I am somewhat concerned about the long-term sustainability of the audience for these properties. Will people still be interested in lolcats ten years from now? Almost certainly not, but the question is whether the Cheezburger Network can continue to stay on the bleeding edge of whatever zany memes folks might happen to be interested in in the future.
I disagree. The fundamental reason why lolcats are interesting is that people find cats cute. Cats are a superstimulus that hooks into the human instinct to look after our young. Since human psychology isn't going to change in the next 10 years, lolcats will still be popular.
Pet rocks, after all, are also cute. So, I guess, were Beanie Babies and Tamagotchis and... probably a bunch of earlier trends that I'm too young to remember.
What's interesting about lolcats, actually, is that the initial wave of popularity must have been way back in 2006 if I recall correctly. Those were the days when "Monorail Cat" and "Invisible Bicycle" had me chuckling at inappropriate moments for several days. But, like most people, I tired of them pretty quick. It's quite impressive that there's still a community dedicated to them.
I absolutely do not find cats cute though. I'd happily kill the whole species off if I was allowed to.
It's a fair point. Another questionable investment: Those guys with the Apple II. Who is going to be interested in having an Apple II ten years hence? The guys peddling DOS are some scam artists, too.
If only smart people could shift their business from one success into another, leveraging their talent, assets and experience in the process...
(And before the pedants jump in: of course ICHC isn't anywhere close to the same level of impact.)
This is the point: making popular memes is unpredictable. I Can Haz Cheezburgr certainly has a pretty good system in place for detecting and capitalising on new memes as they come up , but what about the meta-meme upon which they're based... the idea that it's horrendously amusing to put a big 36-point Impact caption on a random picture? If people get tired of doing that, can they adapt?
Making popular music is unpredictable, but if you're good enough at marketing, you'll make a lot of money when a hit comes your way. I'd guess that's the Cheezburger business plan.