NEW YORK, NY – January 30, 2024 — BuzzFeed, Inc. (Nasdaq: BZFD) a premier digital media company for the most diverse and socially-engaged generation, and Culture Genesis, the largest Black-owned digital network, today announced a long-term strategic partnership to expand equity, ownership, and representation in media.
The alliance will drive growth for both partners while creating a benchmark for equity and inclusivity across the digital advertising landscape. This partnership brings best-in-class advertising offerings to partners, empowering Culture Genesis to leverage BuzzFeed’s scale and portfolio of diverse brands, including BuzzFeed’s identity brands like Cocoa Butter and HuffPost Voices, along with BuzzFeed, HuffPost, First We Feast, and Tasty.
Culture Genesis will become BuzzFeed, Inc.’s preferred partner for multicultural advertising and marketing, with the Culture Genesis network extending across BuzzFeed Inc’s portfolio. Marketers will gain access to an expansive inventory of premium content, authentic creators, compelling brands, and massive engagement exclusively through Culture Genesis, in a move to accelerate growth for minority-owned media and offer culturally relevant, scalable advertising solutions to clients.
Cedric J. Rogers, Co-founder and CEO of Culture Genesis said: “This alliance extends our lead by expanding our network with an additional 33 million multicultural consumers in the US, gives us additional targeting and technology capabilities, and an unparalleled portfolio of iconic brands.”
Jonah Peretti, BuzzFeed CEO said: “I’m thrilled to partner with Cedric and the Culture Genesis team on a long-term alliance to push the media industry forward, bring innovative offerings to market, and partner to expand Black ownership in independent media.”
Offerings will include:
- A media network of minority-owned brands and an addressable multicultural audience of 55 million US household reach (BuzzFeed, Inc. + Culture Genesis) [Comscore Multiplatform, A18+, Nov 2023; not deduplicated]
- Brand activations powered by leading creators and brands with over 600 million cross- platform followers
- Editorial sponsorship opportunities across BuzzFeed, HuffPost, First We Feast, and Tasty
- Premium access to media inventory across owned and operated properties and YouTube
- Targeting and audience segments for marketers focused on reaching diverse audiences in lifestyle categories: entertainment, music, food, sports, and beauty.
The collaboration will go live on January 24, 2024 in advance of Black History Month content rollouts across the portfolio. Black History Month opportunities will be in market effective immediately, including:
- Cocoa Butter - BuzzFeed’s Cocoa Butter content includes personal stories and celebrations of Black culture through the lens of identity, style, beauty and food.
- Video sponsorships available include:
- “Hard Work to Heart Work,” “Name That Celeb,” “History Now,” “Positive Black News,” “Diaspora Ghost Stories”
- Editorial series celebrating Cocoa Butter’s identity content and the latest in pop culture, entertainment, TV, and movies including:
- “This is Black Excellence” and more
- Video sponsorships available include:
- HuffPost Black Voices
- “The Black Love Project” - a multimedia endeavor focusing on love stories, debunking stereotypes.
- Black Voices in Food - an editorial series by HuffPost
- Black Voices in Wellness - editorial content by HuffPost
- Music, Culture, and Food
- A music showcase highlighting emerging Black artists, “Follow.”
- A YouTube series uncovering HBCU hidden gems, titled “SquADD’s Guide to HBCUs.”
- Tasty’s Black History Month recipe collection - a destination for dishes from around the world
- And so much more!
To learn more, contact mediasales@culturegenesis.com.
About Culture Genesis
Culture Genesis is a media-tech company and the largest Black-owned digital network, reaching 33M U.S. households, as verified by Comscore. Based in Los Angeles, Culture Genesis and its wholly owned subsidiaries, including All Def, empower multicultural publishers and creators to monetize their content through its more than 120 YouTube channels. A certified minority-owned company, Culture Genesis has partnered with holding companies including GroupM, Publicis Groupe, and Havas — and world-class brands such as Coca-Cola, Unilever, General Mills, Ford, and Mars-Wrigley. For more information, visit https://www.culturegenesis.com.
About BuzzFeed, Inc.
BuzzFeed, Inc. is home to the best of the Internet. Across pop culture, entertainment, shopping, food and news, our brands drive conversation and inspire what audiences watch, read, buy, and obsess over next. Born on the Internet in 2006, BuzzFeed is committed to making it better: providing trusted, quality, brand-safe news and entertainment to hundreds of millions of people; making content on the Internet more inclusive, empathetic, and creative; and inspiring our audience to live better lives.
Contacts:
For BuzzFeed, Inc.
Juliana Clifton
For Culture Genesis
Flight PR
Alysha Light
alysha@flightpr.com