The road to profitability is not the same for all digital media companies. Platform or onsite advertising is still a main driver of revenue but diversifying revenue streams – via expansion onto new platforms, branded content, subscriptions, or through commerce – has been a focus for media companies across the board for years. However, common to any expansion strategy is the need to grow global audiences. 

Audiences are the means by which social publishers, for example, can sell-in creative marketing services – by offering in-built reach for brand partner content. Audiences fill the seats at live events and they’re the ones who buy merchandize. Large, engaged, audiences in single markets are also the reason smaller media companies become an attractive prospects for acquisition by larger media companies looking to expand globally themselves. Here we look at a range of media companies and their approach, or not, to localization as a driver of audiences and in turn growth.

Company name: Buzzfeed‍

Company size: 1000-5000 employees

Regions operating in: UK, USA, Germany, LATAM, Australia, Brasil, Canada, India, Japan

Original language: English

Current languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Japanese

Types of content localized: Buzzfeed originals which produces video, articles & listicles; Buzzfeed media brands which is a portfolio of brands creating content for broadcast, cable, SVOD, film and digital platforms; Buzzfeed news and HuffPost 

Key takeaways: Buzzfeed closed its UK and Australian news operations but has merged Buzzfeed Japan and Huffpost Japan to, in the platform's own words, "create a digital media powerhouse with broad reach." It closed its operation in Spain back in 2019 but has recently rebranded BuzzFeed Mexico as Buzzfeed LATAM to extend its reach across the whole of Latin America. The changes made by Buzzfeed show that it is willing to close markets in favor of untested ones that have potential, essentially experimenting to find out where their audiences for content are.

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Company name: Vice

Company size: 1000-5000 employees

Regions operating in: 80 territories spanning the Middle East, India, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, Europe including Eastern Europe, North and South America 

Original language: English

Current languages: The most-widely spoken languages corresponding to its operating territories 

Types of content localized: Video, film, editorial and news

Key takeaways: In 2016, in order to expand its global audience,Vice announced multi-platform partnerships with major media players around the world including Times of India, pan-African media company Econet Media and Moby Group in the Middle East. The partnerships have experienced varying degrees of success since their launch, but Vice is an example of a company that has invested in a localization strategy to find the right partners: those with a deep understanding of the target international audiences essential to Vice’s global growth.

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Company name: Jungle Creations

Company size: Up to 200 employees

Regions operating in: UK and USA

Original language: English

Current languages: English, Spanish

Types of content created: Video, editorial

Types of content localized: Video

Key takeaways: According to The Drum, Jungle Creations reported profit growth of 342% year-on-year and 38% revenue growth taking it to £19.5m. Half of its revenue comes from media platforms and the accompanying advertising and the other half comes from the various revenue streams the company has focused on diversifying over the last three years including growing the company’s creative marketing agency, The Wild. The Wild, to quote The Drum, “Piggybacks [Jungle Creations’] media verticals...for example  in food and fitness”, meaning that the companies that enlist its services have access to the massive combined reach of Jungle’s network of social media brands. The company is beginning to localize content for social channels to further extend this reach; verticals Twisted and Craft Factory launched on Snapchat in Mexico in March and Jungle said of the initiative, “this push towards localized content unlocks huge growth opportunities for our media brands.”

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Company name: TheSoul Publishing

Company size: 1000-5000 employees

Regions operating in: Europe, Russia, and the USA

Original language: English

Current languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, Russian, Arabic, Korean, Italian, German, Japanese and Chinese

Types of content localized: Video

Key takeaways: According to Digiday, The Soul Publishing reported a 45% increase in revenue from 2019-2020. A main source of income comes from monetization products (ad sales, product placement, in-stream advertising) available to its best performing videos on social platforms – YouTube, Snapchat and Facebook. Watch time is central to successful monetization on these platforms and 90% of TheSoul Publishing’s global watch time happens outside of the US, highlighting the importance of localization to its growth strategy.

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Company name: Team Whistle

Company size: Up to 200 

Regions operating in: USA, UK

Original language: English

Current languages: English

Types of content created: Video and audio

Types of content localized: None currently 

Key takeaways: During the pandemic, Team Whistle diversified its offering by producing more original shows in the entertainment and culture categories, in a departure from its original sports content wheelhouse, attracting more brand deals and bringing in more revenue. In March 2021, the media company was acquired by London-based media company Eleven Sports. By concentrating on building a strong video-focused presence in its USA home market – with content that also appealed globally – Team Whistle was an attractive prospect for acquisition by Eleven Sports (as its North American foothold) in the latter’s bid to expand and create a global sports media destination.