How BuzzFeed's Tasty Took Over the Internet

BuzzFeed launched a Facebook exclusive page titled Tasty in July 2015. The page posted bite-sized videos of comfort food recipes. The popularity of the page shot up, and in 2017, it had become the number one publisher on Facebook. Today, Tasty is one of BuzzFeed’s main revenue generation properties. Let’s understand how BuzzFeed’s Tasty did it!

BuzzFeed launched Tasty in July 2015 and it quickly became a viral sensation. The reason, according to Frank Cooper III (Ex-CMO at BuzzFeed)Opens a new window , is because Tasty focused on food recipes that reminded people of their childhood, comfort food, or certain experiences.

Tasty has successfully experimented with e-commerce, branded partnerships, integrated affiliate, and other advertising opportunities to make it a successful revenue-generation division for BuzzFeed.

BuzzFeed’s Tasty Has Ventured Into Other Aspects of Monetization Over the Years

In this article, we’ll look at how BuzzFeed’s Tasty took over the internet, one bite-sized recipe at a time. MarTech Advisor spoke to Jessica Jardine (Executive Director, Media Brands at BuzzFeed)Opens a new window to learn more about Tasty’s success and understand how other brands can implement the lessons in their businesses.

BuzzFeed Tasty’s Social Media Strategy

As of February 2020, Tasty’s official Facebook pageOpens a new window has over 97 million page likes, 17.5 million YouTubeOpens a new window subscribers, 36.3 million followers on InstagramOpens a new window , and 1.1 million TwitterOpens a new window followers.

The early success of Tasty led to an independent official websiteOpens a new window , which is a separate entity from BuzzFeed Food. BuzzFeed leveraged video marketing to build Tasty. Let’s look at the key five factors that helped BuzzFeed make Tasty successful:

1. Lately, BuzzFeed Tasty has delved into longer duration videos, but the initial videos were shorter than 60 seconds or as they liked to call them snack-sized videos. This was crucial for their early success as a casual Facebook scroller didn’t have to watch 5- to 10-minute videos. They could pause for less than a minute and learn a recipe.
2. Most uploaded videos had a 1:1 aspect ratio (square) and contained on-screen instructions for easy comprehension. This ensured that smartphone users could easily watch them on the go.
3. Tasty later diversified their Facebook pages into various offshoots such as Tasty Junior, Proper Tasty, Tasty Vegetarian, and Tasty Presents.
4. To cater to a broader audience and appeal to them in their native language, BuzzFeed rolled out content in regional languages and created separate pages like Tasty MiamOpens a new window (French), Tasty DemaisOpens a new window (Portuguese), Bien TastyOpens a new window (Spanish), Tasty JapanOpens a new window , and Tasty ItalyOpens a new window .
5. Tasty StoryOpens a new window featured celebrities discussing and making their favorite recipes.
    

When discussing what practices brands can learn from Tasty’s video marketing strategy, Jessica Jardine (Executive Director, Media Brands at BuzzFeed)Opens a new window told MarTech Advisor, “The most important part of what Tasty has built comes from listening intently to our audience and working as hard as possible to actually understand who they are. We believe in the feedback loop that BuzzFeed has built across its content — the way that we as a company have the ability to look at the performance and engagement of our creative in true detail and attempt to understand what our audience responds to and why. That deep dive allows us to test and repeat and ultimately refine until we really, truly understand what makes a Tasty viewer a Tasty viewer (and what formats will resonate). We also have to always be willing to grow with our audience and not keep them in any boxes, especially as we come up on the five-year anniversary of Tasty!“

BuzzFeed Tasty’s Monetization Strategy

BuzzFeed’s 70% revenue comes from businesses that didn’t exist a few years back, and Tasty is one of them. BuzzFeed treats advertising, e-commerce, and studio development as its core revenue streams. Jonah Peretti (founder and CEO of BuzzFeed) has elaborated BuzzFeed’s multi-revenue model in a blog post as follows:

Image source: BuzzFeedOpens a new window

BuzzFeed Relies on Advertising, E-commerce, and Studio Development to Generate Revenue

Talking about how small and mid-scale brands can diversify their marketing and revenue generation streams, Jardine suggests, “Being willing to take your time building out new revenue streams and really working to understand the differences between them is huge — so that, for example, in the case of Tasty, we’re able to understand what resonates with someone scrolling through Instagram vs someone walking into a brick and mortar retailer who might be excited to see a Tasty branded product on their store’s shelf.”

She also went on to say, “It’s about finding that ideal intersection of a platform/marketing space that might exist and a natural fit for your brand.” BuzzFeed has been successful in making Tasty a food network and capitalizing on it to generate revenue through it. Let’s look at how Tasty branched out into various revenue streams:

1. Publish BuzzFeed Tasty Cookbooks
 

Tasty has been working with Penguin Random House to publish cookbooks. Here is the list of cookbooks released so far:

1. Tasty Pride
2. Tasty Every Day
3. Tasty Dessert
4. Tasty Ultimate
5. Tasty Latest and Greatest
    

As of November 2019, Tasty has sold over 1 million copies of its cookbooks. Besides this, you can buy custom cookbooks from their websiteOpens a new window .

2. Partnership With Walmart
 

In December 2017, Walmart announced a partnership with BuzzFeedOpens a new window that enabled Tasty app users to buy the kitchen tools, appliances, bakeware, and groceries required to make a dish from Walmart.com and Jet.com. The direct links to purchase were provided below the recipe in the Tasty app.

The Walmart and Tasty Partnership to Purchase Kitchenware and Groceries Through the App

In March 2018, BuzzFeed launched a Tasty-branded kitchenware product lineOpens a new window exclusively through Walmart. The product line features 90+ products and consists of cookware, bakeware, countertop garden, and other gadgets and tools. The products are priced between $4.44 to $99. 

3. E-commerce Partnerships With Other Brands
 

Here is a list of other e-commerce stores BuzzFeed has partnered with to sell Tasty products:

1. While BuzzFeed’s tie-up with Walmart spans Canada and the US, BuzzFeed works with Big W in Australia to make its product line available.
2. For its classic blenders, food processors, hand mixers, and ice cream makers, BuzzFeed works with HSN.
3. Tasty’s One Top induction cooktops, seasonings, calendars, and planners are available exclusively on Amazon.
4. The breakfast poppers can be bought via Sam’s Club.
5. The Bake n’ Share Toys designed considering the Tasty Junior audience is available at Little Tikes.
6. The official merch like sweatshirts, t-shirts, mugs, and mobile covers are available on BuzzFeed’s official store.
    

4. LG Tasty Cookie Club
 

LG and Tasty have collaboratedOpens a new window to deliver cookie baking kits at your doorstep. Each kit consists of premeasured ingredients, recipes, and baking tools such as scoop, baking mat, and apron. Users can buy a single kit or subscribe to an annual plan that delivers one kit each season with different BuzzFeed Tasty recipes.

5. Tasty Talent Program
 

To branch out from its original bite-sized video approach, Tasty launched its Talent Program in 2018 and onboarded famous chefs. In December 2019, BuzzFeed signedOpens a new window reputed chefs and personalities such as Ellen Bennett, Esdras Ochoa, and Joe Sasto. The purpose is to unlock new partnerships and identify new content opportunities.

BuzzFeed is a brand that thrives on collaboration and partnerships. So when asked about how other brands can collaborate to diversify their revenue streams, Jardine replied, “As I understand it, the question is how to work collaboratively with brands in some of the newer revenue streams that might open up. I’d say that it’s just important to understand your own audience more than anything and what they’ll react against or be excited by.

Our audience is always very honest with us with what they like and don’t like and we feel so lucky for that! From there, a company can figure out who might make sense as natural partners and what that might look like. And I’d say it’s always about deferring to who knows more in a given space and listening more than talking. While Tasty has built something incredible in its five spectacular years, we’ve also leaned on so many experts in their own fields and brought on so many excited, young people who’ve wanted to help navigate the future of Tasty to a broader audience.“

Closing Thoughts

BuzzFeed launched Tasty as an experiment, and it quickly became a viral sensation. Tasty has been able to sustain the same levels of engagement for the past five years through its constant experimenting.

From our discussion with Jessica Jardine, it is clear that Tasty’s success can be predominantly attributed to BuzzFeed’s obsession with understanding each medium and its audience and then innovate to adapt.

Marketers, remember to keep experimenting to find what works and listen to your audience to understand what they appreciate and want. Being able to connect with users emotionally has also proved to be a path to success. Brand partnerships and collaborations that can add value to users will also facilitate brand success. 

What are your key takeaways from Tasty’s video marketing and partnership strategies? Tell us on TwitterOpens a new window , LinkedInOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window .