Giphy

Giphy, styled as GIPHY, is an American online database and search engine that allows users to search for and share short looping videos with no sound, that resemble animated GIF files. On 15 May 2020, Giphy was acquired by Facebook for a reported $400 million.[3]

Giphy, Inc.
Type of site
Subsidiary
Available in32[1] languages
Founded2013 (2013)
HeadquartersNew York, USA
Los Angeles, USA
Founder(s)Jace Cooke
Alex Chung
ProductsGIF Platform
ServicesSearching, sharing, and browsing animated GIFs
ParentFacebook, Inc.
URLwww.giphy.com
Alexa rank 392 (Global, October 2019)[2]
RegistrationOptional
Current statusActive
Native client(s) onAndroid, iOS, Web browser

History

Beginnings and early history
Co-founder Alex Chung at South by Southwest 2016

Giphy was founded by Alex Chung and Jace Cooke in February 2013.[4][5][6] The idea for the business came when the pair was having breakfast, musing on the rising trend of purely visual communication.[4]

When Chung and Cooke first launched Giphy, the website functioned solely as a search engine for GIFs. According to Chung, Giphy attracted around a million users during its first week and the figure leveled out to 300,000.[7]

Giphy features what its founders called as "conversational search" wherein contents are brought to users' conversations through a search box found in their messaging applications.[8]

Growth

In August 2013, Giphy expanded beyond a search engine to allow users to post, embed and share GIFs on Facebook.[9][10][11] Giphy was then recognized as a Top 100 Website of 2013, according to PC Magazine.[12] Three months later Giphy integrated with Twitter to enable users to share GIFs by simply sharing a GIF's URL.[13]

In May 2014, Giphy raised $2.4 million in a Series A funding round from investors, including Quire, CAA Ventures, RRE Ventures, Lerer Hippeau Ventures, and Betaworks.[14][15]

In January 2015, Giphy received another $17 million in a Series B funding round led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, with participation from General Catalyst and former investors.[15] In addition, Giphy raised a large portion of the Series B round via Alphaworks’s equity crowdfunding platform.[16]

In March 2015, Giphy acquired Nutmeg, a GIF messaging service, as one of the company's first major steps towards the mobile industry.[17] This coincided with the launch of Facebook Messenger's own development platform, in which Giphy joined a few exclusive apps in its debut.[17]

In August 2015, Giphy launched its second mobile app, GIPHY Cam, which allows users to create and share GIFs on a social network.[18]

In February 2016, Giphy raised $55 million in funding at a $300 million valuation.[19]

In October 2016, Giphy announced several statistics, including the statement that it had 100 million daily active users, that it served over 1 billion GIFs per day, and that visitors watched more than 2 million hours of GIF content every day.[20][21]

In July 2017, Giphy announced that it had 200 million daily active users between both the API and website, with around 250 million monthly active users on the website.[22]

Chung announced in a February 2019 New York event that Giphy was exploring an advertising scheme that is distinguished from the Google model, which shows ads according to users' search histories.[23] The idea is to embed advertising in private messages. Giphy is seeking to take advantage of this landscape since the GIG database has been integrated into most messaging services.[23]

Acquisition by Facebook

In May 2020, it was announced that Giphy would be purchased by Facebook and integrated into Instagram. The reported purchase price was $400 million.[24][25]

Partnerships

Giphy partners with brands to host GIFs that can be shared as marketing promotions via social media channels. Giphy also has a parent company called Facebook [26] The company also created artist profiles on the website, which allow GIFs to be attributed to the artist(s) who created them.[27]

In September 2014, Giphy partnered with Line to host the inaugural sticker design competition. LINE and GIPHY enlisted a team of digital partners, including Tumblr, Fox ADHD, Frederator, Cut & Paste, New Museum, Eyebeam, Rhizome, The Webby Awards, Pratt, The Huffington Post and Dribbble to support the event.[28]

In August 2015, Universal Studios partnered with Giphy to release six GIFs promoting the new N.W.A-based movie, Straight Outta Compton.[29][30]

Giphy has partnered with over 200 companies and brands to host all their existing content on their own branded channel. Giphy's partners include Disney, Calvin Klein, GE, and Pepsi.[31][32][33]

gollark: Can you hygroscopically go out?
gollark: Can you foolishly go out?
gollark: Can you logically go out?
gollark: Can you capitalistically go out?
gollark: Can you invertedly go out?

References
  1. "GIPHY Developers". developers.giphy.com. Retrieved 2019-10-03.
  2. "giphy.com Competitive Analysis, Marketing Mix and Traffic - Alexa". www.alexa.com. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  3. "Facebook buys popular GIF platform Giphy for $400 million". Digital Trends. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  4. Alfonso III, Fernando. Meet GIPHY, a GIF lovers new best friend. Daily Dot. Feb 5, 2013.
  5. Franzen, Carl. New GIF Search Engine 'Giphy' Sees 30K Visitors In First Weekend. Talking Points Memo. Feb 4, 2013.
  6. Webbys x Grey Goose: Alex Chung of Giphy-Final. Vimeo May 2015.
  7. Winn, Riley (April 28, 2019). "The man, the GIF, the legend: An interview with Giphy founder Alex Chung". www.digitaltrends.com. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  8. Bloom, David (November 17, 2018). "GIPHY Goes Long On Shortest-Form Video". Forbes. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  9. Gordon, Whitson. GIPHY embeds gifs on facebook, is mankind’s greatest achievement. Life Hacker. August 29, 2014.
  10. Kastrenakes, Jacob. Giphy brings animated GIFs to facebook. The Verge. August 29, 2013.
  11. Dreyfuss, Emily.. Alert! GIF’s now “work” on facebook thanks to Giphy. C Net. August 29, 2013.
  12. "Undiscovered: Apps - The Top 100 Websites of 2013 - PCMag.com". PCMAG. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  13. Yeung, Ken. This could get messy: giphy brings animated gifs to your twitter timeline.. The Next Web. November 14, 2013.
  14. Crook, Jordan. GIPHY, The Betaworks-backed GIF search engine, is raising $2.5 Million in Series A. Tech Crunch. May 15, 2014.
  15. Giphy. CrunchBase August 25, 2105.
  16. Crook, Jordan. After an approach from Facebook, GIPHY raises $17M at an $80M valuation. Tech Crunch Jan 29, 2015.
  17. Crook, Jordan. Giphy + Messenger, Giphys first mobile app, brings GIF search to facebook messenger. Tech Crunch March 25, 2015.
  18. Crook, Jordan. Giphy cam lets you create and share homemade GIFs. Tech Crunch August 20, 2105.
  19. UTC, Seth Fiegerman2016-02-16 21:41:26. "While other startups struggle, Giphy lands $55 million in a week". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-04-04.
  20. "State of the GIF: Giphy 2016". Giphy. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  21. Fingas, Jon (October 27, 2016). "Giphy's GIF service has over 100 million users every day". Engadget. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
  22. Crook, Jordan. "With 200M daily users, Giphy will soon test sponsored GIFs | TechCrunch". Retrieved 2017-07-31.
  23. Sutton, Kelsey (February 12, 2019). "Giphy Wants Brands to Advertise in Private Messages". www.adweek.com. Retrieved 2019-05-08.
  24. Gartenberg, Chaim (2020-05-15). "Facebook is buying Giphy and integrating it with Instagram". The Verge. Retrieved 2020-05-15.
  25. "Facebook buys popular GIF platform Giphy for $400 million". Digital Trends. May 15, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
  26. "Gap and Other Brands Are Already Using Facebook GIFs". AdWeek. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  27. "GIPHY Gif Search Engine Rolls Out Private Artist Profiles To Help Organize, Monetize The Gif Community". TechCrunch. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  28. LINE & GIPHY fuel creativity to build a true global language. PR Newswire. Sep 25, 2014.
  29. Holmes, Mannie. Universal teams with Giphy on “Straight Outta Compton”. Variety August 13, 2105.
  30. Dove, Jackie. Giphy and LINE jointly launch a new sticker pack for more animated madness. The Next Web April 2.
  31. Heine, Christopher. Subway unleashes 73 GIFs for #januANY campaign. Ad Week Jan 14, 2014.
  32. Johnson, Lauren. Here’s why GIF’s are back in style and bigger than ever for Brands. Ad Week June 24, 2014.
  33. Angio, Joe et al. Digital Maverick 2015. Details May 7, 2015.

Further reading
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