CollegeHumor:

Ca$hing In On Comedy

            At this point, I have thoroughly explored the CollegeHumor website. Ethnographically, I experienced the different ads, videos, backgrounds and more. We have so far proven how CollegeHumor goes about choosing and designing their sponsors and ads. We understand why they do what they do, but understanding this is useless if we don’t apply the information we know. Now, more importantly, we need to look at how successful the ad campaign is and whether these methods are profitable or a waste of time and money. I have tried to weave in analysis throughout my ethnography, but in this section I wanted to sum up my findings. I believe, from my personal experience, that CollegeHumor has been very successful in their media advertising campaign.

            I’d like to start with a personal example. One of the more common ads between videos is a commercial for Bioshock. Having watched many videos, I have seen this ad many times. I never really paid attention to the commercial; sometimes I muted it while other times I left the ad playing in the background. Regardless of whether it was muted or not, I paid the ad little attention and did not think much of it. Then, a few weeks later, I was watching TV and I recognized some eerie music playing. After a few moments of concentration, I was able to place the music from being from this Bioshock ad. This, I believe, is quite an impressive feat on CollegeHumor’s part. To be completely honest, I did not buy Bioshock nor do I intend to. I have never had any actual interaction with the game; I do not play it and neither do my friends. However, I still know a good deal of information about what this game is about, where it takes place, who the main characters are, etc,... From this, I’ve decided that CollegeHumor is successful in their advertising endeavors. Although I never considered myself to have watched this commercial, CollegeHumor managed to make me intimately familiar with the ad, so much so that I could recognize the music without the visual. Even though I failed to follow through on this advertisement and buy the game, my ad recognition is indicative of how influential the ads could be, especially when they are targeted to someone, unlike me, who is actually interested in videogames. The ad was not powerful enough to convert me to a video game user; however, I have no doubt that if I did play videogames and I was picking between an unknown game and Bioshock, I would definitely buy Bioshock.

            Stuart Hall, a cultural theorist and sociologist, explained in his “Representation: Cultural Representation and Signifying Practices” that the audience, even of an advertisement, “does not simply passively accept a text — whether a book or a film — and that an element of activity becomes involved. The person negotiates the meaning of the text” and each person’s meaning depends on their cultural background” (Hall). I, however, disagree. I do not think that, at least in terms of advertisements, each viewer actively interrupts the ad. I believe, based on my ethnographic research, that most of advertisement is a subliminal, subtle process. Viewers might be aware of the ads they are watching, but most people do not consciously process and interrupt what they are seeing. Instead, most people take the advertisement as a necessary part of life. Consumers tolerate the ads as an annoying, but understandable part of life and normally forget about them as soon as they finish. However, consumers don’t actually forget the ads they see, especially not on CollegeHumor.

            Holistically, I think the advertisements on CollegeHumor do an impressive job of making an impression on the viewer. Whether it be in the videos, between the videos, or as wallpaper, the ads are hard to ignore. Some might be more obvious than others, but all are noticeable. The advertisements try to assault your senses, but in an almost paradoxically calm way. The advertisements do not bombard you with pop ups and loud music, but at the same time they are ever-present and often in more than one medium at once. The advertisement illustrations are clear, concise and noticeable, despite how enthralled you might be with the CollegeHumor material. The omniscience of the ads feels as if the images and the messages they are sending you are slowly seeping into your subconscious and successfully influencing your buying habits.

            Therefore, in conclusion, this experiment goes to show how successful and profitable online advertising really is. I started this project wanting to know about CollegeHumor specifically, but it has evolved into research on online advertising with a specific case study of CollegeHumor. CollegeHumor targets a very specific audience using demographic, contextual and affinity advertising. Furthermore, they use image based ads that are often cut off by videos/articles and sometimes watching the audience. Based on my findings, I think that CollegeHumor is a great advertising model for any other online companies. In my opinion, online advertising is the key to a successful business and CollegeHumor was able to capitalize on this great opportunity and profit.