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Adam Conover reveals how Facebook ruined Collegehumor financially

Nightbird

Nightbird

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Oct 27, 2017
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The context of those tweets is the following:


On Friday, several advertising agencies revealed the details of a proposed settlement with Facebook that would end a class action alleging the social media giant overstated the average time its users spent watching video.

According to a brief in support of the settlement, Facebook would pay $40 million to resolve claims. Much of that would go to those who purchased ad time in videos, though $12 million — or 30 percent of the settlement fund — is earmarked for plaintiffs' attorneys.

The suit accused Facebook of acknowledging miscalculations in metrics upon press reports, but still not taking responsibility for the breadth of the problem. "The average viewership metrics were not inflated by only 60%-80%; they were inflated by some 150 to 900%," stated an amended complaint.
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Source: Hollywoodreporter


TL:DR: Comedysites like Collegehumor and Funny or Die made most of their money trough their own websites where they themselves could dictate who advertises and also collect 100% of the ad revenue. Youtube was only a tool to bring people to their website.

However, once they started advertising on Facebook, their numbers over there exploded, which lead them to pay less attention to YouTube and more to Facebook. What they didn't knew was that Facebook massively inflated those numbers compared to the actual number of people watching.
And since you can't monetize on Facebook but instead have to pay for getting more fans, traffic on their website fell off a cliff and with it ad rates, video budgets and I would guess overall revenue/profit as well.


So if you are one of the people asking why Collegehumor became bad, you now know who played a major role in this.
 
Akira86

Akira86

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Oct 25, 2017
19,594
Like, who would believe a billion dollar company would lie about their numbers to make money?
ad company actually made up their statistics and in the end hurt their clients, and they're still on top.
 
Border

Border

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
14,859
Not to excuse Facebook, but it seems like all the independent video sites were going to have to have a nasty reckoning once everyone's attention inevitably shifted to Facebook and YouTube. Their downfall was probably inevitable whether or not FB falsified viewing statistics.

I wonder if this is why Cracked seems to have tanked as well?
 
NineConsonants

NineConsonants

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
5,210
Seems pretty obvious to me that viewing metrics on FB's newsfeed aren't as valuable as YouTube views. Newsfeed is throwing stuff at you that you can scroll by after a brief viewing of the video.

Was Facebook counting being exposed to the video on Newsfeed as a whole viewing or something?
 
Frankie Williamson

Frankie Williamson

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Nov 2, 2017
3,020
Man, if you see some of the stuff on Dropout, they did not become bad. In particular Brennan Lee Mulligan might be one of the most talented comedians out there. He's always fucking phenomenal.
 
molnizzle

molnizzle

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
17,695
The old model of viewers going to your specific site to watch videos was never going to survive through the YouTube era.

Don't get me wrong, fuck Facebook. But these business models were going to have to change one way or another.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

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Oct 25, 2017
44,721
But CollegeHumor didn't become bad. If anything their newer stuff is better then their older stuff. A lot of their older stuff hasn't aged... great.
 
Stat

Stat

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Oct 25, 2017
5,171
It's funny. I was on the collegehumour YouTube page today and realized they have no home page. Used to love their videos back in the day and while the cast is decent now, it's definitely different. Werent they in New York for a bit but then moved to LA?
 
OP
OP
Nightbird

Nightbird

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Oct 27, 2017
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Guys, I myself don't think Collegehumor is bad, I still love their stuff, but I've seen the notion that "Collegehumor lost their touch" often enough that I felt like I should adress that.
 
Stat

Stat

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,171
molnizzle said:
The old model of viewers going to your specific site to watch videos was never going to survive through the YouTube era.

Don't get me wrong, fuck Facebook. But these business models were going to have to change one way or another.
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Definitely agree. If the world was right, we'd have independent sites and then YouTube being only for the little man, but individual sites were never going to last with YouTube
 
RiOrius

RiOrius

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Oct 27, 2017
6,085
Glad to see Brennan getting the love he deserves.

Anyone have some old school CH links to know what they used to be like? Curious to see what it was like before this went down. My current impression of CH is driven by their new stuff.
 
OP
OP
Nightbird

Nightbird

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Oct 27, 2017
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molnizzle said:
The old model of viewers going to your specific site to watch videos was never going to survive through the YouTube era.

Don't get me wrong, fuck Facebook. But these business models were going to have to change one way or another.
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You're right and he addresses that in the final tweet I quoted.

But I feel like they would have found a better solution if they had stickied to YouTube.
 
TheGreatDirector

TheGreatDirector

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Oct 26, 2017
11,045
Kalentan said:
But CollegeHumor didn't become bad. If anything their newer stuff is better then their older stuff. A lot of their older stuff hasn't aged... great.
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That's not what this is about. CH began natively posting their videos on Facebook, a site where you can't monetize videos. Their viewership numbers on FB were falsily inflated and their traffic to the actual site died down resulting in lower ad rates and less money flow.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

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Oct 25, 2017
44,721
TheGreatDirector said:
That's not what this is about. CH began natively posting their videos on Facebook, a site where you can't monetize videos. Their viewership numbers on FB were falsily inflated and their traffic to the actual site died down resulting in lower ad rates and less money flow.
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Oh yeah. Sorry, I was just responding to the last part of the OP. Though the OP them self has already clarified that they were just saying what others sometime say.

The FB stuff is all kind of fucked though at this point not shocking.
 
Ronin0510

Ronin0510

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Oct 27, 2017
499
I am very ignorant of the YouTube business but I thought YouTube paid for high traffic vids. So, even if YouTube would have taken over they would still have had a good source of revenue?

Edit: typos
 

Deleted member 16365

User requested account closure
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Oct 27, 2017
4,127
Facebook's standard for what is a video view is all fucked up. If more than half of the video is on your screen for 2 seconds the brand is charged. Think of how people scroll... It's possible to cost money to a company for their ad and have no idea of what was on the top or bottom of your screen.

FB doesn't care because the brands are paying for that, and the brands don't care because they feel it's worth the cost if people are seeing their products. The fact that FB lied is a BIG issue and should be yet another reason why people should stop using the site.
 
Maximus

Maximus

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Oct 27, 2017
3,586
I didn't know Collegehumor died but I guess I haven't really seen any content from them in ages.
 
Hella

Hella

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Oct 27, 2017
23,410
Ronin0510 said:
I am very ignorant of the YouTube business but I thought YouTube paid for high traffic vids. So, even if YouTube would have taken over they would still have had a good source of revenue?

Edit: typos
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My armchair analysis is that, without Facebook, companies would be basing their decisions on actual metrics rather than the fiction Facebook is manufacturing.
 
mreddie

mreddie

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Oct 26, 2017
44,220
So basically, putting videos on Facebook means the only people getting money is Facebook.
 
Kalentan

Kalentan

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Oct 25, 2017
44,721
Maximus said:
I didn't know Collegehumor died but I guess I haven't really seen any content from them in ages.
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Didn't die thought not as popular as it used to be. Still, they put out a lot of good content, arguably better then what they did before.

At least I feel far more socially and politically aware then they used to be.
 
Ronin0510

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Oct 27, 2017
499
Hella said:
My armchair analysis is that, without Facebook, companies would be basing their decisions on actual metrics rather than the fiction Facebook is manufacturing.
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True. I won't be upset to see FB shut down. I deleted my account earlier this year. I am so glad I did. Hopefully this is another step towards FB folding for real.
 

jdmc13

Member
Mar 14, 2019
2,898
Maximus said:
I didn't know Collegehumor died but I guess I haven't really seen any content from them in ages.
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They aren't dead. There has definitely been a changing of the guard though from the older days. However, some of the new content is REALLY good. Anything with Brennan is basically gold.
 

finfinfin

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Jul 26, 2018
1,371
molnizzle said:
The old model of viewers going to your specific site to watch videos was never going to survive through the YouTube era.

Don't get me wrong, fuck Facebook. But these business models were going to have to change one way or another.
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I feel like they may have been able to transition gracefully and find a way to continue succeeding if they'd been doing so in response to what was really happening, rather than Zuckerberg's lies.
 
jvalioli

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Oct 27, 2017
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Ronin0510 said:
I am very ignorant of the YouTube business but I thought YouTube paid for high traffic vids. So, even if YouTube would have taken over they would still have had a good source of revenue?

Edit: typos
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Basically yes, but they (CH) would be making a smaller percentage on each view (but possibly gaining more total views). The FB model makes sense (ignoring the false views) if you are just promoting something (like a movie trailer) but would fuck anyone that is like a traditional YouTuber or CH.
 
snail_maze

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Oct 27, 2017
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When you notice that ad revenue is plummeting wouldn't you just stop posting on fb and go back to your site/youtube? I can't imagine a business trying out a new distribution channel without monitoring it and being ready to pull the plug again
 
Ronin0510

Ronin0510

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Oct 27, 2017
499
I
jvalioli said:
Basically yes, but they (CH) would be making a smaller percentage on each view (but possibly gaining more total views). The FB model makes sense (ignoring the false views) if you are just promoting something (like a movie trailer) but would fuck anyone that is like a traditional YouTuber or CH.
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I understand a little better now. I was just questioning the argument of "it would of been YouTube if not FB." It seems to me it would have been a fairer or maybe a better outcome than the reality of what has happened.
 
PHOENIXZERO

PHOENIXZERO

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Oct 29, 2017
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I remember some time back I pointed someone I'm kind of acquainted with to a copy of their video on Facebook that had a enormous number of views compared to the original version on Youtube, I just thought they were from people skimming feeds and it auto playing and registering as a view even if they didn't actually watch it.
 
jvalioli

jvalioli

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Oct 27, 2017
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Ronin0510 said:
I

I understand a little better now. I was just questioning the argument of "it would of been YouTube if not FB." It seems to me it would have been a fairer or maybe a better outcome than the reality of what has happened.
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It would have been better than what happened to them.

It probably would have still killed their site, but that is not necessarily a bad thing since it aves them from having to manage their own bandwidth, player, transcoding, browser compatibility, etc.
 
Border

Border

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Oct 25, 2017
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If it is impossible to monetize videos on Facebook, why did everyone suddenly decide "Hey, let's switch to Facebook!" ??
 
Joni

Joni

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Oct 27, 2017
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It doesn't seem smart in the first place to switch to a platform that doesn't give you money. That is the stupid call regardless of the inflated views.
 

Deleted member 43084

Banned
May 9, 2018
3,600
Since analyzing Facebook metrics is a part of my actual day job, here's a few comments:
  • Nowadays, Facebook's metrics for video are pretty granular so you can see where exactly the video traffic is coming from. It's better than it was in ~2014 when FB video first launched.
  • Videos on Facebook pages can be directly monetized under certain conditions. (Unsure if that's what CH did, or if they just used videos as a plug for the site.)
  • The "pivot to video" problem is the industry was a chicken-and-egg problem; setting up content distribution for video has a high fixed cost, which was not recouped by the video strategy.
  • Ad revenue and video views are both fickle; you need months of data to evaulate trends. Which just increases the initial investment needed to determine if it's a worthwhile endeavor.
 
Garlic

Garlic

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Oct 28, 2017
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Facebook and Google are slowly strangling the independent internet by redirecting all ad revenue to themselves rather that it going to the websites that generate content. That's why you see just constant stories about layoffs and websites shuttering
 
GameAddict411

GameAddict411

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Oct 26, 2017
8,525
I actually stopped watching college humor that year or so. The quality of their videos took a huge dive when they started their new website. I much preferred the low fi funny videos they used to make a few years ago.
 
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