BuzzFeed has one of the largest online audiences in the United States at 83 million. Whether it can capitalize on the size has been a matter of debate. Several media, led by the Financial Times, claim that the company cut revenue forecasts for 2016 from $500 million to $250 million. BuzzFeed denied the claim. Regardless, BuzzFeed has a huge platform to generate sales. According to research firm comScore, BuzzFeed had 83.4 million visits in March.
ComScore rates BuzzFeed 25th in site traffic in the United States, which includes both desktop and mobile traffic. This puts it ahead of several tradition media companies. Conde Nast Digital had a total of 81.2 million visitors. New York Times Digital had total visits of 78.3 million.
Based on the BuzzFeed revenue projections, whether they are at the high or low end of disputed figures, they are impressive compared to the New York Times. In the fourth quarter, the most widely read U.S. newspaper online had digital ad revenue for all of 2015 that reached $197.1 million, up only 10.3% from 2014.
[nativounit]
Does BuzzFeed hit its supposed 2016 revenue forecast of $500 million? The size of its audience is large enough that it will not be the rate-limiting step.