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Popular comedy site CollegeHumor collapses after two decades of goofy viral jokes
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/01/09/collegehumor-shuts-down/
By Katie Shepherd
Jan. 9, 2020 at 6:56 a.m. EST
The Internet used to be fun. Instead of raging on Twitter and sifting through fake news on Facebook, people used to waste time watching quirky home videos and reading silly jokes making fun of inoffensive things like VH1 countdowns and how Google was the hot new search engine.
At the heart of that goofy, bygone Internet was a joke site launched by two college freshmen in 1999 that curated the funniest posts on the Internet and quickly grew into a comedy sketch behemoth, drawing more than 100 million page views a month at its height.
CollegeHumor carved out a niche in Web content, handpicking the next funny viral video for an audience of mostly young men who made appealing targets for online advertisers. It also created a network of writers, comics and actors who have also shaped more traditional entertainment, from shows like HBO’s “Girls” and “Silicon Valley” to “Saturday Night Live.”
More than two decades later, CollegeHumor’s reign over hilarious online videos and its influence in the world of comedy may be over.
On Wednesday, the site’s parent company, IAC/InterActive Corp., sold CH Media — the overarching name for CollegeHumor, its streaming platform and a few other websites. The sale left more than 100 employees without jobs. CH Media’s new owner, Sam Reich, publicly announced the layoffs and sale Wednesday on Twitter.
“In words that I’m sure are as surreal to read as they are to type, I will soon become the new majority owner of CH Media,” said Reich, a longtime executive at CollegeHumor. “Of course, I can’t keep it going like you’re used to. While we were on the way to becoming profitable, we were nonetheless losing money — and I myself have no money to be able to lose.”
</snip>
By Katie Shepherd
Jan. 9, 2020 at 6:56 a.m. EST
The Internet used to be fun. Instead of raging on Twitter and sifting through fake news on Facebook, people used to waste time watching quirky home videos and reading silly jokes making fun of inoffensive things like VH1 countdowns and how Google was the hot new search engine.
At the heart of that goofy, bygone Internet was a joke site launched by two college freshmen in 1999 that curated the funniest posts on the Internet and quickly grew into a comedy sketch behemoth, drawing more than 100 million page views a month at its height.
CollegeHumor carved out a niche in Web content, handpicking the next funny viral video for an audience of mostly young men who made appealing targets for online advertisers. It also created a network of writers, comics and actors who have also shaped more traditional entertainment, from shows like HBO’s “Girls” and “Silicon Valley” to “Saturday Night Live.”
More than two decades later, CollegeHumor’s reign over hilarious online videos and its influence in the world of comedy may be over.
On Wednesday, the site’s parent company, IAC/InterActive Corp., sold CH Media — the overarching name for CollegeHumor, its streaming platform and a few other websites. The sale left more than 100 employees without jobs. CH Media’s new owner, Sam Reich, publicly announced the layoffs and sale Wednesday on Twitter.
“In words that I’m sure are as surreal to read as they are to type, I will soon become the new majority owner of CH Media,” said Reich, a longtime executive at CollegeHumor. “Of course, I can’t keep it going like you’re used to. While we were on the way to becoming profitable, we were nonetheless losing money — and I myself have no money to be able to lose.”
</snip>
More:
Link to tweet
Adam Conover ✔ @adamconover
For 20 years, CH paid some of the best young comedians, writers, and artists in the country to do nothing but come up with the funniest shit ever. Today, they all lost their jobs. That sucks. Let me tell you why. (Thread)https://www.vulture.com/2020/01/collegehumor-layoffs-sale.html …
Almost Everyone at CollegeHumor Lost Their Jobs Today
The internet is a very tough place to be an online comedy outlet.
Adam Conover ✔ @adamconover
The slow (and then quick) death of CollegeHumor, Funny or Die, and your other favorite online comedy sites was not an accident. It was the result of Facebook's deliberate effort to kill the indie video industry, in part by massively falsifying viewer data.
Adam Conover ✔ @adamconover
My former employer CollegeHumor did this. In order to beat YouTube, Facebook faked incredible viewership numbers, so CH pivoted to FB. So did Funny or Die, many others. The result: A once-thriving online comedy industry was decimated. A $40m fine is laughable; shut Facebook down.
5:21 PM - Jan 8, 2020
"It was the result of Facebook's deliberate effort to kill the indie video industry, in part by massively falsifying viewer data."
3 replies
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= new reply since forum marked as read
We can't have anything nice in this world. Every time we do, some rich guy buys it and uses it for evil...