If YouTube is known as the king of streaming video produced by users, and Twitch is the video game streaming service known the world over, Tumblr wants to be known as the company that made it that much easier to find GIFs for people to use in a wide range of platforms. In order to do this, the company has just launched Tumblr TV. The website combines the ability to search and view GIFs on Tumblr and then view them in a larger screen mode.

Users can actually control the GIFs with options like play, pause, forward and backward. The service is totally free to use and can be operated even by people who do not have a Tumblr account. According to the company, users can access Tumblr TV through a number of different ways. Users can search for GIFs on the Tumblr site or they can go to Tumblr TV. When going through search functions, users will see there is a small ‘TV’ button in the search events. Clicking that button will take them to the larger Tumblr TV website.

Tumblr has always been a site that lived and died on the popularity of different GIFs that have been created elsewhere and then placed on the millions of different blogs that make up its network. This service makes it that much easier to see the trendiest GIFs in one place and also go through them if the users want to see a particular hilarious meme over and over again. Because it is so new, the Tumblr TV website is only accessible through a desktop but the company has said it is actively looking for ways it could offer the same kind of service through mobile devices. If the firm really wants to be the YouTube (News – Alert) of GIFs, a standalone app shouldn’t be far away.