Gfycat (https://gfycat.com), the world’s largest user-generated GIF platform, today announced its acquisition of MovieLaLa, the premier social network for movie fans. With the acquisition, Gfycat strengthens its movie marketing capabilities by building on MovieLaLa’s partnerships with major film studios such as Lionsgate, Universal, Skydance and Paramount. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition enables MovieLaLa's network of studio marketers to connect with millions of young moviegoers by promoting GIF content across the Gfycat platform. In 2016, MovieLaLa and Gfycat partnered to help a major film studio reach nearly 21 million consumers through 21,000 user-generated GIFs. In addition to helping marketers reach the right people at the right time, the combination of Gfycat’s technology tools and MovieLaLa’s vision will bring an even larger audience of movie buffs closer to the films they love.

“MovieLaLa was prescient in its adoption of the user-generated GIF as a movie marketing tool,” said Gfycat’s CEO, Richard Rabbat. “As Gfycat continues to expand, we’re prioritizing tools that let brands use short-form content to connect with users in organic, engaging ways.”

Launched in 2013 by Silicon Valley artist-turned-entrepreneur Dana Loberg and engineer Sahin Boydas, MovieLaLa helped bring traditional movie marketing methods into the mobile-first era. In 2016, the company was named one of the most innovative companies reshaping Hollywood by Inc. Magazine. Since its launch, MovieLaLa has helped film studios craft viral marketing campaigns by harnessing fan excitement. After entering their favorite genres and performers into the MovieLaLa app, fans would receive text messages and trailer videos for the upcoming films that were most relevant to their interests. Through the app’s social features, they could connect with other fans and express their opinions on the latest film news. MovieLaLa was particularly transformative in its creation of the MovieLaLa Mobile GIF tool, which allowed mobile users to create GIFs from trailers in a matter of seconds -- regardless of whether they had prior video editing experience.

“Gfycat has one of the largest audiences around GIFs, especially with young movie fans,” Loberg added. “For studios looking for massive audiences and targeting for their trailers and other marketing efforts, Gfycat is a great platform for virality and creating trends around branded content like trailers.”