Media companies have discovered a new way to bring in revenue, while still saving their editorial integrity.

1. THE ART OF
SELLING YOU
THINGS YOU
PROBABLY DON’T
NEED
E - C O M M E R C E E D I T I N G / “ C O M T E N T ”
B Y: J A S M I N E G O M E Z & TA U R I H O WA R D

6. A NEW REVUNUE TOOL: COMMERCE
EDITING/WRITING
• Creating “Comtent” –Commerce-minded
content
• Writers and editors are one-part editors,
one part salespersons (Digiday)
• Comtent can include blog posts, personal
product reviews, shopping trends (The
Drum)
• Monetization through affiliate links (differs
from native advtertising, branded content)
• Ex:
https://www.buzzfeed.com/tag/comtent

10. http://www.womenshealthmag.com/style/eyebuydirect
-review

11. LEGACY MEDIA IS FIGURING OUT
HOW TO LEVERAGE IT
• Hearst opened Bestproducts.com 2 years
ago
• As of 2016, the site had 9 writers and
editors churning out 10 to 20 posts a day
• The site allows Hearst to track what’s
doing well and their shared content
management system allows syndication
(Digiday)
• Condé Nast started Style.com but
recently shut it after just a few months
• New partnership with Farfetch to create
content-based commerce like shopping

12. “BuzzFeed isn’t the first media company to try to make
money by pointing you to stuff you should buy on
amazon. But it may be one of the most aggressive”

13. • 12 person team
• BuzzFeed earns a cut of the
sale through so-called affiliate
links.
• Disclosure: “BuzzFeed may
collect a small share of sales
from the links on this page.” -
Recode
• Built a software that helps
estimate how much revenue a

15. E-COMMERCE
INCEPTION

16. • Ben Kaufman
• Uses Facebook audience data to
develop whole lines of products
• Some products BuzzFeed licenses or
buys from third parties”
• “By Kaufman’s count, BuzzFeed
Product Labs has bought finished
goods from upwards of two dozen
different vendors.” -Digiday

17. “After it had been shared on Facebook, a
reader there suggested it would make a
book in a comment. After that
suggestion got “liked” into a top
comment, BuzzFeed publisher Dao
Nguyen passed the idea along to
Kaufman, and thanks to a relationship
with an on-demand book printer it had
worked with on another product, the
book was available right away.”
-Digiday

18. IS IT DISRUPTIVE?
• Doesn’t interrupt the user
experience
• Is not designed to compromise
authenticity or editorial
integrity…puts the audience first
• Contributes to overall success by
bringing in money
• Works for both the publisher and
audience, as long as media
company doesn’t lose editorial
brand
• Evergreen

19. WHERE IS “COMTENT” GOING?
• Companies can track data
to predict the interests of
their audiences and begin
to cater specifically to that
interest
• More partnerships with
retailers
• Bridging the gap between
different media platforms

20. QUESTIONS?

21. REFERENCES
Griffith, E. (2017, January 13). BuzzFeed Wants to Sell You Stuff. Retrieved September
18, 2017, from http://fortune.com/2016/11/21/buzzfeed-commerce-ben-kaufman/
Friedman, E. P. (2017, June 13). Condé Nast Closes Style.com Months After Its Debut.
Retrieved September 18, 2017, from
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/fashion/conde-nast-closes-style-dot-com-
farfetch.html?mcubz=0
Moses, L. (2016, April 12). The newest rainmaker at publishers: E-commerce editors.
Retrieved September 18, 2017, from https://digiday.com/media/newest-rainmaker-
publishers-e-commerce-editors/

22. REFERENCES
Navarro, A. (2016, May 17). The rise of the commerce editor: Does 'comtent' hold the key to
monetisation for publishers? Retrieved September 18, 2017, from
http://www.thedrum.com/opinion/2016/05/17/rise-commerce-editor-does-comtent-hold-key-
monetisation-publishers
Rey, J. D. (2017, April 24). BuzzFeed is building a team of writers to sell you stuff you didn't
know you wanted. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from
https://www.recode.net/2017/4/24/15379964/buzzfeed-commerce-shopify-partnership-
affiliate-network-links
Willens, A. 5., Joseph, S. 8., Joseph, A. 2., Southern, S. 1., Willens, S. 1., Kim, S. 1., . . .
Southern, S. 1. (2017, May 21). 'Leave no strategy untested': How BuzzFeed is pushing into
commerce with a 12-person team. Retrieved September 18, 2017, from
https://digiday.com/media/leave-no-strategy-untested-buzzfeed-pushing-commerce-12-
person-team/