Women In Media
    • Women Leading Tech
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.
B&T > Media > Will Digital Publishers Ever Recover From COVID-19?
Media

Will Digital Publishers Ever Recover From COVID-19?

Staff Writers
Published on: 15th July 2020 at 10:57 AM
Staff Writers
Share
4 Min Read
New York, June 22, 2016: The BuzzFeed sign at the company headquarters.
SHARE

Global digital publisher BuzzFeed has gone from a forecasted profit of $US30 million for the year to a potential loss of $US20 million, according to reports in the Financial Times. 

Founded in 2006, the company has long struggled to turn over a profit, despite its enormous readership.

After culling 15 per cent of its global workforce last year – including 25 staff members in the Sydney office – and launching a host of new initiatives to generate new revenue streams, including its own line of kitchenware, BuzzFeed appeared on track for a big 2020.

“BuzzFeed has expanded our data-driven approach to growing audience to include revenue,” said BuzzFeed founder and CEO Jonah Peretti in a blog post in January this year.

“With the exception of News, every content division is now operating profitably, and News is trending in the right direction.”

However, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, this optimism quickly turned to despair.

Already this year BuzzFeed has been forced to shut its already reduced Australian news office, as well as the UK equivalent.

“Both for economic and strategic reasons, we are going to focus on news that hits big in the United States during this difficult period,” BuzzFeed said in a statement at the time.

“Therefore, we will notify staff in the UK and Australia that we are not planning to cover local news in those countries. We will be consulting with employees on our plans regarding furloughs and stand-downs in these regions.”

But with FTI Consulting expecting a drop in online advertising sales to the sum of between 19 and 23 per cent, BuzzFeed is by no means an outlier.

In Australia, 10 Daily announced it was closing down entirely in May, citing “both short-term and long-term challenges and opportunities”.

Vice Media also announced it was culling five per cent of its global workforce earlier this year, despite the fact it is still on track to be profitable for the year.

Company CEO Nancy Dubac summarised the state of the global publishing in a letter to staff upon announcing the cuts.

“Publishing right now is difficult across the whole industry— plain and simple— and the pandemic has intensified the tensions we all know exist between publishing and advertising,” she said.

With the likes of Vice and BuzzFeed struggling at such a large scale, and 10 closing its unique publishing offering, a more consolidated media industry now seems inevitable.

And although it might be necessary for survival, Dubac argued it will be to the detriment of the media industry as a whole.

“The world has learned this before: monopolies are not a winning strategy for humanity,” said Dubac.

“It’s time we stand together as a media industry and address the serious issues that have slowly eroded the original promise of the Internet: a tool to bring society on more equal footing through knowledge and creativity unparalleled.”

 

Join more than 30,000 advertising industry experts
Get all the latest advertising and media news direct to your inbox from B&T.

No related posts.

TAGGED: 10 Daily, BuzzFeed, Vice
Share
Staff Writers
By Staff Writers
Follow:
Staff Writers represent B&T's team of award-winning reporters. Here, you'll find articles crafted with industry experience spanning over 50 years. Our team of specialists brings together a wealth of knowledge and a commitment to delivering insightful, topical, and breaking news. With a deep understanding of advertising and media, our Staff Writers are dedicated to providing industry-leading analysis and reporting, both shaping the conversation and setting the benchmark for excellence.

Latest News

Cindy Rose Appointed WPP CEO
10/07/2025
Dame Lisa Carrington.
Zespri Teams Up With World Champion Kayaker Dame Lisa Carrington In Global Partnership
10/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: EssenceMediacom
10/07/2025
Agency Scorecard: It’s Friday
10/07/2025
//

B&T is Australia’s leading news publication magazine for the advertising, marketing, media and PR industries.

 

B&T is owned by parent company The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd.

About B&T

  • About
  • Contact
  • Editorial Guidelines
  • Privacy
  • Terms
  • Advertise

Top Categories

  • Advertising
  • Campaigns
  • Marketing
  • Media
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • TV Ratings

Sign Up for Our Newsletter



B&TB&T
Follow US
© 2025 B&T. The Misfits Media Company Pty Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Register Lost your password?