*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=).
Online platform Assemble is looking to provide career instruction and inspiration to Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) of all age groups for access to industries they might not have been privy to prior. Actor, activist, and one of Assemble's three co-founders, Jesse Williams, and CEO Cortney Woodruff joined Cheddar's "Between Bells" to discuss the Assemble mission and what people can expect from the program. "There's a lot of jobs that folks don't know even exist in the first place, and what we know is that there are incredible innovators at the peak of their field that are Black and brown – in every single field," Williams noted.
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2022 is just around the corner and one of the world's most famous trendspotters says that there is a wide-ranging mix of trends coming up in the new year that could impact businesses, culture, and our society at large.
Trendspotter and cultural zeitgeist analyst Marian Salzman, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Spotify has just officially released its 2021 'Wrapped'. For the past few years, the streaming giant has been presenting customers with their listening habits from the prior year, including favorite artists, most listened to the genre, podcasts, songs you name it. However, critics say this method just shows how apps can collect our data. CEO of Prevailion Karim Hijazi, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Recent internal documents obtained by the New York Times reveal how exactly TikTok's algorithm works. The report highlights how the app is mainly focused on retaining two metrics which are retention and time spent. In addition, the document titled, "TikTok Algo 101" details how the algorithm understands human nature from when we get bored to our sensitivity and culture ques. It means the app monitors will kind of videos you like. Professor of Computer Science at the University of California in San Diego Julian McCauley, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
Carlo and Baker discuss the sweeping new vaccine mandate in NYC that will target all private businesses. Plus, Trump's media venture gets its CEO and more.
