@@mirtos39 As many other commenters pointed out: the freedom of youtube is that you can continue watching whenever you have time. We are post covid now, yes, which means people prioritize their free time after work, so catching up on CR isn't pressing matter. YT views are not plummeting as much as twitch, they do steadly progress though.
@@mirtos39 Each ep regularly gets half a mill views in under a month, eventually rising up to much higher numbers with time. The thing is, we're WAY deep into a campaign so people get left behind and catch up later. When I started watching I started with C2 and was catching up so slow, I was 50 episodes behind, eventually I caught up around episode 70 or so and started watching live or 1 week after live usually.
@@davidbodor1762 Exactly. I watched the first couple of episodes of campaign 3 but wasn't able to keep up and then didn't watch until a few months ago, when I fell ill and suddenly had lots of time to watch. I'm now nearly caught up, but it took months! I've got several friends who are similarly catching up at their own pace, or who have had to drop it because watching 4 hours a week, or catching up to hundreds of hours of content just isn't viable anymore with current life changes. I think a lot of people also forget that part.
@@mirtos39 We're out of COVID so other things take time, it takes me a few days to get through an episode nowadays compared to the COVID days when I would sit through the entire episode in one sitting.
I don't entirely get the unnecessary hate to C3. I've enjoyed most episodes, yes some are a bit dry, but people are not realising that this campaign is basically one huge story arc whereas C1 and C2 were separated arcs and not one whole story. I think the whole story with Ruidis is very interesting as many plot points come together from all 3 campaigns.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't hate C3, but I'm nowhere near as captivated by it. I came in during C2, and the Mighty Nein just hooked me in. I was more interested in the characters and their interconnections than I was with the sandbox narrative, but with BH, the narrative takes the front seat, and... I just don't care about it. The lore dumps bore me, the whole thing feels more sci-fi than high fantasy, and as a result I'm farther behind on videos than I've been in a couple of years. The only thing I cared about was the Laudna / Imogen relationship, and that was when it was a platonic thing. Putting them in a relationship kind of was C3 jumping the shark for me.
Speaking as someone who prefers c1 and c2 over c3 (but doesn't hate it), I chalk up my reduced interest to the absence of interesting combat. All that matters to me right now are the roleplaying interactions. And that wasn't always the case. I used to listen to the combat, but now I couldn't tell you about a single memorable combat encounter in c3. With C1 & C2 I could name a bunch easily. They had more variety, and were more entertaining. And the villains were more compelling as well, for me personally, except maybe Lucian at the end of C2. I'll admit I didn't care for the Somnovem stuff. I don't hate C3, but I'm only watching it for the roleplay interactions at this point. I skip combat, which is a shame because I enjoyed it previously.
@@TheyCallMeCarg tbh that's probably a key difference. I joined towards the end of C1 (around the end of the Chroma Conclave) and then picked it back up in C2 and the characters were good but I didn't particularly love the story narrative in C2 which is what I like. While I think the Mighty Nein are more interesting than Bell's Hells, the story in C3 is far more interesting to me personally.
@companyoflosers combat in c3 is not as interesting to me cause I feel like the party is weakest out of any campaign. There isn't stuff popping off all of the time. Many of the party don't have a 20 in a stat at level 13 which doesn't make for cool things to happen often and often makes fights longer. The party comp isn't as interesting either, 2 Sorcerers, and 2 main martials (fighter and barbarian) makes things quite repetitive. The most interesting combat in C3 was likely the Shade Mother or the first Otohan combat as they were just memorable to me.
@@scg7442 I get a huge kick out of Jester and I like Fjord. I was confused by all of Taliesin's characters. I couldn't stand Nott/Veth. Have very little interest in Caleb, Beau, and Yasha. Normally I wouldn't feel the need to state this but on these boards you're all constantly talking up C2 so I feel the need to talk it DOWN. We're sick to death of your whining.
You simply can't compare numbers to how they were. Many people watch the episodes later now that they don't do them live anymore. Some of it is simply that it's audience has gotten older. We have families and jobs and responsibilities and we cannot stay up until the middle of the night anymore to watch the thursday night broadcast. But we'll still watch it later. I think people are comparing their old covid numbers to now and that's a dramatic difference. But they also sell out venues and command HUGE crowds everywhere they go still. They still get LOTS of views on every video. They're not suffering. The numbers are simply different.
Agree. And social blade, as showed in the video, the views are still going up. Maybe some people rather candela over to dnd, or listen to it on spotify. Twitch might be down, but twitch is a niche website (hot take, but it's true: with only 15 million daily active users vs YT 2.49 BILLION). My non-geek friends don't know what twitch is, but even my dog knows youtube or spotify. So saying that a platform that is made for live streams, is loosing viewership, (when their not even live streaming it anymore,) is just comparing apples to oranges.
Majority of my friends who are fans of CR are behind on the episodes or are waiting to get caught up because of their jobs/school/life etc. Also some people who may have started watching C3 could have stopped to watch the previous campaigns because of how much C1 and C2 are involved in the current campaign. Its not that viewership is dropping, its that there is too much to watch now. At least that's my perspective. I still haven't finished Campaign 1 and have been a regular viewer to their Twitch streams since summer of 2020. The covid period was also the only way I could get caught up in Campaign 2 and I haven't skipped a Thursday since.
I recently picked up watching again where I left off - halfway through C2. It'll take me most of the year to get close to current content. It's a ridiculous amount of video time to watch.
One factor you seemed to have missed is twitch itself. The last few months I've been having difficulty getting the viewer to load on the Critical Role twitch page. On more than one occasion I've given up on twitch and switched to TH-cam a few seconds before the episode started. So I would like to throw twitch sucking into mix as to why the numbers have changed.
I'm always annoyed how my twitch sub always seems to run out on the day I watch it and I have to spend half an hour logging into twitch, logging into prime, figuring out how to resub which I swear is different every time and then reloading the twitch app. Sometimes I just open yt and forget to resub.
twitch as a platform is just kinda awful. constant lag, chat and stream out of sync…. the only reason i stick around there is because i have a long running prime subscription. if i didn’t have one i’d have switched to yt a loooong time ago
@@idontuploadanym0re I have been noticing that lately. I watch for a few minutes then the stream just stops. I watch critical role but watch it on youtube. Just found them a week ago and am binge watching campaign 2, I probably wont watch everything they do and in time will move on. But they are really good at what they do, some of the best role playing I have ever seen
So I am a "new" CR viewer. How started watching was I saw a Tiktok of Mat & Ashley having a funny interaction so I started watching the Vox Machina series. I enjoyed that and then started listening to campaign 3 while I work. I "lurk" during the "live" Twitch streams but since I am so far behind I really enjoy catching up on TH-cam. Ive watched the Twitch Live Streams but the chat on their was really detracting and sometimes toxic so I switched to viewing on TH-cam. However when I started researching CR I was really confused about the all the toxic videos I saw that basically said that CR was failing, or would end soon. I am enjoying what I am watching and I wish CR the best. Excited to see them at a convention soon. Great video, I am glad to see a positive video about CR.
I have to agree on your drama point, some creators keep say daily that D&D or critical is dead. It really burns out their content the third time you click on the rage bait and it’s just that a book got published or something.
@@brilobox2 It kinda does, in the context menu of suggested videos there is the option 'don't recommend channel' so at least in your suggestions they won't show up. Helped a ton cleaning up my youtube experience.
I have to say i appreciate your analysis on this issue. There has been a lot of negativity in the space recently and it makes me stay away from outside content and comment sections, i was hesitant to click on this video because yes your thumbnail was a bit clickbaity. Critical Role is and will be fine because the loyal fans who have always been there are still as loyal as ever. And i know that because i was one of the people who was lucky enough to go to the live show and i saw 10,000 people come together for the love of these nerdy ass voice actors and share that love with each other. I see passionate content creators, artist, cosplayers etc. demonstrate just how good this community can be and overall i don't see a drop in engagement just a change in the way it is seen and where it is happening. Sure the content has changed, the chat and comment section is still toxic on occasion and campaign 3 is different tonaly with people complaining about it all the time, but this has always happened, even way back in campaign 1 this was happening, people just love a good fight! Overall they hold strong because their foundation hasn't changed and neither has their passion, i just ignore the toxic content and keep coming back to enjoy the show i've loved for 6 years.
100%. I've been watching CR since they were on Campaign 1 Episode 8, and I haven't missed an episode yet. Every campaign has been fantastic overall and I love where this latest one is right now too (no spoilers, of course). And you're absolutely right about a toxic and vocal minority being there even in C1. All the Keyleth hate is the reason I just ended up turning off the chat window! 😂
@@starblaiz1986 HA, same. I came in about C1 ep 10 and was like.. this will never get anywhere because "Normies" will never watch like I would. Wow were we so gladly wrong. 1000 followers to now, almost 9 years later. Just Amazing.
I've just loved C3. I love how Critical Role gets to do different things each campaign rather than aiming for the same tone every time and C3 really hits it for me. It's been so disheartening to hear so much hate about it, especially when the hate often boils down to "It's different to C2". Appreciate the more level video (even if the thumbnail had me almost not click on it out of fear of it being one of those videos :P). I'm so determined not to be a hater on C4 when that comes around!
This whole "Crisis" is just manufactured to create clickbait videos, but honestly this is the first I'm hearing of it. Twitch earnings has never been about views, it's about subscriptions. Most people watch CR via VOD's anways, because unless you're on PST, it's impossible to watch a 4 hour stream live. I'm in the UK and that is a 3am start for me, and even on EST that's an 11pm start, it's just not feasable to watch the livestream without being on PST. I started watching CR during Covid, and I started watching the livestream around the Aeor arc in C2 once I had caught up. And even though it was during lockdown, I still only managed to watch the 1st half live, and then I'd watch the second half via the VOD in the morning. I've watched the entirity of C3 via VOD. And since they've started doing VOD's via TH-cam, I don't watch on Twitch at all now, as their Playstation app is absolute garbage, and I feel many may have done the same. Also, the majority of people watching CR are not caught up to the current episode which means absolutely nothing to the viewer count, and while this means that it may look like more recent videos on TH-cam are dropping in views, that just means that people haven't watched them yet.
I was hesitant to click on this because of the thumbnail and was about to tell youtube not to show me this video but the title gave me a bit more nuanced feel so I decided to give it a shot.
Thanks for posting a spin that isn't just for "views" by proposing dramatic conspiracies or looking too deep into stats. Viewership has always flucuated and it will continue to due to the manner in which this content is created. Not everyone can spend hours/hours at "live" showings and utilize VOD when they can to catch up. Doesn't mean C3 is "not good enough." Just means the world has picked back up post-pandemic. Let us not forget they continue to give us the joy of these games on top of creating multiple other shows, merch, and even two animated series. Good video.
I am so glad someone made an analysis of this issue. All I’ve been seeing on TH-cam about CR has just been this drama and although I have managed to curate my feed they still slip through and it just makes me feel icky inside. Thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts on this issue!
I don't care what people think, I started with Campaign 3 and I still enjoy it the most out of the other ones. I think Matt has done an excellent job making the NPCs in C3 super memorable, and we've seen some heart wrenching moments. The overarching story seems bigger than ever before and I also want to state that I feel like Ashley's evolution as a player has been great to see. Her portrayal of Fearne suits her so well and she seems so much more confident on that character. People say it's just Imogen and everyone else is goofy comic relief, but they all have depth. They've had the deep conversations just like any other campaign, with most of them having heartbreaking back stories that have been touched on throughout the story. I really don't get what the problem is other than people being burned out.
I feel like people are so fast to say that something is better in the previous campaigns because they enjoyed it better. Everyone has their own preferences. So naturally, we will find it "better". People talk about CR as if forgetting it's still a game. The cast doesn't plan how the story arcs will go, they do what they feel like. And that's part of the magic. Of course we have Matt, but he's basically creating a world where his friends will have fun in, and looking for new things to show them to keep them interested. Personally, my favorite campaign was the 2nd. The 3rd I love, it had its ups and downs for me, and rn having caught up, I'm HOOKED. It got soo good rn I'm almost sad I need to wait like everyone else for new episodes XD And thinking about it, all the campaigns I watched were honestly a similar experience, some ups and downs, more and less interesting fragments and favorite characters... It is interesting to me, to see how different people like different things in each campaign. But I guess I don't get it why do they need to talk about it AND trashing on things they don't enjoy. I'm glad CR itself is so positive despite the community beeing so toxic sometimes
congratulations. You basically outed yourself as a person that falls for media that is optimized to the most gullible lucrative audience. How much merch did you buy so far?
First time viewer (and of course commenter) - your title is good and not click-baity, while the image is extremely so. Image DID make me stop my scroll while browsing on a TV and say, "WTF???" so in that respect it "worked" but I'm very click-bait avoidant and only watched because the title gave me hope you were actually thinking more deeply and not just trying to generate views. That all said 🙂 I agree with your assessment. I've been watching them nearly every week since the beginning of CritRole, and I cancelled my Twitch sub a few months ago due to disliking the overall Twitch experience and preferring TH-cam as an already subscribed TH-cam Premium user.
This was... a surprisingly wholesome video. The advice about not falling for clickbait, and training creators to create actual content, was timely - I've been randomly clicking too many bad videos just to feel irritated by them recently - so thanks for that. Keep fighting the good (for a given value) fight.
Rage-bait is particularly vile. I remember when WotC announced that the next edition of D&D won’t have half-elves or half-orc, some creators misled their audiences Whether this is because they didn’t do a modicum of research or because they deliberately wanted to generate clicks doesn’t really matter. The reality is WotC wanted to move away from half-orcs and half-elves as demihumans; a half-elves can still be half-human, but they can also be half-genasi, half-dwarf, etc. This was presented as WotC removing player agency, ignoring its own source material and inspirations, and somehow (I can’t remember) pandering to a small group of people who allegedly found the existence of half-elves as a separate race offensive (I’m sure no such group exists). I commented on some of those videos trying to explain why WotC did what they did. It was ignored in favor of angrier and nastier comments (listed separately in the comments below).
Some said this buried the legacy of half-elves like Elrond and Tanis. I don’t know enough about Dragonlance to comment on Tanis, but I’m very familiar with Elrond and the Legendarium. In Tolkien there are specific reasons why there are children of an elf and human parent rather than a dwarf and human parent. It’s also important to note that half-elves are incredibly rare. Some humans like Aragorn have elven ancestry, but when he’s called elf blooded that’s because he has .004% elven ancestry. Others accused WotC of showing their true colors. “For a company “obsessed” with diversity they seem awfully concerned about racial purity.” Yeah I was a real fan of that one. It’s just there to codify mechanically what we’ve always been able to go. If I want to play a gnome raised by elves, I’m sure my DM can work with me. If I want to play a child of a hill dwarf and stout halfling, I’m sure my DM could work with me.
I think most of this is right on, but I also think the third issue is that Critical Role's long form format really hurts them, and if there is even a momentarily lapse in forward momentum for the narrative, people stop watching because its such a commitment. I don't think Campaign 3 is any worse than 2. Campaign 1 was arguably my favorite. But at least for me, I work a ton, and my time is limited. 4 plus hour episodes is a huge ask. I'll catch up eventually, but I think many are in the same boat as me. Especially amongst the die hard fans. Notably though, I think many like me stay subscribed, so I suspect monetarily Critical Role is doing maybe even better than ever. Because they have so many other sources of income now.
especially with the breaks once a month for other content like Candela, and the sometimes more bumpy pacing of C3, I've noticed a more sporadic watching schedule with me and with friends that I talk about it on a Discord (we usually spoiler our reactions with episde/timestamps) So now I'm not that much in the rhythm of watching the show on friday or saturday anymore, than I used to every week and it's much more common for a few episodes to pile up and then I binge them, usually while doing an art project or something. Which makes ma a lot more prone to getting accidentally spoilered online, like for episode 91 that I just finished watching, which is annoying. Being european and having almost always watched VODs, I am a bit used to that though. And in addition to having less time, now other TV Shows and also Games have caught up after their covid breaks in the last year and there's just much more other stuff to watch. So yeah, my prime sub on twitch is still going to them because I've always watched the VOD with chat there.
It's a combination of things. The three main ones in my mind are as follows: Covid views are gone (people have less free time), weak (railroady) campaign compared to the previous 2, and people are behind on episodes. Live viewers are always high at the beginning of the campaign and fall off as people lose interest or fall behind and catch up on YT.
I tried to call out one of the worse offenders of these rage-bait, dissent-sowing content creators for this dishonesty recently and my comment was promptly deleted. They didn't reply, or try to argue against what I said, they just removed it and that speaks volumes. They know what they're doing, it's absolutely intentional, and they're actively silencing voices that try to call them out.
Yeah sometimes it's that or even 30k at the start, but after break it gets down quite a lot in live viewership as people go to bed. And then wake up to finish the rest sometime during the day.
I get and thank you for explaining. Personally, I just didn’t click with Critical Role’s campaign 3 storyline or characters so I lost interest in keeping up with it. However that doesn’t mean I have a disinterest in Critical Role. In fact, I’d say it’s as strong as ever. I just really like rewatching campaign 2 and I am now playing in two different Wildmount campaigns that are definitely some of my favorite ones I play. I also am, despite being in my 3rd rewatch of campaign 2, starting to get myself caught up on campaign 1. I figure I really don’t need to watch campaign 3 live. As you pointed out, there just feels like less incentive to catch it live too. I do catch their actual live streams when I can though. I definitely watched the baldur’s gate one (when so much of the cast was sick that only 4 could do anything so they did character creation). I also caught the London show via live stream too. I still intend to keep watching Critical Role. I just have a ton to catch up on though. Oh right! And yes I checked out and loved the animation of vox machina. I am still looking forward to the Mighty Nein series that’s been teased and promised. Honestly they have a ton going on so I totally get why live shows aren’t a thing anymore. I still miss it though, and especially the art reel they used to show during break, miss that a ton too.
I think there were too many issues with choosing the art and the rights to that, so while I'm also sad that it's gone, i can understand why they moved away from the fan Art reels. I've pretty much always had to watch VODs but it still feels a bit different with the pre-recorded shows and the urgency to catch up as soon as possible is not really there. I think you can also feel that timely disconnect a lot in things like 4 sided dive and general social media reactions of the cast. But to be honest, in my mind, basically always having the whole cast there and episodes where someone is missing due to other committments or being sick being so rare, is worth that. Since I'm watching VOD anyway.
There is only one TH-cam channel I've really seen do clickbait-y shit about Critical Role's "Crisis" or "Downfall". I'd suggest everyone steer clear of a channel called Dungeons and Discourse. As her name suggests, there's never anything positive in any of her videos and she makes mountains out of mole hills regarding Critical Role. And she knows it's total horseshit too because in the same video she can be seen replying to comments in an unexpected civil manner.
Spot on! Controversy = Clicks Critters > Controversy One point on which I disagree: watching on TH-cam used to be a better experience than Twitch UNTIL recently with the surge in long ad times on TH-cam. I only wish that Crit Role’s actual sponsors were sufficient such that CR didn’t let TH-cam barrage us with long ads, batteries of ads and poorly matched questionable ads and political propaganda.
THANK YOU FOR THIS SO Much. As some one who is a big fan of critical role and c3 and gets tired of unnecessary comments that shit on it. Thank you for some thing like this and being more positive and deleting my worries of something I love.
I started watching crit role right at the beginning of C3 so I basically missed all the live stuff that they used to do. I've gone back an watched the other campaigns as well for the lore and what not but neither of them really drew me in and got me hooked on D&D like C3 has. Along with that I never watched them on twitch and have always caught it all here on TH-cam. All that being said it seems like the TH-cam numbers are very good and with all the stuff they're putting out and creating, it seems impossible to say that they're not doing amazing. P.S great video :)
I think your self depreciating jokes aside, this was actually a good analysis of the culture around D&D live-streaming shows. The commentariat will always be chasing after the creatives, and while yours had meaningful insights to offer, many are just chasing that viewer high as you say!
Agree 100%. I'm one of the viewers that switched from Twitch to TH-cam. Mainly because of a tech glitch I kept getting on Twitch. If I changed tabs to look at anything else and then tried to return to the Twitch tab it would lock up and skip anywhere from 10 - 30 seconds of the live stream. It was NOT my internet which is fast, nor my computer, it was a Twitch issue. The only selling point Twitch really had was the live moderated chat, but now TH-cam just added live chat so why settle for a platform that is acting Twitchy??
Which is odd, because I couldn’t get into campaign 1. I finally got into campaign 3, and when I caught up I started watching campaign 2. I still can’t get into campaign 1.
I'll be honest. I don't watch live anymore. I used to be religious about making sure to sit down for 4 hours every thursday but when they switched to pre-recorded and they only stream it 3 out of 4 weeks I switched to watching vods for free. I also tend to save up a few episodes so I can sit down one day and binge a couple back to back.
I think another thing most people dont think about is that, streamed or not, CR is a DnD campaign, and if you can get 2 really great campaigns in a row, great! But generally speaking, you're not gonna have campaigns that appeal to the audience the same way as the players all the time- just think about how hard that is! I think people get too concerned with the production side of it, ignoring the cast stating exactly how much they think about that aspect during play, which is to say, not that much
Is the Twitch viewership graph based on live viewers only? If so, people in Europe would have to get up at 3/4am on a Friday morning before work to catch them live.
I have started curating my clicks to avoid all the crisis videos so as to not encourage that and am so glad I clicked this one (thanks to the ""). Thoughtfully curating our feeds is essential thanks to the algorithm that recommends content. Want to see more innovative live play shows? Start watching more and leaving comments on them. Thank you for reminding us that we can in fact control the flow.
I actually agree with this. Especially since, as of writing this comment, episode 92 of Campaign 3 is "live" and has about 17K watching. It's only just started, too, so more may join later on. Plus, the last episode is around 301K views. I've recently started watching Critical Role, maybe the start of this year or there abouts, and I don't think they're "dying", plus they have the Amazon shows, with Vox Machina having 2 seasons with a third on the way alongside the first season of Mighty Nein on the way too. I do believe that people who have been fans of Critical Role longer than me are still watching it, just on a different platform and at different times rather than watching it live.
Yeah, they started prerecording during COVID so it makes sense that people would stop watching the "live" stream. I , myself, will often only watch the first half "live" and watch the rest on VOD or YT later in the week.
I discovered CR about a year ago and have been marathoning episodes to catch up. I listen to them while I work. Today, I got to Campaign 2 Episode 13, but when i called it up, ALL the Campaign videos were deleted from TH-cam. All of them! Ive been searching TH-cam and they are nowhere to be found! What the FUCK is going on!!!
As a new fan of CR I must say the whole thing around CR is discouraging me to get into DnD The whole hate on C3, the so called ‘crisis’, the whole party getting so much shit FROM their fans (esp Marisha/Ashley), the annoyance of any player who would dare forget a rule or messing up during Battles.. Like.. Idk.. the priority of DnD isn’t supposed to have fun..?
I believe the viewerships on the twitch streams has to do with a lot of other things. such as, - It being streamed on both twitch AND youtube, so the livestream viewership is divided. - The rise of European viewers after covid who can't watch the streams. - Critical Role is not being streamed live anymore, so they do have less incentive to watch it live. - People are not that invested in Bells Hells as they were previous campaigns. So this has probably led to a lot of the audience to watch the VODs because they can't/don't want to watch it live. And the viewership on the vods seems pretty stable and good. People are either watching it days after, or (like me) have been on a break from it and have to slowly catch up. Critical role is not dying. Hell, I think it's bigger than ever.
Sometimes I stop watching Critical Role for a few weeks and then pick it back up, I have kids and all that so I'm always busy busy so I try to listen to them while I am cleaning the house while the kids are in school in between.
Hey, I'm late to the party, but YT just served this to me so 🤷🏾♂️ . Just wanted to let you know that I did click on the video even though the title was an obvious "lure", but the fact that "crisis" was in quotes and that there was a promise to explain something suggested that it was a lure worth following. Which was in fact the case 😀😉, so I wouldn't call it "clickbait" in the evil sense, but in the totally reasonable marketing sense of a YT creator in a sea of competition. You're OK by me! I enjoyed the video (and agree with your points as well). 🙂
there is also the fact they have 1 less episode of their main show every month, so 3 instead of 4 (ish), which probably takes out a good cut of their monthly views on twitch.
I don't watch live anymore because the stream is pre-recorded, so what's the point of me going to bed at 3 a.m. when I can catch it on TH-cam a few days later? Also, the irregular upload schedule of new campaign episodes. Sometimes, due to one-shots or side plots, the episodes are a month apart, so there's no real incentive to keep following weekly since there are such big gaps in uploads. That impacts viewership most since its no longer "is it Thursday yet" and now its "is it the random C3 upload of the month yet". (I'm sure there's a schedule, but i don't care enough to coordinate my month with their uploads)
That is the best take on the current dnd youtube situation i have seen in a while. I dont blame creators for following what the algorithm gods demand. The food on the table has to come from somewhere. but i have caught myself being angry at videos that tried to create conspiracy where there is none, because i find it disingenuous. So if i fall for it, the ragebaity dnd youtuber will get a view from me...but i won't cone back to them. Not sure if that is a sustainable model for content creation
Great point of view, hopefully the drama baiting decreases and allows some space for better content. Also, love the just "not clicking" idea, because it sounds to me as the best way we all can help the change to happen! I didn't feel your title was misleading as you mention a "Crisis" and that it'll be explained. Besides it felt to me you pretty much got right to the point of clarifying what you meant with this video. Nice job!!! 😁
Yeah, agree completely, as If you look at twitch, viewers of people whose seen the videos. CR starts at 7 PM PST / 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST. Plus EU they're asleep. So live viewers is always gonna be lower than the actual viewers. They're all watching it the next day or the Monday upload of youtube. Some even watch when it's live on twitch until the first break and finish the rest the next day. 2019 - 220k to 500k viewers 2020 (COVID) - 600k to 900k viewers (Some even hit over a million viewers on the videos on twitch) 2023/2024 - 220k to 500k viewers (It's pretty much the same as it was back in 2019, before COVID) TH-cam, 600k to 1 million views, from people who wait till Mondays when they upload watching it. So last 3 videos from C3, combined number of viewers of twitch and youtube: 2,201,000 views Anyhow good video. The whole debate of CR3 is doing bad is far from the truth. As realistically it's actually doing how C2 was doing if not somewhat better before COVID.
Every episode on TH-cam is still reliably hitting ~half a million views. I don’t think there’s a problem. If I could watch it live I 100% would, but they stream at like 3am where I am
I totally agree. Sensationalist news or commentary has been the bane of regular journalism in the USA for decades. That the same technique is being employed by people on social media is to be expected. I applaud you for pointing this out. Nicely done ✅
I think the main factor views are down is simply because it’s pre recorded. You don’t feel like you’re at the table reacting and experiencing it alongside the cast. Because there is no urgency it feels like just watching any old yt video so i can do it whenever im free.
Great video - well done for calling out the nonsense! There is a real TH-cam industry in saying that D&D is in desperate trouble because of the OGL crisis last year, and you see it almost every week - "Hasbro profits collapse" - "D&D players hate on 2024 playtest" - "Critical Role viewership collapses". I think that Critical Role choosing NOT to immediately cut their ties to Wotc after the OGL crisis actually did them the biggest harm, because so many creators were so hostile to Wotc during last year. In addition, I am sure that Critters on the whole would like the cast to return to live play rather than pre-recorded streams, because viewers feel more connected to what's happening at the table when it's taking place in that moment. I think pre-recording their stream has really hit their Twitch numbers, but not their TH-cam numbers, because viewers on YT are completely used to watching pre-recorded videos. The vast majority of Critters now watch the YT catch-up on Mondays. Critical Role has been caught up in the desire of many creators to tear into Wotc for all its mistakes (understandably) but that doesn't mean CR is dying. Their Twitch stream is only a tiny proportion of their total income now, they must have most of their income guaranteed from the Amazon Prime deal with TLOVM
The thing is CR is a business. It's a group of friends, sure but over the years it's grown into an actual business that needs treating, well, like a business. If CR was 'dying' we'd be seeing a retraction of expense. Less polish, less diversification of content and a recall to more streamlined products. The simple fact they continue to develop and push outwards Year-on-Year means they're growing, not shrinking. Just people trying to create drama where there isn't any to make money. The only thing that sells better than sex is hate.
I almost didn't click on this, because I was worried you would be doing that yourself. Happy I did. Really good points. I'm enjoying C3. It's the first campaign I've watched weekly. That being said, I don't have the time to watch it all in one sitting. I put it on a hour or so and at time, throughout the week.
I’ve been a fan from the very beginning in 2015 and have never watched it live on Twitch, or subscribed on Twitch. I’ve been a sole TH-cam fan and have never really lost major interest. It’s probably one of my longest running viewership experiences. They’ve grown a whole bunch and are a multi-million dollar company. They aren’t going anywhere 😂
I'm a fan, I have been since C2, I've tried to go back to C1 since, but I haven't found the time to when trying to watch C2 or C3. I've exclusively watched on TH-cam, never live as I'm in the U.K. I feel the show is still as great as ever, but I am behind on the current campaign. I'm currently on episode 73, I've since seen the live show in London and I'm desperately trying to catch up for the 100th episode to watch it on the day of release. I love this show, I love the cast and I love the community of Critters.
Personally I chalk it up to the ‘watch order’ and sheer amount of content. people that commit hundreds of hours to a show like CR tend to be the people who care a lot about continuity, lore, and worldbuilding especially if it spans multiple campaigns and at times even shares NPCs. I started off the prime animated show, then went to mighty nein then Vox machina (s3 did not come out like I thought it might during my M9 watch) and now I have finallly got to C3 where apparantly EXU has a tie in so I might go watch THAT first. Basically I think the changes are a combo of how story heavy and involved you have to be when listening to the lore and interactions in C3 AND people catching up to the whole story rather than jumping straight to c3 which is great for them because it’s more views and creates a greater incentive for the people who caught up to stick around for C3 moving forward.
I’ve been rolling my eyes at these takes for ages. I’ve been watching live every Thursday since 2016, but I’ve always taken every opportunity I can get to watch on other platforms because I hate twitch. I watched on Alpha (rip!) because it had better overlays, quality, etc. and worked smoother than twitch and now I watch on YT because it works better and is easier to access on the rare times I have to work during the stream. So just because twitch says I’m not watching there doesn’t mean I’m not watching at all.
Very well said. I clicked hoping against hope this wouldn't be ragebait. Very pleasantly surprised! I do avoid content creators that burn me on that too much. But sometimes, like now, I'm just blissfully ignorant of the current drama of the time, & am a little curious despite myself. If there were actual big news I'd want to know, you know? More like this, thank you!
I like watching TH-cam version better, I have a premium account and I don't have ads at all on TH-cam. On Twitch sure I can skip the ads but I already have Premuim and I don't want to spend extra money to skip ads when I already can. CR is one of my favorite D&D streams for gameplay, as a growing DM Matt Mercer has helped me become a better DM for my players. I describe more and genuinely enjoy doing my arsenal of accents and voices (I used to be nervous about it). My players are enjoying it. The D&D community used to be a bunch of nerds that united in a game that they all enjoy. I miss those days.
So many devices aren't compatible with Twitch. While almost every device is compatible with TH-cam. I watch it on TH-cam now simply out of convenience, I still subscribe on the Twitch app because I want to support the show. But otherwise I consume nearly all my CR content on TH-cam now, its just easier.
Really appreciate this video and noticed the same thing and finally posted a comment on another creator's post about feeling like Fox News and Nancy Grace cuz she would be posting "Critical role getting cancelled" and go on to say "oh I love critical role" and Im really just done with that garbage content. Good work posting this and the thumbnail is appreciate for what you're getting at.
I stopped CR C3 really early and I'll absolutely be right there for C4 or whatever other project they start up after that. I guarentee other people will be there too. I've seen complaints about this campaign specifically not grabbing people like C1 and C2 and I think that might be why. Once a new one starts up, I think they'll be right back up there.
I don't use Twitter but through the Dungeons & Discourse channel, I heard of this supposed "plummeting" of ratings for CR. Thanks to some second opinions I've heard through one or two D&D themed Facebook groups I'm in; I've learned that, as the host's name suggest, Dungeons & Discourse simply enjoys causing discourse with ANYTHING D&D related
See, I'm 54 years old. With the exception of the LAST EPISODE, which I was GLUED to the screen, I was watch all my views on Critical Role on TH-cam. I can barely stay up because I have to work that Friday morning, so I can only watch so much, then get sleepy, turn it off, then watch the rest of it on Monday. So I love the show, and I just watch the first half live and the second half or what I missed on Monday.
Speaking as someone who hasn't watched my of C3, honestly, I'm more if a binger and so are a lot of CR fans. I prefer waiting until the series end so I can watch without having to wait for weeks for it to upload. I also watched on twitch for a while, but tbh the community is SO toxic (either hyper negative or hyper positive) that it turned me off paying money for it, even for early access to the episodes.
Coming from a critter who watch C1 live and then C2. I think there are a few different factors. I kind of had it when I went from C1 to C2. I call it campaign break up. I loved C1 because that was my first campaign and then when C2 came along i had to put up with these new characters who i didn't really give them time to get them to know them properly. And I didn't give the campaign the time and attention it deserved to enjoy it properly.So I think people who enjoyed the Mighty Nein are not having the same fun with the Bells Hells.
Title: not click-baity, well written. Thumbnail: leaning towards click-bait IMO, but also not (IMO) sufficiently well-related to the video. Good video. Good points.
Since I don't know much about the financial side for creators on Twitch and TH-cam, I would assumed that viewership on Twitch is not as important as number of paid subscribers. Viewership on TH-cam seems to climb slower than before but still eventually reaching 1M per episode. And it will be even harder to gauge now, because of the simul-cast and the membership/live program they did with TH-cam?
yeah, the YT live stream version as well as 2 of the Twitch Re-Stream VOD's Viewer Counts usually get deleted with those VODs. YT gets the video later and on Twitch only the VOD of the first Stream stays online and then people only see the views on those versions. (The Re-Streams usually stay online for a few days, I imagine so people won't loose the saved timestamp if they watched the restream and wanna catch up at that spot in the VOD the day later while on YT the Live-Stream gets taken down to keep the exclusive days on Twitch)
Your video really speaks to the sense of irritation I feel over the clickbait D&D video titles. I JUST saw a video with a very clickbaity title and thumbnail, and it's so damned stupid. It's cheap, lazy, and feeds the fire of rage videos where people just want to consume drama and bs like that. It's the same exact thing that TikTok literally survives off of: just cheap, half-baked rage bait that elicits a negative reaction out of people because we are apparently so easy to anger that all someone has to do is fabricate a scandal or perceived problem, and like flies to shit, we all swarm in and consume it. This is pretty much what content creation culture is becoming, and I hate it. Then again, it probably won't change anytime soon and it will be because of us and our thirst for drama.
I almost didnt click on this video because I try to avoid the drama :D Really glad someone finalley looked a bit deeper into it.. I alsways found the arguments suspect. But I think some youtubers who are fans just fell for the low Twitch numbers and thought it was an important topic to talk about.
For me its massive burnout. I started on campaign 2 and watched religiously to catch up, then when they went on hiatus i had literally just caught up, and decided i was gonna watch all of campaign 1. I coompleted it shortly after they started campaign 2 back up again, and then finished campaign 2. After that, as much as i loved both campaigns, i found myself uninterested to continue watching campaign 3 after a few episodes, as the sheer amount of time i spent watching it wasnt sustainable anymore
I only got into CR a couple years back when C3 started and only because me and some friends were into the idea of playing DND. My brother had always told me it was good and I should watch but I didn't like the idea at first. However I started with campaign 3 and was loving it. I wondered if I should go back to watch the first campaign, but at 200 or so episodes at 4hours long is just not feasible (though I did watch the first 10 or so). Then they brought out Vox Machina the show and it's been swiftly summing up those episodes without me needing to go back and watch hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content. So to summarize I don't think it's a *problem* they're having per se, like you said content views waver and that's perfectly normal, they'll be getting new fans from other places and to confirm I am British so no live streams for me.
During covid CR also gained many European fans, and we literally can't watch twitch live. Instead, we're watching it on YT or Spotify.
Except they arent. Its not just twitch. even youtube views have dropped since last year. its not just covid.
@@mirtos39 As many other commenters pointed out: the freedom of youtube is that you can continue watching whenever you have time. We are post covid now, yes, which means people prioritize their free time after work, so catching up on CR isn't pressing matter. YT views are not plummeting as much as twitch, they do steadly progress though.
@@mirtos39 Each ep regularly gets half a mill views in under a month, eventually rising up to much higher numbers with time. The thing is, we're WAY deep into a campaign so people get left behind and catch up later. When I started watching I started with C2 and was catching up so slow, I was 50 episodes behind, eventually I caught up around episode 70 or so and started watching live or 1 week after live usually.
@@davidbodor1762 Exactly. I watched the first couple of episodes of campaign 3 but wasn't able to keep up and then didn't watch until a few months ago, when I fell ill and suddenly had lots of time to watch. I'm now nearly caught up, but it took months!
I've got several friends who are similarly catching up at their own pace, or who have had to drop it because watching 4 hours a week, or catching up to hundreds of hours of content just isn't viable anymore with current life changes. I think a lot of people also forget that part.
@@mirtos39 We're out of COVID so other things take time, it takes me a few days to get through an episode nowadays compared to the COVID days when I would sit through the entire episode in one sitting.
Watching live from where I live is often a physical impossibility for me.
having a 8-4 office job and trying to watch a live stream that’s 9-1 is awful i agree completely - love the VODs on youtube now
Its fine they don't play live anymore so there's no point in waiting until it comes out on youtube!
I don't entirely get the unnecessary hate to C3.
I've enjoyed most episodes, yes some are a bit dry, but people are not realising that this campaign is basically one huge story arc whereas C1 and C2 were separated arcs and not one whole story.
I think the whole story with Ruidis is very interesting as many plot points come together from all 3 campaigns.
I can only speak for myself, but I don't hate C3, but I'm nowhere near as captivated by it. I came in during C2, and the Mighty Nein just hooked me in. I was more interested in the characters and their interconnections than I was with the sandbox narrative, but with BH, the narrative takes the front seat, and... I just don't care about it. The lore dumps bore me, the whole thing feels more sci-fi than high fantasy, and as a result I'm farther behind on videos than I've been in a couple of years. The only thing I cared about was the Laudna / Imogen relationship, and that was when it was a platonic thing. Putting them in a relationship kind of was C3 jumping the shark for me.
Speaking as someone who prefers c1 and c2 over c3 (but doesn't hate it), I chalk up my reduced interest to the absence of interesting combat. All that matters to me right now are the roleplaying interactions. And that wasn't always the case. I used to listen to the combat, but now I couldn't tell you about a single memorable combat encounter in c3. With C1 & C2 I could name a bunch easily. They had more variety, and were more entertaining. And the villains were more compelling as well, for me personally, except maybe Lucian at the end of C2. I'll admit I didn't care for the Somnovem stuff. I don't hate C3, but I'm only watching it for the roleplay interactions at this point. I skip combat, which is a shame because I enjoyed it previously.
@@TheyCallMeCarg tbh that's probably a key difference.
I joined towards the end of C1 (around the end of the Chroma Conclave) and then picked it back up in C2 and the characters were good but I didn't particularly love the story narrative in C2 which is what I like.
While I think the Mighty Nein are more interesting than Bell's Hells, the story in C3 is far more interesting to me personally.
@companyoflosers combat in c3 is not as interesting to me cause I feel like the party is weakest out of any campaign. There isn't stuff popping off all of the time. Many of the party don't have a 20 in a stat at level 13 which doesn't make for cool things to happen often and often makes fights longer. The party comp isn't as interesting either, 2 Sorcerers, and 2 main martials (fighter and barbarian) makes things quite repetitive. The most interesting combat in C3 was likely the Shade Mother or the first Otohan combat as they were just memorable to me.
@@scg7442 I get a huge kick out of Jester and I like Fjord. I was confused by all of Taliesin's characters. I couldn't stand Nott/Veth. Have very little interest in Caleb, Beau, and Yasha. Normally I wouldn't feel the need to state this but on these boards you're all constantly talking up C2 so I feel the need to talk it DOWN. We're sick to death of your whining.
They did say one of the reasons they were switching to pre-recorded was in case someone was late coming from work or other mishap.
You simply can't compare numbers to how they were. Many people watch the episodes later now that they don't do them live anymore. Some of it is simply that it's audience has gotten older. We have families and jobs and responsibilities and we cannot stay up until the middle of the night anymore to watch the thursday night broadcast. But we'll still watch it later. I think people are comparing their old covid numbers to now and that's a dramatic difference. But they also sell out venues and command HUGE crowds everywhere they go still. They still get LOTS of views on every video. They're not suffering. The numbers are simply different.
Agree. And social blade, as showed in the video, the views are still going up. Maybe some people rather candela over to dnd, or listen to it on spotify. Twitch might be down, but twitch is a niche website (hot take, but it's true: with only 15 million daily active users vs YT 2.49 BILLION). My non-geek friends don't know what twitch is, but even my dog knows youtube or spotify. So saying that a platform that is made for live streams, is loosing viewership, (when their not even live streaming it anymore,) is just comparing apples to oranges.
Majority of my friends who are fans of CR are behind on the episodes or are waiting to get caught up because of their jobs/school/life etc. Also some people who may have started watching C3 could have stopped to watch the previous campaigns because of how much C1 and C2 are involved in the current campaign. Its not that viewership is dropping, its that there is too much to watch now. At least that's my perspective.
I still haven't finished Campaign 1 and have been a regular viewer to their Twitch streams since summer of 2020. The covid period was also the only way I could get caught up in Campaign 2 and I haven't skipped a Thursday since.
I recently picked up watching again where I left off - halfway through C2. It'll take me most of the year to get close to current content. It's a ridiculous amount of video time to watch.
HEY KADEL
I MISS YOUUUUU
One factor you seemed to have missed is twitch itself.
The last few months I've been having difficulty getting the viewer to load on the Critical Role twitch page.
On more than one occasion I've given up on twitch and switched to TH-cam a few seconds before the episode started.
So I would like to throw twitch sucking into mix as to why the numbers have changed.
This is a great point!
I'm always annoyed how my twitch sub always seems to run out on the day I watch it and I have to spend half an hour logging into twitch, logging into prime, figuring out how to resub which I swear is different every time and then reloading the twitch app. Sometimes I just open yt and forget to resub.
twitch as a platform is just kinda awful. constant lag, chat and stream out of sync…. the only reason i stick around there is because i have a long running prime subscription. if i didn’t have one i’d have switched to yt a loooong time ago
@@idontuploadanym0re I have been noticing that lately. I watch for a few minutes then the stream just stops. I watch critical role but watch it on youtube. Just found them a week ago and am binge watching campaign 2, I probably wont watch everything they do and in time will move on. But they are really good at what they do, some of the best role playing I have ever seen
So I am a "new" CR viewer. How started watching was I saw a Tiktok of Mat & Ashley having a funny interaction so I started watching the Vox Machina series. I enjoyed that and then started listening to campaign 3 while I work. I "lurk" during the "live" Twitch streams but since I am so far behind I really enjoy catching up on TH-cam. Ive watched the Twitch Live Streams but the chat on their was really detracting and sometimes toxic so I switched to viewing on TH-cam.
However when I started researching CR I was really confused about the all the toxic videos I saw that basically said that CR was failing, or would end soon. I am enjoying what I am watching and I wish CR the best. Excited to see them at a convention soon.
Great video, I am glad to see a positive video about CR.
thank you soo much, it is annoying to see some these creators exaggerate
I have to agree on your drama point, some creators keep say daily that D&D or critical is dead. It really burns out their content the third time you click on the rage bait and it’s just that a book got published or something.
‘CR is DYING!!!!1!’
‘CR making a TON of money!!!!1!’
Endless dumbass content farm. I wish YT had a ‘block’ function for channels.
@@brilobox2 It kinda does, in the context menu of suggested videos there is the option 'don't recommend channel' so at least in your suggestions they won't show up. Helped a ton cleaning up my youtube experience.
I have to say i appreciate your analysis on this issue. There has been a lot of negativity in the space recently and it makes me stay away from outside content and comment sections, i was hesitant to click on this video because yes your thumbnail was a bit clickbaity. Critical Role is and will be fine because the loyal fans who have always been there are still as loyal as ever. And i know that because i was one of the people who was lucky enough to go to the live show and i saw 10,000 people come together for the love of these nerdy ass voice actors and share that love with each other. I see passionate content creators, artist, cosplayers etc. demonstrate just how good this community can be and overall i don't see a drop in engagement just a change in the way it is seen and where it is happening. Sure the content has changed, the chat and comment section is still toxic on occasion and campaign 3 is different tonaly with people complaining about it all the time, but this has always happened, even way back in campaign 1 this was happening, people just love a good fight! Overall they hold strong because their foundation hasn't changed and neither has their passion, i just ignore the toxic content and keep coming back to enjoy the show i've loved for 6 years.
🙂
100%. I've been watching CR since they were on Campaign 1 Episode 8, and I haven't missed an episode yet. Every campaign has been fantastic overall and I love where this latest one is right now too (no spoilers, of course). And you're absolutely right about a toxic and vocal minority being there even in C1. All the Keyleth hate is the reason I just ended up turning off the chat window! 😂
@@starblaiz1986 HA, same. I came in about C1 ep 10 and was like.. this will never get anywhere because "Normies" will never watch like I would. Wow were we so gladly wrong. 1000 followers to now, almost 9 years later. Just Amazing.
I've just loved C3. I love how Critical Role gets to do different things each campaign rather than aiming for the same tone every time and C3 really hits it for me. It's been so disheartening to hear so much hate about it, especially when the hate often boils down to "It's different to C2". Appreciate the more level video (even if the thumbnail had me almost not click on it out of fear of it being one of those videos :P).
I'm so determined not to be a hater on C4 when that comes around!
This whole "Crisis" is just manufactured to create clickbait videos, but honestly this is the first I'm hearing of it. Twitch earnings has never been about views, it's about subscriptions. Most people watch CR via VOD's anways, because unless you're on PST, it's impossible to watch a 4 hour stream live. I'm in the UK and that is a 3am start for me, and even on EST that's an 11pm start, it's just not feasable to watch the livestream without being on PST.
I started watching CR during Covid, and I started watching the livestream around the Aeor arc in C2 once I had caught up. And even though it was during lockdown, I still only managed to watch the 1st half live, and then I'd watch the second half via the VOD in the morning. I've watched the entirity of C3 via VOD.
And since they've started doing VOD's via TH-cam, I don't watch on Twitch at all now, as their Playstation app is absolute garbage, and I feel many may have done the same. Also, the majority of people watching CR are not caught up to the current episode which means absolutely nothing to the viewer count, and while this means that it may look like more recent videos on TH-cam are dropping in views, that just means that people haven't watched them yet.
Subscriptions were also declining, even before TH-cam membership and Beacon were introduced.
I was hesitant to click on this because of the thumbnail and was about to tell youtube not to show me this video but the title gave me a bit more nuanced feel so I decided to give it a shot.
Thanks for posting a spin that isn't just for "views" by proposing dramatic conspiracies or looking too deep into stats. Viewership has always flucuated and it will continue to due to the manner in which this content is created. Not everyone can spend hours/hours at "live" showings and utilize VOD when they can to catch up. Doesn't mean C3 is "not good enough." Just means the world has picked back up post-pandemic. Let us not forget they continue to give us the joy of these games on top of creating multiple other shows, merch, and even two animated series. Good video.
I am so glad someone made an analysis of this issue. All I’ve been seeing on TH-cam about CR has just been this drama and although I have managed to curate my feed they still slip through and it just makes me feel icky inside.
Thank you for making this video and sharing your thoughts on this issue!
I don't care what people think, I started with Campaign 3 and I still enjoy it the most out of the other ones. I think Matt has done an excellent job making the NPCs in C3 super memorable, and we've seen some heart wrenching moments. The overarching story seems bigger than ever before and I also want to state that I feel like Ashley's evolution as a player has been great to see. Her portrayal of Fearne suits her so well and she seems so much more confident on that character. People say it's just Imogen and everyone else is goofy comic relief, but they all have depth. They've had the deep conversations just like any other campaign, with most of them having heartbreaking back stories that have been touched on throughout the story. I really don't get what the problem is other than people being burned out.
I feel like people are so fast to say that something is better in the previous campaigns because they enjoyed it better. Everyone has their own preferences. So naturally, we will find it "better".
People talk about CR as if forgetting it's still a game. The cast doesn't plan how the story arcs will go, they do what they feel like. And that's part of the magic. Of course we have Matt, but he's basically creating a world where his friends will have fun in, and looking for new things to show them to keep them interested.
Personally, my favorite campaign was the 2nd. The 3rd I love, it had its ups and downs for me, and rn having caught up, I'm HOOKED. It got soo good rn I'm almost sad I need to wait like everyone else for new episodes XD
And thinking about it, all the campaigns I watched were honestly a similar experience, some ups and downs, more and less interesting fragments and favorite characters... It is interesting to me, to see how different people like different things in each campaign. But I guess I don't get it why do they need to talk about it AND trashing on things they don't enjoy.
I'm glad CR itself is so positive despite the community beeing so toxic sometimes
congratulations. You basically outed yourself as a person that falls for media that is optimized to the most gullible lucrative audience. How much merch did you buy so far?
Also they stream the same game on twitch like three times, so that means the viewers on twitch are even more spread out
Personally I feel the second campaign was a bit of a grind at times but the current campaign is really cool
First time viewer (and of course commenter) - your title is good and not click-baity, while the image is extremely so. Image DID make me stop my scroll while browsing on a TV and say, "WTF???" so in that respect it "worked" but I'm very click-bait avoidant and only watched because the title gave me hope you were actually thinking more deeply and not just trying to generate views. That all said 🙂 I agree with your assessment. I've been watching them nearly every week since the beginning of CritRole, and I cancelled my Twitch sub a few months ago due to disliking the overall Twitch experience and preferring TH-cam as an already subscribed TH-cam Premium user.
THANK YOU! You put my thoughts and feelings into words so well!
This was... a surprisingly wholesome video. The advice about not falling for clickbait, and training creators to create actual content, was timely - I've been randomly clicking too many bad videos just to feel irritated by them recently - so thanks for that.
Keep fighting the good (for a given value) fight.
Rage-bait is particularly vile. I remember when WotC announced that the next edition of D&D won’t have half-elves or half-orc, some creators misled their audiences Whether this is because they didn’t do a modicum of research or because they deliberately wanted to generate clicks doesn’t really matter. The reality is WotC wanted to move away from half-orcs and half-elves as demihumans; a half-elves can still be half-human, but they can also be half-genasi, half-dwarf, etc. This was presented as WotC removing player agency, ignoring its own source material and inspirations, and somehow (I can’t remember) pandering to a small group of people who allegedly found the existence of half-elves as a separate race offensive (I’m sure no such group exists).
I commented on some of those videos trying to explain why WotC did what they did. It was ignored in favor of angrier and nastier comments (listed separately in the comments below).
Some said this buried the legacy of half-elves like Elrond and Tanis. I don’t know enough about Dragonlance to comment on Tanis, but I’m very familiar with Elrond and the Legendarium. In Tolkien there are specific reasons why there are children of an elf and human parent rather than a dwarf and human parent. It’s also important to note that half-elves are incredibly rare. Some humans like Aragorn have elven ancestry, but when he’s called elf blooded that’s because he has .004% elven ancestry.
Others accused WotC of showing their true colors. “For a company “obsessed” with diversity they seem awfully concerned about racial purity.” Yeah I was a real fan of that one.
It’s just there to codify mechanically what we’ve always been able to go. If I want to play a gnome raised by elves, I’m sure my DM can work with me. If I want to play a child of a hill dwarf and stout halfling, I’m sure my DM could work with me.
as he puts the words he did in the title of this video lol
I think most of this is right on, but I also think the third issue is that Critical Role's long form format really hurts them, and if there is even a momentarily lapse in forward momentum for the narrative, people stop watching because its such a commitment. I don't think Campaign 3 is any worse than 2. Campaign 1 was arguably my favorite. But at least for me, I work a ton, and my time is limited. 4 plus hour episodes is a huge ask. I'll catch up eventually, but I think many are in the same boat as me. Especially amongst the die hard fans. Notably though, I think many like me stay subscribed, so I suspect monetarily Critical Role is doing maybe even better than ever. Because they have so many other sources of income now.
especially with the breaks once a month for other content like Candela, and the sometimes more bumpy pacing of C3, I've noticed a more sporadic watching schedule with me and with friends that I talk about it on a Discord (we usually spoiler our reactions with episde/timestamps)
So now I'm not that much in the rhythm of watching the show on friday or saturday anymore, than I used to every week and it's much more common for a few episodes to pile up and then I binge them, usually while doing an art project or something.
Which makes ma a lot more prone to getting accidentally spoilered online, like for episode 91 that I just finished watching, which is annoying. Being european and having almost always watched VODs, I am a bit used to that though.
And in addition to having less time, now other TV Shows and also Games have caught up after their covid breaks in the last year and there's just much more other stuff to watch.
So yeah, my prime sub on twitch is still going to them because I've always watched the VOD with chat there.
It's a combination of things. The three main ones in my mind are as follows: Covid views are gone (people have less free time), weak (railroady) campaign compared to the previous 2, and people are behind on episodes. Live viewers are always high at the beginning of the campaign and fall off as people lose interest or fall behind and catch up on YT.
I tried to call out one of the worse offenders of these rage-bait, dissent-sowing content creators for this dishonesty recently and my comment was promptly deleted. They didn't reply, or try to argue against what I said, they just removed it and that speaks volumes. They know what they're doing, it's absolutely intentional, and they're actively silencing voices that try to call them out.
I had seen a couple of references to a CR crisis and was really confused. So I appreciate you explaining it clearly and calmly.
Have a like 🎉
I watched on TH-cam and twitch for the last few months and everytime I look at live viewers it's around 13k-16k on each
Yeah sometimes it's that or even 30k at the start, but after break it gets down quite a lot in live viewership as people go to bed. And then wake up to finish the rest sometime during the day.
I get and thank you for explaining.
Personally, I just didn’t click with Critical Role’s campaign 3 storyline or characters so I lost interest in keeping up with it. However that doesn’t mean I have a disinterest in Critical Role. In fact, I’d say it’s as strong as ever. I just really like rewatching campaign 2 and I am now playing in two different Wildmount campaigns that are definitely some of my favorite ones I play. I also am, despite being in my 3rd rewatch of campaign 2, starting to get myself caught up on campaign 1. I figure I really don’t need to watch campaign 3 live. As you pointed out, there just feels like less incentive to catch it live too. I do catch their actual live streams when I can though. I definitely watched the baldur’s gate one (when so much of the cast was sick that only 4 could do anything so they did character creation). I also caught the London show via live stream too. I still intend to keep watching Critical Role. I just have a ton to catch up on though. Oh right! And yes I checked out and loved the animation of vox machina. I am still looking forward to the Mighty Nein series that’s been teased and promised. Honestly they have a ton going on so I totally get why live shows aren’t a thing anymore. I still miss it though, and especially the art reel they used to show during break, miss that a ton too.
I think there were too many issues with choosing the art and the rights to that, so while I'm also sad that it's gone, i can understand why they moved away from the fan Art reels.
I've pretty much always had to watch VODs but it still feels a bit different with the pre-recorded shows and the urgency to catch up as soon as possible is not really there. I think you can also feel that timely disconnect a lot in things like 4 sided dive and general social media reactions of the cast.
But to be honest, in my mind, basically always having the whole cast there and episodes where someone is missing due to other committments or being sick being so rare, is worth that. Since I'm watching VOD anyway.
There is only one TH-cam channel I've really seen do clickbait-y shit about Critical Role's "Crisis" or "Downfall". I'd suggest everyone steer clear of a channel called Dungeons and Discourse. As her name suggests, there's never anything positive in any of her videos and she makes mountains out of mole hills regarding Critical Role. And she knows it's total horseshit too because in the same video she can be seen replying to comments in an unexpected civil manner.
THIS.
I feel that everything 'Nerd" related is losing traction and viewers. Like everything there are cycles of highs and lows.
Spot on!
Controversy = Clicks
Critters > Controversy
One point on which I disagree: watching on TH-cam used to be a better experience than Twitch UNTIL recently with the surge in long ad times on TH-cam. I only wish that Crit Role’s actual sponsors were sufficient such that CR didn’t let TH-cam barrage us with long ads, batteries of ads and poorly matched questionable ads and political propaganda.
Finally someone sensible
THANK YOU FOR THIS SO Much.
As some one who is a big fan of critical role and c3 and gets tired of unnecessary comments that shit on it. Thank you for some thing like this and being more positive and deleting my worries of something I love.
I started watching crit role right at the beginning of C3 so I basically missed all the live stuff that they used to do. I've gone back an watched the other campaigns as well for the lore and what not but neither of them really drew me in and got me hooked on D&D like C3 has. Along with that I never watched them on twitch and have always caught it all here on TH-cam. All that being said it seems like the TH-cam numbers are very good and with all the stuff they're putting out and creating, it seems impossible to say that they're not doing amazing. P.S great video :)
I think your self depreciating jokes aside, this was actually a good analysis of the culture around D&D live-streaming shows. The commentariat will always be chasing after the creatives, and while yours had meaningful insights to offer, many are just chasing that viewer high as you say!
Agree 100%. I'm one of the viewers that switched from Twitch to TH-cam. Mainly because of a tech glitch I kept getting on Twitch. If I changed tabs to look at anything else and then tried to return to the Twitch tab it would lock up and skip anywhere from 10 - 30 seconds of the live stream. It was NOT my internet which is fast, nor my computer, it was a Twitch issue. The only selling point Twitch really had was the live moderated chat, but now TH-cam just added live chat so why settle for a platform that is acting Twitchy??
Which is odd, because I couldn’t get into campaign 1. I finally got into campaign 3, and when I caught up I started watching campaign 2. I still can’t get into campaign 1.
I'll be honest. I don't watch live anymore. I used to be religious about making sure to sit down for 4 hours every thursday but when they switched to pre-recorded and they only stream it 3 out of 4 weeks I switched to watching vods for free. I also tend to save up a few episodes so I can sit down one day and binge a couple back to back.
I think another thing most people dont think about is that, streamed or not, CR is a DnD campaign, and if you can get 2 really great campaigns in a row, great! But generally speaking, you're not gonna have campaigns that appeal to the audience the same way as the players all the time- just think about how hard that is!
I think people get too concerned with the production side of it, ignoring the cast stating exactly how much they think about that aspect during play, which is to say, not that much
Is the Twitch viewership graph based on live viewers only? If so, people in Europe would have to get up at 3/4am on a Friday morning before work to catch them live.
I have started curating my clicks to avoid all the crisis videos so as to not encourage that and am so glad I clicked this one (thanks to the ""). Thoughtfully curating our feeds is essential thanks to the algorithm that recommends content. Want to see more innovative live play shows? Start watching more and leaving comments on them. Thank you for reminding us that we can in fact control the flow.
I actually agree with this. Especially since, as of writing this comment, episode 92 of Campaign 3 is "live" and has about 17K watching. It's only just started, too, so more may join later on. Plus, the last episode is around 301K views.
I've recently started watching Critical Role, maybe the start of this year or there abouts, and I don't think they're "dying", plus they have the Amazon shows, with Vox Machina having 2 seasons with a third on the way alongside the first season of Mighty Nein on the way too.
I do believe that people who have been fans of Critical Role longer than me are still watching it, just on a different platform and at different times rather than watching it live.
Yeah, they started prerecording during COVID so it makes sense that people would stop watching the "live" stream. I , myself, will often only watch the first half "live" and watch the rest on VOD or YT later in the week.
I discovered CR about a year ago and have been marathoning episodes to catch up. I listen to them while I work. Today, I got to Campaign 2 Episode 13, but when i called it up, ALL the Campaign videos were deleted from TH-cam. All of them! Ive been searching TH-cam and they are nowhere to be found! What the FUCK is going on!!!
I keep falling asleep when they do the live video. So catching up a couple days after works better for me
As a new fan of CR I must say the whole thing around CR is discouraging me to get into DnD
The whole hate on C3, the so called ‘crisis’, the whole party getting so much shit FROM their fans (esp Marisha/Ashley), the annoyance of any player who would dare forget a rule or messing up during Battles..
Like.. Idk.. the priority of DnD isn’t supposed to have fun..?
Thank you. I've left twitch because I just can't stay up late on a Thursday, but I still watch it on Mondays on youtube
I believe the viewerships on the twitch streams has to do with a lot of other things. such as,
- It being streamed on both twitch AND youtube, so the livestream viewership is divided.
- The rise of European viewers after covid who can't watch the streams.
- Critical Role is not being streamed live anymore, so they do have less incentive to watch it live.
- People are not that invested in Bells Hells as they were previous campaigns.
So this has probably led to a lot of the audience to watch the VODs because they can't/don't want to watch it live. And the viewership on the vods seems pretty stable and good.
People are either watching it days after, or (like me) have been on a break from it and have to slowly catch up.
Critical role is not dying. Hell, I think it's bigger than ever.
Sometimes I stop watching Critical Role for a few weeks and then pick it back up, I have kids and all that so I'm always busy busy so I try to listen to them while I am cleaning the house while the kids are in school in between.
THANK YOU! The drama is driving me nuts.
Hey, I'm late to the party, but YT just served this to me so 🤷🏾♂️ . Just wanted to let you know that I did click on the video even though the title was an obvious "lure", but the fact that "crisis" was in quotes and that there was a promise to explain something suggested that it was a lure worth following. Which was in fact the case 😀😉, so I wouldn't call it "clickbait" in the evil sense, but in the totally reasonable marketing sense of a YT creator in a sea of competition. You're OK by me! I enjoyed the video (and agree with your points as well). 🙂
there is also the fact they have 1 less episode of their main show every month, so 3 instead of 4 (ish), which probably takes out a good cut of their monthly views on twitch.
I don't watch live anymore because the stream is pre-recorded, so what's the point of me going to bed at 3 a.m. when I can catch it on TH-cam a few days later? Also, the irregular upload schedule of new campaign episodes. Sometimes, due to one-shots or side plots, the episodes are a month apart, so there's no real incentive to keep following weekly since there are such big gaps in uploads. That impacts viewership most since its no longer "is it Thursday yet" and now its "is it the random C3 upload of the month yet". (I'm sure there's a schedule, but i don't care enough to coordinate my month with their uploads)
Excellent video! Letting my comment here to show appreciation and for the algorythm gods to see.
That is the best take on the current dnd youtube situation i have seen in a while. I dont blame creators for following what the algorithm gods demand. The food on the table has to come from somewhere. but i have caught myself being angry at videos that tried to create conspiracy where there is none, because i find it disingenuous. So if i fall for it, the ragebaity dnd youtuber will get a view from me...but i won't cone back to them. Not sure if that is a sustainable model for content creation
Great point of view, hopefully the drama baiting decreases and allows some space for better content. Also, love the just "not clicking" idea, because it sounds to me as the best way we all can help the change to happen!
I didn't feel your title was misleading as you mention a "Crisis" and that it'll be explained. Besides it felt to me you pretty much got right to the point of clarifying what you meant with this video. Nice job!!! 😁
Yeah, agree completely, as If you look at twitch, viewers of people whose seen the videos. CR starts at 7 PM PST / 10 PM EST / 9 PM CST. Plus EU they're asleep. So live viewers is always gonna be lower than the actual viewers. They're all watching it the next day or the Monday upload of youtube. Some even watch when it's live on twitch until the first break and finish the rest the next day.
2019 - 220k to 500k viewers
2020 (COVID) - 600k to 900k viewers (Some even hit over a million viewers on the videos on twitch)
2023/2024 - 220k to 500k viewers (It's pretty much the same as it was back in 2019, before COVID)
TH-cam, 600k to 1 million views, from people who wait till Mondays when they upload watching it.
So last 3 videos from C3, combined number of viewers of twitch and youtube: 2,201,000 views
Anyhow good video. The whole debate of CR3 is doing bad is far from the truth. As realistically it's actually doing how C2 was doing if not somewhat better before COVID.
Every episode on TH-cam is still reliably hitting ~half a million views. I don’t think there’s a problem.
If I could watch it live I 100% would, but they stream at like 3am where I am
I totally agree. Sensationalist news or commentary has been the bane of regular journalism in the USA for decades. That the same technique is being employed by people on social media is to be expected. I applaud you for pointing this out. Nicely done ✅
I think the main factor views are down is simply because it’s pre recorded. You don’t feel like you’re at the table reacting and experiencing it alongside the cast.
Because there is no urgency it feels like just watching any old yt video so i can do it whenever im free.
The shows aren't live anymore. That's probably why a lot of people watch it on vod
I have always watched on TH-cam the next week. I can go 1.5x, as opposed to staying up on a weeknight
imagine satanic panic in the d&d clickbait era…. that would be hell (pun intended)
This was extermely well-reasoned. Thank you for the dose of perspective and positivity.
Great video - well done for calling out the nonsense! There is a real TH-cam industry in saying that D&D is in desperate trouble because of the OGL crisis last year, and you see it almost every week - "Hasbro profits collapse" - "D&D players hate on 2024 playtest" - "Critical Role viewership collapses". I think that Critical Role choosing NOT to immediately cut their ties to Wotc after the OGL crisis actually did them the biggest harm, because so many creators were so hostile to Wotc during last year. In addition, I am sure that Critters on the whole would like the cast to return to live play rather than pre-recorded streams, because viewers feel more connected to what's happening at the table when it's taking place in that moment. I think pre-recording their stream has really hit their Twitch numbers, but not their TH-cam numbers, because viewers on YT are completely used to watching pre-recorded videos. The vast majority of Critters now watch the YT catch-up on Mondays. Critical Role has been caught up in the desire of many creators to tear into Wotc for all its mistakes (understandably) but that doesn't mean CR is dying. Their Twitch stream is only a tiny proportion of their total income now, they must have most of their income guaranteed from the Amazon Prime deal with TLOVM
The thing is CR is a business. It's a group of friends, sure but over the years it's grown into an actual business that needs treating, well, like a business.
If CR was 'dying' we'd be seeing a retraction of expense. Less polish, less diversification of content and a recall to more streamlined products. The simple fact they continue to develop and push outwards Year-on-Year means they're growing, not shrinking.
Just people trying to create drama where there isn't any to make money. The only thing that sells better than sex is hate.
I almost didn't click on this, because I was worried you would be doing that yourself. Happy I did. Really good points. I'm enjoying C3. It's the first campaign I've watched weekly. That being said, I don't have the time to watch it all in one sitting. I put it on a hour or so and at time, throughout the week.
I’ve been a fan from the very beginning in 2015 and have never watched it live on Twitch, or subscribed on Twitch. I’ve been a sole TH-cam fan and have never really lost major interest. It’s probably one of my longest running viewership experiences. They’ve grown a whole bunch and are a multi-million dollar company. They aren’t going anywhere 😂
I'm a fan, I have been since C2, I've tried to go back to C1 since, but I haven't found the time to when trying to watch C2 or C3. I've exclusively watched on TH-cam, never live as I'm in the U.K. I feel the show is still as great as ever, but I am behind on the current campaign. I'm currently on episode 73, I've since seen the live show in London and I'm desperately trying to catch up for the 100th episode to watch it on the day of release. I love this show, I love the cast and I love the community of Critters.
Personally I chalk it up to the ‘watch order’ and sheer amount of content. people that commit hundreds of hours to a show like CR tend to be the people who care a lot about continuity, lore, and worldbuilding especially if it spans multiple campaigns and at times even shares NPCs. I started off the prime animated show, then went to mighty nein then Vox machina (s3 did not come out like I thought it might during my M9 watch) and now I have finallly got to C3 where apparantly EXU has a tie in so I might go watch THAT first. Basically I think the changes are a combo of how story heavy and involved you have to be when listening to the lore and interactions in C3 AND people catching up to the whole story rather than jumping straight to c3 which is great for them because it’s more views and creates a greater incentive for the people who caught up to stick around for C3 moving forward.
I’ve been rolling my eyes at these takes for ages. I’ve been watching live every Thursday since 2016, but I’ve always taken every opportunity I can get to watch on other platforms because I hate twitch. I watched on Alpha (rip!) because it had better overlays, quality, etc. and worked smoother than twitch and now I watch on YT because it works better and is easier to access on the rare times I have to work during the stream. So just because twitch says I’m not watching there doesn’t mean I’m not watching at all.
Twitch livestream just happens too late for so many of us. I’m just watching on TH-cam when it releases.
I switched to watching CR on TH-cam when the Twitch app disappeared from my Roku TV!
Very well said. I clicked hoping against hope this wouldn't be ragebait. Very pleasantly surprised!
I do avoid content creators that burn me on that too much. But sometimes, like now, I'm just blissfully ignorant of the current drama of the time, & am a little curious despite myself.
If there were actual big news I'd want to know, you know?
More like this, thank you!
I like watching TH-cam version better, I have a premium account and I don't have ads at all on TH-cam. On Twitch sure I can skip the ads but I already have Premuim and I don't want to spend extra money to skip ads when I already can. CR is one of my favorite D&D streams for gameplay, as a growing DM Matt Mercer has helped me become a better DM for my players. I describe more and genuinely enjoy doing my arsenal of accents and voices (I used to be nervous about it). My players are enjoying it. The D&D community used to be a bunch of nerds that united in a game that they all enjoy. I miss those days.
Numerous ways to watch youtube even have it in audio form have to add all viewing ways in the mix to get full picture
After seeing what happened to Rooster Teeth, people sure had an interesting definition of "crisis" for Critical Role.
So many devices aren't compatible with Twitch. While almost every device is compatible with TH-cam. I watch it on TH-cam now simply out of convenience, I still subscribe on the Twitch app because I want to support the show. But otherwise I consume nearly all my CR content on TH-cam now, its just easier.
Never mind the views. Their twitch subs are down significantly and that's where a good part of the money is coming from.
Really appreciate this video and noticed the same thing and finally posted a comment on another creator's post about feeling like Fox News and Nancy Grace cuz she would be posting "Critical role getting cancelled" and go on to say "oh I love critical role" and Im really just done with that garbage content. Good work posting this and the thumbnail is appreciate for what you're getting at.
I stopped CR C3 really early and I'll absolutely be right there for C4 or whatever other project they start up after that. I guarentee other people will be there too.
I've seen complaints about this campaign specifically not grabbing people like C1 and C2 and I think that might be why. Once a new one starts up, I think they'll be right back up there.
I don't use Twitter but through the Dungeons & Discourse channel, I heard of this supposed "plummeting" of ratings for CR.
Thanks to some second opinions I've heard through one or two D&D themed Facebook groups I'm in; I've learned that, as the host's name suggest, Dungeons & Discourse simply enjoys causing discourse with ANYTHING D&D related
I honestly don't watch on Twitch because I don't have Twitch. But I'm a loyal critter and watch Critical Role on TH-cam.
See, I'm 54 years old. With the exception of the LAST EPISODE, which I was GLUED to the screen, I was watch all my views on Critical Role on TH-cam. I can barely stay up because I have to work that Friday morning, so I can only watch so much, then get sleepy, turn it off, then watch the rest of it on Monday.
So I love the show, and I just watch the first half live and the second half or what I missed on Monday.
Speaking as someone who hasn't watched my of C3, honestly, I'm more if a binger and so are a lot of CR fans. I prefer waiting until the series end so I can watch without having to wait for weeks for it to upload.
I also watched on twitch for a while, but tbh the community is SO toxic (either hyper negative or hyper positive) that it turned me off paying money for it, even for early access to the episodes.
I agree that the crisis isn't what people make it seem to be. Even the twitch vods have quite a lot of views compared to the live stream.
]@3:29 ...Oh, ok, yea. Suddenly the Twitch disintegration makes sense.
i really appreciate your super honest view here. thank you.
Thank you for pointing this kind of crisis.
Coming from a critter who watch C1 live and then C2. I think there are a few different factors. I kind of had it when I went from C1 to C2. I call it campaign break up. I loved C1 because that was my first campaign and then when C2 came along i had to put up with these new characters who i didn't really give them time to get them to know them properly. And I didn't give the campaign the time and attention it deserved to enjoy it properly.So I think people who enjoyed the Mighty Nein are not having the same fun with the Bells Hells.
Title: not click-baity, well written.
Thumbnail: leaning towards click-bait IMO, but also not (IMO) sufficiently well-related to the video.
Good video. Good points.
To be fair, I usually watch on TH-cam. Schedule-wise, it's what works for me, because with college and everything, I just can't catch it live.
Since I don't know much about the financial side for creators on Twitch and TH-cam, I would assumed that viewership on Twitch is not as important as number of paid subscribers. Viewership on TH-cam seems to climb slower than before but still eventually reaching 1M per episode. And it will be even harder to gauge now, because of the simul-cast and the membership/live program they did with TH-cam?
yeah, the YT live stream version as well as 2 of the Twitch Re-Stream VOD's Viewer Counts usually get deleted with those VODs. YT gets the video later and on Twitch only the VOD of the first Stream stays online and then people only see the views on those versions.
(The Re-Streams usually stay online for a few days, I imagine so people won't loose the saved timestamp if they watched the restream and wanna catch up at that spot in the VOD the day later while on YT the Live-Stream gets taken down to keep the exclusive days on Twitch)
Your video really speaks to the sense of irritation I feel over the clickbait D&D video titles. I JUST saw a video with a very clickbaity title and thumbnail, and it's so damned stupid. It's cheap, lazy, and feeds the fire of rage videos where people just want to consume drama and bs like that. It's the same exact thing that TikTok literally survives off of: just cheap, half-baked rage bait that elicits a negative reaction out of people because we are apparently so easy to anger that all someone has to do is fabricate a scandal or perceived problem, and like flies to shit, we all swarm in and consume it. This is pretty much what content creation culture is becoming, and I hate it. Then again, it probably won't change anytime soon and it will be because of us and our thirst for drama.
I became a cr fan when TLOVM was announced and I love campaign 3... But I'm also British. I cannot watch the twitch live unless I'm awake at 3am 😬
I don’t watch C1 or C2 anymore because C3 is going on. Once they take an extended break from their mainstream show I’ll go back and rewatch 1 & 2
I almost didnt click on this video because I try to avoid the drama :D
Really glad someone finalley looked a bit deeper into it.. I alsways found the arguments suspect.
But I think some youtubers who are fans just fell for the low Twitch numbers and thought it was an important topic to talk about.
For me its massive burnout. I started on campaign 2 and watched religiously to catch up, then when they went on hiatus i had literally just caught up, and decided i was gonna watch all of campaign 1. I coompleted it shortly after they started campaign 2 back up again, and then finished campaign 2. After that, as much as i loved both campaigns, i found myself uninterested to continue watching campaign 3 after a few episodes, as the sheer amount of time i spent watching it wasnt sustainable anymore
I only got into CR a couple years back when C3 started and only because me and some friends were into the idea of playing DND. My brother had always told me it was good and I should watch but I didn't like the idea at first. However I started with campaign 3 and was loving it. I wondered if I should go back to watch the first campaign, but at 200 or so episodes at 4hours long is just not feasible (though I did watch the first 10 or so).
Then they brought out Vox Machina the show and it's been swiftly summing up those episodes without me needing to go back and watch hundreds upon hundreds of hours of content.
So to summarize I don't think it's a *problem* they're having per se, like you said content views waver and that's perfectly normal, they'll be getting new fans from other places and to confirm I am British so no live streams for me.