A message from BuzzFeed’s CEO, Jonah Peretti:
A couple years ago, we were trying unsuccessfully to sell social advertising to a market that only wanted to buy banners but things have changed dramatically since then. Now many agencies and brands are refusing to buy banners, companies that rely on traditional display units are suffering, and budgets are shifting rapidly to social advertising. One of our board members, who was initially skeptical of our decision to not run banners, recently said that “social advertising will be the biggest media business since cable television.” Times have changed.
Buzzfeed passed 30M unique visitors last month, so they obviously know what they are talking about. The Australian market usually run a little behind the USA, but this is where we are heading, no doubt. If you’re ad strategy is still based on banners, it’s time to re-think and to start getting your head around social adveritsing.