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Today, the travel media publisher Lost In acquired BuzzFeed’s Bring Me!, a travel-focused franchise. This is the second step in Lost In’s broader roll-up strategy.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed, and the staff of Bring Me! were not included in the deal.
The strategic acquisition provides Lost In, which was acquired in June by the founders of Jukin Media and has raised $4 million, with a content library of over 7,000 videos that have accrued more than 3 billion total video views, according to Lost In chief executive Jonathan Skogmo. The tie-up also includes the Bring Me! Australia, Bring Me! en Español and Bring Me! em Portugues brands, as well as over 6 million followers across social media.
“With Bring Me!, BuzzFeed has done a great job of building an audience that we want to reach,” Skogmo said. “Now, we want to bring everything under the Lost In banner, rebrand it and create some very specific programming.”
Brothers Jonathan and Mike Skogmo, alongside Anton Reut, bought the 10-year-old travel brand Lost In last month. The publisher, which produces premium print products each dedicated to a specific destination, will serve as the base brand from which the new leadership team plans to build a broader travel media company.
The media company plans to monetize using a mix of advertising—including programmatic, branded content and sponsorships—alongside affiliate revenue, direct-to-consumer products and video production and licensing, according to Skogmo.
It aims to target a cohort of premium travelers that are underserved by legacy travel publishers by producing short-form social video, long-form streaming video and creator partnerships, among other editorial offerings. The 12-person company also plans to expand via acquisition in the coming year and is currently shopping for direct-to-consumer brands, FAST channels and content creators.
Lost In’s roll-up strategy reflects both the affordability of media assets in the current market as well as BuzzFeed’s continued willingness to whittle down its portfolio. The digital media company sold Complex to the livestream social platform Ntwrk in February for $108 million, and in March, it signed a multiyear licensing agreement to let The Independent operate BuzzFeed U.K. for an undisclosed sum.
A video-first, digitally native travel brand
Since its launch, Bring Me! has brought the sensibility and style of BuzzFeed to the travel space, producing video content that blends trends with highly shareable formats.
