*By Conor White*
Giphy, the internet's largest search engine for gifs, is turning its attention to advertising ー and it has a simple strategy.
"We need to make ads that don't suck," said Adam Leibsohn, the company's COO. "We always say, you should entertain, not advertise."
Giphy has worked on six- and seven-figure deals with major brands like [Absolut Vodka](https://giphy.com/absolutvodka) and [Dunkin' Donuts](https://giphy.com/dunkindonuts), as well as a campaign for the film ["Sorry to Bother You"](https://giphy.com/sorry2botheryou). Leibsohn said Monday in an interview on Cheddar the advertising angle is a natural approach for Giphy.
"Paid search is our revenue model," he said. "So, you can basically place content in relevant searches, so that your content comes back as the first result, and then people use it a lot more."
With 300 million daily active users who serve up 5 billion gifs, Leibsohn said, the platform is looking to turn a profit for the first time in its five-year history.
"People really love to use \[gifs\], in messaging, in communication, in social," Leibsohn said. "What we've been starting to do is work with brands to help them get involved in those conversations."
Though the company isn't openly discussing its revenue goals, Leibsohn said he expects significant growth, thanks to the new partnerships ー and he doesn't expect the public to get sick of the medium any time soon.
"It's not really fatigue because every day a different piece of culture, a different piece of content is what's driving the conversation, so as long as culture remains moving, gifs remain popular."
For full interview, [click here] (https://cms.cheddar.com/videos/VmlkZW8tMjE5OTQ=).
Despite challenges like inflation, labor and product shortages, and the Omicron variant, holiday sales saw record levels of growth this year, according to a new report from Mastercard SpendingPulse. The group reports on national retail sales across all payment types, finding that holiday sales rose at the fastest pace in 17 years this year. Mastercard senior advisor and former chariman and CEO of Saks Incorporated Steve Sadove joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Keith Fitz-Gerald, chief investment officer at Fitz-Gerald Group, spoke to Cheddar about the growing competition for Tesla's electric cars in China as tech giant Huawei enters the race. "There's a lot of legacy worry, but that does not discount the possibility that Elon might have a contender on his hands," he said about the sometimes troubled telecom company. Fitz-Gerald also gave a nod to two other local rivals, Nio and XPeng, noting the latter as having something of an edge with its CEO He Xiopeng being lauded by Chinese state media.
2021 was a wild ride for the world of cryptos. Both Bitcoin and Etherum hit new all-time highs, as well as other coins like SHIB-INU. According to several experts, crypto is here to stay and is expected to blast off in the year 2022 as more and more people invest in the crypto world. The host of "The O Show" Wendy O, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Over the past year, the new love for gaming has created a huge demand for the consumption of content on streaming platforms. All this has caused a rise in gaming influencers all over the world. Founder of Viral Nation Joe Gagliese and Digital Video Executive Andrew Wall, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
