Navigating the aftermath of the digital media bubble.
TL;DR
Buzzfeed News and Vice News, two pioneers of the digital media industry, have faced financial struggles and layoffs, with Buzzfeed News shutting down its newsroom. The advertising model that many digital media companies relied on had deep flaws, and the primary distribution networks for traffic, Google and Facebook, could change their algorithms at any moment. However, the legacy of Buzzfeed and Vice may be that they forced existing media brands to modernize and embrace digital news and revenues. This has created opportunities for smaller news operations with a tighter focus and often behind a paywall to form.
- The digital media bubble has burst. Where does the industry go from here? The Guardian
- Books: In Buzzfeed fashion, 5 takeaways from Ben Smith's 'Traffic' NPR
- Viral death: how new media failed to live up to its promise The Irish Times
- Why BuzzFeed and Vice Couldn’t Make News Work Vanity Fair
- “We Were Always Playing An Entirely Different Game”: The Ultimate Oral History Of BuzzFeed News BuzzFeed News
- View Full Coverage on Google News
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Read on The Guardian