Cats on the Internet

Animal Tales

Cats on the internet: can we ever get

enough of them? to document his pet growing from a kitten to an adult, without any intention of creating a video star. In 2005, YouTube co-founder Steve Chen became When the first video was released in 2008 it received the first person to upload a cat video, which showed relatively low viewing figures, and it wasn’t until his pet Pyjamas playing with a piece of rope. Maru’s owner decided to introduce some cardboard Unfortunately Steve’s thirty second clip, filmed in packaging into his cat’s playtime routine that things semi-darkness, failed to spark much interest and cat really took off. video fans were forced to wait until May 2006 for From the moment Maru was confronted by a the first viral hit. When Michael Wienzek posted cardboard box, it was clear that his playful response ‘Puppy vs. Cat’, a short film that featured seven would give rise to a million likes and follows. Maru’s curious Labrador puppies circling round a less than most popular videos feature him skidding, jumping delighted adult cat, the post attracted 16 million hits. and diving into boxes, or sticking his head through Here are some more online felines that have since holes cut into the cardboard. become household names: Choupette Lagerfeld - After fashion designer Karl Grumpy Cat - The combination of a pronounced Lagerfeld died in 2019, rumours abounded that he underbite and a condition known as feline dwarfism had left much of his vast fortune to his Birman gave Grumpy Cat (otherwise known as Tardar Sauce) cat, Choupette. During the years she spent touring her disgruntled expression. Her image was often the high-fashion circuit with her outlandish owner accompanied by captions such as “I had fun once. It (who designed a Louis Vuitton carrier bag especially was awful.” for her), Choupette became an internet sensation Although Grumpy Cat has sadly passed away, her and now has almost 70 thousand followers on memory lives on in online images and merchandise Instagram. She currently lives with a nanny (the (one popular online store sells almost 900 items former Lagerfeld housekeeper Françoise Caçote) featuring her face). in Paris, and still visits her agent for the occasional At the time of Grumpy Cat’s death, aged seven, she photoshoot. had accumulated more than 1.5 million followers A staple of popular culture - Nowadays cat videos on Twitter, 2.5 million on Instagram and 8.3 million are some of the most-viewed features on YouTube. on Facebook. It’s rumoured that she also made In 2015 it was estimated that two million cat videos $100 million from film and media appearances, had been shared on the platform, so the number sponsorship deals and merchandise sales. could easily have reached three million or more Maru - Japanese cat Maru has achieved a Guinness by now. Whether we view videos, buy cat-related World Records title for being the most-viewed merchandise or follow the social media account animal on YouTube. Maru is a Scottish Fold cat with of a famous feline, it seems the internet has a characteristically round face (the name means effectively transformed cat-watching from a niche ‘circle’ in Japanese). Maru’s owner originally planned entertainment to a staple of popular culture.

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