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College Humor Sold: Almost all employees laid off, including Dropout, Drawfee, and Dorkly

Ultron

Ultron

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
2,765
As part of the deal, the unit will restructure and lay off 100 employees in New York and Los Angeles, leaving the business with around five to 10 people, said the person, who asked to not be identified because the information is private.

"IAC, our parent company, has made the difficult decision to no longer finance us," Reich said in a statement provided to fans and Bloomberg. "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."

The once high-flying comedy brand, best known for its edgy sketches and satire, is the latest victim of a fast-changing digital media landscape. Sites that rely on video have struggled to get enough advertising revenue, and streaming services such as Netflix Inc. have pushed deeper into comedy in recent years.
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This really bums me out. Drawfee in particular has been a constant source of entertainment for me for the last year or so, the main CH feed can still puts out some fun stuff, and I've been really interested in getting into watching their D&D Dimension 20 show, but now there won't be any more of that it sure sounds like.

I'll admit, now I feel kind of bad about never subscribing to Dropout, because I do genuinely get a good chunk of enjoyment from their stuff.
 

Deleted member 7148

Oct 25, 2017
6,827
I know someone who works for Dorkly and just got laid off. Sucks to hear.
 

Raccoon

Member
May 31, 2019
15,896
Interesting. I felt like CH was going downhill when I was fifteen five years ago
 

Deleted member 2229

User requested account closure
Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,740
Damn, i love Drawfee. Hope all the people there are doing okay and that their Patreon can support them
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,051
Between shit like this and deadspin, why haven't more people done CO-OPs?
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Man that sucks. Another comedy icon dead in the wake of big tech.


Raccoon said:
Interesting. I felt like CH was going downhill when I was fifteen five years ago
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I imagine that due to them having to pump out way more content thanks to how YouTube ads have changed over the past decade plus the damage Facebook video did to them.
 
Akela

Akela

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,849
Really bizarre. I can't imagine their IPs are worth much, seeing as that's all they're getting. Did they buy the company just for the name?
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,634




I wasn't planning on unsubbing from Dropout but now I for sure won't. CollegeHumor is honestly some of the funniest stuff online these days.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,634
Parthenios

Parthenios

The Fallen
Oct 28, 2017
13,605
They seem to be pretty open about how awful YouTube is (compared to their old site) as a platform for what they do.

"Content aggregators" like Facebook and YouTube are super profitable now, pulling in what were once independent sites without the overhead of producing it themselves, but what happens when those all shutter?
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,051
Kalentan said:
Their new stuff is better than their old stuff. A lot of the old stuff hasn't aged well.



CollegeHumor going to that route would probably result in the last of those there leaving. They're very much a left-leaning humor group.
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How many times have we seen something brought, and turned into something that drove it's fans away?
 
Slayven

Slayven

Never read a comic in his life
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
93,051
Parthenios said:
They seem to be pretty open about how awful YouTube is (compared to their old site) as a platform for what they do.

"Content aggregators" like Facebook and YouTube are super profitable now, pulling in what were once independent sites without the overhead of producing it themselves, but what happens when those all shutter?
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Didn't that happen with maxhima or something
 
Tuck

Tuck

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,581
Damn, college humor put out some great content and even though recent cast additions haven't been as good as a few people who have left, it's still was a ton of fun.
 
MDSVeritas

MDSVeritas

Gameplay Programmer, Sony Santa Monica
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
1,026
Slayven said:
How many times have we seen something brought, and turned into something that drove it's fans away?
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But isn't the company being sold to it's current chief creative officer? Seems like a different scenario than the usual purchase by a separate media group, hopefully one that is less likely to cause a major shift in direction. Though obviously it remains to be seen how things shake out.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,634
Slayven said:
Point still stands, gutting a company does not usually lead to good things
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True. But assuming that a group of people who are all left-leaning would suddenly jump on the alt-right bandwagon that they've spents the last years making fun of is kind of fear mongering? Like Sam Reich would know that it would result in those still there to leave, when those people are the only chance they have at future success.
 
Cat Dad

Cat Dad

Member
Oct 25, 2017
510
How much is dropout's subscription fee again? And do they currently still have access to their own content that they produced?
 
Kthulhu

Kthulhu

Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,670
Parthenios said:
They seem to be pretty open about how awful YouTube is (compared to their old site) as a platform for what they do.

"Content aggregators" like Facebook and YouTube are super profitable now, pulling in what were once independent sites without the overhead of producing it themselves, but what happens when those all shutter?
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A massive transfer of wealth from middle class creators to Alphabet's and Facebook's shareholders.
 
TheMango55

TheMango55

Banned
Nov 1, 2017
5,788
Damn, I remember reading about how Facebook nearly killed Collegehumor and Funny or Die by lying about their viewership numbers, getting them to prioritize Facebook over YouTube and their own websites when it wasn't nearly as profitable as they were led to believe. neither really fully recovered.
 
Cat Dad

Cat Dad

Member
Oct 25, 2017
510
Enduin and Kalentan thank you both for your replies. That price is very reasonable and all the skits they've posted on YouTube make them worth a shot in my eyes.
 
MadLaughter

MadLaughter

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
13,092
Brennan Lee Mulligan was the DM for the San Diego Comic-Con Adventure Zone last year. He was incredible, I hope he lands on his feet.
 
Enduin

Enduin

You look 40
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,470
New York
Cat Dad said:
Enduin and Kalentan thank you both for your replies. That price is very reasonable and all the skits they've posted on YouTube make them worth a shot in my eyes.
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Definitely check out Dimension 20. Fantasy High and The Unsleeping City are a good several dozen hours of pure entertainment and fun.

I really hope D20 survives and continues on with this transition.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,634
From what I could find at least, Grant and Katie did confirm to have been part of the lay offs. :(
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,634
Fuck. So it does seem like all the big cast members were part of the layoffs.



Can someone buy CollegeHumor that will actually do good by it and then rehire everyone? :(
 
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