BuzzFeed and CNN announce joint YouTube video channel

The channel hopes to create 'shareable, emotionally compelling video content for a highly-mobile, video-driven generation'

BuzzFeed and CNN have announced today that they will be launching a joint video venture named "CNN BuzzFeed" on YouTube.

The channel will provide news and archival content from CNN, alongside BuzzFeed’s staple viral content.

The channel will seek to apply BuzzFeed’s successful web-strategies and create “shareable, emotionally compelling video content for a highly-mobile, video-driven generation.”

In an official statement, BuzzFeed announced that they are planning to “aggressively expand” their video operations, with Ze Frank, Buzzfeed's executive vice president of video, leading the operation.

New video content is likely to include lists and mash-ups of CNN’s expansive archives, reflected in  the first video to be hosted on the channel, a list of the “most amazing rescue moments shown on CNN”.

BuzzFeed’s current video operation hosts over 500 videos across six YouTube channels, with the videos receiving more than 170 million hits.

Jon Steinberg, CEO of Buzzfeed, told the Wall Street Journal that the company would be investing a low “eight-digit sum” over two years into the new platform.

The partnership is set to encourage a crossover between CNN and BuzzFeed’s demographics, attracting news junkies from the 18-to-34 year old demographic to BuzzFeed, and pushing social-media clicks over to CNN.