The Resilience of Dropout

Photo courtesy of Katie Elliott

One of the channels fans of early YouTube might remember is CollegeHumor, a sketch comedy channel. CollegeHumor originally posted content to their own website, and then eventually started posting it to YouTube. Looking back on some of their earlier content, it was a perfect example of what YouTube could be. Sure, it was just comedy videos, but it was done through a high production value that showed that YouTube could be more than just someone recording in their bedrooms. People like Zac Oyama, Amir Blumenfeld, Jake Hurwitz, Mike Trapp, and countless others showed their writing and acting skills on the internet stage.

Sam Reich, Amir Blumenfeld, Ricky Van Veen, Streeter Seidell, Jake Hurwitz, and Sarah Schneider at CollegeHumor's New York office in 2009. (Photo courtesy of James Estrin/The New York Times/Redux)

CollegeHumor would go through a lot of changes over time. Adam Conover would get his own show, Adam Ruins Everything, on truTV, leading to increased popularity of the brand. However, cast members started to come and go. Not that this was a bad thing, as many of the new cast members were very funny and creative, but it was difficult to see fan favorites appear less and less in CollegeHumor content. There was one crucial thing with channels like CollegeHumor. CollegeHumor was not just a YouTube channel, they were a business. While they did start as just a fun way to share funny content, it evolved into a full-fledged company that needed to make a profit. CollegeHumor’s parent company, IAC, was already starting to cancel other projects due to decreased ad revenue and increased website costs.

On January 8, 2020, CollegeHumor’s Chief Creative Officer, Sam Reich, acquired CollegeHumor from IAC. He actually paid nothing for the company, but IAC would keep a small stake in the company. While this may sound like a nice changing of the guard back to independent creatives it led massive layoffs in the company, leading many people to question the future of the company. This came just a little over a year after Smosh almost shut down after their parent company, Defy Media, suddenly shut down. While Smosh did survive, the same fear people had then was present now. Reich was left with just 6 other employees and had to figure out a way to save the company.

It's important to bring up that in 2018, CollegeHumor launched Dropout, a subscription service that featured exclusive content from the CollegeHumor team. 6 months after Reich’s acquisition of the company, production began on new Dropout shows, and Dropout would act as the company’s primary source of revenue, with the YouTube channel acting as a way to funnel people into Dropout. And it worked. Dropout shows like Game Changer and Dimension 20 blew up, and the fan base did not want to see them die. In 2023, CollegeHumor officially rebranded to Dropout, reflecting the success of the service.

Dropout has continued to see massive success with their shows, including doing live events of Dimension 20, which sold out Madison Square Garden. It’s kind of crazy to say that a YouTube channel that does Dungeons and Dragons content was able to sell out the world’s most famous arena just a few years after they almost shut down. I wanted to talk about Dropout because they are an example of resilience in the ever-changing content space. They pioneered sketch comedy on YouTube and learned to adapt to the creator economy without sacrificing their creativity. It’s incredibly inspiring to see, especially with companies like G4 and Rooster Teeth shutting down, as it shows that it’s not entirely hopeless. As long as the creativity is there, there will be a way to make it work.

Dimension 20's live show at Madison Square Garden (Photo courtesy of Andrew Max Levy)