Here are 2015's biggest deals in media

NBCUniversal invested in BuzzFeed and Vox, Twitter bought Periscope and Nextdoor became a unicorn

It's hard to believe that social media has grown up. I remember when Facebook first came out when I was in college, and what a big deal it was. Now it's taken over the world.

It seems like the winners and losers in social media have been chosen by now, and that is somewhat true, but there are still come newer companies that have been able to compete, and raise large sums of cash.

Meanwhile, on the traditional media side, there is more acknowledgement than ever before that the landscape is changing quickly, and that they need to keep up with the times. 

These are the biggest deals in media in 2015:

1. Twitter buys Periscope

In March, Twitter made one of the splashiest social media moves of the year when it bought live video app Periscope.

The app quickly became popular, and controversial, when it was used to illegally stream the big Mayweather Pacquiao fight in May. 

Not only did Periscope passed its 10 millionth account in August, showing 40 years of video watched per daym, but it also spurred Facebook to launch its own version of the app, though only for celebrities at first (it has since been made available for all verified accounts)

All of the sudden, almost overnight, it seemed like social media was all about live streaming. That's an impact like no other acquisition had this year. 

2. Nextdoor became a unicorn

It was a big year for unicorns, as there were 47 new ones in the U.S. alone, for a 38 percent increase over 2014. There were also 28 new unicorns outside of the U.S., a 100 percent increase over the 14 from last year, for a total of 78. That equals 1.5 new unicorns every single week for the year.

One of those was Nextdoor, a social network for neighborhoods, which raised $110 million in March, for a $1.1 billion valuation.

Launched in October 2011, Nextdoor creates private neighborhood sites, where people in a specific neighborhood can get to know each other and ask each other questions, exchange local advice and recommendations, and organize virtual neighborhood watches to reduce crime.

Each website is password-protected and not accessible by search engines, and each member must verify their address to join so that other members can trust who they are sharing their information with. 

Nextdoor now operates in more than 86,000 neighbors across the United States. It also works with about 1,400 local government agencies, which allows it to keep communities up to date on important information, including local crime and emergencies. 

The San Francisco-based company has raised a total of $210 million.

3. Twitter and Snapchat team with the NFL

2015 was a big year for social media and the National Football league, with two of the biggest networks each signing an exclusive deal for content with the league.

In August, Twitter signed a new multi-year partnership with NFL to deliver uniquely packaged official NFL video and other types of content to fans daily, on a year-round basis. The two entities had already partnered up a few years ago, in 2013, through the Twitter Amplify program, its video advertising product that it had launched for media companies and consumer brands.

This was an extension of that deal, but it now includes more content then before, including ingame highlights from pre-season through the Super Bowl, as well as breaking news and analysis, best plays, custom game recaps, fun infographics, behind-the-scenes content, and archival video.

Not to be outdone, Snapchat entered into its own deal with the NFL in September to create a weekly programming schedule that will extend throughout the postseason, including the Super Bowl next year. All 32 teams will be featured. The content actually made its debut during the first week of the NFL’s 2015 season.

Each NFL Live Story, which will be curated by Snapchat, will combine fan-submitted Snaps, from users who have their location services on at select NFL event and game locations, and official inside access content. That means that each story will the perspective of fans and from the League.

The NFL and Snapchat also offered brands the opportunity to advertise within the Live Story. 

3. Pinterest raised over $500 million...

Pinterest had a pretty great year. Now only did it a major milestone, crossing 100 million monthly active users, but it also raised a huge amount of money to the tune of $553 million.

It first raised $367 million, before adding another $186 million to that. Investors included Wellington Management Company and Goldman Sachs along with participation from existing investors Andreessen Horowitz, Bessemer Venture Partners, FirstMark Capital, SV Angel, Valiant Capital Management and Fidelity Investments.

In all, Pinterest has now raised $1.32 billion, and is valued at $11 billion.

4. Snapchat raises $537 million

Right behind Pinterest, though, was Snapchat, raising its own $537 million funding round in May, which was said to have been valued it at $16 billion.

The funding was part of a larger round that was to top out at $650 million, according to filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, though Snapchat has, so far, not disclosed that it raised the remainder of that funding.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, who put $200 million into the company back in March, was an investor in the round, though the others were not disclosed.

In all Snapchat has raised $1.17 billion in funding. 

5. Business Insider was purchased, putting a dagger in the heart of old media

One of the biggest media deals of the year involved German publishing giant Axel Springer purchasing a majority stake in  digital business news website Business Insider.

The deal valued Business Insider at $442 million. As a previous investor, Axel Springer already owned a 9 percent stake and, It purchased an additional 88 percent, for $343 million, giving it 97 percent ownership. The other three percent of the company will be continue to be owned by Bezos Expeditions.

The purchase was just the latest in slew of digital news and media companies that, either through acquisition or funding raising, are now worth more than their old media counterparts. The media landscape is changing, and old media just can't keep up.

6. Facebook teams with Uber

2015 was the year that one of the biggest public ally traded companies went into partnership with the biggest private company in the world.

Following reports of the two sides talking about it all the way back in July of last year, it was finally announced earlier this year that Facebook and Uber have entered into a partnership for users on Messenger to hail a ride without ever leaving the app.

To use the feature, all a user has to do is get the latest version of Messenger, then choose Transportation from the menu. They can also search directly for Uber. After that it sounds like it works pretty much like the Uber app does, with the ability to request, track and pay for a ride in Messenger.

Users will also be able to notify their friends that they've requested a ride, which is pretty convenient if your'e meeting a group of people and you want to let them know you're on your way.

To be clear, this is not an exclusive partnership. Facebook says that it has plans to integrate any other transportation services into Messenger. But it's kind of a big deal when two companies, each worth multiple billions of dollars, decide to come together to help each other.

7. LinkedIn buys Lynda

In April LinkedIn announced that it had purchased Lynda.com. an online learning company that helps users learn software, technology, creative and business skills to achieve personal and professional goals, for $1.5 billion .

That is not only the most money LinkedIn has ever spent on an acquisition, but it was three times morethan what it had spend on all other acquisitions combined. It was  nearly ten times more than its previous largest acquisition of Bizo for $175 million. 

Lynda.com, was founded in 1995 and is headquartered in Carpinteria, California with offices in San Francisco, London, Sydney and Graz.

The company has raised $289 million in funding, including a $186 million round in January that valued it at $1 billion. Investors in the company included Meritech Capital Partners, Spectrum Equity, Accel Partners and TPG.

8. NBCUniversal invests in new media

Two of the best known new media companies raised big rounds from NBCUniversal this year. 

First the company put $200 million into digital media company Vox Media, which was followed by a $200 million funding round in BuzzFeed a week later.

Those investments turned both companies in unicorns; Vox is now worth $1 billion, which BuzzFeed is worth $1.5 billion. The most valuable company in this space is Vice, which is worth $2.5 billion. 

For NBCUniversal, this strategy of investing in new media companies seems like part of its ongoing strategy to stay relevant in a rapidly shifting landscape. 

For a long time it felt like there was a division between old media and new media. Old media would try to capitalize on what new media was doing, which felt awkward, while new media seemed to be disdainful of the ways of old media. Now perhaps they are realizing that they can learn from each other; while NBC still has the greater resources and reach, BuzzFeed has been inventive, and successful, in finding new ways to engage its audience. 

9. Sprinklr raised money for the other side of the social equation

Sprinklr represents the part of social media that most people probably don't like. It's an enterprise social technology, meaning it helps brands manage customer experiences across social networks. So all of those ads you see, the ones that keep those companies afloat? That's Sprinklr's work.

The company had a big year in 2015, first raising $46 million in a round led by Battery Ventures, Intel Capital, and Iconiq Capital in Paril.

Then it bought Booshaka, a company that helps marketers leverage customer data to increase sales and engagement, in November to go deeper in customer engagement.

10. Facebook buys TheFind

For the last two years Facebook had made at least one giant acquisition that shook up the landscape. In 2013 that was Instagram. In 2014 that was WhatsApp.

The company was much more low key in 2015, though, only making a few purchases and none of them in the billion dollar range. That doesn't they weren't meaningful, though.

One of the more interesting acquisitions for Facebook this year was TheFind, a shopping search engine it bought in March. While Facebook has added a buy button in 2014, this was the year it really stepped up those efforts, and purchasing TheFind was likely a key component to that.

In June, Facebook partnered up with Shopify to allow its merchants to advertise and sell their products and then, in October, it launched a dedicated shopping feed, creating a single place where users can more easily discover, share and purchase products.

Social networks have always relied on ads, and now they are going that extra step to actually being the commerce facilitator. 

(Image source: clker.com)