NBCU to feed social media addiction with $200M BuzzFeed deal

Can cat pictures, silly quizzes and “listicles” help NBC’s flagging new🎀s division reclaim its ratings clout? Viewers ar🍨e about to find out.

NBCUniversal, part of cable colossus ꦜComcast, said Tuesday it will invest $200 million in BuzzFeed, gaining a sizable stake in a younger, hipper breed of digital news.

The companies said they “will also explore strategic🌼 partnerships across both organizations in the coming months” — in other words, NBCU is looking to sprinkle its news programs, TV shows and movies with more social-media-friendly content.

Like other established media outfits, NBCU — which owns the flagship NBC broadcast network, cable channels like USA 🎀and Bravo and the Universal Pictures film studio — is trying to connect with younger audiences.

NBC’s news divi🌳sion, in particular, has taken a hit as the “Millennial” generation — a catch-all term that is already showing its age — abandons traditional TV news in favor of online outlets.

BuzzFeed isn’t knoಞwn for hard-hitting news. It owes much of its popularity to viral videos and easy-to-share charts, lists and quizzes. (A sample: “Can You Tell If This Person Just Pooped Or Orgasmed?”)

It has also taken a different approach to advertising by embracing so-called native advertising🌸, a fancy term for sponsored content that is supposed to blend in with regular news.

The BuzzFeed deal comes a week after NBCU made a similar investment 🌊in Vox Me⭕dia, the digital publisher behind sites such as Vox.com, TheVerge.com and SB Nation.

Both BuzzFeed and Vox Media have also expand⭕ed꧙ their news-gathering operations and are competing more with traditional outlets.