Universal New Media was formed in 1996 by Andrews McMeel Universal; it was renamed Uclick a year later. Beginning in January 2009, Andrews McMeel Universal suffered a series of layoffs due to department consolidation and corporate restructuring. These layoffs led to Uclick's July 2009 merger with UPS to form Universal Uclick.
As the digital entertainment division of Andrews McMeel Universal, Uclick was the official online distributor of all comic strips syndicated by Andrews McMeel Universal's newspaper syndication division, Universal Press Syndicate. Uclick also owned and operated GoComics, a comics aggregate website featuring not only comic strips currently syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate, but also webcomics, discontinued titles such as Calvin and Hobbes, The Boondocks, and Bloom County, original works like The New Adventures of Queen Victoria and , and a selection of syndicated comic strips from Creators Syndicate and Tribune Media Services. In October 2008, Uclick launched a GoComics gadget for iGoogle which allowed users to read comic strips on their iGoogle pages.
Puzzles and games
Uclick distributed daily puzzles and casual games through consumer and news web portals as well as through its own puzzle and game portals, The Puzzle Society and UclickGames. Uclick products included crosswords and other word games, number placement puzzles like Sudoku and Kakuro, jigsaw puzzles and other casual games.
Photography and illustration
Uclick photography and illustration wallpapers for mobile phones included the work of such artists as Thomas Kinkade, Wyland, Paul Frank, and artists and program content from MTV.
Syndicated columns and text features
Uclick-syndicated columns and text features were distributed online through consumer and news web portals as well as through Uclick's syndicated column and text feature consumer site, uExpress.com.
In 2006, Uclick launched the United States’ first comic book reader application for mobile phones. The introductory line of titles included Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Five Fists of Science, GODLAND, PvP, and Too Much Coffee Man. In July 2006, Uclick announced the launch of a mobile phone version of Guilstein, a manga and anime title that had never been published in any form in the U.S. In July 2007, Uclick launched Thunder Road, the first comic book produced solely for mobile phone distribution in the U.S. Uclick later added titles from Devil's Due Publishing, Image Comics, IDW Publishing, and independently published books such as Jeff Smith's Bone.
