Well, I don't know how good of a focus group the 20-odd people you've told about Buzzfeed News are. I do know that every HN thread on the topic of journalism attracts a lot of HN users who have very strong, highly unsubstantiated views about it.
Certainly, but you'll find the same pattern with any audience. Buzzfeed is a relatively recognizable name, and almost no one knows that it has a semi-serious news version.
Go to reddit, go to any other forum, go to anywhere on the internet where people discuss other websites, and you will find the same sentiment regarding buzzfeed. Buzzfeed even gets poked fun of in Bojack Horseman, although not by direct name. For a while it was like a meme how low effort their listacles were, and it will probably take a new name to divorce that image from the branding.
I'm not sure what that would demonstrate. I can go check youtube comments as well, they still wouldn't be a good way to assess the branding strategy of a news org.
HN comments are probably poor evidence on which to base corporate or branding strategy.