business
BuzzFeed Middle East launches
Regional variation of popular website unveiled to widespread acclaim
A screenshot of the new BuzzFeed Middle East
DUBAI: In what has been billed by many experts as ‘the biggest web launch of 2013’, BuzzFeed Middle East finally went live last night at a glittering party held in Dubai’s swanky Rami Royal Millennium Ramada Rotana Resort & Spa, Ballroom B.
The website, which can be found at www.buzzfeed.ae and www.buzzfeedme.com, has been developed by the Middle East’s fasting-growing online satire newspaper, The Pan-Arabia Enquirer and, according to its acting editor Baltimore Stafford, took almost half a year of dedicated work to put together.
“We basically took the hugely successful BuzzFeed.com model of listing things like ’13 cats that look a bit like Justin Timberlake’ and ’23 of the world’s craziest ladders’, and, following months of research involving hundreds of focus groups, found that we needed to give it a distinct Arabian feel and focus,” he said.
“So instead we’ve got lists about camels, shawarmas and shopping festivals.”
Speaking at the launch event, Middle East web analyst Mona Junta said that BuzzFeed Middle East could be one of the most important launches in the Arab world in years.
“It could be one of the most important launches in the Arab world in years,” she added.
At the time of going to press, the website had already been valued at over $12 billion.
