Pinterest Inks a Deal With Conde Nast Entertainment for Exclusive Video Content

Source: Pinterest

Earlier this week, Pinterest announced a new global content partnership with Condé Nast Entertainment, the parent company of Vogue and Architectural Digest. With the deal, the two iconic brands will produce over 160 exclusive videos for Pinterest’s key seasonal and cultural moments, including Wedding Season, Summer, and Back to School. Back in the summer, Pinterest launched a partnership with Tastemade.

The Resurgence of a Familiar Trend

The partnership comes shortly after Meta announced a new deal with BuzzFeed, where it's reported that the social media giant will pay the publisher $10 million to generate creator content across Facebook and Instagram.

These two moves represent what seems to be the resurgence of a familiar trend in the social media world - platforms partnering with major publishers to generate content.

Platforms still heavily rely on creators to produce and distribute content, but I predict we will see more platforms teaming up with publishers to speed up content production, particularly video content. Why? Publishers act as creators, but with their larger budgets, resources, and time, they can generate and distribute content faster and at scale. More content, especially video content, typically leads to increased user engagement and time spent on the app. That’s attractive to advertisers looking to spend dollars.

What’s In It for Publishers

Publishers also see benefits with these partnerships. Platforms likely will prioritize content from publishers in their algorithms, leading to higher visibility. In addition, publishers likely receive a monetary incentive for producing content, as reports say is the case with Meta and Buzzfeed.

The Key to Success

Just because platforms ink deals with publishers doesn’t mean they will be successful. It will be important that the two parties’ initiatives align well with each other, which is the case with these deals. Pinterest and Condé Nast are well-paired. The publisher has over 40 profiles on the platform and tens of millions of views. Plus, Vogue and Architectural Digest fall within some of the most popular categories on Pinterest, such as fashion, design, and architecture.

For Meta and BuzzFeed, they have had a long-standing relationship. BuzzFeed was one of the top publishers on Facebook in the 2010s. In addition, both have also recently indicated that they are prioritizing non-news content.

How Will It Impact Creators

These partnerships won’t have too much of an impact on creators, at least for now. The role of traditional creators remains crucial for the long-term success of platforms. The challenge for these platforms is to attract and retain creators to generate content specifically for their platform without the need for gimmicky creator funds. As we continue to see, this takes time. As platforms continue to explore ways to attract creators, they will also seek other ways to increase the content load on their platforms. By publishers adopting a creator mindset and bringing creators to lead their efforts, publishers will be one of those ways. At the same time, we will see the definition of what constitutes a "creator" become increasingly fluid.

In the past, platforms focused mainly on partnering with publishers for content. Currently, most are prioritizing creators for their content needs. But as the digital landscape evolves, many of them recognize the value of a diverse range of content providers, including creators, publishers, and others, to ensure a rich and varied content experience for their users and advertisers.