BuzzFeed, Mashable struggle as Facebook, Google dominate Net race

Once known to dominate the internet with their online news, videos and social networks - Buzzfeed, founded in 2006, and Mashable, founded in 2005 are now going through a rough phase.

Buzzfeed's revenue has fallen down by 15-20% - from its earlier target of $350 million dollars and has decided to lay off 100 of its 1,700 employees, reports said.

Mashable, once valued at $250million is apparently being sold to Ziff Davis, a print-turned-digital publisher, for $50 million after its value dropped by 80%.

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BuzzFeedand Mashable were the big kids on the block, who were slowly capturing the younger audience with their viral videos and articles, became massive 'SEO' ninjas generating large web traffic as well as ad-revenues.

Their investors included Comcast, Disney and General Atlantic whom they promised huge growth driven by advertising, however, they failed to deliver - all thanks to Facebook and Google.

Facebook and Google are taking a massive toll on digital media companies with their rapid growth and are now ruling digital advertising - their strategies for targeting users strike advertisers as a more efficient, scalable way to reach specific audiences.

In 2017, the two internet giants have snapped up 63 pe rcent of advertising revenue, compared to 58 per cent last year, according to market researcher eMarketer. Next year, they are projected to rake in a 67 percent share.

“Advertisers are increasingly demanding more granularity in targeting capabilities to reach consumers. Google and Facebook have positioned themselves at the front of this demand curve,” Monica Peart, eMarketer’s senior director of forecasting, said in late September.

BuzzFeed’s investors include Comcast Corp.’s NBCUniversal, which has invested $400 million, Andreessen Horowitz, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, New Enterprise Associates, RRE Venturesand Hearst Ventures. NBCU’s latest infusion was about a year ago and valued the company at about $1.7 billion.