Platform Evolution & Content Strategy in the age of AI with Ken Blom
From The Community Exchange Podcast by OpenWeb by OpenWeb
September 30, 2025 · 44 min · Season 3 · Episode 9
About this episode
Ken Blom discusses the evolution of platforms and content strategy in the age of AI.
On this episode of The Community Exchange Podcast, we welcome Ken Blom, Chief Business Officer at BuzzFeed. In our discussion, MSG and Ken discuss: Ken’s career path from search and agency work to joining BuzzFeed in its early social-first days Lessons from scaling BuzzFeed through the rise of Facebook distribution, Tasty, and branded content The challenges of platform dependency and what publishers can learn from the “Facebook era” How affiliate and commerce revenue models evolved into major drivers for digital media The disruptive impact of AI, LLMs, and “Google Zero” on traffic, discovery, and publisher economics Why attribution, data access, and payment marketplaces will define publisher–AI relationships The role of community, creators, and brand-owned platforms in building sustainable engagement What the next generation of publishing innovation may look like, from apps to the “agentic web” And more.
People in this episode
Host: MSG
Guest: Ken Blom
Topics covered
- platform evolution
- content strategy
- AI impact
- digital media revenue
- community engagement
- publishing innovation
Keywords
- platform dependency
- affiliate revenue
- branded content
- publisher economics
- community
- digital media
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: BuzzFeed, Facebook, OpenWeb, Tasty, AI, Google
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