Established in September 2018, Dropout is an American comedic subscription streaming service operated by the same-named production business (previously CollegeHumor). Dropout does not broadcast commercials and only streams unique content. Live plays like Dimension 20, which is presented by Brennan Lee Mulligan, and improv comedy and panel events like Game Changer and Make Some Noise, which are both hosted by Sam Reich, the owner of Dropout, make up the majority of its material. A revolving cast of regular comedians and performers frequently appears in Dropout’s series.
Josh Abramson and Ricky Van Veen launched CollegeHumor in 1999 as an independent website. The multinational media and entertainment firm IAC later purchased CollegeHumor. Initially consisting solely of editorial articles, CollegeHumor’s work gradually grew to encompass web video as well as TV program creation and production. In order to continue producing traditional and online videos for series like Adam Ruins Everything and Hot Date, as well as sketches and short-form humor for its YouTube channel, the CollegeHumor video production team relocated to Los Angeles in 2013. However, due to Facebook’s exaggerated viewership figures not generating the expected ad sales and YouTube’s unfavorable ad rates and the continuous threat of CollegeHumor’s material being demonetized on the site, ad money became more and more rare.
CollegeHumor began production in 2017 and on September 26, 2018, debuted its Dropout TV video platform. Rich Cusick, the current CEO of CollegeHumor, declared that the service would “allow us to double down our investment into premium original content, resulting in a bigger, better, badder CollegeHumor” and that it would be a “TV-MA version of CollegeHumor.” Additionally, Dropout was promoted as a method for fans to delve deeper into well-known characters and series from CollegeHumor’s YouTube channel.Sam Reich, the Chief Creative Officer at CollegeHumor, asserted that the establishment of Dropout was a reaction to the challenges of obtaining advertising funds for mature material on conventional media platforms. Digital comics, chat-story content, a subscriber-only Discord, and a combination of scripted and unscripted content were all announced by Dropout at launch.
Vimeo, a CollegeHumor offshoot, serves as Dropout’s hosting provider. In December 2018, Dropout formally released native iOS and Android apps for its service, enabling users to cast to smart TVs and watch shows. The app was also updated to include chat tales and comics.