With news of BuzzFeed considering a merger with Group Nine Media, mergers and acquisitions are suddenly back in the limelight for digital publishers. But the industry that stands to help the most from the current consolidation trend is sports media. The year ahead stands to be one primed for M&A discussion, as three companies have committed to exorbitant spending to capture customer attention: ESPN+, DAZN, and The Athletic. From Aryeh Bourkoff, CEO of LionTree in his year-end letter to investors:
The Member Briefing is committed to candidly and objectively discussing the work. That being said, we are kicking off the sixth member briefing with a few things that you’ll rarely hear in public. Here is a Q1 recap of movements made in the publisher / commerce space. Namely, Barstool Sports is doing really smart things around content and commerce. And The Ringer has made a few rookie mistakes.
