The Weekly PR & Social Scoop - 4th April

The Independent takes over Buzzfeed UK brands including Huffpost

Editorial and commercial staff at?Buzzfeed UK?(which includes Huffpost UK) are to move over to?The Independent?as part of a multi-year licensing deal.

As part of the agreement, The Independent will take over Buzzfeed’s sub-brands in the UK including food vertical Tasty UK, Seasoned and Huffpost UK.

The Independent website has a monthly audience of 20 million in the UK,?making it the sixth most popular online news brand according to Ipsos iris. None of the Buzzfeed UK brands feature in the top 50 UK news websites. Buzzfeed and Huffpost will remain separate brands under The Independent.

Insiders say the move will create "Britain's biggest publisher network" for Gen Z and millennials.

Find out more here.

Mail publisher launches news social-first video advertising product

DMG Media’s?commercial arm, Mail Metro Media, is looking to expand its branded video content revenue with the launch of Edits.

The new social-first video product offers advertisers access to the growing audience of Mail titles on video platforms like Tiktok, Youtube and Facebook, as well as on its own sites Metro and Mail Online.

Edits aims to streamline the video production process and lower the cost for entry to advertisers by offering them a menu of five video formats which can be tailored to different verticals.

Over the past year, the Mail has ramped up its output on Tiktok and it now has more than ten million followers on the platform. News publishers are currently pushing to cash in on the growing popularity of short-form video formats and associated shift in advertising spend towards platforms like Youtube.

BBC to launch TikTok Style News Channel

On a similar note - the?BBC?is?planning to launch TikTok-style short-form news videos in a bid to win young audiences.?

In its annual plan, the BBC said it will develop more “short, easy-to-consume updates”, as well as longer-form in-depth journalism.?

The videos and audio clips produced will be shared across the BBC’s news app and website, as well as its iPlayer and Sounds streaming services.?

This push by the BBC into creating short-form content, which mirrors platforms like TikTok and Instagram, comes as the BBC tries to bring in younger audiences to its platforms from streaming rivals.?

LinkedIn to Test Dedicated Video Feed

The ongoing power of TikTok strikes again, as LinkedIn is testing a dedicated video feed in the app, which will display content in a TikTok-style format.?

The announcement comes as the platform aims to move towards broader vertical video trends, following the presentation of data which suggests users prefer?video content on the platform itself. The feature is currently in?testing stage.

LinkedIn’s new feature will likely encourage LinkedIn influencers to create more video-based content instead of regular text updates, thus?driving?more engagement.?