Creative COW is a website of support communities for digital video, video editing, and media production professionals in broadcasting, motion graphics, visual effects and film.

Creative COW
Creative Cow logo
Screenshot of the Creative Cow forums
Predecessor(s)Media 100 Worldwide Users Group
Created byKathlyn and Ron Lindeboom
URLcreativecow.net
Launched11 April 2001; 23 years ago (2001-04-11)[1]
Current statusactive

It provides over 60 online support discussion forums spanning a wide range of professional video tools and software.[2]

Additionally, Creative Cow offers over 1,000 free text and video tutorials,[3][4] has nearly two dozen different podcasts,[citation needed] as well as other resources for video professionals. Creative COW is funded by advertising and sponsorship from manufacturers.[citation needed]

COW is a backronym for "Communities of the World".[5]

History

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Creative COW was founded in April 2001 by Kathlyn and Ron Lindeboom,[6] a married couple.[7]

The website evolved from the couple's earlier Media 100 Worldwide Users Group (WWUG),[5] which began in 1995, and was sold to Digital Media Net in January 2000.[7]

After the sale of WWUG, the Lindebooms decided to create another website. Initially, Kathlyn Lindeboom was Creative COW's director and chief officer, while Ron shifted roles from a developer to operations. In late 2002, Ron took over as the company's CEO, while Kathlyn shifted to operations and Human Resources.[7][8]

Over the years, Creative COW grew to be one of the largest and longest-running online communities for multimedia professionals. As of 2021, 71% of the site's visitors (5.3 million annual visitors) were Gen Z and Millennials, while 25% (1.9 million annual visitors) were mid-career professionals.[9]

In 2022, Creative COW LLC was dissolved[10] and Creative COW's trademarks, assets, and intellectual property were reassigned from Ronald Lindeboom to Brielyn Clayton.[11] The Creative COW website and forums are still in operation.[2]

Creative COW Magazine

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In 2006 Creative COW launched a quarterly trade magazine, the Creative COW Magazine,[12] which grew in 2008 to become a bimonthly, and in 2011 was cited by a trade journal which reports on issues and trends related to the magazine printing trade, who named Creative COW Magazine as one of the FOLIO: 40 for 2011.[13][14][15]

The magazine was discontinued by 2013.[16][11]

References

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  1. ^ "About Us". Creative COW. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  2. ^ a b "Creative Communities of the World Forums". Creative COW. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  3. ^ "Category: Tutorials". Creative COW. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  4. ^ "Creative COW". YouTube. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b "The History of Creative COW". Creative COW. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  6. ^ "Kathlyn's Welcome". Creative COW. Archived from the original on 18 April 2006. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  7. ^ a b c Lindeboom, Kathlyn. "A Bit of History of CreativeCOW.net". Creative COW. Archived from the original on 24 September 2014.
  8. ^ "COW Administrative Team". Creative COW. Archived from the original on 26 January 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  9. ^ Video, Film & Audio Creative Community. Let us Help you Share your Story - CreativeCow.net (Webcast). Shoots Video. 17 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  10. ^ "Recent filings for CREATIVE COW LLC". OpenCorporates. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b "Ronald Lindeboom". LinkedIn. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  12. ^ Lindeboom, Ron. "Recalling our First Five Years in Print". Creative COW. Archived from the original on 13 May 2011. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  13. ^ "The 2011 FOLIO: 40". Folio. 20 April 2011. Archived from the original on 30 August 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  14. ^ CreativeCOW to debut magazine in time for NAB 2006, FreshDV, archived from the original on 25 October 2011, retrieved 21 December 2010
  15. ^ Mitchell, Brian (25 June 2007). "Creative COW Magazine Bucks Print Trend With Strong First Year Sales and Circulation Growth". ecoustics.com. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
  16. ^ "HP Special Edition: New Dimensions in Productivity Issue : Creative COW Magazine". Creative COW. 31 January 2013. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2023.
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