After years of concentrating on consolidating to better compete with Google and Facebook for digital advertising dollars, many of the most well-known digital media companies have abandoned consolidation efforts to concentrate on differentiation.
The digital media industry has shifted towards concentrating on companies’ strengths and consumer demand, rather than scaling.
Vice’s failed attempt to go public in 2021 led to a 90% decline in the company’s share value. BuzzFeed, which had been considered the strongest company in terms of balance sheet and growth narrative, successfully went public via a SPAC in December 2021.
The collapse of the SPAC market in early 2022 led to the collapse of BuzzFeed’s share value. Vox and BDG abandoned consolidation efforts and sold themselves instead. Vice is now considering selling itself for around $500 million.