While the operational costs of the project are very low, I was planning on spending most of the money on marketing. Would buying this website/brand be a worthy alternative?
Past pageviews don't really count for anything. What the last month's pageview count is is a lot more relevant.
To answer your question more directly, the answer is sometimes yes sometimes no. Sounds lke you might have a yes situation.
Feel free to reach out if you need any more tips!