Buzzfeed’s Next 10 Years

Buzzfeed became famous for its GIFs and lists, expanded into serious news and now is trying to turn itself into a video powerhouse. In the view of co-founder and CEO Jonah Peretti, video is vital for Buzzfeed to draw increased spending from major advertisers.

But competition for video advertising is much tougher than branded articles [see accompanying story]. Even when the ad team signs the big accounts, the high costs of producing video makes these types of ads difficult to scale. Mr. Peretti spoke about his vision for scaling Buzzfeed’s ads in a recent interview with The Information. He also explained how he’s kept the site ahead of the other publishers that have piled into native ad options recently and why the next 10 years for Buzzfeed will be its most difficult. This transcript has been edited.