ElfYourself started back in 2006, when it received a surprising 36 million views in its first year. In 2007, it took the web by storm, with a whopping 193 million views. In 2008, the company teamed with JibJab to power the site (one of JibJab’s specialities is creating customized videos like these, so it was a good fit). However, there was a significant dropoff between 2007 and 2008 — last year the site drew 55 million views. That dropoff wasn’t a surprise though: JibJab CEO Gregg Spiridellis says that the company decided to require users to register in order to share their videos with their friends, when previous years hadn’t required registration. This led to an anticipated dropoff in virality, but it also resulted in a huge jump in JibJab’s userbase, which is more valuable to the company in the long run.
This year though, we can expect some more astronomical numbers, because JibJab has removed its required account registration. Instead, it’s deeply integrating Facebook Connect, which will give users one-click signin to the site and will also help ElfYourself go even more viral as videos get distributed through Facebook News Feeds.
Users can make their videos and share them across the web for free. They can also pay to have their elves printed on gift cards or greeting cards, or to download a version they can store locally.
Spiridellis also told us some of JibJab’s recent traffic stats: the site has 11.5 million unique visitors in October, up 229% over the same time period last year. 18 million views came from the site’s Monster Mash customized videos.
Below are two of the new videos the site is offering this year:
Cool +5.
This is really cool stuff and a great idea too to send my sister abroad. I have been searching the net for creative ecards to send and this is one of my favorites. Check this latest news about elf yourself, this is also cool
http://bit.ly/p...iao-elfyourself
coolest tnx victoria.. you should have included “manny pacquiao was on your video” I was laughing my ass out there for a minute..
LOL! you even put the face of Cotto (the boxer) there.. I love it
ElfYourself is always popular over here and I love visiting JibJab every once in a while.
I love jibjab, their bush spoof was awesome
They are going to make a KILLING off this one this year. Good move removing the requirement to signup. With twitter and facebook sharing capabilities, these videos are going to be posted everywhere. I’d predict that get between 250-300 million views.
The videos are great! Glad I found this, now I have my Christmas cards out of the way
my co-workers
i feel like we’re family.
maybe its just that this is old and boring now , could that account for the drop in users ?
Great! I’ve wrote an extensive article on ViralBlog including all stats of Elf Yourself 2006 until 2008, see http://www.bit.ly/elfyourself
hey I’ve read this article and found it extremely useful. Good job on this
There is a very similar site that caters to indian classical and bungra dance http://londonsi...h.com/stage.php
the idea behind it is same as Elf Yourself
i think i posted this already but it does not show up. maybe i made a mistake.
Play Elf Bowling at GameHouse.com
http://www.game...waiian-vacation
Thanks for the post. I love this website. Glad to see it’s back. I’m definitely using this for my eco-friendly holiday card this year.
Definitely not as good as last year’s disco one.
I think it’s great how OfficeMax is working with Jibjab on this. The weird looking elves is right up JibJab’s alley.
You’d think this concept would get old, but it remains fun and addictive!
The integration of both Facebook Connect and Twitter, here and lots of recent campaigns, illustrates the importance of encouraging and facilitating a viral loop to your users.
According to ViralBlog, JibJab removed the required account registration this year due to a significant decrease in site visits from 2007 (193 million) and 2008 (55 million). While they sent out less cards, they greatly increased their database, which was a priority for them.
I’ve posted more about it here, if you’re so inclined
http://bit.ly/1D3xZE
Cheers,
Jackie