Matthew Inman
The Oatmeal logo
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Type of site
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Comics, blog |
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| Available in | English |
| Created by | Matthew Inman |
| Website | theoatmeal |
| Alexa rank |
 16,132 (February 2017[update]) |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | No |
| Launched | July 6, 2009 |
| Current status | Active |
The Oatmeal is a humor website created in 2009 by cartoonist Matthew Inman (born September 24, 1982). Inman, who lives in Seattle, Washington, updates his site with original comics, quizzes, and occasional articles.
In 2010, the Oatmeal got more than four million unique visitors a month. As of 2012[update], its annual revenue was around $500,000; three-quarters of that was from merchandising and the rest was from advertising.
The information found in the Oatmeal’s comics is researched by Inman. One comic typically takes Inman seven to eight working hours spread across three days. The comics cover an eclectic range of topics, including zombies, cats, horse care, internet and English grammar, with titles such as "What it's like to own an Apple product", "What your e-mail address says about your computer skills", "How the male angler fish gets completely screwed", "8 websites you need to stop building", "How to name a volcano", "15-ish things worth knowing about coffee" and "How a web design goes straight to hell." In "The State of the Web (Winter 2010)", Inman created the Tumbeasts as a reaction to Tumblr's regular downtimes, as a parody of the Twitter Fail Whale, and urged Tumblr to use them, which they did for a short time.
When thinking of a subject to write about for the website, Inman picks something that he is interested in and writes about it. He usually works at home. But as he finds it difficult to do over long periods, because of the lack of social contact, he often goes to a coffee shop to work. Inman finds that it is much easier to gain exposure for his work with the web than it would have been 20 years ago. He enjoys making people laugh at his work. And although he notes that he cannot actually see the reaction of others to his work, he still appreciates seeing the high number of page views that his website receives.
By 2010, The Oatmeal got an average of 4.6 million unique visitors and more than 20 million page views a month. Inman and his website were featured on an episode of Last Call with Carson Daly.
In 2014, the website was awarded the Eisner Award for best webcomic.
In 2016, Matthew Inman received the Bob Clampett Humanitarian Award from the San Diego Comic-Con for his work helping others.
Inman is funded by the sale of informational wall posters, greeting cards, calendars, clothing, coffee cups, signed prints, stickers, magnets, and badges, which yield a yearly profit of about $400,000. However, he also sells other merchandise, including books.
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