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Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

nytimes.com

11–20 of 311 posts

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#12

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

According to the new buyer, he is letting the writers do what they want (more freedom), so I assume they were increasingly tamped down on

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#15

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They had amazingly high production values on classics like "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA and "Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ I wonder why they stopped.

I assume video content is much more expensive

They may also have been victimized by the scandal where Facebook was lying about the engagement that short-form videos generated over other kinds of content, leading several content producers into bankruptcy or near bankruptcy through loss of ad revenue when they pivoted towards it.

https://slate.com/technology/2018/10/facebook-online-video-p...

https://www.ccn.com/facebook-lied-about-video-metrics/

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#16

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They had amazingly high production values on classics like "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA and "Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ I wonder why they stopped.

HP Offers 'That Cloud Thing Everyone Is Talking About' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ntPxdWAWq8

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#17

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They were great when they weren't shackled

'Little Boy Heroically Shoots, Mutilates Burglar'

'Black Man given Nation's worst job' (After Obama won)

I've never laughed so hard at headlines

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#19

The Onion was great back when their Youtube channel created real videos. Now it's a mild chuckle every few months

They had amazingly high production values on classics like "Apple Introduces Revolutionary New Laptop With No Keyboard" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BnLbv6QYcA and "Sony Releases Stupid Piece Of Shit That Doesn't Fucking Work" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AyVh1_vWYQ I wonder why they stopped.

From what I gather, they invested in Onion News Network for IFC, and when that got canceled relatively quickly, they didn't risk online-only distribution. Maybe 2011 was too early to pivot to video? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onion_News_Network

My favorite bit, still stuck in my head whenever I see politicians from both parties rush to the scene of a protest or whatever, is "New Live Poll Lets Pundits Pander To Viewers In Real Time": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFpK_r-jEXg

Re: Jeff Lawson buys The Onion

#20
Missing from the Internet is "The Onion Guide to Actual Reality", a Flash based interactive feature from the 90s. It was brilliant and prescient like all good Onion features but it may never be ported to Ruffle or whatever else can render that content. Maybe Global Tetrahedron will invest in preserving some of that history.

Also, le boy picked up my copy of Our Dumb Century and read it cover to cover a few years ago. I was pleased.

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