“If you have a small accounting department having to service 100 different publishers regularly, even if it is profitable, sometimes the juice is not worth the squeeze,” said the person.

BuzzFeed itself has a creator network, which still remains operational, but it reaches a different demographic than Catalyst, according to a person familiar with the business. 

Less competitive than its peers

According to one executive whose company explored joining Catalyst, the network failed to offer competitive terms compared to its peers, such as the audience networks Raptive and SheMedia. 

During the exploration process, Catalyst offered this publisher lower revenue projects and would not consider a guaranteed payment. 

It also offered fewer ancillary benefits than competitors, such as opportunities for brand exposure, access to direct marketing teams and other intangibles that can make audience networks more valuable than their advertising offerings alone. 

According to the executive, Catalyst also took longer to produce projections compared with competitors. 

However, compared to companies that function primarily as audience networks, it would naturally have fewer resources at its disposal.

“When I found out that the offering was ending, I was not surprised,” the executive said. “I have a lot of respect for Complex, but not going with Catalyst was an easy decision.”