GIFs are taking over the Internet, however, there's always room for more. If you don't spend enough time in the day scrolling through GIFs, Tumblr has a way to help you.
Tumblr TV is basically an endless stream of full-screen GIFs for your viewing pleasure, with each one looping a few times before the next one is displayed. Users can also choose to skip to the next GIF, go back to the last or pause a GIF. It's basically a media player for GIFs.
"The GIF is really an old standard that dates back to the '80s," said Bill Eager, Tumblr project engineer, in an interview with Wired. "It was a conceptually challenging exercise to present GIFs in a fresh way ... GIFs can be large files and render slowly. We have a sophisticated search product already, so it was easy to get the Tumblr TV content right once we nailed down the experience."
Of course, Tumblr isn't the only company to have created a way for people to experience an endless supply of full-screen GIFs. Giphy also launched Giphy TV a while ago, however, Giphy TV doesn't offer playback controls for GIFs.
While users can simply head to the Tumblr TV homepage, the service will also provide some more customization options. When a user searches for GIFs on Tumblr, they will now be presented with a button next to popular search results. Once the user clicks on the TV button, they will be taken to a page where GIFs fill the browser window, offering a stream of images to watch. Users can also change the search terms while in TV mode.
The pause button will basically keep the user on the same GIF, which will just be looped over and over until the user decides to hit play again. Last but not least is the ability to reblog a GIF straight from the user interface.
Currently, Tumblr TV is only available on desktop, but according to Tumblr, a mobile version is also in the works.
"This started as a prototype about three months ago, but the idea gained a lot of traction once we put it on the overhead monitors around the office," continued Eager. "We capitalized on that energy and hustled to turn Tumblr TV into a reality for our users."
Could watching GIFs end up being America's most loved form of entertainment? With sites like Tumblr TV, it's certainly possible.
