Insights
Industry
People
Culture
Brand Studio
Facebook Hub
Choueiri Group Deep Dives
OMD Corner
LEAD with ABG
Insights
Brand Studio
Facebook Hub
Choueiri Group Deep Dives
OMD Corner
LEAD with ABG
ABOUT US
CONTACT US
ADVERTISE WITH US
Insights Industry
Back
BuzzFeed considers 2015 Middle East expansion
By Arjun RKTue, Jul 15 2014

Contact
buzzfeed-considers-2015-middle-east-expansion

BuzzFeed, the news and entertainment website best known for its pictures of cats, wants to expand into the Middle East with the launch of an Arabic website.

Launched in 2006, the United States website, which is steadily increasing its hard news content, has already launched UK, Australia, France, Brazil and Español (Spanish) editions. Since November 2013, the website has seen more than 130 million unique monthly visitors, of whom 30 per cent are from outside the United States.

Scott Lamb, vice-president of international at BuzzFeed, told Gulf News in a phone interview that the Middle East is one of two regions where BuzzFeed is most interested in expanding to.

“There is nothing like BuzzFeed in the Arabic-speaking content,” he says.

 The other region is South East Asia with possible bureaus in the Philippines and Indonesia.

Lamb spoke to Gulf News from Berlin where he is currently setting up the latest international bureau. The German edition for the website is expected to go live in September/October and will be followed up by the launch of BuzzFeed India, based out of Mumbai.

There is also interest to set up BuzzFeed Japan and BuzzFeed Mexico.

“One of the things we look for is a really vibrant use of social media,” Lamb says when explaining how the company, which is reportedly forecasting $120 million (Dh440.66 million) in revenue this year, decides on where to open international bureaus.

Social media in the Middle East played a huge role in the Arab Spring when “citizen journalism” exploded through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, providing real-time updates on events as they unfolded to people all around the world.

Today, many Middle East leaders are active on social media, while Saudi Arabia, with a population of 30 million, has the highest Twitter penetration in the world.

Even militant groups like Al Qaida and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) use social media to spread their ideology.

Lamb said that there is no set date for the launch of the Arabic language website and that it would have to wait until next year after Germany and India, indicating that the finer details are yet to be worked out.

Asked where BuzzFeed would base its regional operations given that many major international media outlets have set up bureaus in Dubai in recent years while Beirut and Cairo are seen as more traditional regional hubs for news bureaus, Lamb said that it had not been decided.

“We’re not that far down the road,” he said, “We have a fairly big office in London. One possibility would be doing a lot of the coverage from there. But if we were to set up in the region, we would want a physical presence.”

BuzzFeed New York office produces much of its Spanish content.

BuzzFeed started producing hard news content in 2012 with coverage of the US presidential election. Since then it has hired Miram Elder, recruited from The Guardian, as its Foreign Editor.

Internationally, BuzzFeed has had reporters on the ground covering Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. Elder has also led coverage of two topics that are heavily discussed on social media, women’s rights and lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues.

“We saw this very vibrant conversation around the news in those two spheres [and so] we wanted a team to create original content,” Lamb says.

BuzzFeed plans to continue to increase the amount of hard news content, but Lamb said it would not be stepping away from the traditional social media friendly content of cute cats and quizzes that it is still best known for.

“Ideally, we are looking for a 50/50 mix … we try and keep it very balanced,” he says.

Article originally appeared in Gulf News.
 
RELATED TOPICS
Buzzfeed Content Digital Middle East Scott Lamb
MORE IN Industry
Industry
November 01, 2020 How to Build a Winning Gen Z Strategy on Mobile

App analytics and market data company, App Annie, have released a new report that sheds light on Gen Z’s mobile behavior, in order to help marketers develop effective strategies to reach them. 98% of Gen Z report owning a smartphone, on average receiving their first at the age of 10. They are also part of […]

Industry
October 28, 2020 Micro-Influencers Are Still an Important Channel in the Marketing Funnel

Experticity, the world’s largest community of influential category experts have released a new study that sheds new light on the importance of micro-influencers on the average consumer. The study was conducted with online interviews of more than 6,000 individuals from the United States drawn from Experticity’s micro-influencer network and the general population. In addition, more […]

Industry
October 28, 2020 Global Media Insight Report Provides Concise Picture of Media Trends in UAE & KSA

Market research companies eMarketer and Global Web Index have collaborated together to release the 10th edition of the global media intelligence report. The report is a detailed compilation of data and insights about internet users’ traditional and digital media usage in 42 key markets worldwide. Communicate will be highlighting the key trends that are shaping the […]

Industry
October 27, 2020 Socialbaker’s New Report Highlights Slow Return to Normalcy in Digital Space

Social Bakers, a global AI-powered social media marketing company has released the Q3 edition of their social media trends report. The report reveals where the industry is currently standing with regard to spending and engagement globally. Here are the key findings – ADVERTISING Worldwide ad spend increased by 56.4% in Q3 compared to where it […]

Subscribe to

our newsletter.

This site uses cookies: Find out more.

Logo
  • Insights
  • Industry
  • People
  • Culture
  • Brand Studio
  • Facebook Hub
  • Choueiri Group Deep Dives
  • OMD Corner
  • LEAD with ABG
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise With Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Disclaimer
NEWSLETTER

Get a monthly round-up of Communicate's best insights

© 2020 communicateonline.me
About Us
Contact Us
Advertise With Us
Privacy Policy
Disclaimer
icon
icon
icon
icon
icon
© 2020 communicateonline.me