Funny or Die ditches proprietary video player for YouTube, no more “funny or die” voting

After 10 years, it’s time for Funny or Die to evolve.

The website made some announcements today, and here is the official letter of such. In short, the site is migrating to a new platform, Chorus, built by VOX Media. Bigger news? NO MORE proprietary video platform. Instead, they’ll be using YouTube. Which also means no more voting “Funny” or “Die” on every video. You know, like you ever did.

Perhaps even bigger news? “Funny Or Die will no longer support open user-generated content on our platform.” Instead, you have to ask to become an official contributor to FoD.

And if you’re a user who worries about losing videos you’d submitted in the past, you can always ask FoD to help you export them for your own future use.

THE OFFICIAL MEMO

Funny Or Die Gets All Future-y

Hey. You up?

Ever since Funny Or Die launched in 2007, it’s been a place where comedians, celebrities, and folks on the rise can all put up stuff they think is funny. In the eleven years since our launch, a lot has changed in comedy, culture, and technology, and Funny Or Die is no exception.

Accordingly, today we announce that Funny Or Die is evolving as well, and we’d like to share the ways this evolution affects the site.

TL;DR For Lazy People (Most Of Us)

You’re busy, we get it, so here are the basics:

  • The Funny Or Die website isn’t going anywhere. It’s just powered by new technology
  • Some things will change, but you’ll still be able to watch your favorite funny videos – and it’ll work better
  • No more voting (for now)
  • There’s a new way for people to contribute videos to the site
  • If you uploaded videos to the site you definitely want saved, we can help you get them

For more info, read on!

Funny Or Die Gets It On… With A New Technology Platform

First off, we want to be clear that our site is still going strong and can still be found right here at funnyordie.com. Funnyordie.com is still going strong, and we still have all your favorite videos and articles. None of that is changing, and all is well with the world!

The only thing that is changing is the technology that makes it work.

In a nutshell, Funny Or Die’s underlying technology that powers this site will be replaced with a new publishing platform called Chorus. Built by Vox Media, Chorus will provide many performance enhancements and will affect some features.

Here’s what that means:

  • Faster page loads, better site search, and easier navigation
  • Mobile-first reading and watching experience
  • Improved community features for commenting and profile pages
  • Support for Google AMP and Apple News

Performance and cosmetic changes aside, there are three other aspects of Funny Or Die that will be affected.

1. Funny Or Die Will Use The YouTube Player

The first major change affects the video player. Instead of our custom video player, Funny Or Die will use the YouTube player on our site.

Along with the sunset of our video player, “Funny” and “Die” voting will be unavailable. Historical funny ratings will remain, and, as we continue to build the new site with the Chorus product team, voting is an important consideration for the future.

One benefit to our use of the YouTube player is the revenue share YouTube offers creators on their platform. Moving forward, Funny Or Die community members and content creators can submit any YouTube videos they upload for feature consideration on Funny Or Die as well.

2. Funny Or Die Adopts A Contributor Model

The second major change is the way videos — and other content that isn’t a Funny Or Die Original — will get added to the site. In the past, anyone anywhere could upload content to Funny Or Die. That is changing.

Funny Or Die will no longer support open user-generated content on our platform. User uploads have always been at the core of Funny Or Die in the past — and brilliantly funny people used it in ways that vastly exceeded our expectations — so we don’t make this change lightly.

However, we aren’t simply saying goodbye to a key feature of the site. We’re replacing it with a new approach that will spotlight outstanding comedy talent and help build our comedy community going forward.

In lieu of open user uploads, Funny Or Die is shifting to a contributor model. If you still would like to contribute to Funny Or Die, we welcome you. Certified Contributors are those creators and comedians who make really funny stuff and consistently share their work on Funny Or Die. There is already a group of fantastic Certified Contributors that have helped build the community to this day — and you can join: click here to apply to be a Funny Or Die Certified Contributor.

3. A Note (Within A Note) About Your Content

And lastly, the third major change affects the content that will be available on the new Funny Or Die site. Certain content on the site today will continue to be hosted on the new one, and though we’re not able to migrate every single page that’s been created over the years, we do have a way for you to save every one of your videos.

If you would like to reach out and receive an export of the videos you have uploaded to Funny Or Die, you can do that. All you need to do is fill out this Video Content Export form, and our team will follow-up with instructions on how to download your videos.

What’s NextWe are more excited than ever for Funny Or Die. To that end, while we bring these advancements and changes online to improve the technology that powers the site, ultimately, we’re most excited about making Funny Or Die a bigger and better home for comedy.

Thanks,

The Funny Or Die Team

Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

View all posts by Sean L. McCarthy →