Vidme was a

video hosting service An online video platform (OVP) enables users to upload, convert, store, and play back video content on the Internet, often via a private server structured, large-scale system that may generate revenue. Users will generally upload video content vi ...

that launched to the public in 2014. It described itself as a hybrid between video hosting website

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

and social news site

Reddit Reddit ( ) is an American Proprietary software, proprietary social news news aggregator, aggregation and Internet forum, forum Social media, social media platform. Registered users (commonly referred to as "redditors") submit content to the ...

. It shut down in 2017.

History

The company was founded in 2014 by Warren Shaeffer and Alex Benzer in Los Angeles, California, and was originally called Viddme. After gaining in popularity, Vidme purchased the domain for Vidme and changed its name. In April 2015, the site received a $3.2 million Series A round of funding. Investors in the seed round included Mark Suster of

Upfront Ventures Upfront Ventures, formerly known as GRP Partners, is a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm that invests in early-stage technology companies. It is one of the largest venture capital firms in Los Angeles, with $2 billion in total raised funds. ...

and Reddit co-founder

Alexis Ohanian Alexis Kerry Ohanian (; born April 24, 1983) is an American internet entrepreneur and investor. He is best known as the co-founder and former executive chairman of the social media site Reddit along with Steve Huffman and Aaron Swartz. He also ...

. As of April 2015, Vidme had 30 million unique visitors per month. The following year, it received a $6 million round.

Closure

On December 1, 2017, after nearly four years of operation, Vidme announced on Reddit that it would shut down on December 15, 2017. Vidme stopped accepting new uploads or new members at that time. The site's closure was due to, according to the company, not finding a sustainable model and due to an increase in competition. In particular,

Google Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...

(through YouTube),

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

, and

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

were named by co-founder Warren Shaeffer as too competitive for Vidme. On their website, the team announced that they would be launching a new website called Digital Objects (digitalobjects.art), which later was discontinued. Vidme was acquired by Giphy and shortly after Bit Kitchen was renamed to Knowable once it was launched. In July 2021, the Vid.me domain name was acquired by a

pornography Pornography (colloquially called porn or porno) is Sexual suggestiveness, sexually suggestive material, such as a picture, video, text, or audio, intended for sexual arousal. Made for consumption by adults, pornographic depictions have evolv ...

company. As a result, news articles and social media posts with an embedded Vidme video instead displayed hardcore pornography. ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'', locally known as ''The'' ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'' or ''WP'', is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C., the national capital. It is the most widely circulated newspaper in the Washington m ...

'', ''

New York Magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Clay Felker and Milton Glaser in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker'' a ...

'' and ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' were some of the major news sites that were affected.

References

External links

* {{Webarchive , url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250328073001/https://knowable.fyi/ , date=March 28, 2025 , title=Knowable American entertainment websites Internet properties established in 2014 Internet properties disestablished in 2017 2014 establishments in California Former video hosting services

History

Closure

See also

References

External links