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BFD Expert Voices - Media Deals

BFD Expert Voices

HuffPost has hired Rajul Punjabi as the director of HuffPost Voices, a relaunched section that will promote young Black, Asian, women, queer and Latino writers and other communities, Kerry and Sara report.

Why it matters: The HuffPost Voices relaunch is a strategic move by the BuzzFeed-owned media company to grow its revenue by inking sponsorship deals with brands aiming to appeal to diverse communities. 

After shedding millions under Verizon, HuffPost is now profitable. (More on that below.)

Details: Punjabi comes from Mic, where she served as senior editor of its lifestyle section, and previously was Vice's senior health editor. She also is on the journalism faculty at City College in New York and used to be a HuffPost contributor.

Punjabi starts today and will report to Kate Palmer, HuffPost's executive editor. 

"I think there's an enormous thirst for identity content right now, and it's not the identity content of 10 years ago or five years ago or even yesterday," Punjabi says. 

"It's nuanced, specific, and I like to call it very gray because thinking about who we are and the identities that we represent, they're not black and white. It's not going to be this monolithic experience," she says.

Of note: HuffPost Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton, who was hired in March 2021, announced the relaunch at BuzzFeed's upfront event last month.

"Voices will feature vibrant, fun, inspirational content written by people from historically marginalized spaces, offering advertisers a great way to reach a valuable and massive audience segment," Belton said at the upfront. 

How it works: HuffPost Voices will relaunch with five sections — Black Voices, Latino Voices, Asian Voices, Queer Voices and Women — and cover other communities including people with disabilities, indigenous people and Muslim Americans.

Punjabi will recruit freelancers to HuffPost Voices and may also hire new staff writers. Unlike the site's former model of unpaid contributors, freelancers for the section will be compensated. 

"I wouldn't even consider any position without knowing that everyone would be respected, especially in an industry where Black and brown people are undervalued," she says. 

1 big thing: A new editor at HuffPost

Photo collage of Rajul Punjabi with abstract shapes.

Photo illustration: Allie Carl/Axios. Photo: courtesy of Erik Kantar

The parent company of India's ShareChat has raised nearly $300 million in new funding from Google, Times Group, and Temasek, Reuters reported yesterday.

Why it's the BFD: The funding round values the social media firm at nearly $5 billion and offers a jolt to India's startup sector, which has suffered throughout the market selloff.

Of note: "This is Google's second key investment in India's short video space, having previously backed Josh, which competes with ShareChat's sister firm Moj. ... Short video apps like Moj and Josh shot up in popularity after India in 2020 banned ByteDance's TikTok and some other Chinese apps following a border clash with China." — Reuters 

2. The BFD: India media mega-funding

Photo illustration by Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Vibenomics, an Indianapolis-based retail audio advertising company, has raised $12.3 million in series B funding, CEO Brent Oakley tells Kerry.

Why it matters: Audio ads, piped through store speakers, target consumers making a physical purchase in a brick-and-mortar retailer. It's a more direct form of advertising than other mediums.

Details: Panoramic Ventures led the round. Oakley declined to disclose the round's other investors and the valuation. It's raised just over $30 million in total. 

"M&A activity around this space is really, really intense right now because people see the value of on-premise advertising. 84% of people still go into retail centers to buy their groceries and get their products. We don't see that changing anytime soon," Oakley says. 

Catch up quick: Oakley wasn't always an ad tech executive. As co-founder of Prime Car Wash, Oakley tried to make the experience of waiting for a car wash more enjoyable by making his own radio station. In 2016, he launched Fuzic. 

By the numbers: Vibenomics works with more than 6,000 locations across 49 states and on a monthly basis reaches 120 million customers. It plans to grow to more than 20,000 locations by the end of 2023.

Its advertising clients include Heineken, Red Bull and more than 180 other CPG brands. 

Vibenomics has about 40 employees and expects to increase that by 25% by the end of the year. 

3. Audio ad vibes

Illustration of a hundred dollar bill as an equalizer.  

Under BuzzFeed's ownership, HuffPost has become a profitable media company, Kerry writes. 

Why it matters: Profitability hasn't necessarily been in the cards for every media venture. 

State of play: BuzzFeed CEO Jonah Peretti had said HuffPost's losses exceeded $20 million in 2020 and that it was on a similar trajectory for 2021. But Peretti quickly changed that through dramatic cuts and new investments.

HuffPost operated profitably last year after the acquisition closed that February, a BuzzFeed spokesperson says. 

Now BuzzFeed is seeking to further grow HuffPost's revenue through investments like Voices, along with video and shopping. 

HuffPost is back to hiring again. The company now has 138 staff in the U.S. and 23 in the U.K., per BuzzFeed. 

By the numbers: HuffPost's monthly unique visitors have fluctuated between 18 million and 44 million since 2018, per Comscore.  

It averaged 46 million monthly readers for the first quarter of 2022, per Comscore. 

What's next: Peretti is also trying to turn BuzzFeed News profitable. BuzzFeed offered voluntary buyouts for about one-third of its 100 news division employees in March and is seeking to hire a new editor-in-chief. 

4. Charted: HuffPost's business

Chelsea Football Club was acquired by a consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital Group for £2.5b ($3.1b) with £1.75bn ($2.2b) to be invested over 10 years. http://axios.link/EGHT

Go deeper: Chelsea F.C. sale becomes latest record-setting deal

Brookfield Asset Management is in talks to partner with Cellnex Telecom (Madrid: CLNX) on a bid for Deutsche Telekom AG's (DE: DTE) towers unit, which could fetch around €20b, per Bloomberg. http://axios.link/0K3o

Rogers Communications (NYSE: RCI) said that it will hold off on closing its C$16b takeover of rival Shaw Communications (NYSE: SJR) until there is a resolution to opposition from Canadian antitrust officials. http://axios.link/GUij

iHeartMedia signed a three-year podcast deal with Amanda de Cadenet, host of "The Conversation" and Victoria's Secret's "VS Voices." http://axios.link/ysjA

Marquee TV, British arts and culture streamer, acquired Helio Arts, another streaming platform focused on performing arts. http://axios.link/gkqE

5. Deal flow

Fremantle, a London-based TV production and distribution company, hired Sky Italia executive Gabriella Carriere as group head of strategy. Her predecessor Van Truong is now head of special projects. http://axios.link/daSh

Zig Zag, a London-based indie TV production company, hired Sarah McQueen as head of production and David Arrowsmith as director of development. http://axios.link/On8D

David Levine is leaving Moonbug Entertainment as head of studios. http://axios.link/yCnF

Joe Weinstock, co-president of Brent Montgomery's Wheelhouse Entertainment label Spoke Studios, left to launch a U.S. joint venture with indie Argonon called Rose Rock Entertainment. http://axios.link/4TqM

DAZN hired BT marketing executive Pete Oliver as CMO. http://axios.link/F31H

6. Movin' on up (or out)

"Top Gun: Maverick" breaks Memorial Day weekend box office record (Axios)

Top Gun's smashing debut means we are "officially in the realm of consistent momentum, or at least in the realm of normalcy at the box office," said Comscore senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian.

Ted Sarandos talks about that stock drop, backing Dave Chappelle, and Hollywood schadenfreude (NYT)

"We make decisions based on the best information we have at the time,” Sarandos said. "They are not always going to be right, but how you help navigate the outcomes, and the urgency you bring to it, is what gets folks through the storm. And the storms will come."

Warner Bros. prevails as Village Roadshow fight goes to arbitration (Variety)

"In his ruling on Friday, Judge David S. Cunningham held that the issues in the lawsuit are governed by the contract's arbitration clause. He also denied Village Roadshow's request for an injunction. ... Village Roadshow said it would continue to fight in arbitration and expected to win significant damages," Gene Maddaus writes.

7. Channel surfing

Illustration of a surfer with a television in the place of his head.

😬 Situational awareness: The Forbes SPAC is on life support, our colleague Sara Fischer reports, with another extension deadline arriving today and no word from either side.

@tim_bays: "Operation Mincemeat" on Netflix. I'm a sucker for anything that involves espionage and history. 

@kerrymflynn: "Running Up That Hill" by Kate Bush. I binged all of "Stranger Things" season 4 this weekend. IYKYK.

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May 31, 2022

1 big thing: A new editor at HuffPost