Digital Media Firms Have Unique Risks & Challenges. SPACs Salvation or Hail Marry?

Did digital media’s hangover make it the perfect candidate for SPACs?

Something must be in the air:

• Axios
• CNBC
• BusinessInsider
• and I suspect others as well, soon,

are all publishing articles talking about the game of musical chairs in digital media.

I explored how these companies got here, and why SPACs may be the answer vs direct listings or IPO. Read my piece from last week here. While each of the belligerents have their strong points, reality is their respective SWOTs on the battleground and in this game of musical chairs has a lot to do with the:

• origins of their editorial strategy,
• the reality that these new gatekeepers also have to account for emancipation of the creator / storyteller,
• new new realities of distribution and developing content that matches that reality,
• fact that while content may be king, distribution is queen and that power dynamic is being played out
• how monetization of audiences has changed.

Some of these players have explored opportunities with one another but not all of those talks are at the same stages of M&A.