Latest / Content Marketing with Fexingo: Blogs, Videos, and Long-Form Content That Converts / How BuzzFeed Used Quizzes to Build a Content Empire
Transcript
- Lucas: So, Luna, quick question — which '90s rom-com character are you? Or, more importantly, which type of bread are you? Luna: Oh, I'm definitely sourdough. Studious, a little crusty on the outside, soft once you get to know me. But what's your point? Lucas: My point is that BuzzFeed built a multi million dollar content business on exactly that kind of nonsense. Quizzes. 'What kind of pasta are you?' 'Which Disney princess is your soulmate?' They weren't just time-wasters — they were a strategy. Luna: And a wildly effective one. I remember reading that their quiz 'Which City Should You Actually Live In?' got something like 20 million views. That's more than most TV shows get. Lucas: Twenty million, yeah. And that's the one we're going to talk about today. But first — if these marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used at work, or just made you think differently about content, a couple of dollars a month is genuinely what keeps these episodes coming. Buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a small thing that makes a real difference. Luna: Yeah, it's how we stay ad-free and focused on the actual strategy. And speaking of strategy — that city quiz wasn't just a fluke. It was designed. Lucas: Exactly. So let's unpack the anatomy of a BuzzFeed quiz. The city quiz — you answer about your social style, your ideal weekend, your tolerance for cold weather — and it spits out a city. Austin, Portland, Denver, whatever. The genius wasn't the algorithm; it was the shareability. Luna: Right, because the result becomes a piece of identity. 'I'm an Austin person' says something about you. It's a badge. Lucas: And that badge is what drives the viral loop. You take the quiz, you get Austin, you share it on Facebook because it confirms something you already believe about yourself. Your friends see it, they take the quiz, they share theirs. BuzzFeed didn't pay for distribution — users did it for them. Luna: And they collected data on every single answer. Thousands of data points per quiz. They knew what personality traits correlated with which cities, what age groups preferred which activities. That data fed their editorial team. Lucas: It's a flywheel. More quizzes -> more data -> better quizzes -> more shares. And they got so good at it that by 2014, quizzes were generating something like 30 percent of BuzzFeed's traffic. Not listicles, not videos — quizzes. Luna: Let's talk about the psychology. Why did people click? It wasn't just identity. There's also the curiosity gap — you don't know the answer until you finish. And the questions are low-effort, fun, almost addictive. Lucas: Yes, the format is frictionless. Multiple choice, usually five to ten questions, each with four or five options. You're never more than thirty seconds from a result. Compare that to reading a 2,000-word article. The quiz is a snack. Luna: And it's personalized. Even if it's a template with a few variables, the result feels custom. That personalization boosts engagement. Studies show personalized content gets two to three times the click-through rate of generic content. Lucas: BuzzFeed took that to the bank. They also figured out that negative or surprising results spread just as well as positive ones. 'Which serial killer are you?' was a huge hit. Morbid, but shareable. Luna: Okay, but eventually the model hit a wall. By 2018, Facebook changed its algorithm to deprioritize viral content. BuzzFeed's traffic dropped. And quizzes started to feel gimmicky. Lucas: Right. The ecosystem shifted. But before it collapsed, BuzzFeed had already started using quizzes as a lead generation tool for brands. Taco Bell ran a quiz to let you build your own Crunchwrap Supreme. Netflix promoted 'Stranger Things' with a 'Which character are you?' quiz. Luna: Those were essentially sponsored data collection. Brands paid for the engagement and got audience insights in return. It was a B2B pivot within a B2C format. Lucas: And it worked. Taco Bell's quiz drove in-store traffic. Netflix's quiz boosted sign-ups. But here's the thing — the quizzes themselves were still fun. They didn't feel like ads. That's the lesson. Luna: So what can a content marketer take away from this in 2026? The BuzzFeed quiz model is largely dead as a traffic driver, but the principles are alive. Lucas: I think the core principle is interactive, personalized content that gives the user a reason to share. It doesn't have to be a quiz — it could be a calculator, an assessment, a generator. But it should create a moment of self-discovery. Luna: And it should collect data. If you're not capturing something — an email, a preference, a behavioral signal — you're leaving value on the table. Lucas: Exactly. HubSpot has a 'Website Grader' tool. It's basically a quiz — you put in your URL, it spits out a score and recommendations. That tool has generated millions of leads. It's the same mechanic. Luna: Or think about Zillow's 'Zestimate'. That's a quiz of one question: what's your address? The result is a personalized home value estimate. People share those constantly. Lucas: The takeaway is: find a way to give your audience a piece of self-knowledge, and make it easy to share. That's the BuzzFeed formula, stripped of the cat gifs. Luna: And don't forget the data feedback loop. Every interaction teaches you something. Use it to refine your product, your content, your targeting. Lucas: So if you're a marketer in 2026, maybe your next campaign isn't a blog post. Maybe it's a 'What kind of marketer are you?' quiz. Seven questions. A badge at the end. And a lead capture form before the result. Luna: I'd take that quiz. But only if the result is 'sourdough marketer'. Lucas: You'd share it, too. And that's the point.