BuzzFeed And NBCUniversal’s Latest Project Targets Millennial Parents

NBCUniversal has been working with BuzzFeed since it invested in the millennial-focused media company in 2015. Now, many of those millennials are parents, and the media company’s newest joint venture, Playfull, targets them.

Currently in the form of a Facebook page, Playfull offers short videos aimed at young parents bent on “nailing this parenting thing.” One such video advertises laundry soap from Purex in the style of BuzzFeed’s Tasty channel. Another offers “Little Tricks to Teach Your Kids the Basics.” The most recent post, a video called, “How I Make Mom Friends,” features a variety of parenting stereotypes, like the infamous “helicopter mom.”

Patricia Hadden, NBCUniversal’s Digital Enterprises SVP and head of marketing, will oversee the
Playfull partnership with BuzzFeed, as reported by Digiday. Her team will be in charge of advertising on Playfull, so far exemplified by the laundry soap video (the accompanying copy includes a link to buy the product on Amazon).

While NBCUniversal will promote the parenting channel on

its TV network, BuzzFeed will promote across its other Facebook hubs. Like most BuzzFeed content, Playfull’s will aim for maximum shares. “The idea is to reach people who might relate to specific situations, because they are going to be the people that share this content,” Peggy Wang, BuzzFeed’s lifestyle editorial director, told Digiday. She’s helming BuzzFeed’s video team for Playfull.

NBCUniversal started investing in BuzzFeed in August 2015, funneling $200 million into the millennial-focused media company. A little over a year later, NBCUniversal doubled down on that investment. Content from NBCU’s coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics appeared on BuzzFeed’s Snapchat Discover channel, and the two media companies have announced multiple joint projects, including a true-crime TV series.

Though Playfull content currently only exists on Facebook, it has potential homes on other platforms, Hadden told Digiday. Playfull content may also appear on NBCU’s television properties (as the Tasty brand has appeared on NBC’s The Today Show) and on social platforms like Snapchat.