In 2020, CollegeHumor went from 105 employees to 7 and was sold to Sam Reich for $0. Now it's Dropout, with more than a million paying subscribers, and it got there by giving away some of its best stuff for free.

Paid subscribers got this episode a couple days before everyone else, plus What to Steal from Dropout: 8 moves from Dropout's playbook you can use for your own show. It's only for paid subscribers and isn't in this episode. Get both at https://www.slackerstuff.com

Ed Elson says clips are the product now. Dropout, home of Game Changer, Make Some Noise and Dimension 20, agrees, but it treats every clip as a doorway instead of an ad slot. This episode covers how CollegeHumor nearly died, the $3 million lowball, the deal that closed two days before COVID lockdown, the TikTok clips that turned it around, and why Dropout's clips aren't trailers.

Chapters

(00:00) Welcome back, fonts

(02:42) The clip economy

(04:22) Advertisers and networks both said no

(06:37) The bet, and the cliff

(08:42) Built for clips

(10:29) Not a trailer

(13:23) A doorway, not an ad slot

Get every teardown early, plus the paid-only playbook: https://www.slackerstuff.com/upgrade

Work with me: ben@slackerstuff.com

Sources

Font Conference (CollegeHumor): https://youtu.be/i3k5oY9AHHM

Ed Elson, "The Clip Economy": https://x.com/edels0n/status/2044080758164472058

Wired on CollegeHumor (Jan 2020): https://www.wired.com/story/collegehumor/

TechCrunch on Dropout's launch (Sept 2018): https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/26/collegehumor-unveils-dropout-a-subscription-service-for-comedy-videos-comics-and-more/

TechCrunch on IAC selling CollegeHumor (Jan 2020): https://techcrunch.com/2020/01/08/iac-sells-collegehumor/

Vulture on Dropout and Sam Reich: https://www.vulture.com/article/dropout-improv-streaming-service-collegehumor-sam-reich.html

Polygon on Dropout's anniversary (2023): https://www.polygon.com/23889773/dropout-anniversary-collegehumor-brennan-lee-mulligan-sam-reich

Sam Reich with Fast Company: https://youtu.be/qRK_gNfFdP0

TheWrap interview with Sam Reich (May 2026): https://www.thewrap.com/media-platforms/tv/dropout-sam-reich-interview-game-changer-season-8/

Variety on Watcher leaving YouTube (May 2024): https://variety.com/2024/digital/news/watcher-leaves-youtube-fan-backlash-paid-streaming-1235977475/

Game Changer Shorts channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTcw8GqWQlFcc6ioeJQOMAQ

Kevin Kelly, "1,000 True Fans": https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/