In August of this year, BuzzFeed’s commerce group quietly migrated their apparel merchandising operations away from Shopify Plus. Around this same time, BuzzFeed Reviews launched to compete against the growing strength of affiliate sales-driven publishers like the Wirecutteror Gear Patrol. There is overwhelming data citing a direct relationship between affiliate sales and advertising sales momentum.
This is another important moment in digital that will fly under the radar. Despite relatively minimal coverage and discussion around this acquisition, it marks a pivotal shift in publisher economics–one that serves as a central thesis of 2PM:
