PlayBuzz

Only a year after its December 2013 launch, social-quiz platform Playbuzz was the most shared website on Facebook, outperforming top-10 regulars Huffington Post, BBC and New York Times.

Though many people assume it’s a knockoff of BuzzFeed, founders of the Tel Aviv-based company explain that Playbuzz is quite different. Unlike BuzzFeed, Playbuzz primarily is a business-to-business platform that allows publishers, bloggers, brands and other users to create multilingual quizzes, lists and polls for mass social-network sharing – for free — designed to engage users, raise page views and increase stickiness.

People seem unable to resist clicking on quizzes like “Which war movie would you die in?” “Which breakfast food are you?” and “How well do you know beagles?”

Playbuzz Vice President for Content Shachar Orren tells ISRAEL21c that playful content is irresistible even in the face of ever-decreasing time spent on any one web page. And this has major consequences for digital publishers.

“Users are losing interest. Advertisers are losing interest. Audience engagement is hitting rock bottom, while overall consumption of digital media is skyrocketing. The key to survival, staying relevant and even thriving under these changing paradigms, is the adoption of what we call ‘playful content’ here at Playbuzz.”

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is one of Playbuzz’s high-profile clients. “For us, polls and quizzes are engagement enhancers,” a Martha Stewart digital strategist told The Wall Street Journal.

Playbuzz has been more focused on growth and distribution than on revenues, Orren tells ISRAEL21c. That’s all part of the business plan.

“Some of the content on our site is ad-supported and so the company has been profitable,” says Orren. “In the future we will offer our partners optional add-on components that can enhance the experience and potential monetization options.”

So how much do you know about Playbuzz? Take ISRAEL21c’s quiz to find out.