Goodbye Watcher
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- Опубликовано: 18 апр 2024
- “Steal from the rich. Do it.” - Shane Madej
My Instagram: / sahana.draws
Songs Used (in order):
Herculean
• Herculean
Northern Whale
• Northern Whale
Three Changes
• Three Changes
The Good, The Bad and The Queen
• The Good, The Bad And ...
All songs used are by The Good, The Bad & The Queen.
If you’re reading this comment “more like all fail the watcher” or another, better pun
Thank you for watching! 
Развлечения
UPDATE: they’ve posted a response/apology and they are no longer fully leaving youtube. i’m glad they’re listening to their audience and acting accordingly, but i still stand by pretty much everything i said in the video.
"People cared about Watcher, more than Watcher cared about us." Nailed it.
Yes
Fuck that is deep
Yea I loved Shane Ryan and their friends. I found them during the pandemic. The puppet history episodes, Santa stories, and travel episodes
I’ve been watching since buzz feed unsolved. They are truly talented. It’s a shame they’re out of touch with the people who made them where they are today
Fr
Holy shit, the reality that you submitted a story for Too Many Spirits and they’re going to make money off of it at the expense of the fans while you can’t even afford to pay to watch it as a fan is infuriating.
oh that’s such a good point tho!!! if you submit a story that they solicited from fans, FOR FREE, and now them reading it is behind a paywall? first of all, now that we know how much they are/were making, it’s kind of gross that they use fan content for free. but now that it’s on a “streaming service”, submissions deserve more than just a writing credit. i wonder how the WGA might feel about this.
I adore watcher but yes, I always assume they paid them for the stories or at least gave them a free Patreon subscription! I also bought the new service and though I know it’s in Beta I was sooo disappointed they don’t have an app for smart tvs or Roku. They were talking so much about TV I assumed I could watch it on it still! I hope they fix this, I loved them so much
What’s extra wild is that they’re currently in the middle of a live show tour, so they will have to face literally thousands of people over the next week or so who feel betrayed
yikes, i never knew that!!!
Whaaaat?
Et u watcher?
Holy shit! I wasn’t thinking about that!!
i hope they get to hear and see just how disappointed in them 99.99% of their audience now is so they actually see the impact of this fuckup instead of just ignoring the comment sections on youtube, twitter, and instagram like they are now
This could of been all avoided if they ACTUALLY DID A POLL on their multiple social platforms. From there, EVERYONE pretty much agrees that this is a horrid choice and fire the person who made that decision.
A patron said they did a poll. But only on patreon, asking them about their interest in paying for streaming services. So they did care about the fans opinions, but just the paying fans. The rest of us don't matter.
@@kaylenc05that’s even worse
@@kaylenc05yeah they prolly thought people who support them will pay for the paywalled content. it's disgusting ngl, but that was greed does to ya.
@@Malamesa I really don't know what they were thinking. The patreon comments are apparently worse than the youtube ones. Turns out the patrons are not impressed with them expecting them to pay the patreon and also the subscription.
@@kaylenc05 mhm, hardly anyone supports this idea even the most loyal fans hate it, it's just delusional and a bad decision, just because you have supporters and they pay money as support doesn't mean they will follow you no matter how absurd the decision is, oh well.
wow this video got me to 3k subscribers! thank you guys so much!! due to my newfound success i will begin charging my viewers a monthly fee of $5.99 to watch my videos
NO NOT THE MONEY CHANGE 😭. Jk but you got a +1 from me, can’t wait for more from you !
well shoot, goodbye Sahana. you had a good run (jk I'm subscribing to fill the void Watcher left)
Lol 😂
😂
Steven Lim genuinely always came off as a tool. Bold move to ask many cash strapped loyal fans to pay for him to travel around the world and literally eat gold. The best videos featured Ryan and Shane with text on a screen. Fans weren’t calling for increased production quality. 😂
he’s a tech bro and seems uncomfortable in front of the camera so he never stood a chance lol
From Ned “I love my wife” Fulmer to Shane “Eat the rich” Madej. I didn’t think I’d ever experience the same dread I felt when I saw MoistCritikal’s latest video with the Watcher folks as the thumbnail that I felt when he covered the Ned situation with his face in the thumbnail a while back.
Sad times 😔
I swear I've been in a funk for the past day. It's devastating to find out The Professor is a class traitor.
So much for the professor telling us to eat the rich 😭
I keep wanting to listen to their podcasts which I usually do constantly and it’s just hitting tbh
he's a multi-millionaire cosplaying as a normal person. maybe it was real 6-7 years ago, but it's been fake for a while.
@@ceruleannova1155 yeah exactly. in order to be a class traitor you actually have to be in the same class
The old professor would want us to pirate it.
I feel so silently resigned about this. To paraphrase the same thing I've seen dozens of others say: I just want Ryan and Shane with some mics and some rudimentary props.
Some levels of charisma and humor don't mix with "high production quality." I'm an MST3K fan, I KNOW how that goes.
I know everyone is turning Steven into a scapegoat here, but... I am also blaming Steven.
I love the guys and I've been following them for 7 years
But Steven is not the only person behind this decision
@@4kach24 But from what I've found out, looking through all their socials. Steven is the only CEO. The sole CEO who made this choice. So ya, F you Steven, no one wants to watch you eat expensive steaks covered in gold leaf.
I mean, do you think that Ryan and Shane want to make extremely low quality content? I don't. I imagine they'd get bored and jaded with the whole thing.
Yeah lets all hate on steven fk that guy I subbed to the channel for ryan and shane not him
With all due respect, my comment had nothing to do with what they want to do as creators, though I could have provided more context. So I'll add it here: this has happened for me (again, personally) with many creators and artists over many years. I tend to like scrappy, "punk" (general artistic meaning) production values, or even the facade of that. The character of it all contrasts with the gristmill of contemporary "content." When the edges get sanded down and the production value leads to slicker art, sometimes as a direct consequence of an artist "making it," I'm happy for them. I'm happy they can do what they want. But I know by this point in my life that it will probably cease appealing to me at that point. There are exceptions, but the exceptions often didn't hook me with "banter" charm and massive character in the first place.
That's all. For what it's worth, I don't think their content was ever "extremely low quality," and I don't mean to imply that with my comment either. I hope they get to do what they want to do, and that they find the audience who will love it! But I do mourn for my own nostalgia in a tiny, microcosmic, personal way, which I think is healthy.
And the Steven jab at the end was just a cheap bit of humor, I know business is complex. Some people are taking that hate train too far.
Today, Watcher loses a subscriber and you gain one
Make it 2
@@Cuddlefeeesh 3 now
@@0hNothing and my sword!
Literally though
Don’t count me out
The Occam's razor of the whole situation is pretty blunt and obvious -- they don't need this many employees, they don't even need Steve. At the end of the day, a giant majority of us could watch Shane and Ryan talking in front of a table with a single camera and a couple of mics.
steve is part owner along with shane and ryan, hes a founder.
its all so weird because they arent struggling money wise, theyre very successful.
I 100% agree that watcher should have had some sort of a trial offer for their app before now and ask what the audience would want for the future
Do they even have an app?
There isn't even an app 😭
the fact that they're doing it anyway is the thing that's pissing me off. like??? they aren't listening to the people that actually watch them.
some people have pointed out they already have an ... 'operating' site up so contracts are prolly already in place that they can't back out of even if they wanted to now.
@@batty-bites3185 you can easily, just write it off as a sunk cost
@@dbz9393homie, if they're begging you for $6 a month to make content, do you think they have the kind of funds to eat an streaming contact as "sunk cost"? Doing be dumb.
They make millions of dollars on their videos. They have more than enough not charging $6 from EACH subscriber, especially in todays economic climate where everyone is broke and can barely afford rent. You’re telling me that these multi-millionaires need the money more than a broke college student or single mother who just wants to relax after a long day of work? What a fucking joke
i get that with their style of content, youtube alone might not be enough to sustain the channel but literally could they have not made an honest video saying smth like "hey we're not sure if what we're doing right now is going to be sustainable for the channel in the long run, do you, our fans, have any ideas". what hurts is that there was no consideration for their fans
A few different channels I’m a fan of have done similar things of having frank discussions about what is/isn’t working and their options. Some even make their lower-engagement but fan-favourite shows to Patreon so that they can still make content they love while not worrying about income.
but theyre not struggling at all money wise, theyre doing really well. thats why it comes off so bad. it just seems greedy.
They had add revenue, merch sellings, multiple sponsors and very successful Patreon. Like how did they thinks this was a better option??? With all that money they are getting 25 member staff is not much. If the production is too expensive, then cut of that!
First of all, they have 12K member in Patreon.. 12K, assuming people are subscribing to the lowest tier, it's still sooooo much 😭 like.. What were they thinking 😭
It hurts more than sucks. Since I actively BOUGHT things when I could. Spent money on Tickets for their live shows so Ghost Files could keep going. Was planning on saving up to buy some puppet history merch for the upcoming season. But now what's the point? All I gave and saved means nothing anymore. Because I'm not FAN enough to pay 6 dollars for a website for a service they could of had youtube membership or patreon do.
I cant even imagine my friends who have paid for their patreon for years to learn they now have to pay for a different subscription because that wasnt enough.
I pity the employees they have. Since instead of going harder on exclusive content or series on patreon they when 100% into the land of no return. IDK how they thought this made sense since all it does it completely kill any new audience growth they could of had.
Agree with this. I do believe they will have to reconsider their take on Patreon. I mean, the smallest tier membership is about as much as the monthly subscription to the streamer, so why not have all partons become automatical streamer subscribers as well? They clearly miscalculated on that part.
If they just want to get rid of the YT algorithm, they should at least offer their content with ads on their channel. I don't think the channel itself is such a bad idea, because YT really does suck, but you have to take your audience with you carefully.
I wouldnt touch their merch with a ten foot pole now. The quality of their shirts in particular has gone so far down hill ive heard they dont even fit right.
They charge 80$ for a sweatshirt and 40$ for a basic white t shirt. That's insane
This. Now the merch that I bought is just a reminder of the fact that I won’t be watching any of their new content.
Don't really belive they'll recover from this even if they cancel their plans completely. What I've seen both their RUclips and Patreon are already bleeding members and it'd take a miracle to get the lost trust back.
Yeah, they shouldn't have expected their fans to be able to pay for content
I was thinking this. I love GMM but there was a similar (waayyy less drastic but still) change to format to “up production quality” and professionalism some years back that was received very poorly. The next season everything was back to normal (easier than I’d imagine for watcher, this was a format and production change primarily) and the channel *mostly* recovered. But even with primarily goodwill from the fans and a swift return to form imo the channel never fully recovered. You could argue there was a mini-renaissance afterward and there was and I watch and still enjoy the channel today but they’ve never seen the same heights as before. It just soured a lot of casual viewers who never came back or felt it was never the same. Watcher isn’t nearly as established as GMM was and is and I think this is a far more drastic switch than the format and lighting changes Rhett and Link made. They were able to salvage, recover, and rebuild. I’m fearing for watcher it will just be a scrapyard effort at this point.
@@theghostinthemirror8158Good analysis. I also love GMM, what was the change they made exactly?
@@ultramarine2418it was season 13. They started uploaded multiple shorter form episodes along with a “normal” main episode daily. People felt like it just chopped the ordinary episodes into pieces and didn’t like the accompanying visual changes (there was a switch in lighting and production that was meant to increase professionalism and quality but the audience strongly disliked) and there were more off set location filmed episodes that weren’t “homey” like people wanted also the crew became more prominent. (Something that’s continued in GMM) honestly they were small changes the GMM team made to freshen things up but they found that’s not what the audience wanted. The GMM audience likes consistency and familiarity.
@@theghostinthemirror8158yeah but GMM has what? 13-15 million followers on RUclips… Watcher has not even 3 million
This hurts even more for fans in latin america. the price they ask is VERY expansive here, in my country currencie it would be like, $ 31 a month and $299,90 a year!!!! I feel like big english speaking channels often take for granted how much of their audiencie is outside u.s./europe
And isn't it funny they want to travel internationally, hunting ghosts and eating street food, but didn't think how it could affect international fans?
@@homeiswonderland right? so much for inclusivity
Same, with the exchange rate it's like 500 in my currency lmaoo just. No. Affordable? Not for me!
Ryan and Shane were a part of my CHILDHOOD. seeing them ruin their reputation for $5/month really upsets me
Probably my favorite video breaking down how dumb of a mistake this was. One thing I see a lot is that they have "high production value." For a couple shows yeah, but then there are bunch that are just them sitting with whiteboards talking about food or in a dark room to read scary stories. Paying six bucks to maybe just get a couple of those videos a week is ridiculous.
i (and i assume many others) watch most of their videos like podcasts and have them on in the background. the only quality that mattered to me was the mics. i don’t need panning cinematic shots of a cork board with aliens on it
Be real, girl, it's not "these 3 people" it's "these 2 people and their friend whose presence no one actually cares about!"
This is true. No one subbed for Steven(sure as Hell I dun even know who the Hell is until this happened). Let's be honest. He's just a failed RUclipsr riding the fame of Shane and Ryan. And apparently being the SOLE Ceo, driving the channel to destruction. He really gives me the fake Christian Tv conman pastor vibes with his trying to be Godly posts. >.>; Dood needs to find Jesus for real and step down as CEO. He's bad at the job.
Seriously, like I liked Steven’s show “Worth It” but Watcher is not for him.
I came to watcher for shane and ryan. I didn't even realize stephen was tied to them until watcher happened
shane is the only one with real talent here....
@@nishottara777creatively, you're so right lol
So im older and more established in life and i could afford paying that amount, however, whats even going to be on there? They mentioned something about steven lims food show, which i dont watch that guy at all. Like whats their uploading schedule look like? Am i going to get one episode per week? Like they didnt even explain that either. And honeslty who just hard launches something like this anyway without really explaining what to expect? All around it seems like poor planning on them, even from the perspective of someone who can afford it. And the goodbye video was fucking atrocious. My god.
They posted a timeline exclusively to Patreon subs and it felt like same pace/worse than current yt (I think it was leaked onto watchersnark on Reddit (tho it might have been on youtuberdrama
@@JasonGli lol and they want 60 a year for that come on now.
theyre basically quitting youtube except for posting ads and moving everything over to the paid site. nothing new, they just want us to pay for it now
Steven is so sparsely in videos that I completely forgot he's technically a founding member of watcher
I do think they've misjudged the financial situation of their community, possibly because they've been selling out live venues or saw an uptick in people buying their merch or whatever. As someone who's subscribed to a few streaming services and patreons currently, $6/month is objectively not the worse pricing ever. Comparing them to Netflix is like comparing your local mom and pop to a Walmart, you support local because you like the quality and care, not because you expect bulk quantity. That said their whole video reeks of self-importance and ultimately it's just the perception that you're now paying for something that used to be free. I don't think this is going to end them right away, possibly they've worked out they only need a fraction of their base subscribing to break even. But curious to see where this goes...
I think someone (possibly SL but idk who else is in charge of numbers) saw the amount of tickets sold to live shows and put 2+2 together to make 6. I can totally see someone seeing the 3 million subscribers and assuming ‘hey imagine how much we’d make if all these people paid $6 a month?’ without ever properly thinking about it from a non-corporate perspective
the way they announced the price was so bad, saying its "so low so that everyone and anyone can afford it."
I agree about the sold out shows. I was there on the Patreon trying to get tickets and the website was crashing from the amount of demand. But if that really is what led to this, that's utterly insane.
For A LOT of people including myself, it's not just a ticket to a show. It's a hotel, a train ticket, a few days off work. It's a one off, special thing...not disposable income I can dip into every month.
At least with Nebula there’s tons of channels involved and a lot of exclusive content
And a lot of their creators still post videos on RUclips, as well. It’s good advertising for the streaming service and it give people more options and still get to see their work.
I was literally a child watching the early episodes of Buzzfeed Unsolved lol now I'm 20 years old and I don't think I've been more disappointed in a content creator/creators I've been a fan of, baffling how they followed through on this the whole way without even maybe asking their audience first, even some notice on what they were planning in a community post? A poll we could vote on even?? Its heartbreaking...
I'm an older Millennial who has been following their content since 2014. Call me a drama queen but I truly never expected this level of betrayal from RUclipsrs who aren't even aware of my existence. Who even asked for TV-quality content? I doubt their fanbase ever did. They forget what made their fans loved them in the first place. Even if I could afford their subscription service, I don't want to contribute in enabling them in their greed and hypocrisy.
It really freaking hurt, they had so much respect, hailed as legends. when i saw the "goodbye youtube" i thought they were just ending the show.
Tbh, them quiting yt is far better than having a paywall. At least, we all end in a high note, but at the end we got betrayed and disappointed.
It is not even about being ABLE to afford it. It is that no one wants to pay for such limited content on yet another site. Convenience is worth something. That convenience is being able to view an number of channels on RUclips, on any number of topics. And discoverability. Like Watcher itself. I never heard about them until today. They look like they make content I would have been interested in seeing. Oh well. It's not like there aren't hundreds of other channels to choose from, also with excellent content worth watching.
Honestly this was a great way to find your channel
you SCARED me lmao, but I agree with a lot of the sentiments in this video. I feel like this was more of a spur of the moment thing than a thought out plan, because any person who had taken some time to think about this would realize that the vast majority of their views result from people finding one video on their recommended, clicking on it, and never encountering their videos again. the biggest problem with this plan is that they think all their viewers are hardcore fans or subscribers who would be willing to do or purchase anything they put out, when in reality, it's probably a very small percentage of their views. maybe it's an ego thing, idk.
Truly i would actually perfer it if their videos were less produced. The set and all the props are nice but they're not why im watching. I dont open youtube to watch a tv show you know? Im hoping they backpetal 😭
Sigh. They never gave their audience a chance to express what we want, or support them by telling us what they needed. Someone commented "did I just get fired as a fan?" in their video and it's such an accurate description of what happened. I could afford their service... but I would not pay for it because they don't care about what I want to see. 'Are you Scared?' was exactly what I liked from them. 'Worth it?' is one of the shows I'd ignore. Which one will be funded by our money? The one with Reddit stories and playful banter? Or the one where some dudes eat $1000 meat?
This is me, I love Puppet History, Too Many Spirits, and Mystery Files, but any of Steven’s standalone series bore me to death, and I even almost quit watching Too Many Spirits because of Steven’s behavior towards Ricky. He was highly unprofessional towards him, and you can tell from those episodes that Ricky is just trying to make the best of being blatantly disrespected on camera. Banter is not what was happening there, that was workplace bullying, and Steven’s insecurities were on full display. He has calmed down towards Ricky in newer seasons, but that first season, he was AWFUL.
I dunno, I just don’t like Steven Lim as a person, and it’s hard not to place most of the blame on him as their CEO for this completely out-of-left-field decision. His shows cost the most and get the least views. He’s the hemorrhage in the equation.
Idk Steven gave me the creeps. He always has. The only way I can describe it is he's like an alien who put on human skin. Idk. Ryan and Shane also suck for going along with this but Steven specifically gave me the weirdest vibes idk.
Also they could have idk budgeted better? Like downsize their office. Maybe let go a few employees.. imo they had WAYYYY to many employees for what they are. They could've hired someone to budget things better idk. So many ways they could've handled this.
Are you really saying you‘d prefer some people to lose their jobs just to watch a YT show for free? I am not defending their decision, it was a badly executed move that clearly miscalculated the backup from their audience, but I also cannot get behind the attitude of effortlessly wanting people get fired, so oneself can get amusement for free!
Nah bro, those are people who depend on that job. Dont say that shit.
@@DrDeadsy42I think the point is that the company has too many employees for what it is, and no - feasible - way to increase their income in a quick enough timeframe to be able to afford those employees. Sure, they can ATTEMPT something as stupid as a new streaming service, but cleaely it's not a feasible solution. If they cannot afford their current amount of employees, then sorry but you have to let some go before the whole company goes under. They're clearly trying to increase revenue instead, but someone somewhere fucked up majorly by pushing this as a plan
@@Alvarnea I‘m not sure they do it because they don‘t have enough income as it is, but because they are not satisfied with the sponsoring situation. I understood their video in the way that they want to get rid of advertisements, to have more freedom with their shows without sponsors interfering, as well as getting rid of the YT algorithm, and they probably misinterpreted the feedback they got from fans that the ads were bothering them as well. I am pretty sure this was indeed the case, because that‘s what people apparently do, complain to no end, even if the content is for free.
Watcher probably lost touch with reality, too, and I don‘t say that their decision was in any way smart or well executed. They should have asked their audience first. But the way they were preparing this news as a big happy(!) step forward for everyone, tells me that they severely miscalculated. I don‘t believe they did it out of indifference towards their audience or greed, I believe they sincerely misinterpreted the situation.
Maybe I give them too much credit or am seeing too much positive qualities in other people, I don‘t know. We‘ll see how they react, I can imagine them frantically working on how to react to the shitstorm right now.
tehehehe I found your video through this scandal. Damn never thought I’d use the word scandal describing Ryan and Shane. And yeah I completely get your anger. I’m done too ngl it is so obvious they don’t care about us or respect us enough to even pretend to. I have no idea who tf decided this was a great idea but damnnnnnn man. Not surprised by Steven, Ryan- also yeah I see this coming from him but Shane?!?!?! This is everything the old Shane would have shit on. Besides, I did notice Ryan and Shane weren’t as usually enthusiastic, hell Ryan looked unsure and Shane- idk I remember a few parts where he didn’t even look at the camera.
And lmfaoooo Steven’s Instagram post was something else entirely?!?! Like- I have no words. The patreon is a messss from what I’ve heard.
I’ve watched Penguinz0, Coffeezilla and Pegasus’s videos discussing this (and a few others I have never seen before) and as big RUclipsrs, even these 3 lowkey got into how all of this is unnecessary and that they should be making enough money but idk man, I’m not aware of things like this. All I know is these boys really were an integral part of my high school and college years but I’ll be looking back on this lowkey sourly now. Really reminds you not to put anyone on a pedestal fr
But really tho- they were pulling great great numbers and built such a strong authentic bond with us over the years just to piss all over it and abandon us. Not to mention so many people from BUN times found out about Watcher NOW! The worst way to rediscover someone ngl.
Maybe in a few months they’ll be successful if they go through with this and I hope so too for their sakes because backtracking on his decision or coming back if the venture fails is honestly the most embarrassing shit ever. From being almost unproblematic to literally staking everything nearly to their downfall is crazyyyyyy. The commentator channels and gossip channels will have a field trip with this one and I know this will be studied and taught as “how not to f your channel up” or something like that. They were really respected RUclipsrs. The community they built over the past few years- they destroyed by their own hands. But yeah I’d like to see where this goes
They just hyped up their supposed greatest ever Ghost files episode, brought the Worth it gang back and got us to vote for that award show just to do this. Whoever decided this should be fired- or not- it doesn’t matter, the damage is done.
And also gotta see how their live shows next week will pan out. I’ve never been this disappointed over a parasocial breakup before LOL
@@t.ris_ omg dude, these are all my thoughts EXACTLY. it's so baffling and so disappointing. I'm in shock and literally in grief. what a major fricking bummer. 😮💨
Ive actually slowed down on watching watcher videos recently bc the production just takes the fun out of silly fun videos between friends which is what i loved in the first place. They are out of their minds
Same here! I watch them during work so it's mostly just audio for me and I miss their casual banter like in Unsolved
more like all fail the watcher 🤭
Agreed. As someonr who's been watching them since the beginning of Unsolved and Unsolved Supernatural. I felt wholeheartedly betrayed yesterday.
I even gave them the benefit of the doubt, and waited a day to see if they would respond to the backlash. But nothing. No sorry, no April Fools joke... Not even a "We hear you." It really took a lot for me to walk away from them.
On the plus side, I've just discovered your channel soooooo subscribed!
This reminds me of the time Trixie Mattel and Katya got a show on Vice and stopped producing UHHhhnnn for a while. It flopped and they returned to RUclips (thank GAWD), but sometimes you gotta let people fail and go back to their roots.
3 people? Only person that watched for Lim was his momma.
It actually hurt my soul watching their video 😢
Thank you for sharing your feelings about this!
I've been an avid fan of guys for 7 years and your video brought me comfort.
It also helped me discover your videos about Gorillaz (I'm a fan of their music too!)
Subbed! :D
I feel like I can say what I’ve been feeling since Watcher started
Steven feels like a wet blanket and a third wheel.
Yes! Absolutely a wet blanket! That said, there are three of them, and it was their decision to go with this, no matter who dreamt it up. Unless it was a 2/3 vote...
I agree that the implementation of this new setup was performed in the worst way possible. They should have informed their audience, even better, asked them for options.
I can understand that they want to get rid of sponsors and likely also the RUclips algorithm, but in order to even get close to that goal, they should have streched out the relocation to their own channel for at least a year. There, they should have offered an ad-free version for paying subscribers (along with patrons over Patreon, who now only will get the podcast for their support), and a free version with ads for others. Along with the whole thing still running on YT, because surprisingly many people still haven't even found out they're still producing content after Buzzfeed Unsolved, so those will never find them on their own site, even if they'd be willing to pay.
I've been a patron for years, and I'll gladly pay a small amount in order to not get pestered with ads I never even look at. There HAS to be an option for people who cannot afford it, though.
The only thing I cannot agree with is the very personal abuse some of the team are getting, along with false information down to outright lies. People should criticize rationally, not like they're on a MAGA rally.
You know they became famous for their ghost hunting show, but the recent season of Ghost files was not up to par with previous seasons. Not only are they running out of haunted locations to visit, Ryan doesn't seem to be afraid of ghosts anymore. In early seasons, you could tell how afraid he was and that was a good contrast to Shanes attitude. But now it's just 2 guys goofing off in an old house. Their gadgets are scam garbage and a waste of time and it all just feels tired. They don't HAVE to keep making the ghost hunting thing, puppet history has an infinite source of cool topics, and they could do true crime too. They could also stream on twitch like twice a week for 3 hours, streaming some horror games, im sure they would have an audience. There are so many things they could have done, this feels so senseless. Edit: I could afford the 6 USD, I supported their patreon for a short time, but I will not fund paywalled content, especially when its done in such poor business sense. With patreon, I know I helped them made content for audiences who couldn't afford it, but could be advertised to at least. With this streaming service, there will be no patron there will be no add revenue, it all will fall to the subs, who lets be honest won't be subbed all year, they will sub for 1 month a year, binge all their stuff, then unsub.
THANK YOU! I love Unsolved, but Ryan's not spooked anymore and... everything ends. Just wish they'd have put Ghost Files out of its misery on a better note.
Watcher 2023: eat the rich
Watcher 2024: let them eat cake
Something I’ve been thinking about a lot since they announced this move is the fact that they never needed to create watcher as a company in the first place. They could have just been RUclipsrs. It’s like their experience working for buzzfeed made them believe that the best business model for success on YT is to have a whole production company when that’s really never been the case. I think about Markiplier and Jenna Marbles as great examples of success on YT. It was never about the quality of their videos, it was their personalities that fans gravitated towards. Ryan, Shane, and Steven don’t seem to grasp that concept and they’ve permanently sullied their reputations because of it. Because they want to think they’re above the people who sit down in front of a camera in their bedroom and called themselves RUclipsrs.
Looking at Shane while Ryan is babbling and Steven is bobbling is hilarious. He’s as sold as much as I am.
by far my favorite video i've seen on this topic, refreshing to see another fan who feels betrayed and is intimately familiar w their content rather than people who are just casual fans reacting to the drama. what a genuine betrayal, especially as you submitted work yourself and poured your creativity into your love for them. you really put why we're all so upset into such succinct words. i'll have to take a peek at the rest of your channel. :3
I saw your video yesterday when you were ~968 subs, and I saved it to watch when I was free. To see you've grown to over 3K since then is incredible!! Congratulations!!
I'm so heartbroken, I've been following them since buzzfeed....
I feel this is Steven's idea and the boys are just trusting him, not realising the cost. And this is not to clear Ryan and Shane of any responsibility.... I just have the feeling that Steven pushed very hard, specially considering he's bringing in what's gonna cost them the most money: Worth It. He wants to go international and do very fine dining...
Keith from the Try Guys is doing a similar format with Eat the Menu and they are not freaking charging us! So if you look at other creators, they are doing similar things just with ad revenue, sponsorships and other forms of income.
They are gonna lose their entire very loyal fanbase and its a huge shame and honestly, it feels like a slap in the face.
Was it Worth It, boys? (I'm sure everyone and their mother has already made this joke.)
Heck, it's kind of neat seeing Keith go in that direction because it just seems to be like that natural step. But Keith still goes back to the cheap junk food eats where Eat the Menu started and gorges on things that we're still curious about. Fast food menus change and new Peeps flavors will be released.
But Watcher doesn't have the quantity with the quality. I might have been interested if there was enough to justify paying a Netflix subscription...if I was getting Netflix. But that's not there.
“Hey guys. you know that company we worked for? the one that had WAY too much staff and collapsed?”
“Yeah”
“Lets agree to learn absolutely nothing from that”
“sounds good. But lets also be worse somehow”
When we will learn to not put our trust in companies
glad that the community agrees on this. everyone is saying pretty much the same thing and it's EXACTLY what i'm thinking: watcher's content is great, but this single decision is horrible. we're all on the same page pretty much
Even if they completely go back on this and pretend it never happened, the fact remains that they still TRIED to do it, and that's enough for a lot of people to not want to give them another chance.
Amen sister! That’s exactly how I feel too! It broke my heart to learn the hard way that all they cared about was money. The whole time..
As a person that doesn’t even use subscriptions when I don’t need them. I only subscribe to one streaming service when I have free time. I usually just watch going seventeen when I’m bored cause it’s free on RUclips.
Never heard of your channel and not sure why it popped up on my feed but I love The Good The Bad and The Queen. Ears perked right up 😀
I've been watching their content since Buzzfeed Unsolved, didn't expect this. Never understand anyone who says they want to up their production value. As long as it looks good, has good audio, that's all anyone needs. Its RUclips, its what we expect. Insane!
Last week's watcher video: "goodbye RUclips"
This week's watcher video: "hello darkness my old friend"
Great video! Subbed.
As others have mentioned, it's crazy to me that they wouldn't just use Nebula (or a similar platform) if they were gonna take this approach. Having a streaming service dedicated to only ONE channel -- regardless of how many different series they have -- is just wild. And ngl, it comes off as really presumptuous and out-of-touch as well
It's like they saw Dropout's success and didn't think about why they managed to succeed
In my opinion 6 dollars for a month isn’t a crazy price when compared to other subscription services, but they fail to recognise that other people are already paying for a myriad of other services (I.e Uber eats, Netflix, Spotify) that are far more superior to theirs. Their shows will only consist of the same people, meanwhile Netflix has an insane catalogue that expands when you use a VPN. They’re a RUclips channel for a reason, they can’t compare to billion dollar enterprises, and when you pile yourself up to that standard you’ll inevitably fail. LIKE U GUYS HAVE 25 EMPLOYEES FOR A REASONNNN 😭
Well...thanks to this situation I found your channel. You gained new subscriber!
Watcher is also deleting comments that are critical and spot on so be careful what you say y'all! ive had like 10 of my comments deleted. They're acting flakey whatever they are doing.
RUclips also automatically deletes comments for little to no reason so while I do believe you, RUclips has automods that just spring into action for absolutely nothing if they think you're slightly heated. If you're even mildly sarcastic or doing an inside joke, you might get flagged and then someone has to approve your comment manually... Which Watcher absolutely would not be doing in a time like this when they're getting tons of comments. So you'll see the comment for about a split second.
I found this out recently from a few creators who had to approve comments themselves that weren't even trolling or nasty because the automods are just that strict for no real reason. They're also inconsistent which makes it worse. They protect you from NOTHING.
So. You MIGHT be right but it also might be an automod gone wild.
More like all fail the watcher
i watched them for so long that it was like hanging with friends ... but like Jesus we got fu**** for a Handful of Silver.
that Shane went with it Broke my Heart
3:02 as someone who's in the Army, I had to start doing Doordash since my pay isn't enough to pay my bills.
Honestly I come to RUclips watcher comment sections to find community and when I saw the comments as the video announcement started it was like a gut punch
They took the walkback option. It's easy to forget sometimes how young these people really are, and how little business experience they have. Until they do something like this, that is.
Lots of people are saying that they have too many employees and that high production values are the issue. The issue is poor financial management. If they wanted to make higher quality stuff they already have the resources, they’re just using them poorly, and this is a problem that’s going to continually plague them until they figure it out. Changing their model to a streaming service is just a bandaid solution.
They said said that a season of Ghost Files costs over $100,000 to produce, then they show behinds the scenes footage on Watcher TV of them flying out a ludicrous amount crew, spend extra time in the location to play tourist and eat at restaurants and go to movie theatres and goof around, and accruing so much bloated cost.
They also actively choose to live and have their office in one of the most expensive cities in the US, a decision that none of their content hinges on. Hell, if they wanted to stay in the area they could just move to the outskirts of town and save a bit that way. But they are CHOOSING excess which is draining the resources they could be using on higher quality productions.
This is a money mismanagement issue and the fact that they’re choosing to pass it on to us instead of addressing it so they’re spending less on their lifestyle shows how crappy they are at running Watcher in the first place.
Needless to say, I’ve unsubscribed and it’s gonna take a lot to win be back as a fan.
I feel exactly the same way about this situation
They've now announced they will *not* be leaving RUclips. New content will still debut first, ad-free, on their streaming site, but will be added to their RUclips channel a month later.
Genuinely, how could anyone not see that this was ALWAYS going to happen? Their Buzzfeed videos were earnest and small compared to the obvious time & money spent today. It was beyond inevitable. Plus, despite how they came off, I always saw them as caring more about the bottom line than making fans happy.
I think they are trying to transfer to something more like Dropout, however Dropout has a generally older audience and produces many different shows with big casts and huge sets. I love watching Shane and Ryan hunt ghosts but their food videos generally disappoint me and a ton of their productions rely on fan submissions. I truthfully don’t believe that they have the media to support how much they are asking for, especially when every show is starring the three of them. They don’t even have a main show hosted by a woman yet. Really disappointed
The fact they don’t have a female host doesn’t matter, should females with shows start mandatorily having male hosts too?
Any show that becomes its own streaming service should definitely have women and men hosts.
Shane and Ryan come across as humble, Steven has always been out of touch and not all the entertaining
They kept saying production value! It’s like dude I like you guys just telling stories and your opinion . That’s it. Just one angle! No crazy edits. They don’t want to let go of there employees. I think they were trying to help them keep there jobs too
Just subbed!! ❤❤❤
im convinced now, they did this from a 3rd party consultant, theres no way they would be this out of touch
i would be more than willing to use an ad driven app that; has paid vods, community chats, exclusive merchs, and in turn supports their service.
i wouldve done that FULLY than whatever THAT was today.
Crazy choice
I think it’s crazy they have 25 employees but only release about 5 episodes a month. What are they doing everyday????
Lol in my country their one month subscription is actually more than a Netflix's one month subscription.
The way they are changing the tiers of their Patreon to $5, $20 and $100 without giving access to the streaming service is wild!!!
Crying 😭
I miss the old Shane and Ryan from Buzz feed, I use to laugh so hard it hurt. Never cared for Steven
i would've totally been fine if their watcher platform had released content prior to it going on youtube, and there being a larger delay between content being uploaded on the channel compared to how it works currently. it looks like theyre trying to replicate the dropout model, but the difference between dropout and watcher is that dropout has had its own website independent of the main social media for years. the streaming model worked for them because the content they were producing there was very very different to what collegehumor had done - not to mention that the inception of dropout as a rebrand came about AFTER collegehumor was basically defunct. if watcher had tried to make this streaming service around the inception of their youtube channel or used it as a model similar to nebula i doubt people would have minded anywhere near as much as they do. they grossly overestimated their audience's ability to spend money and now show just how out of touch they are with the hostility towards streaming services that's been gradually building since everyone and their mother decided to basically make streaming services cable tv in the internet era.
I cannot believe that they still haven’t made any form of statement about this! The level of backlash is growing out of control and at this point even if they say it was a late April Fools joke there is going to be a giant hit to their subscriber count. I think they really need to make a statement before the live show on Thursday because otherwise i think people are going to turn on them and having a venue filled of angry people and stepping out expecting love and adoration is ill advised.
They have TWENTY FIVE employees, for what? Their social medias are so dead. Even the Goodbye RUclips video had 19 employee working on it, for what? What did they contribute? This is such a huge mismanagement of funds, if you have a patreon (which has the highest tier of $100 btw) and a youtube with 400M+ views you have enough funds for "high quality production". Maybe tell Steven to screw off with his Teslas and expensive shows where he eats gold leaf and caviar. Wasn't he just whining about wanting another Tesla on his podcast last week? Still disappointed in Ryan and Shane for agreeing to this, they're grown men who are well capable of opposing decisions like that, if they really were against it that is.
Greed is one hell of a drug
Y’all think this would have happened if Steven wasn’t there???
$6 might not seem like a whole lot of money, but people are struggling to make ends meet already, another paid streaming service just isn't in the cards rn
Like, I'm currently trying to support my household with the money I make, because both my parents are out of work. My mom has heart problems and can no longer work, and my dad has been looking, but hasn't been successful.
I've been watching them since their Unsolved days, but if this is where we part ways, then that's just how it has to be, because my money has to go to things we actually need, and I don't need them. Thanks for the memories, and so long.
Good take, good points, good video. 😁✌🏻
“Steal from the rich. Do it.” - Shane Madej
I just think it warrants repeating. No reason.
I feel her
a good thing came from Watcher I found this cool place
Oof. You helped create their content, unpaid, by submitting an idea for their show, but they want you to pay to continue to provide that service to them. A quite succinct way to present this issue.
Yep, subscribing to you because you offer free content. 😊✨
Never even heard of these guys but damn...what a way to snuff your fans.
It's a tough breakup tbh with watcher specifically to Ryan and Shane
But still hopeful they can recover from this ಥ_ಥ
and change their minds about the new streaming platform they created
They should have joined Netflix Hulu Paramount plus etc
" if this is your introduction to my channel im sorry " me who likes rant vids
I think they're moving forward with this decision because they have posted a new "welcome video" on their site. So clearly they don't care about their audience. Also, I'm not very good with maths but someone said that even if 10% of their viewers pay for streaming service, this all will be worth it to them.