Update: I was not aware that they had a patreon, I saw the merch but must’ve missed that. Their patreon features extra exclusive content and has around 12,000 supporters. After hearing about the patreon I can confirm that my opinion has changed. This decision was made out of pure greed. These guys should really hire a financial advisor if they really think they need more money for the content they make when people don’t even specially like them for their overproduced content.
I think the best comment I saw was, “I’m not paying to watch Steven Lim eat gold leaf ice cream and $200 wagyu steaks with his friends, while I’m over here struggling to buy basic groceries.”
Rooster teeth had a combined 45M subs on youtube, 6 months ago they made the same decision going to a private service at the same price, 5.99/mo, and they just declared bankruptcy recently. Watcher has about 3M subs, not gonna work out for them in all likelihood.
This is exactly what I was talking to my friends about when we were discussing this dumpster fire. Not only are they alienating their current fans; there’s so little room to grow. As much as I LOVE Ryan and Shane’s series; it would NOT be something I could convince family and friends to PAY to watch. *I* wouldn’t even pay to exclusively watch their current content. I’d pay to support them, but not like this.
@@makemesmile1839 Yep. The only show I care about from them is their Ghost Files, and I'm not paying 6 bucks a month for a show that's only around a few weeks a year. Besides, the last season was awful so that's just an extra reason not to keep watching.
While I also don't think their main goal is greedy, hearing that they don't make enough money from ads, merch, patreon, videos and live shows rings alarm bells for me. They need to seriously look at their spending, rebudget their shows (especially cos many fans have come out saying they don't gaf at all about high production and high budget shows) and cut down their staff (I'm sorry but I can't understand why they would need more than 12 employees in their office) and possibly get a smaller office.
Yeah, I've watched a bit of their bts doc They took time to tell about their production and Stevens role in the company They are clearly working with professionals (for example, people,who create sets) and take pride in it,but it's really expensive I see that they are very ambitious But it was a bad financial move on their part in order to grow the company
They admitted they hire freelancers, which means contractor prices. They could cut costs by hiring full time. And if they're having to have freelancers when they already have 25 employees, then they have employees that could/should be doing more or can be let go to make those freelancers employees. Add to that the costs of the super expensive meals for Lim's projects, and I suspect they're also wasting money on production costs that aren't needed/could be cut. I also wonder if some people are being paid way more than they should be getting paid.
they do not need 25 employees! they are not making movies here, part of the fun is low key production frankly! look at Simon Whistlers many channels, he has a few writers and a editor and a person who puts in music and memes. he is filming himself. that’s it! he has shows coming out all the time , Watcher has made a huge mistake hiring people they really don’t need for the most part.
People watch Watcher because of Shane and Ryan. Nothing would be lost if they cut Steven and all his costs, especially because it's insanely tone deaf in this day and age to have a guy going around eating gold flakes and wagyu steak.
The fact that they keep talking about having to make better and bigger content is ridiculous. The sets are obnoxious already since they moved to watcher. It lost all the charm they had on buzzfeed. I consistently rewatch their old buzzfeed stuff when they just sat at a desk and talked.
exactly i dont know how people still mistake the fact that its the lack of scripts and flashy sets that made youtube and killed TV nobody in 2024 is looking for fancier production values in fact based media
Agreed. Listen, I’m glad they feel proud they have upped their production quality, but to place it on the fans and something THEY want is crazy. The fans were happy watching them around a desk, and with their other series Too Many Spirits; hell people were happy just watching them get drunk around a campfire in plastic lawn chairs. It’s clear fans never cared for “netflix style” production.
The sheer narcissism of this move is mind-blowing. I'm sure asking your high school, and college aged subscribers, to add yet another subscription service, will go over beautifully. If your production costs are too high, lower them, nobody is watching because you think you have to hire an entire crew of people, at every location you go, do some sh*t yourselves.
Shane does not look or sound happy. I get the feeling he’s saying all these lines with gritted teeth thinking in his head “I know this is a terrible idea, but if I don’t follow along they’ll kick me out of a company I cofounded”
If you've ever had to work in a major business, I can understand it. I was a manager at FallCart, and corporate would make the Dumbest decisions, and youd just have to try your best... And oftentimes, theyd just reverse that decision a couple months down the road, too! Like arrrrrgh. It was so frustrating and stupid. So yeah, I can imagine some people probably didnt like the decision, but as employees, you have to keep running with it.
@@historypaul1657 the thing is Shane isn’t just some employee he’s one of the cofounders of the channel/business. But I guess the same concept applies, he doesn’t like it but has to follow the majority of the company. It’s just sad that this whole thing had to happen.
This was my observation too. Shane looks almost, defeated like he has been out voted. His body language, no usual shane enthusiasm and "if this is my last time on youtube" maybe he is hoping they would reverse the CEO's choice.
People are giving them to much cred for not being greedy. As someone in the comment said: patreon, merch, liveshows and ads are not making them enough money 🤔...
After I watched their video u can tell Shane was the one totally against the idea as he blatantly stated for people to just share their passwords and accounts
It's possible Ryan doesn't understand the full scope of the situation and just heard how this could help his dream of making the shows up to his standard of quality and was on board. copium
If you can't afford the production value of your show, lower it and go back to what you used to do, which people enjoyed. We don't care about production value, we just want to laugh.
Nice video! I think you covered this very fairly as someone who doesn't know the channel. To clarify why fans are calling them greedy, it's largely because one of the three guys has (or had) expressed very progressive, anti-capitalist views over the years, even before "eat the rich" became popular during the pandemic. His name is Shane and has openly expressed even at Buzzfeed that he thinks rich people are horrible, pirating is good, and other things like this. Ryan has generally supported this, or at least has never argued this outright to my knowledge. Steven, I don't know anything about. So fans (like myself) definitely feel this is a stab in the back and gives us reason to believe those people we liked have taken a turn for the worst and are now people they have told their fans to dislike
Steven is very much capitalistic and greedy. His series about eating expensive foods, traveling, the fact he has a Tesla, it’s clear he has a taste for rich things.
the detail about this whole ordeal that pisses me off most is that i’ve been a fan of shane and ryan since their buzzfeed days. they’ve been a favorite channel of mine for 7 years and it really sucks to see them do this. i do not have the money for another subscription and it hurts to say im not tuning in anymore if they really do go through with this :/
I’ve watched them since Buzzfeed, but their new shows, I wanna emphasis I ONLY like watching Shane and Ryan, I don’t care for anyone else… so why would I pay for it?
The thing is Buzzfeed Unsolved got on Netflix, so getting the watcher on Netflix definitely Shane and Ryan can do especially since they already have connections
It's crazy that literally "selling out" to Netflix or something would have legitimately gotten them LESS backlash. Just speaks to how sick people are of new subscription services
They had there whole channel made by people who liked them... Those are the people who like them. But now all of them are left to deal with the fact can we do $5.99 a month.... No, they still be TH-camrs, if they needed money they could have opened up memberships. Hot take. The video was set up as a financial incentive instead of a creative standpoint. It was a bad decision. This is a 10 million+ decision. Let's be honest they are relatively a small channel.
I'm 95% sure that Sam Reich and Dropout would have been open to work with them. Watcher already have had some dropout cast members in their videos - so not like there isn't any connections to at least talk about collab or contract partnership. That would have been good match for both sides. Unless behind the scenes Watcher people have burn some bridges, they basically had already HUGE bridge to the best possible solution. Why couldn't they work with Dropout? Why couldn't they at least ask Dropout people and Sam Reich for advice, because those people would have know to tell them that this is a bad idea and will make them fall? How they didn't even try to take that huge opportunity, if they think that Nebula and TH-cam memberships aren't for them? Something is very weird, because not like they didn't know or not like they didn't have wiser people around to ask. So I'm not going to be nice and act like this was silly mistake and not out of greed or ego. Because there was so many way better option to try first. It's a bit fishy.
This was exactly my thought, it seems like they thought their audience would support them the way that the collegehumor audience supported dropout, but the issue is that dropout/collegehumor was much, much bigger than watcher. I feel like if they had even consulted the dropout folks before making this decision they would have had a much different outcome
Honestly if they did a similar CH/Dropout thing, I would actually pay for it. If they kept publishing goodies to TH-cam and used the streaming platform for bigger production stuff or whatever they have in mind, I would absolutely be interested in checking it out. The way they framed the whole transition, saying "we hope to see you there but if not oh well" just seems so incredibly disrespectful to people who have supported them for so many years now
@@andrewkirk4719 This. Many other have said the same and I would think this would have been one of the first advice Watcher get if they had ask some. But seems they only asked and talk to their close friends that are basically their echo chamber or/and their employees. They didn't ask anybody who is done it before or fans.
It's Unfortunate that their Intentions that sound good on Paper winded up having one of the Worst Outcomes in this Situation. It's Hilarious when you think about it.
It was really nice of them to say goodbye and thank everyone who wasn't following them onto their new Streaming Service. It's nice they took the time to say goodbye to and thank their entire fan base at once - most TH-camrs don't get the opportunity to do that.
I believe the only market research they did on this plan of theirs was to look at their subscriber count and multiply it by 6. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably divided that number in half, because surely even they aren't so foolish as to believe that more than half of their subscribers would follow them on this ridiculous adventure of theirs, but they are in for a very rude awakening. Even if, and it's a huge if, enough people subscribe to their "streaming service" to keep them amd their 25 employees housed and fed, how how do they plan to attract new viewers as the original bunch fade away? Do they honestly expect the odd teaser upload on a defunct TH-cam channel to keep bringing them new subscribers? Without a steady stream of quality content, they will be quickly dropped by the algorithm. Their previews, teasers and first videos in each series will have virtually no audience.
They did have enough income to produce high quality productions. They were bringing about 1.5 million a year just on their patreon. In addition they had mid roll ads, sponsorships, and merch. They were making a lot of money, and just want to make more, ehuch is fine who doesn't, the problem is they took a wrong turn in their future and its going to end their business.
good video! long time watcher/shane&ryan fan here and i agree with pretty much everything you said… it’s a sad situation because i was really rooting for them & they had so much potential since their content is really really good
Here Yee here Yee, watcher has just announced an apology video, very refreshing to hear that they’ve made changes really good changes(brought to you by a watcher fan)
I've seen this happen a lot and it always fails in the end. Watcher would've not been as bad if they still uploaded all their new content on TH-cam for the people who don't or can't pay for it.
The thing is, they have 2.88 million subscribers right now. Even if only 1% of those people sign up, at a monthly price of 5.99, that's 168 thousand dollars a month. From a financial point of view this move makes sense. It's just shitty towards that 99% of the audience, that won't be coming along.
on top of the fact they've lost around 60k subscribers at this point, just a day after the video launched, you're missing one HUGE problem. The drop off rate for subscription services. Who is going to replace those ppl who do sign up? If they get that 1% (which I doubt given their lack of content but I'll humor you.) How many do they lose in month 2? Let's say they launch the new content, and it sucks. it's steven lim laughing through the screen while bathing in caviar and champagne. They get a huge dump of subscribers. Who's replacing them? How are they going to reclaim so many ppl? Your view that this makes sense and is a good decision is ONLY predicated on them keeping that 1% of viewers which they won't. If they made it 3 months with a full membership of those that joined, that STILL isn't more than they were previously making from youtube and patreon and sponsorships.
They even lost a few subscribers just in two days. I don't think they were expecting this much hate from that decision. To be honest that was the last chanel I was expecting would do something like this.
Is it me, or do Shane and Ryan really not look so excited for this jump? Like in-between their talking, they don't seem so sure themselves...I dunno, man. This definitely seems lke a terrible corporate move.
It baffles me how anyone thought this was a good idea to begin with(especially with the prices). Also it's kinda funny how they can't afford a "bigger/better production", but somehow have the money for $200 steak and ice cream with a gold leaf on it. Ridiculous.
This whole ordeal feels more like Steven wanted to have his cake and eat it too. But as a result, he's just dragging everything down with him all because he can't figure out how to budget his 1k steaks and gold leaf ice creams and production costs 😒
100% they'll start having ads by year one or two if they start getting traffic, no way these greedy scrooges can resist the money for long. They have over 12k Patreon members of 3 tiers system, who allegedly won't be getting automatic subscription to the watcher platform either, so greed pretty much seems to the theme here.
Oh, they are being greedy. They already have a Patreon with 12k on there with a minimum of $5 each. They are not going to get 12k people signing up to this. So they are going to get less subscribers, with no ad revenues, with no exposure to new viewers. Nobody will talk about them this time next week, until their apologise video.
I think they should do like Jet Leg which is a series on nobola but also on TH-cam. They usually upload the episode on nobola and a week later it's on TH-cam
I disagree with you regarding the financial status of the Watcher. Bro they've been at it for 4 yrs now and they started bare bones. If they were really hard up on cash they would've closed down earlier OR they wouldn't be able to have scaled up to where they have 30+ staff and a full office in Hollywood. I am pretty sure they were making good money but just wanted more.
How to easily kill your channel be like: But yea honestly they just killed their channel and now nobody knows them, I mean I am just hearing about these guys I never heard of
Ive seen some youtubers posting their long and high production stuff on Nebula but still post their normal content on their channels. They could of gone there than making their own, disappointing.
Can't they leave it on youtube and still do other stuff? Can't they do travel stuff on patreon and uncensored? And merch? What about Netflix? I cannot afford more, this is stupid. This is terrible timing with everything being expensive. You can cut less popular shows and hold off on uping quality till a better time.
Thye could have done what RDC and Dude Perfect are doing, Keep ALL Content on TH-cam and Move Forward with the Ad Free Service but at Least not also have a Patreon for People to pay More to watch Simple Content. It's like what the Pro Sports Teams Like the Phoenix Suns and Vegas Golden Knights are doing in this Post-RSN World, Putting games for Free on a LOCAL TV Station while also having a Paid Streaming Option to Watch Games and More Additional Content.
Honestly, this is no different than setting up a Patreon. For instance, I watch a guy from time-to-time (Actual Justice Warrior), & he pushes his Patreon at the beginning of every video. Far from the only one. But, I’m getting somewhere. Lol! His prices..? $6/month or $60/year. SAME prices as these cats. So, I don’t fully blame them. What I’m baffled by is why leave TH-cam NOW. Start with the Patreon or some other avenue. Do the for a couple years, see how it goes, then start a slow transition over. I don’t know. I think that’s where my bafflement stems from here.
their patreon has steps ranging from $5 to $100 and I've seen ppl who are in fact $100 subscribers. They make at least $60k a month from that. probably much more.
It's not the same as patron. Because most people with patrons upload the main stuff to TH-cam and it's like behind the scenes and extra stuff. They had one but mismanaged it.
Update: I was not aware that they had a patreon, I saw the merch but must’ve missed that. Their patreon features extra exclusive content and has around 12,000 supporters. After hearing about the patreon I can confirm that my opinion has changed. This decision was made out of pure greed. These guys should really hire a financial advisor if they really think they need more money for the content they make when people don’t even specially like them for their overproduced content.
Ryan and Shane were part of my CHILDHOOD. Seeing them ruin their reputations is very upsetting to me
It’s okay, a lot of their fans didn’t even know they had a patreon because they barely promoted it anywhere.
I've not heard of them before
@@xanthosic9595lol 12 thousand patrons tells me many people were more than aware.
These guys are greedy AF
damn glad i read this update. was about to go ballistic on you for not thinking it was a greed based decision lol
I think the best comment I saw was, “I’m not paying to watch Steven Lim eat gold leaf ice cream and $200 wagyu steaks with his friends, while I’m over here struggling to buy basic groceries.”
W
I still like “Watcher? I can barely afford her!”
FACT'S 💯
@@pettykittyfam Apostrophes aren't used like that.
Boom. That's it.
Rooster teeth had a combined 45M subs on youtube, 6 months ago they made the same decision going to a private service at the same price, 5.99/mo, and they just declared bankruptcy recently. Watcher has about 3M subs, not gonna work out for them in all likelihood.
Wish I knew about this before I made my video to use this as an example of why this is bad because holy shit
Nah, it'll be different this time. They're special! Not narcissistic at all.
This is exactly what I was talking to my friends about when we were discussing this dumpster fire. Not only are they alienating their current fans; there’s so little room to grow. As much as I LOVE Ryan and Shane’s series; it would NOT be something I could convince family and friends to PAY to watch. *I* wouldn’t even pay to exclusively watch their current content. I’d pay to support them, but not like this.
@@makemesmile1839 Yep. The only show I care about from them is their Ghost Files, and I'm not paying 6 bucks a month for a show that's only around a few weeks a year. Besides, the last season was awful so that's just an extra reason not to keep watching.
RT is owned by WB.
While I also don't think their main goal is greedy, hearing that they don't make enough money from ads, merch, patreon, videos and live shows rings alarm bells for me. They need to seriously look at their spending, rebudget their shows (especially cos many fans have come out saying they don't gaf at all about high production and high budget shows) and cut down their staff (I'm sorry but I can't understand why they would need more than 12 employees in their office) and possibly get a smaller office.
Yeah, I've watched a bit of their bts doc
They took time to tell about their production and Stevens role in the company
They are clearly working with professionals (for example, people,who create sets) and take pride in it,but it's really expensive
I see that they are very ambitious
But it was a bad financial move on their part in order to grow the company
Even their merch is more experienced than everyone else's.
They admitted they hire freelancers, which means contractor prices. They could cut costs by hiring full time. And if they're having to have freelancers when they already have 25 employees, then they have employees that could/should be doing more or can be let go to make those freelancers employees. Add to that the costs of the super expensive meals for Lim's projects, and I suspect they're also wasting money on production costs that aren't needed/could be cut. I also wonder if some people are being paid way more than they should be getting paid.
Yeah it's absolutely 💯 greed
they do not need 25 employees! they are not making movies here, part of the fun is low key production frankly! look at Simon Whistlers many channels, he has a few writers and a editor and a person who puts in music and memes. he is filming himself. that’s it! he has shows coming out all the time , Watcher has made a huge mistake hiring people they really don’t need for the most part.
People watch Watcher because of Shane and Ryan. Nothing would be lost if they cut Steven and all his costs, especially because it's insanely tone deaf in this day and age to have a guy going around eating gold flakes and wagyu steak.
The fact that they keep talking about having to make better and bigger content is ridiculous. The sets are obnoxious already since they moved to watcher. It lost all the charm they had on buzzfeed. I consistently rewatch their old buzzfeed stuff when they just sat at a desk and talked.
exactly i dont know how people still mistake the fact that its the lack of scripts and flashy sets that made youtube and killed TV nobody in 2024 is looking for fancier production values in fact based media
Agreed. Listen, I’m glad they feel proud they have upped their production quality, but to place it on the fans and something THEY want is crazy. The fans were happy watching them around a desk, and with their other series Too Many Spirits; hell people were happy just watching them get drunk around a campfire in plastic lawn chairs. It’s clear fans never cared for “netflix style” production.
Filmed in their parents back garden with a few bottles of alcohol and still some of their best and funniest content! 🤣
Agree 💯
@@nc5193yea especially the Santa ones
The sheer narcissism of this move is mind-blowing. I'm sure asking your high school, and college aged subscribers, to add yet another subscription service, will go over beautifully. If your production costs are too high, lower them, nobody is watching because you think you have to hire an entire crew of people, at every location you go, do some sh*t yourselves.
The sheer narcissism in continuing to think only college students have money problems is mind-blowing.
Yea agreed! Or thinking only parents have money problems! And I’m sure there are college students who have wealthy families anyway
Shane does not look or sound happy. I get the feeling he’s saying all these lines with gritted teeth thinking in his head “I know this is a terrible idea, but if I don’t follow along they’ll kick me out of a company I cofounded”
He's probably thinking, "Oh no, I won't be able to dye my hair again"
If you've ever had to work in a major business, I can understand it. I was a manager at FallCart, and corporate would make the Dumbest decisions, and youd just have to try your best... And oftentimes, theyd just reverse that decision a couple months down the road, too! Like arrrrrgh. It was so frustrating and stupid.
So yeah, I can imagine some people probably didnt like the decision, but as employees, you have to keep running with it.
@@historypaul1657 the thing is Shane isn’t just some employee he’s one of the cofounders of the channel/business. But I guess the same concept applies, he doesn’t like it but has to follow the majority of the company. It’s just sad that this whole thing had to happen.
This was my observation too. Shane looks almost, defeated like he has been out voted.
His body language, no usual shane enthusiasm and "if this is my last time on youtube" maybe he is hoping they would reverse the CEO's choice.
If you look add Shane's body language he is leaning away from them both as they are leaning towards each other. Shane is definitely the odd one out.
People are giving them to much cred for not being greedy. As someone in the comment said: patreon, merch, liveshows and ads are not making them enough money 🤔...
25 employees and bad financial management explains it,imo
Judging by their bts video,they really splurge on the production
the worst is Steven going "anybody can afford it" bruh, I'm a homecare nurse and qualify for fucking food stamps. So out of touch.
if u cant afford 5.99 a month then maybe you should take a step back and sort out ur financial situation
@@yojackchill6652 imagine babbling that thinking you had a point 🤡
@@Mistahhuntah i do 🤡 u cant afford 5.99, maybe get a better job?
After I watched their video u can tell Shane was the one totally against the idea as he blatantly stated for people to just share their passwords and accounts
It's possible Ryan doesn't understand the full scope of the situation and just heard how this could help his dream of making the shows up to his standard of quality and was on board.
copium
@@patricksocha6930 Ye I can definitely see that, and Steven is definitely there just for the ride.
If you can't afford the production value of your show, lower it and go back to what you used to do, which people enjoyed. We don't care about production value, we just want to laugh.
THEY DID RUIN IT IN 1O SEC,THAT'S FACT! 120k dislikes! that's a first in watcher history!
guess Watcher is now no longer... watchable! 🥁
Nah, because the fact that they genuinely think that a single person is gonna pay 5.99 a month just to watch their videos is so funny to me.
Crazy thing is, there will be people who will
no ones watching Watcher anymore 😥
Guess you can say... They're no longer watchable! *Rim shot*. 🥁
I guess they lost their watchers?
Watcher has no watchers😂
Nice video! I think you covered this very fairly as someone who doesn't know the channel. To clarify why fans are calling them greedy, it's largely because one of the three guys has (or had) expressed very progressive, anti-capitalist views over the years, even before "eat the rich" became popular during the pandemic. His name is Shane and has openly expressed even at Buzzfeed that he thinks rich people are horrible, pirating is good, and other things like this. Ryan has generally supported this, or at least has never argued this outright to my knowledge. Steven, I don't know anything about. So fans (like myself) definitely feel this is a stab in the back and gives us reason to believe those people we liked have taken a turn for the worst and are now people they have told their fans to dislike
Steven is very much capitalistic and greedy. His series about eating expensive foods, traveling, the fact he has a Tesla, it’s clear he has a taste for rich things.
the detail about this whole ordeal that pisses me off most is that i’ve been a fan of shane and ryan since their buzzfeed days. they’ve been a favorite channel of mine for 7 years and it really sucks to see them do this. i do not have the money for another subscription and it hurts to say im not tuning in anymore if they really do go through with this :/
Yeah, me too.
They may not have hit the delete button on their channel but they do seem to have hit the delet buttons on their careers
I’ve watched Buzzfeed Unsolved before. They were entertaining back then. Sad to see how they’ve fallen off since then.
How the mighty have fallen
@@doctor_plauge525 exactly
No one remember the buzzfeed shit with the insane biases? Always hated them for that shit
I’ve watched them since Buzzfeed, but their new shows, I wanna emphasis I ONLY like watching Shane and Ryan, I don’t care for anyone else… so why would I pay for it?
if we didn't want ads we would've sooner bought TH-cam Premium
The thing is Buzzfeed Unsolved got on Netflix, so getting the watcher on Netflix definitely Shane and Ryan can do especially since they already have connections
I just saw that unsolved is also on prime. I wonder if they even did try to ask for support 😅
Even if they don’t want the amount of oversight they would get from Netflix, they could try Nebula. Or just advertise their Patreon better.
@@ff_m3570 they want all that streamer money for themselves.
They don’t own the Unsolved series unfortunately, that’s all Buzzfeed.
Not to mention that they’re complaining about the cost of renting office/studio space… IN LA.
It's crazy that literally "selling out" to Netflix or something would have legitimately gotten them LESS backlash. Just speaks to how sick people are of new subscription services
When u forgot tot check ur ego at the door.
I though it was a late April fools joke
They had there whole channel made by people who liked them... Those are the people who like them. But now all of them are left to deal with the fact can we do $5.99 a month....
No, they still be TH-camrs, if they needed money they could have opened up memberships.
Hot take. The video was set up as a financial incentive instead of a creative standpoint. It was a bad decision. This is a 10 million+ decision. Let's be honest they are relatively a small channel.
Man, I use to watch them all the time. Sad to them like this.
this fallout makes me feel I am now attending a funeral the day after a friend’s death
This is similar to something dude perfect did, only instead of screwing up like watcher, the streaming platform is only used to watch videos early.
everyone's boycotting them for their own good, it sucks but im afraid watcher wont recover from this ever again
some how I just know they're not going to be making as much money now
4:35 you can be both a sellout and truthful.
"Hello I am Eugene Krabs. I like money."
I'm 95% sure that Sam Reich and Dropout would have been open to work with them.
Watcher already have had some dropout cast members in their videos - so not like there isn't any connections to at least talk about collab or contract partnership. That would have been good match for both sides. Unless behind the scenes Watcher people have burn some bridges, they basically had already HUGE bridge to the best possible solution.
Why couldn't they work with Dropout? Why couldn't they at least ask Dropout people and Sam Reich for advice, because those people would have know to tell them that this is a bad idea and will make them fall?
How they didn't even try to take that huge opportunity, if they think that Nebula and TH-cam memberships aren't for them?
Something is very weird, because not like they didn't know or not like they didn't have wiser people around to ask. So I'm not going to be nice and act like this was silly mistake and not out of greed or ego. Because there was so many way better option to try first. It's a bit fishy.
This was exactly my thought, it seems like they thought their audience would support them the way that the collegehumor audience supported dropout, but the issue is that dropout/collegehumor was much, much bigger than watcher. I feel like if they had even consulted the dropout folks before making this decision they would have had a much different outcome
Honestly if they did a similar CH/Dropout thing, I would actually pay for it. If they kept publishing goodies to TH-cam and used the streaming platform for bigger production stuff or whatever they have in mind, I would absolutely be interested in checking it out.
The way they framed the whole transition, saying "we hope to see you there but if not oh well" just seems so incredibly disrespectful to people who have supported them for so many years now
@@andrewkirk4719 This. Many other have said the same and I would think this would have been one of the first advice Watcher get if they had ask some.
But seems they only asked and talk to their close friends that are basically their echo chamber or/and their employees. They didn't ask anybody who is done it before or fans.
Btw they arent on their "own website" its a site ran and owned by VIMEO OTT. Theres NO guarantee there will be NO ADS.
It's Unfortunate that their Intentions that sound good on Paper winded up having one of the Worst Outcomes in this Situation.
It's Hilarious when you think about it.
ill rememeber not be be like watcher in the future 😤
It was really nice of them to say goodbye and thank everyone who wasn't following them onto their new Streaming Service. It's nice they took the time to say goodbye to and thank their entire fan base at once - most TH-camrs don't get the opportunity to do that.
I eat the cotton candy from my walls
So does watcher
I've never watched them. Heard about this decision. Sounds like they made a bad decision. Before thinking of a better idea of saving their business
I believe the only market research they did on this plan of theirs was to look at their subscriber count and multiply it by 6. I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they probably divided that number in half, because surely even they aren't so foolish as to believe that more than half of their subscribers would follow them on this ridiculous adventure of theirs, but they are in for a very rude awakening.
Even if, and it's a huge if, enough people subscribe to their "streaming service" to keep them amd their 25 employees housed and fed, how how do they plan to attract new viewers as the original bunch fade away? Do they honestly expect the odd teaser upload on a defunct TH-cam channel to keep bringing them new subscribers? Without a steady stream of quality content, they will be quickly dropped by the algorithm. Their previews, teasers and first videos in each series will have virtually no audience.
If you only like 1 of their shows you have to pay $6 to watch it? Nah
They did have enough income to produce high quality productions. They were bringing about 1.5 million a year just on their patreon. In addition they had mid roll ads, sponsorships, and merch. They were making a lot of money, and just want to make more, ehuch is fine who doesn't, the problem is they took a wrong turn in their future and its going to end their business.
Plus the live shows
good video! long time watcher/shane&ryan fan here and i agree with pretty much everything you said… it’s a sad situation because i was really rooting for them & they had so much potential since their content is really really good
your thumbnail where it looks like they have sadistic smiles on their faces is so apt lol
It’s like they didn’t do any marketing research 😭
Here Yee here Yee, watcher has just announced an apology video, very refreshing to hear that they’ve made changes really good changes(brought to you by a watcher fan)
I've seen this happen a lot and it always fails in the end. Watcher would've not been as bad if they still uploaded all their new content on TH-cam for the people who don't or can't pay for it.
congrats Breone, hope to see more of your milestones
Thanks!
The thing is, they have 2.88 million subscribers right now. Even if only 1% of those people sign up, at a monthly price of 5.99, that's 168 thousand dollars a month. From a financial point of view this move makes sense. It's just shitty towards that 99% of the audience, that won't be coming along.
They had 2.94 yesterday morning
They had 3 million before this whole situation
on top of the fact they've lost around 60k subscribers at this point, just a day after the video launched, you're missing one HUGE problem. The drop off rate for subscription services. Who is going to replace those ppl who do sign up? If they get that 1% (which I doubt given their lack of content but I'll humor you.) How many do they lose in month 2? Let's say they launch the new content, and it sucks. it's steven lim laughing through the screen while bathing in caviar and champagne. They get a huge dump of subscribers. Who's replacing them? How are they going to reclaim so many ppl?
Your view that this makes sense and is a good decision is ONLY predicated on them keeping that 1% of viewers which they won't. If they made it 3 months with a full membership of those that joined, that STILL isn't more than they were previously making from youtube and patreon and sponsorships.
This move has Steven Lim's stink all over it.
whats the gamethats showing in the background guys?
I used to watch their videos religiously; especially their true crime deep dives and ghost hunting series and this is really sad for me to hear about
They even lost a few subscribers just in two days. I don't think they were expecting this much hate from that decision.
To be honest that was the last chanel I was expecting would do something like this.
It is a pity, Ryan and Shane have great chemistry and that is what makes the shows they do great.
Did great
It’s now starting to come out that Steven is homophobic over on the watcher entertainment and watchersnark subs on reddit
What are the games you are playing in this video? The power wash thing looks so satisfying!
Power wash simulator. Its so satisfying.
Is it me, or do Shane and Ryan really not look so excited for this jump? Like in-between their talking, they don't seem so sure themselves...I dunno, man. This definitely seems lke a terrible corporate move.
It baffles me how anyone thought this was a good idea to begin with(especially with the prices). Also it's kinda funny how they can't afford a "bigger/better production", but somehow have the money for $200 steak and ice cream with a gold leaf on it. Ridiculous.
This whole ordeal feels more like Steven wanted to have his cake and eat it too. But as a result, he's just dragging everything down with him all because he can't figure out how to budget his 1k steaks and gold leaf ice creams and production costs 😒
It genuinely sucks, I absolutely love Watcher but ain't no way I can afford $6. Either way even if I wanted to the UK doesn't use dollars.
At this point, they likely can’t back out. Contracts have been signed, they’ve sunk money into this
100% they'll start having ads by year one or two if they start getting traffic, no way these greedy scrooges can resist the money for long. They have over 12k Patreon members of 3 tiers system, who allegedly won't be getting automatic subscription to the watcher platform either, so greed pretty much seems to the theme here.
watcher? more like watched
Oh, they are being greedy.
They already have a Patreon with 12k on there with a minimum of $5 each. They are not going to get 12k people signing up to this. So they are going to get less subscribers, with no ad revenues, with no exposure to new viewers. Nobody will talk about them this time next week, until their apologise video.
what is the video game being played in this video?
If they really want it they can have it as an extra website for more content but keep uploading on TH-cam
I agree they could of have their shows on discovery plus
ex Buzzfeed Employees' Curse
I think they should do like Jet Leg which is a series on nobola but also on TH-cam. They usually upload the episode on nobola and a week later it's on TH-cam
Its probably just a late april fools joke.
I disagree with you regarding the financial status of the Watcher. Bro they've been at it for 4 yrs now and they started bare bones. If they were really hard up on cash they would've closed down earlier OR they wouldn't be able to have scaled up to where they have 30+ staff and a full office in Hollywood. I am pretty sure they were making good money but just wanted more.
Jesus. I just re-watched their goodbye video and it's even worse than I thought. Such an entitled, f-you attitude.
How to easily kill your channel be like:
But yea honestly they just killed their channel and now nobody knows them, I mean I am just hearing about these guys I never heard of
Theyre also 40,000 subscribers down so far
Update its 60,000😅
Ive seen some youtubers posting their long and high production stuff on Nebula but still post their normal content on their channels. They could of gone there than making their own, disappointing.
I used to watch Shane and Ryan back in the day and literally JUST subbed to the watcher channel last week. Just unsubbed today.
What game is this?
Day 1 of asking for breone to say E 5000 times in a video (free content)
Stop at day 1 this is never happening
Your own editing on this video is…interesting.
9 mins 60 views bro fell off
Watchers lost watchers because the watchers are unhappy with Watcher
Can't they leave it on youtube and still do other stuff? Can't they do travel stuff on patreon and uncensored? And merch? What about Netflix? I cannot afford more, this is stupid. This is terrible timing with everything being expensive. You can cut less popular shows and hold off on uping quality till a better time.
happy birthday
Greed without a doubt
greed at it greatest.
They should have joined something like dropout or nebula, or joined forces with GMM or something
Maybe you can cover the Ninjisanji situation in the next video?
Thye could have done what RDC and Dude Perfect are doing, Keep ALL Content on TH-cam and Move Forward with the Ad Free Service but at Least not also have a Patreon for People to pay More to watch Simple Content. It's like what the Pro Sports Teams Like the Phoenix Suns and Vegas Golden Knights are doing in this Post-RSN World, Putting games for Free on a LOCAL TV Station while also having a Paid Streaming Option to Watch Games and More Additional Content.
Honestly, this is no different than setting up a Patreon. For instance, I watch a guy from time-to-time (Actual Justice Warrior), & he pushes his Patreon at the beginning of every video. Far from the only one. But, I’m getting somewhere. Lol!
His prices..?
$6/month or $60/year.
SAME prices as these cats.
So, I don’t fully blame them. What I’m baffled by is why leave TH-cam NOW. Start with the Patreon or some other avenue. Do the for a couple years, see how it goes, then start a slow transition over. I don’t know. I think that’s where my bafflement stems from here.
Thing is, they DO have a patreon and its doing very well.
their patreon has steps ranging from $5 to $100 and I've seen ppl who are in fact $100 subscribers. They make at least $60k a month from that. probably much more.
It's not the same as patron. Because most people with patrons upload the main stuff to TH-cam and it's like behind the scenes and extra stuff. They had one but mismanaged it.
They’ll be back
I give them 3 months and they will be back to TH-cam
Pure greed
Will you talk about Quackity and the QSMP?
What’s going on now?
@@Breone Heard he’s quitting and crap. Idk what else, but tag me in the description if you do use my idea?
Man I loved their content also if they want to expand why leave youtube?
i saw you on the gradeaunera Premier
lol
it up to them
You kind of sound like Ryan and Shane combined
Anyway I’m really fucking disappointed in watcher
lol what
@@Breone you do though
Low key mewing
Yea they not greedy just like you with 250k subs who doesn't get enough money to buy a Lambo?