Their monetezation strategy is advertorial content posts. People are so used to clickbait as a way to get impressions and clicks from display ads that many don

Their monetezation strategy is advertorial content posts. People are so used to clickbait as a way to get impressions and clicks from display ads that many don't realize there isn't a single 'traditional' display ad on BuzzFeed's entire site. They make their money by charging for references to 'advertisers' products and services throughout BuzzFeed content - something they do really well. Doesn't come cheap either - big cash outlays iirc.