Lately, GIFs have been an important communication tool, many Internet users preferring to use GIFs when expressing themselves rather than words. Giphy has made partnerships with both Facebook and Snapchat and was integrated with their stories for a period of time. Facebook messenger also has integrated different GIF platforms – I myself have four of them.
GIF platform Tenor has been the first one to bring GIFs to mobile, three years ago, when they launched the first GIF keyboard on iOS. After breaking the ice, Tenor has worked with the largest messenger apps and platforms, from iOS to Facebook. In 2017 they have passed 300 million users and, earlier this year, 12 billion search requests. If you check their website, you will see they have partnered up with major brands all over the world.
Google acquires GIF Platform Tenor
The growth of the platform has made Google lay their eyes on them and yesterday Tenor’s CEO, David McIntosh has announced in a blog post that they’ve been acquired by Google. The terms of the deal haven’t been disclosed. Tenor will continue to operate as a separate brand within Google.
The acquisition will help Tenor improve their API and content partners, as well as the advertisers. Being available on different messenger platforms, Tenor offers Google the possibility to open up to them and to touch both the GIF keyboards and the other platforms, such as Facebook messenger.
In 2017, Tenor has had the first sponsored GIF and, after that, the number of sponsored partnerships has only grown. They even got an award at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona for Best Use of Mobile Marketing for a campaign they did with Dunkin’ Donuts.
A report from 2017 says that more than four million distinct search terms were entered into the platform in order to express different feelings.
Google representative says that Tenor surfaces the right GIFs to express feelings and it is easy to find one that matched your mood at a certain moment in time. This will help both Google images as well as other products that use GIFs, such as Gboard to shine.
See also: What is the Tumblr GIF Maker?
