Felicia DellaFortuna

BuzzFeed hopes its investments in trendy tech like generative AI and short-form vertical video, with a bigger focus on commerce, will eventually pay dividends.

As BuzzFeed struggles with advertiser uncertainty and a drop in user engagement, it reported flat Q3 ad revenue. Advertising revenue was $50 million, matching last year’s Q3. Ad revenue growth decelerated compared to Q2, “driven by ongoing price compression and uncertainty around consumer demand,” said BuzzFeed CFO Felicia DellaFortuna.

As audiences shift away from Facebook, BuzzFeed is betting its investments in short-form vertical video for social media platforms like TikTok and long-form video for streaming will yield big returns, CEO Jonah Peretti said during the publisher’s first earnings presentation since going public in December.