What Know Your Meme does

Know Your Meme is a privately held online encyclopedia and research community dedicated to documenting internet memes, viral videos, subcultures, events, people, and sites. Founded in 2007 and operated under parent company Literally Media Ltd. (with US operations through Cheezburger, Inc.), the platform serves internet culture enthusiasts, media and content creators, and academic or market researchers who need authoritative, editorially verified information about meme origins, spread, and cultural context. Its core product is a free web-based database with user submission workflows, editorial approval, forums, a Discord community, and extensive media galleries.

The underlying technology is a web-based content management system backed by a long-running database of meme entries, combined with editorial tooling for news, explainers, guides, collections, interviews, and video episodes. The company extends distribution through an active multi-channel social media presence across Facebook (1.8M+ followers), X, TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat, Pinterest, and Discord. The site is global, freely accessible, and contains no paywalls or subscription tiers.

Know Your Meme generates revenue primarily through display advertising managed by Playwire LLC across its website and mobile properties. The company has expanded into adjacent revenue lines through wholly-owned subsidiaries: Meme Insider Magazine (a publishing vertical covering meme culture) and The Meme Store (direct-to-consumer meme merchandise). The company is bootstrapped with no disclosed venture capital or private equity funding rounds, and operates with 11-50 employees.

Name

Know Your Meme

Legal name

Know Your Meme

Website

https://knowyourmeme.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Know Your Meme is a free online encyclopedia and research community that documents the origins, spread, and cultural context of internet memes for internet culture enthusiasts, media creators, and academic researchers, monetized primarily through display advertising and operated under Literally Media Ltd.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Internet Culture & Digital Media Encyclopedia

NAICS

Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

akta.pro primary industry

Interest-Based Communities & Forums (BPAMABAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Topic/Interest-Based Content Discovery Apps (MPACAKAB), Creator Economy & Monetization Tools for UGC (tips, subs, rev share, payouts) (MPAFAIAI)

Keywords

• Internet meme database
• Viral content tracking
• Meme encyclopedia
• Internet culture documentation
• Meme research platform

Headquarters

HQ city

Brooklyn

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Advertising: The site generates revenue through display advertising managed by Playwire LLC. Ads are served across the website and mobile properties.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Know Your Meme is a free, web-based encyclopedia and research community that catalogs, documents, and explains the origins, spread, variations, and cultural context of internet memes, viral videos, events, people, sites, and subcultures. It combines a community-edited database of meme entries with editorial content (news, explainers, guides, collections, interviews, and video episodes), media galleries of images and videos, and an active user forum.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• KYM: Abbreviated form of the Know Your Meme brand used in internal references and social media

Products and services

• Know Your Meme Website (knowyourmeme.com) A free internet meme database and encyclopedia that documents memes, events, people, sites, subcultures, and viral media. Users can browse, submit, and explore entries organized into categories including Memes, Cultures, Events, People, Sites, and Subcultures, with accompanying media galleries for images and videos. Editorial content (news, explainers, guides, collections, interviews, and video episodes) covers internet culture trends. Targeted at internet culture enthusiasts, media professionals, content creators, and researchers.
• Meme Insider Magazine A meme culture magazine and publication operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Know Your Meme, accessible via the Meme Insider section and a dedicated site (memeinsider.com). It provides editorial content on meme culture and internet phenomena.
• The Meme Store An online store for meme-related merchandise operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Know Your Meme, accessible at thememestore.com.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Cheezburger, Inc.coreOthersKnow Your Meme was originally part of the Cheezburger Network. The DMCA and legal notices are addressed to Cheezburger, Inc. The relationship appears to be through shared corporate ownership under Literally Media Ltd.
• Playwire LLCminorOthersPlaywire LLC manages advertising on Know Your Meme's website and app. They collect and use aggregated and anonymized data for advertising purposes.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• 9GAG: One of the largest meme and viral content communities globally, with user submissions, voting, and an app-first experience. Directly comparable to KYM as a meme-focused community platform monetized via ads.
• Imgur: Major image-hosting and meme-sharing community with strong UGC submission flows and ad-supported monetization. Closely overlaps KYM's image-meme catalog and audience.
• Cheezburger: Original home of the LOLcats/Fail Blog meme ecosystem and corporate sibling under Literally Media Ltd. Operates adjacent meme and humor verticals with shared infrastructure.
• GIPHY: Largest library of meme-relevant GIFs and stickers, integrated across messaging and social platforms. Comparable as a meme-asset catalog driving cultural discovery.
• Meme Insider: Wholly-owned KYM editorial spinoff covering meme culture as a magazine. Directly comparable as a curated, editorial-driven publication on the same subject matter.
• Know Your Meme Store: Wholly-owned KYM merchandise arm monetizing the meme catalog via physical goods. Directly comparable as a fan-commerce extension of the KYM IP.

Broad incumbents

• Reddit: Large-scale community platform hosting the dominant meme subreddits (r/memes, r/dankmemes). Comparable as a community-driven content platform, but vastly broader in scope.
• TikTok: The dominant platform where modern memes originate and spread, driving much of KYM's editorial pipeline. Comparable as the upstream ecosystem whose trends KYM documents.

Peers

• Tenor: GIF and meme search engine owned by Google, deeply integrated into messaging surfaces. Comparable as a meme search and discovery platform with similar catalog function.

Emerging players

• The Daily Dot: Digital media outlet that frequently covers meme culture, viral trends, and internet phenomena with explainer journalism. Comparable as a content destination for meme trend reporting.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/knowyourmeme
• YouTubeyoutube.com/knowyourmeme
• Facebookfacebook.com/knowyourmeme
• Instagraminstagram.com/knowyourmeme
• TikToktiktok.com/@knowyourmeme
• Pinterestpinterest.com/knowyourmeme
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/know-your-meme

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Know Your Meme