32 ms·

CollegeHumor shuts down

310 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

bhouston 7y ago
I can not read the source article. But I guess its costs were too high such that if it just distributed it all via YouTube it couldn't make any money?
- jannes 7y ago
  They are also blaming it on Facebook: > “In order to beat YouTube, Facebook faked incredible viewership numbers, so [CollegeHumor] pivoted to FB,” former CollegeHumor writer Adam Conover presciently tweeted last October. “So did Funny or Die, many others. The result: A once-thriving online comedy industry was decimated."
  - ASalazarMX 7y ago
    I don't understand this. Did they abandon Youtube for Facebook? They could have easily managed their followers in Facebook while continuing to upload to Youtube as usual.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      It's not the uploading that's the problem, it's the budget you spend on getting new Facebook likes or YouTube channel subscriptions. Buying Facebook likes looked like a wildly better investment, but that was an illusion.
      - dudus 7y ago
        Since both platform forbid straight up buying likes and subscribers that would be a hard line to argue against any of them.
        ceejayoz 7y ago
        Uh, what? "About Page likes ads": https://www.facebook.com/business/help/209213872548401 https://www.facebook.com/business/help/209213872548401 > Page likes ads help you reach people who may like your Page. If your goal is to increase awareness of your business, these ads are a way to promote your Page to people who are interested in your content or businesses like yours. "Advertising your channel": https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/ad-promotion https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/ad-promotion > To help drive more views and subscribers to your channel, you can pay to run an ad campaign for your videos on YouTube through Google Ads. You can create an ad that appears before a video starts, or alongside a video on its watch page on YouTube. Both ban purchasing fake followers, but they'll happily take money to put your page/channel in front of potential genuine subscribers.
        corobo 7y ago
        You're thinking dodgy likes. I think the parent comment is referring to ads https://i.imgsir.com/Bv2k.png https://i.imgsir.com/Bv2k.png
    - irjustin 7y ago
      A large problem is content stealers. They'll post the entire video without attribution. Also Facebook for a very long time didn't do anything to prevent content stealing even with takedown notices there were too many. FB didn't have an automated system. College humour was basically forced to put their entire video just to retain views.
      - blackearl 7y ago
        Comedy Central nearly gave fatjew a show and he only steals
      - blackearl 7y ago
        Not sure why I was flagged, @fatjewish was popular on twitter/ig/etc. and was nearly given a comedy central show until comedians complained that he stole jokes.
    - chc 7y ago
      To my understanding, what Facebook tried to present to online producers was that publishing native video directly on Facebook was insanely lucrative, not just that they should have a Facebook page.
    - amyjess 7y ago
      Before they started posting native video on Facebook, their Facebook page consisted of links to stuff posted on the CollegeHumor website. Fans would share CollegeHumor posts to their own timeline, and their friends would click on the links and go to CollegeHumor's site and partake in the community, and if they liked it enough, they'd bookmark the website and just go there. But with native video, you don't get that. What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook. People who watch a video on Facebook might like the video or even leave a comment, but they won't follow through and go to CollegeHumor's website. When they're done with the video, they'll just continue scrolling through their feed.
      - milesvp 7y ago
        What’s interesting is there’ve been a couple threads recently on HN talking about this with medium. Bloggers who’ve lost a significant amount of self referral traffic by relying on medium for it’s traffic spikes. Seems to be a common pattern unintentionally trading your long tail for initial spike traffic. I’d be surprised if this is ever sustainable.
    - metamet 7y ago
      Robert Evans (from Behind the Bastards podcast) mentioned in one of his episodes what happened at Cracked when FB's falsified lure led to a strong content pivot to FB. This, obviously, didn't pan out according to what was advertised. The way I understand it, management trusted FB more than they should've, overhauling the way they approached content, which resulted in all the eggs being in one dropped basket.
    - smooveCriminal 7y ago
      I believe it's because Facebook seemed more lucrative because they faked viewership numbers: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-10/hiltzik-facebooks-bogus-video-claims-40-million https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-10/hiltzik-fa...
  - sulkie 7y ago
    Would there be significant disadvantages in using both platforms at the same time? Or does "pivoted to FB" also imply that the content was adjusted to FB audience?
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      Using, no, but at some point there will have been meetings about where to use the marketing budget. "We can buy Facebook likes, or YouTube subscribers." "Engagement's so much better on Facebook, let's buy likes." Facebook's incorrect (dramatically so - as high as 900% inflated) stats made buying a like look way more cost effective, so that's where the budgets went.
    - michaelt 7y ago
      I think "pivoted to FB" means "Instead of putting the videos on our site and posting links to our site on FB, we posted native videos on FB"
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
- spamizbad 7y ago
  They allegedly fell victim to the whole "pivot to facebook video" craze caused by Facebook misreporting their video engagement figures. Whether some business unit inside Facebook did this intentionally or not, it's a big reason why I think media companies have turned against Facebook as they feel like they got ratfucked.
  - tombert 7y ago
    Maybe this has already happened, but wouldn't this be grounds for a lawsuit? If businesses are going bankrupt because of outright lies or negligence on a company's part, I would think you have grounds for damages and class-action lawsuit. I'm speaking out of my butt here, I'm not a lawyer.
    - ceejayoz 7y ago
      They got a tiny slap on the wrist. $40M. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/facebook-pay-40-million-under-proposed-settlement-video-metrics-suit-1245807 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/facebook-pay-40-mi...
      - tombert 7y ago
        Thanks! This is kind of depressing; I suspect that $40 million is barely a blip in Facebook's advertising budget, so the sad part is that this probably had almost-literally no effect on them. I guess it's not a new thing for corporations to own the world, but it's always sad when I'm reminded of it.
        caseysoftware 7y ago
        To put that in perspective.. In Q3 2019, Facebook had nearly $18B in revenue. Therefore, $40M is about 5 hours of their revenue.
        spamizbad 7y ago
        Crazy. That would be like an average American household getting fined $150 (63000/40/52)... so a speeding ticket basically.
- paulcole 7y ago
  > I can not read the source article. Then don't comment? It's Hacker News not Hacker Speculation.
neonate 7y ago
https://outline.com/eBzkmT https://outline.com/eBzkmT
sitkack 7y ago
CollegeHumor had same damn well written, well produced comedic satire. I hope all of their material is archived. One thing to watch out for is if this posted under their Geuite account to YouTube, when the gsuite bill isn’t paid, all the YouTube videos will get deleted, leaving a cultural hole. Of all the Google crimes, this one is accidental but the most damaging to society.
- echelon 7y ago
  YouTube deletes videos attached to corporate accounts if their bills go unpaid? Have they done this in the past?
  - sitkack 7y ago
    All of the Ricon talks by Basho have been lost to the sands of time for this very reason.
- dmos62 7y ago
  > the most damaging to society While I agree that content archival is important, I would strongly argue that lost content is not on the same level as for example anti-competitive practices, even in terms of cultural impact.
  - badrequest 7y ago
    Especially not CollegeHumor content, most of which was scattershot hope-something-goes-viral bro humor.
    - madamelic 7y ago
      I disagree strongly. Maybe some of their skits had bro humor but it always seemed like either generic humor or geek centric than anything.
      - z3phyr 7y ago
antidaily 7y ago
NOT ace.
awillen 7y ago
I remember when CH was just a site where people uploaded funny pics, and once in a while they had a well-written article. How far they came - sad to see them shut down.
- _the_inflator 7y ago
  Yes, was one of the sites I bookmarked back then.
echelon 7y ago
CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.
- Zhyl 7y ago
  Some content creators are already doing this. I'm seeing more spinning up their own newsletters or RSS feeds, patreons, direct donations, subscriptions services (or completely independent platforms). There is an awareness of the dangers of putting your eggs in one basket, let alone the dangers of putting them in a basket as opaque and uncertain as Facebook. CollegeHumor had a lot of hits and spawned some genuine talent that is now earning money on its own merits (Jake and Amir, Adam Conover) but overall the content was not consistent enough to have an overall draw that was worth subscribing to.
  - ConsiderCrying 7y ago
    The problem with Patreon is that it's also getting quite bad for content creators (at least there were a lot of complaints about half a year ago) with the cut they take, the money transfers, and the fact that they've tried to ban adult content creators. It would have been fine if this was all stated/implemented right away but, much like many other platforms, they're doing this at a slow creep. There are alternatives but they're coming up against a well-known name and stifling competition, same problem as with Facebook, just on a smaller scale.
    - bordercases 7y ago
      Does this make an argument for crypto?
      - bpt3 7y ago
        No, it does not in my opinion. What problem described above would crypto solve?
yincrash 7y ago
This is a misleading title based on even the article. CH still has an owner (Sam Reich) and still has content that they are still airing (D20 with the McElroy family among other things) through Dropout. Basically they went to being an externally funded company to turning into a startup that has to bootstrap, but still has an entire video subscription streaming infrastructure built out with Dropout and some content to stay afloat.
yoz-y 7y ago
Why does the article start with a false premise that "internet used to be fun" and "bygone era". Come on, if you don't want to follow Twitter drama just go to some other place. Ugh.
- echelon 7y ago
  It's not a false premise for many of us. I miss the indie internet, before big corps and big tech started taking over. I miss IRC and forums and personal websites. I miss the time when Digg was new and hadn't taken over, and memes weren't the most upvoted content. When websites weren't all Javascript and Google wasn't Yahoo. MySpace and LiveJournal and Xanga were never as sterile as Facebook and Instagram. The internet that appealed to the Technorati got put on dopamine-fueled monetization rails and turned into a bulk commodity that maximizes engagement over the population.
  - xamuel 7y ago
    When I was growing up, I played on MUD games, which were text-based massively multiplayer games 100% free to play, with no ads or any other kind of monetization, with full staffs of admins, programmers (!!), level designers, and moderators, all 100% volunteers. Reading that now, it sounds like I'm describing some kind of crazy sci-fi utopia that couldn't even get published because it's too unbelievable.
    - yayajacky 7y ago
      Wonderful experiences still exist (for many transformative), they just have less reach than corporate cash cows unfortunately
    - blobbers 7y ago
      It really does sound like a utopia. I was part of that community as well. Perhaps when things are small and the people can relate to most of the people directly, they're able to act in a more altruistic manner. When we explore this thought experiment further, it has pretty bad consequences for politicians at a national or global stage.
40four 7y ago
Unrelated... but on the Washington Post I clicked through to the page that sells subscriptions, only to find that they hijack you back button and do not allow you to go back in your browser history. What a joke. Makes me want to never visit their site again. That is unacceptable.
- MisterTea 7y ago
  The bigger joke is a web page can hijack your browser.
  - 3xblah 7y ago
    This joke must be too highbrow because no one seems to get it. https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020 https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020
    - rs23296008n1 7y ago
      Wow. I didn't know even half that list. Excellent for usability and, unfortunately, more fingerprinting. I'm hoping all of these are covered by existing whitelisting/blacklisting.
    - satvikpendem 7y ago
      The browser becomes the VM for all apps.
    - gknoy 7y ago
      "Web coffee protocol" -- I'll admit, this one surprised me.
      - 40four 7y ago
        LOL you got me :p
    - deleted 7y ago
      [deleted]
- 7y ago
unwiredben 7y ago
Title isn't completely accurate - WP article says that the site was sold to Sam Reich, one of their execs, and some servicess will continue for a while as he works on retooling the site.
_sbrk 7y ago
Another paywall URL
sirzarmo 7y ago
When Jake and Amir was canceled I was quite disappointed, When they made an awful soulless return in the form of an anti-trump video, my fury was immense. they held out for quite a while making original content and as of recently once in a blue moon they made something interesting but the company became very corporate, and their main product was incompatible with that, compatibility is a feat I think only Adult Swim can manage today...
- skinnymuch 7y ago
  Really? You’re just butthurt over the Trump Jake and Amir video? It wasn’t even that bit of a deal. It was also mocking people in general as much as Trump.
ErikAugust 7y ago
CollegeHumor did not shut down, from the article itself: “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.” Dropout, its streaming service, will continue for at least the next six months while it churns out content already slated for release, Reich said. The future of CollegeHumor itself, and other humor sites run by the company, are less certain. “In these six months, I hope to be able to save Dropout, CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly, and many of our shows,” Reich said. “Some will need to take on bold new creative directions in order to survive.” The CH Media staff contracted from more than 100 to between five and 10 employees, according to Bloomberg News.
- Waterluvian 7y ago
  I don't follow. How is that not "shutting down"? It's contracted to life support in order to empty the existing pipeline to minimize losses. Maybe this is a Ship of Theseus kind of thing. They get rid of almost all employees, empty the pipeline, and then retool. What's left of College Humor?
  - badloginagain 7y ago
    I take "shut down" as an immediate stop to all services. Domain doesn't resolve, etc.
    - kohtatsu 7y ago
      I think that's kind of a cynical take on what shutdowns can look like.
    - kozhevnikov 7y ago
      That's "terminated". This is "sunsetting".
    - redisman 7y ago
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
lgleason 7y ago
The did a great parody of many startup pitches that I've heard over the years. Hopefully they can save it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4
brianbreslin 7y ago
Wasn't Vimeo a byproduct of CollegeHumor or am I mixing up my 2000-2005 internet history?
- chx 7y ago
  Jake Lodwick co-created Vimeo while working as the inital web developer for CollegeHumor.
- agotterer 7y ago
  Connected Ventures, the company that owned CollegeHumor and Bustedtees was acquired by IAC. At the time Vimeo was a side project of Jake Lodwick and was part of the Connected Ventures business, but it wasn't making any money and didn't impact the IAC acquisition price. Long story short, Vimeo's cost to operate became very expensive and started to impact Connected Ventures core business (CollegeHumor and Bustedtees). So Vimeo was spun out of Connected Ventures and made its own division in IAC.
jedberg 7y ago
Presumably Sam now owns the rights to all the content. He could shop it around to Netflix/Hulu/Amazon. I’ll bet one of them would pick it up and maybe even give him a budget to hire some of the writers back and make new content again.
- geddy 7y ago
  Putting it all behind yet another walled garden? Before you know it, 90% of the internet will be gated behind paywalls or signups.
  - jedberg 7y ago
    Seems like a better business model than ads. And Netflix is worldwide. So really it’s a question of do you want to pay for the content with money or with your personal data.
  - shadowgovt 7y ago
    The previous business model was ad-revenue supported. That business model screwed them. It's up to the new owner, but I don't expect him to take that risk a second time if the risk model for a better walled garden looks lower.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    > Before you know it, 90% of the internet will be gated behind paywalls or signups. I'll take that over "gone".
  - ViViDboarder 7y ago
    As far as I can tell, for a business online the options are ads, crypto mining, or a paywall.
  - jedimastert 7y ago
    Is there an alternative between this and ads?
- nerevarthelame 7y ago
  Their parent company, IAC, has been trying to sell CH for months now. I'm sure they tried shopping around Netflix/Hulu/Amazon. I'm skeptical that Sam on his own will be able to accomplish a more desirable deal than what IAC would've been able to get. (Skeptical, but hopeful.)
Raed667 7y ago
Sad to see CH fall like Cracked did. Facebook single handedly killed both these very entertaining companies.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
webboynews 7y ago
Wapo still hasn't come to terms with the fact that the 2016 election was wom fair and square? "Democracy dies in darkness". Lol @bozo
emodendroket 7y ago
The speed these behemoths fall is incredible, isn't it?
8bitsrule 7y ago
"You have to learn how to stay in a good mood as you overthrow the sour, puckered hallucination that is mistakenly referred to as reality." - Rob Brezsny
IanDrake 7y ago
PC comedy isn't funny. Who knew?
- mkane848 7y ago
  THAT'S what you gleamed from this article?
Domenic_S 7y ago
CH used to run a facebook competitor called "Campus Hook". I met who would later become my wife there in the early 2000s. Online dating was yet to become mainstream, so we made up a story about how we met lest we look like weirdos. Now that app dating is a thing, we can just tell the story as it happened. Thanks, CH!
- jlodwick 7y ago
  That's amazing! We started Campus Hook in 2002 (I think) but the timing was bad for a few reasons: 1. A few years early in terms of college student adoption of internet 2. A few years later in terms of founders' ages (we were seniors and didn't really care about campus dating anymore) So happy to hear you met on there, and, apparently, are still married! Perhaps it wasn't a failure after all :)
  - Domenic_S 7y ago
    > apparently, are still married! 10 years now, and 2 kids! Thanks so much for building it, in our eyes it wasn't a failure at all :)
tomaszs 7y ago
The situation is already so heavy that one tiny thing can cause a snowball effect. We all know it. Now one knows when but it is happening
pseudofire 7y ago
Good riddence.

310 points by rahuldottech 7y ago

I can not read the source article. But I guess its costs were too high such that if it just distributed it all via YouTube it couldn't make any money?

jannes 7y ago
They are also blaming it on Facebook: > “In order to beat YouTube, Facebook faked incredible viewership numbers, so [CollegeHumor] pivoted to FB,” former CollegeHumor writer Adam Conover presciently tweeted last October. “So did Funny or Die, many others. The result: A once-thriving online comedy industry was decimated."
- ASalazarMX 7y ago
  I don't understand this. Did they abandon Youtube for Facebook? They could have easily managed their followers in Facebook while continuing to upload to Youtube as usual.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    It's not the uploading that's the problem, it's the budget you spend on getting new Facebook likes or YouTube channel subscriptions. Buying Facebook likes looked like a wildly better investment, but that was an illusion.
    - dudus 7y ago
      Since both platform forbid straight up buying likes and subscribers that would be a hard line to argue against any of them.
      - ceejayoz 7y ago
        Uh, what? "About Page likes ads": https://www.facebook.com/business/help/209213872548401 https://www.facebook.com/business/help/209213872548401 > Page likes ads help you reach people who may like your Page. If your goal is to increase awareness of your business, these ads are a way to promote your Page to people who are interested in your content or businesses like yours. "Advertising your channel": https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/ad-promotion https://creatoracademy.youtube.com/page/lesson/ad-promotion > To help drive more views and subscribers to your channel, you can pay to run an ad campaign for your videos on YouTube through Google Ads. You can create an ad that appears before a video starts, or alongside a video on its watch page on YouTube. Both ban purchasing fake followers, but they'll happily take money to put your page/channel in front of potential genuine subscribers.
      - corobo 7y ago
        You're thinking dodgy likes. I think the parent comment is referring to ads https://i.imgsir.com/Bv2k.png https://i.imgsir.com/Bv2k.png
  - irjustin 7y ago
    A large problem is content stealers. They'll post the entire video without attribution. Also Facebook for a very long time didn't do anything to prevent content stealing even with takedown notices there were too many. FB didn't have an automated system. College humour was basically forced to put their entire video just to retain views.
    - blackearl 7y ago
      Comedy Central nearly gave fatjew a show and he only steals
    - blackearl 7y ago
      Not sure why I was flagged, @fatjewish was popular on twitter/ig/etc. and was nearly given a comedy central show until comedians complained that he stole jokes.
  - chc 7y ago
    To my understanding, what Facebook tried to present to online producers was that publishing native video directly on Facebook was insanely lucrative, not just that they should have a Facebook page.
  - amyjess 7y ago
    Before they started posting native video on Facebook, their Facebook page consisted of links to stuff posted on the CollegeHumor website. Fans would share CollegeHumor posts to their own timeline, and their friends would click on the links and go to CollegeHumor's site and partake in the community, and if they liked it enough, they'd bookmark the website and just go there. But with native video, you don't get that. What happens on Facebook stays on Facebook. People who watch a video on Facebook might like the video or even leave a comment, but they won't follow through and go to CollegeHumor's website. When they're done with the video, they'll just continue scrolling through their feed.
    - milesvp 7y ago
      What’s interesting is there’ve been a couple threads recently on HN talking about this with medium. Bloggers who’ve lost a significant amount of self referral traffic by relying on medium for it’s traffic spikes. Seems to be a common pattern unintentionally trading your long tail for initial spike traffic. I’d be surprised if this is ever sustainable.
  - metamet 7y ago
    Robert Evans (from Behind the Bastards podcast) mentioned in one of his episodes what happened at Cracked when FB's falsified lure led to a strong content pivot to FB. This, obviously, didn't pan out according to what was advertised. The way I understand it, management trusted FB more than they should've, overhauling the way they approached content, which resulted in all the eggs being in one dropped basket.
  - smooveCriminal 7y ago
    I believe it's because Facebook seemed more lucrative because they faked viewership numbers: https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-10/hiltzik-facebooks-bogus-video-claims-40-million https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2019-10-10/hiltzik-fa...
- sulkie 7y ago
  Would there be significant disadvantages in using both platforms at the same time? Or does "pivoted to FB" also imply that the content was adjusted to FB audience?
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    Using, no, but at some point there will have been meetings about where to use the marketing budget. "We can buy Facebook likes, or YouTube subscribers." "Engagement's so much better on Facebook, let's buy likes." Facebook's incorrect (dramatically so - as high as 900% inflated) stats made buying a like look way more cost effective, so that's where the budgets went.
  - michaelt 7y ago
    I think "pivoted to FB" means "Instead of putting the videos on our site and posting links to our site on FB, we posted native videos on FB"
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
spamizbad 7y ago
They allegedly fell victim to the whole "pivot to facebook video" craze caused by Facebook misreporting their video engagement figures. Whether some business unit inside Facebook did this intentionally or not, it's a big reason why I think media companies have turned against Facebook as they feel like they got ratfucked.
- tombert 7y ago
  Maybe this has already happened, but wouldn't this be grounds for a lawsuit? If businesses are going bankrupt because of outright lies or negligence on a company's part, I would think you have grounds for damages and class-action lawsuit. I'm speaking out of my butt here, I'm not a lawyer.
  - ceejayoz 7y ago
    They got a tiny slap on the wrist. $40M. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/facebook-pay-40-million-under-proposed-settlement-video-metrics-suit-1245807 https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/facebook-pay-40-mi...
    - tombert 7y ago
      Thanks! This is kind of depressing; I suspect that $40 million is barely a blip in Facebook's advertising budget, so the sad part is that this probably had almost-literally no effect on them. I guess it's not a new thing for corporations to own the world, but it's always sad when I'm reminded of it.
      - caseysoftware 7y ago
        To put that in perspective.. In Q3 2019, Facebook had nearly $18B in revenue. Therefore, $40M is about 5 hours of their revenue.
        spamizbad 7y ago
        Crazy. That would be like an average American household getting fined $150 (63000/40/52)... so a speeding ticket basically.
paulcole 7y ago
> I can not read the source article. Then don't comment? It's Hacker News not Hacker Speculation.

neonate 7y ago

https://outline.com/eBzkmT https://outline.com/eBzkmT

sitkack 7y ago

CollegeHumor had same damn well written, well produced comedic satire. I hope all of their material is archived. One thing to watch out for is if this posted under their Geuite account to YouTube, when the gsuite bill isn’t paid, all the YouTube videos will get deleted, leaving a cultural hole. Of all the Google crimes, this one is accidental but the most damaging to society.

echelon 7y ago
YouTube deletes videos attached to corporate accounts if their bills go unpaid? Have they done this in the past?
- sitkack 7y ago
  All of the Ricon talks by Basho have been lost to the sands of time for this very reason.
dmos62 7y ago
> the most damaging to society While I agree that content archival is important, I would strongly argue that lost content is not on the same level as for example anti-competitive practices, even in terms of cultural impact.
- badrequest 7y ago
  Especially not CollegeHumor content, most of which was scattershot hope-something-goes-viral bro humor.
  - madamelic 7y ago
    I disagree strongly. Maybe some of their skits had bro humor but it always seemed like either generic humor or geek centric than anything.
    - z3phyr 7y ago

antidaily 7y ago

NOT ace.

awillen 7y ago

I remember when CH was just a site where people uploaded funny pics, and once in a while they had a well-written article. How far they came - sad to see them shut down.

_the_inflator 7y ago
Yes, was one of the sites I bookmarked back then.

echelon 7y ago

CollegeHumor is blaming this on Facebook for faking viewership numbers. This isn't the first time Facebook killed culture, and it won't be the last. We really need to de-platform or find a way Facebook can't steal value.

Zhyl 7y ago
Some content creators are already doing this. I'm seeing more spinning up their own newsletters or RSS feeds, patreons, direct donations, subscriptions services (or completely independent platforms). There is an awareness of the dangers of putting your eggs in one basket, let alone the dangers of putting them in a basket as opaque and uncertain as Facebook. CollegeHumor had a lot of hits and spawned some genuine talent that is now earning money on its own merits (Jake and Amir, Adam Conover) but overall the content was not consistent enough to have an overall draw that was worth subscribing to.
- ConsiderCrying 7y ago
  The problem with Patreon is that it's also getting quite bad for content creators (at least there were a lot of complaints about half a year ago) with the cut they take, the money transfers, and the fact that they've tried to ban adult content creators. It would have been fine if this was all stated/implemented right away but, much like many other platforms, they're doing this at a slow creep. There are alternatives but they're coming up against a well-known name and stifling competition, same problem as with Facebook, just on a smaller scale.
  - bordercases 7y ago
    Does this make an argument for crypto?
    - bpt3 7y ago
      No, it does not in my opinion. What problem described above would crypto solve?

yincrash 7y ago

This is a misleading title based on even the article. CH still has an owner (Sam Reich) and still has content that they are still airing (D20 with the McElroy family among other things) through Dropout. Basically they went to being an externally funded company to turning into a startup that has to bootstrap, but still has an entire video subscription streaming infrastructure built out with Dropout and some content to stay afloat.

yoz-y 7y ago

Why does the article start with a false premise that "internet used to be fun" and "bygone era". Come on, if you don't want to follow Twitter drama just go to some other place. Ugh.

echelon 7y ago
It's not a false premise for many of us. I miss the indie internet, before big corps and big tech started taking over. I miss IRC and forums and personal websites. I miss the time when Digg was new and hadn't taken over, and memes weren't the most upvoted content. When websites weren't all Javascript and Google wasn't Yahoo. MySpace and LiveJournal and Xanga were never as sterile as Facebook and Instagram. The internet that appealed to the Technorati got put on dopamine-fueled monetization rails and turned into a bulk commodity that maximizes engagement over the population.
- xamuel 7y ago
  When I was growing up, I played on MUD games, which were text-based massively multiplayer games 100% free to play, with no ads or any other kind of monetization, with full staffs of admins, programmers (!!), level designers, and moderators, all 100% volunteers. Reading that now, it sounds like I'm describing some kind of crazy sci-fi utopia that couldn't even get published because it's too unbelievable.
  - yayajacky 7y ago
    Wonderful experiences still exist (for many transformative), they just have less reach than corporate cash cows unfortunately
  - blobbers 7y ago
    It really does sound like a utopia. I was part of that community as well. Perhaps when things are small and the people can relate to most of the people directly, they're able to act in a more altruistic manner. When we explore this thought experiment further, it has pretty bad consequences for politicians at a national or global stage.

40four 7y ago

Unrelated... but on the Washington Post I clicked through to the page that sells subscriptions, only to find that they hijack you back button and do not allow you to go back in your browser history. What a joke. Makes me want to never visit their site again. That is unacceptable.

MisterTea 7y ago
The bigger joke is a web page can hijack your browser.
- 3xblah 7y ago
  This joke must be too highbrow because no one seems to get it. https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020 https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020
  - rs23296008n1 7y ago
    Wow. I didn't know even half that list. Excellent for usability and, unfortunately, more fingerprinting. I'm hoping all of these are covered by existing whitelisting/blacklisting.
  - satvikpendem 7y ago
    The browser becomes the VM for all apps.
  - gknoy 7y ago
    "Web coffee protocol" -- I'll admit, this one surprised me.
    - 40four 7y ago
      LOL you got me :p
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
7y ago

unwiredben 7y ago

Title isn't completely accurate - WP article says that the site was sold to Sam Reich, one of their execs, and some servicess will continue for a while as he works on retooling the site.

_sbrk 7y ago

Another paywall URL

sirzarmo 7y ago

When Jake and Amir was canceled I was quite disappointed, When they made an awful soulless return in the form of an anti-trump video, my fury was immense. they held out for quite a while making original content and as of recently once in a blue moon they made something interesting but the company became very corporate, and their main product was incompatible with that, compatibility is a feat I think only Adult Swim can manage today...

skinnymuch 7y ago
Really? You’re just butthurt over the Trump Jake and Amir video? It wasn’t even that bit of a deal. It was also mocking people in general as much as Trump.

ErikAugust 7y ago

CollegeHumor did not shut down, from the article itself: “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.” Dropout, its streaming service, will continue for at least the next six months while it churns out content already slated for release, Reich said. The future of CollegeHumor itself, and other humor sites run by the company, are less certain. “In these six months, I hope to be able to save Dropout, CollegeHumor, Drawfee, Dorkly, and many of our shows,” Reich said. “Some will need to take on bold new creative directions in order to survive.” The CH Media staff contracted from more than 100 to between five and 10 employees, according to Bloomberg News.

Waterluvian 7y ago
I don't follow. How is that not "shutting down"? It's contracted to life support in order to empty the existing pipeline to minimize losses. Maybe this is a Ship of Theseus kind of thing. They get rid of almost all employees, empty the pipeline, and then retool. What's left of College Humor?
- badloginagain 7y ago
  I take "shut down" as an immediate stop to all services. Domain doesn't resolve, etc.
  - kohtatsu 7y ago
    I think that's kind of a cynical take on what shutdowns can look like.
  - kozhevnikov 7y ago
    That's "terminated". This is "sunsetting".
  - redisman 7y ago

deleted 7y ago

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lgleason 7y ago

The did a great parody of many startup pitches that I've heard over the years. Hopefully they can save it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LMmdl4VltD4

brianbreslin 7y ago

Wasn't Vimeo a byproduct of CollegeHumor or am I mixing up my 2000-2005 internet history?

chx 7y ago
Jake Lodwick co-created Vimeo while working as the inital web developer for CollegeHumor.
agotterer 7y ago
Connected Ventures, the company that owned CollegeHumor and Bustedtees was acquired by IAC. At the time Vimeo was a side project of Jake Lodwick and was part of the Connected Ventures business, but it wasn't making any money and didn't impact the IAC acquisition price. Long story short, Vimeo's cost to operate became very expensive and started to impact Connected Ventures core business (CollegeHumor and Bustedtees). So Vimeo was spun out of Connected Ventures and made its own division in IAC.

jedberg 7y ago

Presumably Sam now owns the rights to all the content. He could shop it around to Netflix/Hulu/Amazon. I’ll bet one of them would pick it up and maybe even give him a budget to hire some of the writers back and make new content again.

geddy 7y ago
Putting it all behind yet another walled garden? Before you know it, 90% of the internet will be gated behind paywalls or signups.
- jedberg 7y ago
  Seems like a better business model than ads. And Netflix is worldwide. So really it’s a question of do you want to pay for the content with money or with your personal data.
- shadowgovt 7y ago
  The previous business model was ad-revenue supported. That business model screwed them. It's up to the new owner, but I don't expect him to take that risk a second time if the risk model for a better walled garden looks lower.
- ceejayoz 7y ago
  > Before you know it, 90% of the internet will be gated behind paywalls or signups. I'll take that over "gone".
- ViViDboarder 7y ago
  As far as I can tell, for a business online the options are ads, crypto mining, or a paywall.
- jedimastert 7y ago
  Is there an alternative between this and ads?
nerevarthelame 7y ago
Their parent company, IAC, has been trying to sell CH for months now. I'm sure they tried shopping around Netflix/Hulu/Amazon. I'm skeptical that Sam on his own will be able to accomplish a more desirable deal than what IAC would've been able to get. (Skeptical, but hopeful.)

Raed667 7y ago

Sad to see CH fall like Cracked did. Facebook single handedly killed both these very entertaining companies.

deleted 7y ago

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webboynews 7y ago

Wapo still hasn't come to terms with the fact that the 2016 election was wom fair and square? "Democracy dies in darkness". Lol @bozo

emodendroket 7y ago

The speed these behemoths fall is incredible, isn't it?

8bitsrule 7y ago

"You have to learn how to stay in a good mood as you overthrow the sour, puckered hallucination that is mistakenly referred to as reality." - Rob Brezsny

IanDrake 7y ago

PC comedy isn't funny. Who knew?

mkane848 7y ago
THAT'S what you gleamed from this article?

Domenic_S 7y ago

CH used to run a facebook competitor called "Campus Hook". I met who would later become my wife there in the early 2000s. Online dating was yet to become mainstream, so we made up a story about how we met lest we look like weirdos. Now that app dating is a thing, we can just tell the story as it happened. Thanks, CH!

jlodwick 7y ago
That's amazing! We started Campus Hook in 2002 (I think) but the timing was bad for a few reasons: 1. A few years early in terms of college student adoption of internet 2. A few years later in terms of founders' ages (we were seniors and didn't really care about campus dating anymore) So happy to hear you met on there, and, apparently, are still married! Perhaps it wasn't a failure after all :)
- Domenic_S 7y ago
  > apparently, are still married! 10 years now, and 2 kids! Thanks so much for building it, in our eyes it wasn't a failure at all :)

tomaszs 7y ago

The situation is already so heavy that one tiny thing can cause a snowball effect. We all know it. Now one knows when but it is happening

pseudofire 7y ago

Good riddence.