BuzzFeed is making a 'major' investment in two branded content studios in London
BuzzFeed/Facebook
The company is on the hunt for space in which it can build two branded content studios that will become the production hub for video outside of the US.
The strategy is being overseen by Brant McLean, who moved to Britain this week to become BuzzFeed's senior vice president of brand strategy, Europe.
Speaking at a BuzzFeed advertisers event in London, McLean would not reveal the size of the investment in the studios but described it as a "major" piece of work, which will involve a number of new hires.
BuzzFeed is currently having to find studio space externally to complete video work in the UK - or even use the BuzzFeed boardroom.
"We're already creating great video content for partners here, but now we can expand on that in-house. Los Angeles and New York have in-house spaces, so I wanted to make sure we have that same feeling here in the UK," he told Business Insider.
He added that the video push, which should launch next year, will be underpinned by a new "Headstart" video ad product. This is a basic toolkit to create a branded content video, including camera angles that work for viral content.
One such angle is what McLean describes as the "overhead view of a table top." This has been particularly successful on cooking channel Proper Tasty, which McLean said has racked up 2.5 billion views in less than a year since launch. The channel has spawned DIY video service Nifty, which he said is proving equally popular.
"Our audience really engages with branded content," he said, using the example of a Baileys French Toast recipe on Proper Tasty. This alone has been viewed 14 million times on Facebook and has 275,000 shares.
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