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CollegeHumor shuts down

washingtonpost.com

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Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#121

Post by milesvp »

amyjess wrote: post #22
ASalazarMX wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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. W…

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.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#122

Post by _ea1k »

maemilius wrote: post #67
_ea1k wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does it really matter? Why switch just for view numbers without a revenue model?

View numbers were the revenue model. Eyeballs make money for advertisers. The more eyeballs, the more money.

If they were selling ads themselves that might make sense. But since they were planning to rely on the platform for ad revenue, I'd think they'd want to know others revenue experiences first.

Ad revenue and eyeballs don't correlate well across different platforms, as some are better at selling ads than others.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#123

Post by HeroOfAges »

shawabawa3 wrote: post #79
synlatexc wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

FB's measure of views was dubious (3 seconds, even if the audio was off). So the #s looked great for them, but in reality the majority of views were just glimpses as people scrolled through their news feed.

I don't understand why publishers moved everything wholesale onto Facebook without doing some research Why not put up a few videos and compare ad revenue? When it didn't add up they could just move back...

When you can objectively measure results, you'll often find that the people making decisions in an organization aren't as competent as they seem. It's a bitter pill to swallow when you realize that most of the people you have to take orders from didn't get to where they are through intelligence, hard work and character.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#124

Post by jtaillon »

ErikAugust wrote: post #61

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.” Dr…

CH is passed on! CH is no more! CH has ceased to be! CH has expired and gone to meet 'is maker!

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#125

Post by ohithereyou »

ConsiderCrying wrote: post #50
Zhyl wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 tale…

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…

Cash in the mail will always be king.

(Not literal cash in most cases - postal money order or personal check. Most banks will cut and mail a paper check as part of online bill pay for free. The unbanked and anyonmous can send cash.)

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#126

Post by vkou »

shadowgovt wrote: post #109
ceejayoz wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some of the revenue will have been CH directly selling ads (sponsorships, product placement, etc.) based on those inflated viewership counts.

... and that's the meta-story. "Ad-supported business models are fragile."

Do you have a better business model that has been proven to work for monetizing the kind of content CH made?

People won't pay for a subscription for that, people won't donate enough to keep the business afloat, and people don't actually want to use attention tokens/microtransactions.

A lot of people claimed that these alternatives work, but I've yet to see a business prove that they actually work.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#127

Post by dave5104 »

macspoofing wrote: post #94
neaden wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's ridiculous. If someone commits fraud and you believe them that is their fault, not yours for being a victim.

I'm not saying you don't hold FB responsible for lying. If they made false promises they should be sued and the courts should make a proper judgement. Having said that, if you're CollegeHumor, what you can't do is abrogate responsibility for your business decisions, one of which is risking your entire business on an unproven video platform based on the promises of FB salespeople. You still have a responsibility to va…

Facebook was found responsible for lying. They were sued, and the courts did make a judgment--not sure if it was exactly proper or not. They simply paid a $40m fine.

https://fortune.com/2019/10/07/facebook-lawsuit-settlement-i...

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#128

Post by sct202 »

Waterluvian wrote: post #91
ErikAugust wrote: post #61

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.” Dr…

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?

Yeah with that kind of RIF, they're basically setting themselves up to be purchased for branding/existing content.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#129

Post by Groxx »

vkou wrote: post #126
shadowgovt wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... and that's the meta-story. "Ad-supported business models are fragile."

Do you have a better business model that has been proven to work for monetizing the kind of content CH made? People won't pay for a subscription for that, people won't donate enough to keep the business afloat, and people don't actually want to use attention tokens/microtransactions. A lot of people claimed that these alternatives work, but I've yet to see a business prove that they actually work.

Dropout, the CH thing that will keep running for 6 months or more despite all this, is subscription-based.

Re: CollegeHumor shuts down

#130

Post by gknoy »

3xblah wrote: post #54
MisterTea wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The bigger joke is a web page can hijack your browser.

This joke must be too highbrow because no one seems to get it. https://github.com/luruke/browser-2020

"Web coffee protocol" -- I'll admit, this one surprised me.
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