this post was submitted on 02 Jul 2023
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[–] stebo02@lemmy.world 30 points 1 year ago (3 children)

so do we also know why they're shutting down?

[–] NewNewAccount@lemmy.world 25 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] PlebsicleMcGee@feddit.uk 59 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Gfycat had the excellent business model of hosting a load of high bandwidth content and not making any money from anyone

[–] themoonisacheese@sh.itjust.works 10 points 1 year ago (1 children)

You forgot the excellent idea of being highly integratable to the point end users don't even know the gifs they're seeing are from gfycat

[–] RGB3x3@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Really though. On Reddit at least, how often did you actually go to gfycat instead of just viewing on Reddit's webpage or a third party app?

[–] DarthBueller@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

When I wanted to hear the audio, I would click through to get the video interface. Usually for pr0n.

[–] stebo02@lemmy.world -3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

how is shutting down a website profitable

[–] njinx@lemmy.world 10 points 1 year ago

The service is likely a money sink

[–] Xeelee@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago

They've never found a viable business model.

[–] dedido@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Extinguished by Snap(chat), as it's a competitor

[–] Alexmitter@kbin.social 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

How is a gif hosters main competitior a app mainly used by teenagers for sexting?

[–] ChrisFhey@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I genuinely don’t understand this either. On a surface level I’d say they’re not even remotely related so I’d like an explanation here.

[–] JavaViper@c.im 8 points 1 year ago

@ChrisFhey @L4s @stebo02 @dedido @Alexmitter

Snap(chat) is Gfycat's parent company. The short version is they're hemorrhaging money and have been for years so they're cutting this as part of cost saving measures.

[–] May@kbin.social 2 points 1 year ago

Yea me too i am a bit wondering why. People kept saying this was the reason, but idk if they really mean that or if its just 'saying what sounds possible as a half joke' (like when people answer any question about any shady business or very expensive auctions as "its money laundering" even tho there may be other explanations. I think ppl say it half jokinly?) Idk what reason snap would do this tho? Maybe theyre planning to make a gif hosting thingy by theirself?

[–] BarbecueCowboy@kbin.social 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Gfycat is owned by Snapchat.

I think the idea is that with things you could use snapchat for, people are using gfycat instead and users using snapchat are more profitable.