Bytedance and BuzzFeed Announce Content Licensing Agreement

NEW YORK and BEIJING, Jan. 25, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- BuzzFeed, the world's leading tech-powered media company, is partnering with Bytedance, a leading AI-powered content platform, to distribute BuzzFeed's hugely popular content to hundreds of millions of users of Bytedance's platforms like Toutiao, TopBuzz, and Xigua Video in China, Japan and other parts of the world.

BuzzFeed content already reaches more than 690 million people worldwide each month. Now their content will reach into China's vast and fast-growing digital media market by distributing its content on Toutiao, TopBuzz and Xigua Video platforms. Toutiao, Bytedance's flagship product, is one of the most popular mobile apps in the country, and one of the first content platforms in the world to offer personalized information feeds powered by machine learning algorithms. Xigua Video is China's most popular platform for professionally-generated short-form video content, with 3 billion video views every day.

Bytedance users will be able to enjoy BuzzFeed's content including videos from its portfolio of popular franchises including Tasty, Nifty, Goodful, Top Knot, and Bring Me.

Additionally, Bytedance's first global product TopBuzz will leverage BuzzFeed content to further reach international markets, in particular, North America, Japan and Brazil, where TopBuzz enjoys a growing user base. TopBuzz, launched in 2015, is an all-in-one content discovery and recommendation app powered by Bytedance's AI recommendation engine that delivers trending videos, articles, GIFs and breaking news.

Scott Lamb, VP BuzzFeed International, said:

"We're so pleased to partner with Bytedance to take our entertainment content to millions of people across China. We look forward to meaningfully engaging Chinese audiences in our feedback loop, to learn more about what they love, how they use and interact with our content and what they'd like to see, and we're thrilled about this first foray into testing our content there."

Lin Chen, Head of Product of Bytedance, said:

"BuzzFeed is recognized around the world as one of the original incubators of viral content and a leader in the digital media revolution, and we are proud to welcome them to our growing global network of content partners. We aim to connect our users with the very best content creators from around the world, from individual creators to major media publishers, and I am sure that our users of TopBuzz, TopBuzz Video, Xigua Video and Toutiao globally will enjoy BuzzFeed's content."

About BuzzFeed

BuzzFeed is the world's leading tech-powered media company, with a cross-platform news and entertainment network that reaches hundreds of millions of people globally. The company includes BuzzFeed Entertainment Group, which produces articles, lists, quizzes, videos, original series, and franchises including Tasty, the world's largest social food network; BuzzFeed News, which focuses on original reporting and investigative journalism; and BuzzFeed Commerce, which develops social commerce products and experiences, as well as licensing and other strategic partnerships.

About TopBuzz

Launched in 2015, TopBuzz is the first global product by Bytedance. The all-in-one content discovery and recommendation mobile platform delivers trending videos, articles, GIFs and breaking news. Powered by its parent company Bytedance's proprietary machine learning algorithms, TopBuzz helps creators reach their target audiences and enables users to discover a wide range of interesting content. As of December 2017, TopBuzz and its sub-brand TopBuzz Video, partner with over 100,000 publishers and professional creators around the world, with a key presence in North America, Japan and Brazil.

About Bytedance

Founded in 2012, Bytedance owns a series of content platforms that enable people to connect with, consume, and create content through machine learning technology. Bytedance's flagship product, Toutiao, is the largest AI-powered mobile content platform in China. Toutiao delivers personalized content recommendations to every user based on their interests. Bytedance also operates a series of products popular with mobile users around the world, including TopBuzz, Flipagram, and musical.ly.

In 2016, Bytedance established an AI Lab which builds on the company's vast and complex datasets to develop state-of-the-art innovations in artificial intelligence.

Media Contacts

For BuzzFeed:
Alicia Hosking
alicia.hosking@buzzfeed.com

For TopBuzz/Bytedance:
Jingjing Zhang
Zhangjingjing.pr@bytedance.com

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SOURCE Bytedance Ltd.