Why BuzzFeed Died? The Downfall of New-Media Giant.

Why BuzzFeed Died? The Downfall of New-Media Giant.

There was a time when we all used to enjoy watching BuzzFeed videos, almost everyone loved to watch their favourite creators Ryan and Shane from the BuzzFeed Unsolved series. But made the famous creators like Ryan and Shane, Safiya Nygaard and all others leave Buzzfeed?

What is the reason behind BuzzFeed’s fall?

In this blog, we will tell you the reason behind BuzzFeed’s fall and the reason for famous creators Quitting the company.

What is BuzzFeed?

Many people overlook BuzzFeed when they are looking for a reliable, quality journalism outlet, despite the fact that they post-pop culture observations, funny quizzes, and Chrissy Teigen updates every day. What some fail to notice is that BuzzFeed consistently produces high-quality investigative and news articles covering a variety of social topics domestically and internationally.

History of BuzzFeed

The BuzzFeed company is a U.S. media, news, and entertainment company focusing on digital media, based in New York City. Founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Johnson III, the company’s objective is to track viral content. Ken Lerer, who recently became chairman of The Huffington Post, was an early investor and co-founder of BuzzFeed.

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How is the 10 minutes delivery system giving huge competition to other big companies.

BuzzFeed began as an online quiz provider, publishing listicle articles, and pop culture articles. In late 2011, BuzzFeed announced that Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Politico, would be adding long-form journalism and reporting to the website.

BuzzFeed generates revenue by utilizing native advertising, a strategy that allows for viewers to be more likely to read through the content of the advertisement to increase the chances of them following through on your recommendation. In 2021, BuzzFeed News won the National Magazine Award, won the George Polk Award, won the Pulitzer Prize, and was nominated for the Michael Kelly Award.

A Pew Research Center survey performed in 2014 found that BuzzFeed was perceived as unreliable by most respondents in the United States, regardless of age or political affiliation. The company’s audience has been described as “left-leaning”; BuzzFeed News subsequently moved to its domain rather than existing as a section of BuzzFeed.com.

Funding received by BuzzFeed

How many employees did BuzzFeed lay off?

BuzzFeed laid off 100 employees in 2017 and 200 of its employees in 2019 to help facilitate growth despite raising revenue by 15% from 2017 to 2018.In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, BuzzFeed announced in an internal memo on March 25, 2020, that employee salaries would be reduced by 5% (lowest income bracket) to 25% (highest income bracket). Peretti said he would not take a salary until the end of the pandemic. Many staff members expressed solace at this announcement since there were no layoffs.

On which date does the company shut down its divisions?

Ten news staff members in the UK and four in its Australian outpost are furloughed as of May 13, 2020, following the company’s decision to shut down its Australian and UK operations.

Criticism received by BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed has been accused of plagiarizing original content from competitors throughout the online and offline press.

In March 2013, The Atlantic Wire also reported several “listicles” had been copied from Reddit and other websites.[100] In July 2014, BuzzFeed writer Benny Johnson was accused of multiple instances of plagiarism.

In 2016, claims surfaced of the YouTube channel BuzzFeedVideo stealing ideas and content from other creators.

In June 2020, BuzzFeed News senior reporter Ryan Broderick was fired after it was revealed he had “plagiarized or misattributed information in at least 11 of his articles.”

Why did many famous creators Quit BuzzFeed?

Over the past several years, an influx of videos explaining ‘why I left BuzzFeed’ has swept the site. Among the recurring themes: They wanted more creative control and ownership of their work, they disapproved of the company’s policies prohibiting outside projects, and some feel burned out under the constant pressure of producing a high volume of hits.

Many of the confessional videos from the twentysomething ex-BuzzFeed employees have accumulated millions of views, indicating interest in (or schadenfreude over) the inner workings of the internet media company’s content factory.

Candace Lowry commented in a YouTube video posted Tuesday about the reasons why she quit BuzzFeed. “I don’t want to be defined by BuzzFeed alone,” she said. “I want to be able to collaborate with anyone, anywhere, and to have creative freedom.” Lowry worked at BuzzFeed for about two years before joining Popsugar a year ago – her first job after leaving BuzzFeed.

Former video producer Safiya Nygaard said in a YouTube video with over 15 million views that leaving BuzzFeed was mainly for independence.

After less than two years at BuzzFeed, Nygaard quit in January 2017. Among the things Nygaard found difficult was the company’s policy of not letting staffers interact with YouTube viewers in comment sections. She also felt that BuzzFeed management did not provide clear direction regarding the show she co-created, “Ladylike.”

The reason for the Downfall of BuzzFeed

1. Negative image of BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed trained its young employees in the dark arts of generating viral content of their own, and many of them have used those skills after they left the company.

2. Plagiarised Video Material & Lack of Familiar Faces

The inability to pursue their video projects outside of work, as well as the fact that BuzzFeed was so focused on going viral that quality often took a back seat, lead a lot of early BuzzFeed personalities to leave.

3. Timing

A decline in the newspaper industry is not just limited to physical publications – digital media is also experiencing a dramatic decline in revenue. BuzzFeed cut its staff by 15 per cent in January and laid off 220 employees. They plan to focus on content that works and achieve a cost structure that enables them to create a flexible business model that supports multiple revenue streams.

Not only do they cut their staff drastically, but Vice Media, Verizon, and New York Media are doing the same and the payoff will be clear in time.