Buzzfeed to close Australian news operations
Buzzfeed will no longer cover local Australian stories, with staff to be told today about stand-downs.
A Buzzfeed spokesperson told Mumbrella the decision to effectively pull out of Australia was for “economic and strategic” reasons so the struggling outfit could focus on “news that hits big in the United States”.
Instead of local news, Australian audiences going to Buzzfeed will be offered content built out of the publisher’s Buzz, Video and Tasty brands. English-language news “that resonates globally” will also be available from international teams.
Buzzfeed will also no longer have local coverage of news in the UK, however some UK staff will be retained to focus on “news with a global audience”, the spokesperson said. This includes social news, celebrity and investigations.
Buzzfeed is shifting focus to ‘global’ news and content
Buzzfeed was already running a significantly shrunken operation in Australia since it first soared in popularity with its listicle and pop-culture content, before expanding to also cover serious news for younger audience. Buzzfeed News’ tagline is ‘reporting to you’, and locally it covered stories of refugees, political scandals, abortion rights, the financial struggles facing younger generations, and the impacts of COVID-19.
In Australia, Buzzfeed’s news operation is led by Lane Sainty, who has been with the organisation since 2015. Gina Rushton, Hannah Ryan and Cameron Wilson are also reporters for Buzzfeed News in Australia, while Peter Holmes is Australian copy editor.
Buzzfeed’s Australian operation also has some content producers and sales people, and the organisation told Mumbrella these staff will remain on the ground.
Last year, the company had already suffered a significant round of redundancies, including general manager Simon Crerar.
At the time, a spokesperson told Mumbrella the organisation remained committed to the Australian market.
“We’ve built a strong brand, loyal audience, and growing business in Australia and BuzzFeed remains committed to building on that foundation for the long-term,” the spokesperson said at the time.
Two months ago, Buzzfeed Australia’s vice president of business partnerships, Andrea Ingham left the business to relocate to Adelaide.
In its statement about the changes, the company was keen to focus on its US survival.
“In the US, we are open to considering other options in our negotiations, including workshare programs. Those options need to meet our savings goals, be legally and logistically workable, and allow us to keep providing kinetic, powerful journalism,” the spokesperson told Mumbrella.
“Specifically, we are inviting the News Guild to work with us to see if, instead of furloughs, we can use a program called ‘workshare’ to meet our cost-cutting goals. We look forward to our discussions and negotiations with the Guild — including on workshare — so that we can reach the savings we need and produce the high-tempo, explosive journalism our readers rely on.
“The company is still investing heavily in News. This year, we project that News will spend about [US]$10 million more than it takes in, and roughly [US]$6 million next year.
“Going forward, our new deputy editor in chief will be Tom Namako, who has already done so much to lead BuzzFeed through the COVID crisis. On Friday, Mark Schoofs will share more about our new editorial structure and vision.”
Working in the media feels like being a polar bear on an ice sheet watching, waiting for the next bit to fall.
And Mumbrella almost needs to come with a mental health advisory these days with so much awful industry news day after day. Truly sad and scary times.
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Hi LTRFTP,
Thank you for joining us in the comments section.
It is indeed sad and scary times, and I feel you re the mental health toll of awful industry news. I’m trying not to fall into the trap of “everything is awful”, so if you, or anyone else, does have good news to share, please do get in touch:
news@mumbrella.com.au
For now, cling onto that ice sheet and stay safe,
Vivienne – Mumbrella
We’ve seen this time and again across different media verticals, including technology. In times of adversity, there are those U.S. and European companies who pull out of international regions, including APAC – Asian financial crisis, global financial crisis, now COVID-19.
For these fair weather friends, territories like Australia are extra cream on top of what will always be their main market – home.
When the crisis subsides, however, it is always harder for them to regain a foothold.
Will Australians turn first to Buzzfeed for their source of the circus that is U.S. news? Doubtful.
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What a shame–Buzzfeed News surprisingly has great news coverage and has been building up a solid base of well-researched stories.
Here’s hoping they find a way in a post-COVID world to get a foot back in the Aussie market.
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If they do not intend to resume operations as suggested one would assume that legally they cannot just stand down their staff, and any application under the Jobkeeper stimulus would be considered fraudulent. They have to retrench them with full payouts.
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Always harder when it is digital only and ad model only funded. This is where the subscriptions model (along with ads) and quality journalism comes into its own. A lot of entrants came into Aus from the US and UK and a lot have left the market. I’m sure more will follow.
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“Cost-cutting goals” – ie how little can we get away with outlaying. Gross.
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Actually polar bears are excellent swimmers and can swim long distances if they need to find another ice sheet. There might be a lesson in that for all of us.
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The team at Buzzfeed were fabulous, every campaign I ran with them was great. The most professional team and content/creators writers among the youth publishers. Truly a standout and I wish them all the best.
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Oh no, who will rank the best Shapes flavours in order now!
But seriously, this was inevitable – it was not caused by Covid, it just accelerated the reality. Ben Shepherd wrote a brilliant piece on Mumbrella last year that foreshadowed this. Ultimately the business grew with venture capital that wasn’t consistent with the economics of what the business could actually achieve. You just can’t scale a media company the way you can Facebook.
It’s sad for the employees losing their jobs, I’m sure they worked hard and I hope they all land on their feet.
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