The partnership is the latest stage in the years-long relationship between the companies.
The partnership is the latest milestone in a years-long relationship between the digital publisher and the social media giant. Facebook parent Meta META is paying BuzzFeed millions of dollars to bring more creators to the social media giant’s platforms, insiders say, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The partnership comes as both companies embrace the creative economy, in which individuals build large social media audiences by posting videos and other content, often making money through advertising or brand sponsorships.
As part of a deal valued at nearly $10 million last year, BuzzFeed agreed to help create creative content for Meta’s platforms and train creators to grow their online presence. Known since its early days for viral content like listicles and quizzes, BuzzFeed helps creators understand what makes their content resonate widely.
The partnership is the latest stage in the years-long relationship between the companies. BuzzFeed built its business largely on content that went viral on Facebook, and the social media giant regularly looked to the publisher to help it capture trends in Internet culture.
In recent years, creators have turned to TikTok, the Chinese video-sharing app ByteDance that is popular with younger audiences. According to market research firm eMarketer, TikTok’s global user base grew by 18 percent last year, while Facebook stagnated and Instagram grew by 2.75 percent. Meta said in its latest earnings report that nearly two billion people use Facebook daily.
Last year, Meta announced that it would no longer pay news publishers to feature their content in the News tab and would reallocate resources to growing its creative business. The company launched Instagram Reels in 2020 to compete with TikTok.
BuzzFeed, which will go public in late 2021 through a merger with a special-purpose buyout firm, has been loss-making in recent quarters and its shares recently traded around $1. BuzzFeed announced early last year that it was making cuts to its news division as it sought to make the business profitable. At the same time, the digital media company announced that it will double its creative network.
There is no word on whether Meta will pay other publishers to create creator content. As Meta has regularly shifted its focus over the years – prioritizing certain types of content in users’ feeds – BuzzFeed, like many publishers, has adjusted its strategy to continue reaching large audiences.
THE In 2016, Meta agreed to pay $50 million with several publishers, including BuzzFeed, to produce live video content for the platform. The social media giant eventually ended the program due to a change in its approach to video. In BuzzFeed’s most recent earnings report, it attributed the decrease in time spent by users on its pages in part to declining traffic from Facebook users.
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