Cable giant invests $200M in BuzzFeed

In attempt to attract younger audiences, NBCUniversal bets on Internet platforms

NEW YORK— NBCUniversal, following a potentially younger viewing audience wherever it goes, has placed a $200-million bet on the fast-growing BuzzFeed.

The announcement from the division of cable giant Comcast Corp. on Tuesday comes not even a week after it made an identical investment in Vox Media, which runs the food blog Eater, SB Nation and Re/code.

Traditional broadcasters have scrambled to pick up viewers, especially millennials, as habits are reshaped by new technology that allows people to watch what they want, when they want to watch it.

Netflix, the front-runner in on-demand viewing, added 3.3 million worldwide subscribers during its last quarter, ending the period with 65.6 million customers.

About 900,000 of the additional subscribers were signed up in the U.S., where Netflix now has 42.3 million customers. HBO and Showtime are now offering streaming services for a standalone monthly charge, free of a traditional cable package.

Cable and satellite services have created stripped down packages seeking to lure millennials and others who want more control over what they pay for.

NBCUniversal said it wants to begin collaborating on editorial content with its new partners. The deal could allow BuzzFeed to expand its reach.

BuzzFeed has more than 200 million monthly unique visitors and has 1.5 billion monthly video views, NBCUniversal said Tuesday.