Behind BuzzFeed travel brand Bring Me’s Spanish and Portuguese expansions

In the year leading up to August 2018, it accumulated 2bn views across its website and Facebook accounts. With the expansion, it will be looking to drive this higher across currently underserved markets while getting more out of its original video creations.

Richard Alan Reid, the head of Bring Me, told The Drum, that it will echo BuzzFeed chief executive Jonah Perretti's belief that the site should be "flooding the internet with joy and truth... especially during times where our tech platforms are seeing massive issues with negative content." It is a trend recently identified by LadBible which has launched Relaxing Stuff, its first ever branded channel (with Three), looking to make modern wellness content accessible to young people.

Available across Instagram, Twitter, YouTube and BuzzFeed’s platform, the expansion will give it more bang for its buck by tailoring archive content for new audiences. This will largely involve updating voiceovers and subtitles on the videos.

Spanish and Portuguese accounts will give it a hold across Europe and in South America where the languages are most commonly spoken. Reid is hoping for "healthy growth" of these brands although he admits some platforms will build faster than others.

Reid explained how Bring Me had been quietly prepping for the expansion. "Last year was huge for the brand. We went from being Facebook exclusive to multi-platform and on-site content across posts and video, we rebranded, we increased content output by 60%, drove huge revenue growth and expanded our global team."

The expansion was in part inspired by the comments appearing on its owned channels. It claimed nine out of ten of its comments feature a user tag, many of these were in Spanish and Portugese already so the team made the decision to draw a line in the sand and focus on serving this audience.

"We're finding audiences are more and more curious about what's happening outside of their shores, which is a huge opportunity for us as global brands."

When it debuted in February 2017, Bring Me focused on creating "accessible" video content. The sub-brand features all of BuzzFeed’s travel content, which it claims reaches more than 195 million people a month. The aim was to emulate the growth of BuzzFeed's offshoot food brand Tasty, which has amassed 95 million likes on Facebook, its predominant platform.

Opening up these new markets also offers new income opportunities, Spanish and Portugese brands can now come to the table, to talk to same-language audiences, and in some cases, appear next to commissioned, localised content.

Reid said: "Bring Me has proven to be the perfect vehicle for brands who want to connect audiences and empower them to have new experiences. We’ve partnered with VW in Brasil, Amex in Canada, Tourism Australia, Tourism Singapore, Citibank in the US, PespiCo on a global program. Now we’re open for business in Brazil, Mexico and across Latin America, ready to work with brands in their native language, to connect them with audiences in even more ways."

He concluded that viewers can expect to see long-form entertainment content, like shows, travel diaries, and specials on the channel in the coming year.

Last week, BuzzFeed shared how it is tailoring hard news for Instagram with its @World account. BuzzFeed News reporter Kassy Cho said: “We use Instagram for hard news about often very serious topics. This original Instagram-first approach has allowed us to bring people stories they otherwise may not have engaged with through traditional means." BuzzFeed also made a bold and brief move into print with the launch of a magazine that will be distributed in New York.

It comes after BuzzFeed made a swathe of job cuts globally. Its chief executive Jonah Peretti is exploring a possible merger with digital media peers like Vice, Vox Media, Group Nine and Refinery.