If they don’t go to Amazon like why files and others did, or even kick, then they’ll be back. But maybe they’ve been saving. Maybe this will work? They do have a good business mindset, so all we can do is wait and see I guess?😇 Yt pays real well. It’s just greedy to want more… imo
@@blackcloud415a lot of people think channels make more money than they do. Why did they need to do something knew with a subscription paywall if they were making millions?
It’s basically the same reason Buzzfeed failed. Too much extra. Extra employees, extra fluff content no one cared about. Extra overhead. All overproduced. They should stick to the two or three most popular shows and do more of it.
I used to enjoy Buzzfeed back in 2010. It was a lot of fun to see the meme compilations and just do quizzes with friends. Now it’s like a celeb rag mag.
It doesnt happen often yet too often that single channels thinks they can just start a single channel platform at a price a full streaming platform costs. Quite delusional
the comment of a person that said that they watched ghost files on the line for food stamps and that they literally couldn't afford 6 dollars broke me. they just shat all over their audience.
I feel that. I hate this. I love Watcher, my daughter and I used to watch Puppet History together and I loved that it made history fun for her. But when I pay $15 for ad free all of TH-cam I'm not gonna pay half of that just for access to one channel.
The amount of time they spent accumulating the reputation they gained, has just blown up in their faces. Was it worth it? Years spent building up your reputation in the public, just to lose it in less than two weeks. Brilliant marketing. I bet they hired a university graduate and this was their first professional job.
That's been YTs strategy lately. Annoy you with ads till you pay. They even have ads saying that. "Tired of us annoying you with ads? Get YT Premium!" They're literally, intentionally harassing you with ads till you pay. Almost like old mobs. "Tired of us destroying your windows? Pay protection money!"
If you look at their video they have an office directly across the street from the Hollywood hills sign. An 25 employees for this level of videos?? This is piss-poor management and bad decisions with greed tacked on.
I watched another video earlier about this situation and the video of Shane and Ryan getting drunk in Santa costumes had *19* people credited as working on it. 2 dudes sitting in chairs and talking while getting drunk did *not* require 19 people to create. If that’s not mismanaging funds (+ feeling guilty when not giving the friends you hired work) I don’t know what is
15:25 "I think if they made it a more budget version theyd still have the same number of viewers" Ive been a fan of them since buzzfeed and you hit the nail on the head. So many fans' reactions were "we never asked for any of this!????"
I’ve been a fan of them since buzzfeed too. A lot of their older videos, like their pandemic era and their buzzfeed unsolved stuff, were pretty robustly produced. They were able to created a loyal fan base based on their dynamic and simple production
When they did Buzzfeed Unsolved the only "effects" they had were literal blue and yellow text on a screen. That was the content I signed up for, and what made everyone fall in love with their content. We don't want or need overproduced shows. We're not there for things to look nice, we just want to have a good time and they were more than succeeding at that.
Seeing this topic about these youtubers for the first time on here. Whoever they were, whatever it was they were doing? Its all going down the drain so there apparently isn't any point in sifting through the ashes to watch some of their previous videos - whatever it was they were doing previously, I guess it is no more. Ooooops G'bye.
@@Carols989 That's exactly how I feel. I remember I watched every single Unsolved video they put out as soon as they were posted, I haven't watched most of the Watcher videos
Shocker. They bit the hand that feeds them and realized instantly when 50,000 or more people unsubbed within a day so they instantly took it back. Shocker.
not to mention they already have a paywalled content behind patreon, they already have 14,000 paid subscribers in patreon from 5$ - 25$ /month, THATS AT LEAST 70k usd AT LEAST. These greedy mfers think patreon making them 70k monthly is still not enough so they thought you know whats good, pay walling everything for a low low price of 6$ per month lmao
The real question is, is their patreon going to disappear as well? Or are they going to cheat their fans and have them pay twice for content which is idiotic.
@@blueflameSMI don’t know if they were going to stop making patreon content, but the original plan was to charge people twice. That was one of the things they very quickly back peddled on when this blew up in their face, if you were a patreon supporter you got a code for their streaming site for free, and if you already paid for it they said to contact them and you’d be refunded
This reminds me of a travel-vlog channel that I followed a couple of years back. The team consisted of a married couple traveling to various places and the usual vlog-material. They were very popular at the time because they were very relatable and they didn't push unnecessary sponsorships and the like. So they got to the point where they were about to visit their 100th (if I remember correctly) country and so they started talking about how they wanted to do something special to commemorate it. A sort of celebration together with their viewers. Fans were excited, everyone was excited. Then as this special video was about to be dropped, they instead dropped a video stating that if you wanted to see this video then you could purchase it for X dollars (if I remember correctly, they had like a sliding scale on the payment so there was a minimum you could pay and then you could pay extra if you wanted to. I don't remember how much the minimum was, but a couple of dollars). In the video, you then see them both musing about "what if so and so many people pay 100 dollars for this?!" with pretty much dollar-signs in their eyes.. Unsurprisingly, they recieved a ton of backlash (so much in fact that they closed down the comments on said video) and lost a huge chunk of followers. A few days later, they (or rather; the husband) did a follow-up video where the husband apologized and showed clips of his wife crying (because mean comments) and said that they'd release the video for free anyway and anyone who wanted a refund could get one. The damage had already been done though and plenty of people still decided to leave. The funny thing was (and many commented on this) that the husband is known for being quite a cheapskate and there are plenty of examples on their channel where he'd deny his wife to do certain things (like taking a 1 dollar ferris wheel ride) just because he wanted to save money. "You won't let your wife take a ride on a cheap ferris wheel but you expect us to pay for a video that you've been promoting (as free) for weeks now?" I don't remember if they ever did Patreon but I know they had plenty of other revenue-streams that they were doing pretty well on, including selling group-travels to places like Myanmar and whatnot - all of which were really popular, so they were definitely not running low on cash. I don't know if they ever bounced back from that (it was a couple of years ago this happened and I stopped following them after the "apology"), but they definitely did a lot of damage by pulling that stunt. I'm by no means an expert on these things but to me it looks like a combination of greed mixed with a big dose of inflated ego. I haven't seen Watcher (or even heard of them before this) so I don't know how high quality their content really is but I doubt that they're big enough to rival other services like Hulu or Netflix and judging by their subscription fees, it looks to me like that's exactly what they're trying to do. And if they come from Buzzfeed, I assume that their content is mainly aimed at a younger audience as well and they can't afford (especially now) to pay that much for yet another video service, even if they wanted to. Ego and greed is a dangerous thing..
@@Jamiegirl79I was thinking of Kara and Nate! But I don’t remember them doing that so I thought it was someone else. I started following them last year so this must of been before I started following their content. I wonder if the video is still up? Edit: it is! Just found the video, it’s from 4 years ago. I actually think they handled it really well and you can genuinely see how sorry they were. I’m glad their TH-cam continue to be successful! ☺️
As a devout watcher of WATCHER, I don’t want high production content I just want Shane and Ryan doing their thing,they have incredible chemistry and it’s enjoyable to watch thats all. 😊
This. I just want their raw moments when they're are nagging each other. No crazy editing. Just dim lights, read a story, put in some jokes in there. That's it. 😂
If Shane and Ryan/Watcher somehow see this: I actually stopped watching Unsolved when the production quality when up. On one hand, I was like “Damn! I’m so proud of them! Rock on!” But then I just didn’t feel like I was watching “someone”, the personality felt gone. Like atozy said, people come here to NOT watch “netflix style” content. And that’s 100% accurate for me. Sometimes I want to watch a full scale documentary, with 5 different narrators and 20 interviews from different people and flashy graphics. But sometimes (Most of the time actually) I want to listen to just one or two people talking at a camera with just small basic photos coming into frame to add to their point/give examples/etc.
@@smashtactix imagine going back 8 months to watch this video and then going to the comment section to comment this. Maybe you should talk to your friend and family circle about your deep dives on irrelevant youtube drama, or for grammar/spelling lessons. Maybe both. Regardless, I can assure you I am perfectly fine in life 😊
13:33 Exactly - knowing your target audience is SO important! It literally determines so much of your text like your tone and diction, the angle of your argument, the publisher/platform…you have to know how your audience thinks so you can formulate your text to reach them effectively and efficiently
Your point about the quality is so true it’s crazy how many TH-camrs still use phones for a majority of their footage. Viewers on TH-cam want content more than they want something overly polished.
Never heard of them and will most definitely not be tuning in but I HAVE to thank whoever commented, "WATCHER? I can't afford her!" for making me laugh so hard because I needed that, LMFAO.
Used to watch them on unsolved buzz feed but I stopped watching after they left. I didn’t bother watching watcher either. People are struggling in the world and they paywall content, that’s a scam. They already have Patreon and it’s still not enough for them.
You missed out on the fact they have a patreon with 12k members, ranging from 5-100 euro tiers. They are definitely making enough money with merch, patreon, ads and sponsors combined. This move was pure greed
I agree they're probably making enough money. But what bothers me about this situation is how many fans are saying they support the guys yet they have almost 3 million subscribers but only 12,000 patreon subscribers? I understand not being able to afford the patreon. But there's still a difference between saying you support them when all you really do is get free entertainment from them.
@@claytoncourtney1309question don’t they make money from the people who just watch their videos and subscribe to them? People can support them by viewing their videos it’s a win win situation on both sides. They make money from the people watching and the people watching get free entertainment
Funny thing is that it sounds like some of their stuff might not be too far off some of the content that I like but they've never popped up in my recommendations, lol. And that's fine by me, I've already got tons of shit to watch. Lol
Lmfao they really tried to copyright a word💀 TH-camrs get real comfortable with trying bs like that once they get a big fan base I swear. It’s always the “big production” TH-camrs too, as if people watch TH-camrs for the big budget🤨.
"Capitalist realism has so captured public thought that the idea of anti-capitalism no longer acts as the antithesis to capitalism. Instead, it is deployed as a means for reinforcing capitalism. This is done through media which aims to provide a safe means of consuming anti-capitalist ideas without actually challenging the system. The lack of coherent alternatives, as presented through the lens of capitalist realism, leads many anti-capitalist movements to cease targeting the end of capitalism, but instead to mitigate its worst effects, often through individual consumption-based activities..."
The problem with patreon (like youtube really) is they don't own it, they are at the mercy of patreon's rules and patreons sustainability as a business.
@@sacb0ylmao stop making excuses for them, they have many different avenues of revenue already, and if they really are so shite at business that they are losing money despite that, then they should take matters into their own hands and either fire people or cut down on costs, you don’t try to siphon more money from your broke mf audience tho. Your financials shouldn’t be the viewers problem.
Supposedly, the creation of the Watcher platform was to supplement Steven's luxurious lifestyle. Why is he even involved, anyway? The only reason I joined Watcher channel was because of Shane and Ryan.
It was also dumb for them in the fact that in Ghost Files, they keep traveling to places outside of the US. There are SO MANY places in Cali alone (closer and local) that they could just go to.
Not to mention they could just go to older local houses that aren't famous and have the family spin a story they'd follow. All the other ghost shows do it 😂
I used to love watching Buzzfeed, but I never got recommended Watchers. So, I never even heard of their newer channel. I am on YT daily watching videos. That says a lot about their focus on marketing and channel branding.
I actually unsubscribed to the Watcher channel after their announcement and I don’t think they can redeem themselves for the choices they proceeded with. Ryan and Shane were one of the few people who I enjoyed watching for their Paranormal expeditions and unsolved cases.
I actually unsubscribed to the Watcher channel after their announcement and I don’t think they can redeem themselves for the choices they processed with. Ryan and Shane were one of the few people who I enjoyed watching for their Paranormal expeditions and unsolved cases.
They talk like startup Tech Bros in the video. Then they took in the over-bloated managment style of Buzzfeed making a horrible combination that resulted in this idiocy.
They tall like startup Tech Bros in the video. Then they took in the over-bloated management style of Buzzfeed making a horrible combination that resulted in this idiocy.
Did you notice how much they didn’t talk, or even mention, what the viewer wants? Hint: not once. It was purely “make content WE like” or “WE want to make shows”, nothing about what the viewers would want or like. They had a few good ideas that took off way backl when and it gave them an ego to the point that they think whatever they want is going to be exactly what their viewers want. I’d imagine their comment section has been stating this for quite a while but whoever they hired to do their social media, since they clearly aren’t doing much of anything themselves with 25+ employees, probably has heavily filtered what gets reported back to them since they seem like they can’t handle criticism or hearing only things they don’t agree with. They surrounded themselves with “yes men”.
@@OnEst_Opinionthat’s what happens when you almost exclusively hire friends. I just worked with a boss who did that (being one of the not friends) and after that I started saying “you shouldn’t hire friends, you should become friends with the people you hire”
This is EXACTLY what (and who) Patreon exists for. Money from ads, money from people who want to support your work on Patreon with very little censorship, and they'd probably do pretty well.
Even if the Watchers go back on their intentions, they made a public decision that changed everyone's opinions. That's like telling your parents you hate them, even though you didn't mean it. Certain things are out in the open forever.
They just uploaded. While I appreciate the apology their intentions soured my opinion. In the apology video they said they didn't want to let go of employees. They could've just managed the pateron better. Like actually keep it up to date and let go of redundant employees.
They have certainly changed my opinion of them. I only watched Ghost Files so there was no way I was paying to stream them. It was disappointing because I liked them alot.
@@FukaiKokoroTell me they aren't passing the blame on anything but their own egos & greed? 😂 Of course... Sorry guys we just didn't want to fire people? Lol😮 ummm 🤔 excuse me if I don't believe you 😂
The frustration in Atozy face during this almost 30 mins vid kept me here… nothing was negative he said he was just disappointed in their decision that’s respect… he could of ripped them but he was just SMH and sound explanation throughout that is why I watch you bro!!!
The great thing about YT is the authenticity of youtubers and their content. People don't necessarily want highly produced content, I would go to a major streaming network to get that.
Yeah, i never even heard of these goofballs until now, just like most 'big' channels. I just don't care about the hype, show me something educational with substance VS polish. Any videos that feel overly 'produced' i just tune out and click away.
💯!! While they might like to make these super high-quality long form videos, the audience doesn't care. They're doing it to satisfy themselves, so they should eat the cost or tone it down.
I can't imagine spending $59.99/year to watch two or three shows. There is no chance there will be a sufficient amount of content to justify spending that much money on it.
Ya I got rid of cable tv because I was paying about that to watch like 2 shows that were mostly ads. I’m not going to pay for a subscription doing essentially the same thing.
So I have been noticing something for a little while now about youtubers that live in big cities or at least expensive places to live. They either forget or have no concept that for most other people thats a lot of money. They get so used to eating something cheap there costing $30 or $40 bucks, or $12 coffee, $20 parking is the sketchy parking and so on. Well for many other places $30 is going somewhere somewhat nice lol coffee is cheap and parking is free and their income is a tiny fraction of those places that cost so much to live in.
Exactly, and people try to say they AREN'T greedy?? Jesus, like imagine you constantly recklessly spend all the money you make (like with what Shane did or what they all do all the time), employ way too many employees that they don't even need, and then complain about paying those employees?? Literally it's fucking greed.
Nobody asked for "TV caliber" content but they gaslighted us the fanbase to think that we wanted it and that we definitely could afford their streaming service. Their audacity and how they overestimated their appeal are astounding.
They are way overthinking this, it's dumb. All of their problems already have solutions, no need to reinvent the wheel. TH-cam -> Sponsorships -> Patreon -> Merch -> Collabs, rinse and repeat. Then when your money is right make the long form, high quality content and sell it to one of the streaming platforms.
That's what The Try Guys did, I think. Put out enough quality content to get the attention of media networks that could provide them TV and streaming opportunities. I don't understand why they didn't get advice from their acquaintances. I mean, they'd collabed before.
I'm from a third world country and that's what the average household uses on groceries a week , it's even cheaper to pay TH-cam premium for me because atleast the streaming servics and TH-cam subsidizes prices according to countries @@Pocket_Sized_Satan
I feel like subscription to netflix is still understandable because there's thousands of high quality shows in there...meanwhile $6 for content that you can access right now for free on the watcher channel doesn't make sense plus a new show on May? Who will pay for $6 just for a new show that you don't even know if you'll like? That doesn't make sense. They don't make sense
Something I found crazy, is that I have never been recommended a video from their channel. I watch ghost stories, true crime, unsolved mysteries at least a few times a week. I used to watch them on buzzfeed unsolved too, but have never seen their channel in my recommended.
honestly it was something you had to search for since day 1 i would regularly rewatch unsolved and search in history their names and eventually got them that way but algorithmically i always had to check the subscribed tag unless i binged previously
I think because their channel has been a hodgepodge of everything at this point. With buzzfeed unsolved, there's just one genre. While the watcher channel has "everything" from lifestyle, to history, to true crime and paranormal. So i think that's why yt algorithm is getting confused
Weird. I literally cannot imagine being active on the internet and not seeing/hearing about them constantly. I suspect everyone who's never heard of them is really upright or into "bro" stuff and therefore doesn't hear about the more fun side of the internet.
@@jijittersi mean, if you don’t watch true crime or supernatural type videos then you probably wouldn’t know ryan and shane and if you don’t know them enough that u follow them closely then you might not know about watcher bc it’s not a monster of a company
Atozy I remember when you was a small TH-cam channel and I immediately was hooked. I’m so grateful I did! You keep me update on every single thing here in this yt streets. Ty for always putting your fans over greed ❤
The biggest problem with things like this, is there is soo much content being made that if you get bored, tired of, or something like this happnes. There is a minimum of 10 others doing something similar enough to go watch instead.
I loved them on Buzzfeed unsolved, it was like a PowerPoint with the awesome dynamic with Shane and Ryan. I have a feeling they don't see themselves as a business, more as a "creative environment for creatives "personal friends". Instead of removing the uber amount of icing on their cake (that no one asked for) they are going to lose the bakery.
@@john-Mustang-wick hm, then why does everyone talk about how USA protests from Israel? Why did we talk about Akira Toriyama for a whole week? Why do people talk about marvel or DC how they suck now? Huh, why? No one cares?
I think it's because the decision feels like it came out of nowhere and feels really out of character from what people know and believe of the ghoul boys. Plus, not a lot of juicey things have been happening lately 👀
You missed Patrion from your white board. Watcher has one with three options. So they had already put content behind a paywall. I think they made watcher tv because they wanted to get picked up by Netflix and they didn’t
The "why" boils down to their CEO, who unfortunately seems to want to both be a "CEO" type baller, and also wants to dump a bunch of money into revitalizing "Worth It" which he hosts. And if you're familiar with the series, requires a lot of money due to the premise of the show. And before anybody pushes back, the CEO posted a tumblr post that made this pretty clear in it's town and flailing to justify the decision, that ultimately is an executive decision even if the founders are also complicit in the decision.
I absolutely think a move like this boils down to the CEO. Dropout tv pulled this off super successfully but they also have a CEO who is super transparent, cares about his employees, and participates in content
Yeah, everybody going “well you can’t blame Steven they’re all adults” yeah, but Steven is the CEO. When bad business decisions get made elsewhere people scrutinize the CEO. I’m not saying Shane and Ryan didn’t play a part or agree to go along with it but as CEO Steven does shoulder a larger responsibility for the direction they take the company. He is literally the appointed person at that company that people are going to look at and into when big public announcements and changes like this are made. Now I’m not sure if Ryan and Shane retain ownership, or what percentage of ownership they have but it does boil down to the fact Steven is the designated head of the business and it reflects more poorly on him because of that. (He’s also just not as well liked but that’s on a personal not a business note and I think people get too caught up in that trying to give him a pass)
@lilithium3940 Dropout also actually HAD to make a huge change because of everything that happened that caused Sam to buy the Company. But like you said, the obvious difference in the intention of the person running things... Dropout is worth every cent. I will not be paying for Watcher. 😑
Wow, came expecting drama, but much more interested in the business-side analysis. Very interesting to hear. More content on you talking about that in specific case studies would be awesome.
I appreciate your take on this one! I’ve watched a few commentary videos about this situation and I really hadn’t thought about the fact that it would be cannibalizing their own user base by having little to no growth opportunities without TH-cam. Smart take!
Love the longer form video here. I know there's a lot to unpack with this topic and it's a lot more work to make longer videos, but I still wanted to throw my 2 cents in here and say I like it. My preference is usually 20+ minutes.
Eh, Shane literally dropped $55k on a single wedding venue when there are plenty of other venues that AREN'T as expensive but are still considered fancy or romantic...while he literally is all about "eating the rich"...
They got greedy and think that because some people recognize them on the street they have all this fandom but they don’t. They think they’re famous and above TH-cam. I unsubscribed to them and after their apology I’m still not going to watch them.
It's math and people not grasping it. They think oh i have millions of followers. But with billions of humans on the internet 60 million is only 1% of total internet users. So less than 3 million Watcher subscribers means they are less than 0.05% of internet users.
@@AnthologyOfDavedoesn’t mean he’s super famous. It was super cool to see him but the movie was a flop. It didn’t do well so not that many people saw it. He’s not famous enough to do what he tried to pull off here. Though I do like him a lot.
We liked watching them spend Buzzfeeds money to buy ridiculously expensive things. I’m not about to give them my money (that I barely have) so they can continue their extravagant lifestyles
We like watching them spend Buzzfeeds money to buy ridiculously expensive things. I’m not about to give them my money (that I barely have) so they can continue their extravagant lifestyles
Do they ACTUALLY want to be writer/director/actor? They should put together a pilot and talk to netflix. I agree with Atozy here though, they're TH-camRS.
This is honestly what they should have done. If they wanted the route of a large production and crew then going for Netflix or another streaming service would have worked better.
Rooster teeth will getting shutdown next month it's parent company warnerbrother discovery announced it and it was because they were making these same mistakes and other bad ones.
Steven Lim was the worst choice for CEO. I believe that he’s always pushing and pushing for more money to be spent, constantly spending beyond their means until it finally resulted in this decision. If Ryan and Shane had just had their shows here, they’d definitely be able to afford it, but because they have Lim’s show (worth it), which doesn’t pull as many views, they’re overspending consistently.
they really thought 3 million people were gonna be like "yeah sure we'll pay" and they were gonna cash in..too bad people watch youtube because it's free
I think some creators forget that the subscriber counts are total from the very start of the channel, not who is currently into watching them. Unless people go out of their way to unsubscribe it gives them a false sense of popularity.
It's a tale as old as time. TH-cam channel grows, so they hire more people to expedite the process of releasing videos so they can more comfortably meet deadlines. which means they need more money coming in, so they put out some lower effort content to supplement the high effort stuff, and they start taking on more sponsorships. Then they need more on screen presences as they spin off further, growing their roster with Poochies that the fans don't really gel with, and the new stuff gets ignored so only the 'original series' people subbed for gets clicks, and ultimately it becomes unsustainable.
There's a TH-camr made subscription service called Nebula. I don't understand why they didn't just join that... it would be way easier to market since people would get more than only their content. Jet Lag combines this really well with their TH-cam channel. Making a separate service just for their content wasn't a smart move if they're also going to stop making content on TH-cam
That would be great because then they'd be advertising Nebula, which helps the other creators! I didn't even kno about Nebula until someone else in their comment section said something.
Does anybody remember that one kickstarter crap episode where those post college kids just tried to get people to fund their global luxury travel plans in exchange for the experience of watching a documentary about them travelling around?
Yeah, at the very least they could start an ad free platform for the subscription and have some exclusives and extras like bts well still having most their normal content on youtube. a lot of the patrons would probably automatically sub to that as well so it would still boost income. Then they could grow that platform.
These are the people that don't realize that their whole career was propped up by venture capital and that they're lucky to have a career *at all* after it dried up.
Never thought a creator I actually cared about would get this much backlash, let alone the Ghoul Boys. Glad it was just a misguided business idea and not a genuine crime.
As someone who was introduced to buzzfeed unsolved during covid, I absolutely loved Shane, Ryan, & their videos. Their chemistry is top tier. When buzzfeed unsolved went under, I sadly didn’t keep up with Watcher after that. And it was simply cause other things started catching my eye first. With all that said, I had no clue who Steven was before all of this. I have no idea if he’s been behind the scenes/friend this whole time, or he came along when watcher started. But his statement alone and the amount of time he spoke on these videos compared to Ryan and Shane, kinda makes it seem like this was all his idea.
They already showed that they’re greedy people. Just because they now realize that they can’t be as greed as they want to be doesn’t mean they still aren’t greedy
i think their problem is that they prioritized their employees over the millions of people that watches them, so now they are going to go under and going to keep none of them
It's simple: take a page out of corridor's book. Put your really high budget stuff on the website and start some exclusive web-series and move one or two really popular series over to the website, and have some other stuff like shenanigans, behind the scenes, clips, etc and advertise the more exclusive stuff through TH-cam. By doing it like Watcher did, you're basically cutting the head of your business. Doing it like corridor means fans can still enjoy some free content, and also bring people to the website. And since you're still posting to youtube, you can ensure new fans can come to your website and possibly sign up.
Rhett and link made good mythical evening for this purpose. So they could do all the fun wacky uncensored adult things, cursing, drinking, sexual topics etc. and sold tickets to watch it. Does everyone want to pay for it, no. But is the content elevated enough from their free daily content for that to be worth it to some people and make them curious for a one time ticket? Yes. But there's no way I'd pay extra for the same content I've been getting for free this whole time. Watcher has lost 90K subs over this already.
One youtuber showed what Watcher makes, they make around $520K a year on TH-cam, then, they have around 2,901 Patreons, even if the Patrons are only paying $5 each, that's around $63,000. What watcher is failing to see here is, that TH-cam is providing Watcher with the Bandwidth and the Streaming FOR FREE, and once Watcher starts it's own Streaming Service, the Bandwidth and Streaming is going to be coming out of THEIR pockets. An expensive they currently don't have while they're on TH-cam. They're also giving up ALL of their Ad Revenue as well. They are going to Hemorrhage money.
I just found out they responded to this situation minutes before I posted this video so will make a follow up video asap!
I dont feeI any different about them after their apoIogy video. It was Iack Iuster
If they don’t go to Amazon like why files and others did, or even kick, then they’ll be back. But maybe they’ve been saving. Maybe this will work? They do have a good business mindset, so all we can do is wait and see I guess?😇
Yt pays real well. It’s just greedy to want more… imo
Yeah, someone finally ran the numbers and - Oops....
I'm glad your dropped out of school to become a "full time TH-cam nerd too." 😂❤ @atozy
Literally your video right next to their reply on my page.
I think their biggest problem is... They forgot they were TH-camRS. They are not a multimillion dollar production company, they are TH-camrs.
True.
They thought they were Apple or Google for a second.
Huh? Their channel is easily valued in excess of a mil.
That's 99.9% of YT right now.
The hubris is cringe.
@@blackcloud415a lot of people think channels make more money than they do. Why did they need to do something knew with a subscription paywall if they were making millions?
My favorite comment on their vid was from someone who said "If I wanted a dude with a Tesla to call me broke I would have gone to Twitter"
Beautiful.
💀💀💀
It’s basically the same reason Buzzfeed failed. Too much extra. Extra employees, extra fluff content no one cared about. Extra overhead. All overproduced.
They should stick to the two or three most popular shows and do more of it.
I used to enjoy Buzzfeed back in 2010. It was a lot of fun to see the meme compilations and just do quizzes with friends. Now it’s like a celeb rag mag.
Buzzfeed basically begian pandering to angry and resentful female versions of Incels lol y'all know it's true. 😅😂
i followed them from buzzfeed just for the ghostfiles, i dont watch the rest
Ironic since they left Buzzfeed to do their own thing.
Buzzfeed also got political and became exhausting to read.
I won't pay $10/mo for HBO, I'm definitely not paying $10/mo for a _single TH-cam channel_
Free trial on free trial
dude its like 15
It doesnt happen often yet too often that single channels thinks they can just start a single channel platform at a price a full streaming platform costs. Quite delusional
the comment of a person that said that they watched ghost files on the line for food stamps and that they literally couldn't afford 6 dollars broke me. they just shat all over their audience.
Okay but mood 😅
I remember seeing a comment that said: “so you’re breaking up with me because I’m broke?”
And that’s honestly what it felt like.
Another one someone shared “so we’re being laid off?”
Both are so true
I feel that. I hate this. I love Watcher, my daughter and I used to watch Puppet History together and I loved that it made history fun for her. But when I pay $15 for ad free all of TH-cam I'm not gonna pay half of that just for access to one channel.
The amount of time they spent accumulating the reputation they gained, has just blown up in their faces. Was it worth it? Years spent building up your reputation in the public, just to lose it in less than two weeks. Brilliant marketing. I bet they hired a university graduate and this was their first professional job.
"It's not me, it's you."😉
This one is my favorite comment from the video “Did i just get laid off as a viewer?”
Yes
🤣😂🤣
Not even the comment sections are safe. I hope those subscribers can land back on their feet.
What a world!
Omg it DOES feel like that 😆
@@Mama_Bear524they outgrew us…
🤩
People shit on TH-cam Premium but I watch SO much youtube that if I have to watch ads I get pissed off. LOL
if I had to have only 1 subscription it would easily be TH-cam premium
You also get TH-cam music so there's no need for Spotify. $11.99 a month for no ads and unlimited music and podcasts? Yes please!
That's been YTs strategy lately. Annoy you with ads till you pay. They even have ads saying that. "Tired of us annoying you with ads? Get YT Premium!" They're literally, intentionally harassing you with ads till you pay. Almost like old mobs. "Tired of us destroying your windows? Pay protection money!"
Premium is goated
@@brosephbroman7564 If it works, it works?
They got used to using buzzfeed’s money so when they realized how much it costs to use their own, they knew they fucked up
If you look at their video they have an office directly across the street from the Hollywood hills sign. An 25 employees for this level of videos?? This is piss-poor management and bad decisions with greed tacked on.
I watched another video earlier about this situation and the video of Shane and Ryan getting drunk in Santa costumes had *19* people credited as working on it. 2 dudes sitting in chairs and talking while getting drunk did *not* require 19 people to create. If that’s not mismanaging funds (+ feeling guilty when not giving the friends you hired work) I don’t know what is
15:25 "I think if they made it a more budget version theyd still have the same number of viewers" Ive been a fan of them since buzzfeed and you hit the nail on the head. So many fans' reactions were "we never asked for any of this!????"
I’ve been a fan of them since buzzfeed too. A lot of their older videos, like their pandemic era and their buzzfeed unsolved stuff, were pretty robustly produced. They were able to created a loyal fan base based on their dynamic and simple production
When they did Buzzfeed Unsolved the only "effects" they had were literal blue and yellow text on a screen. That was the content I signed up for, and what made everyone fall in love with their content. We don't want or need overproduced shows. We're not there for things to look nice, we just want to have a good time and they were more than succeeding at that.
Exactly!!
Yes…WHEEZE….it was little things like that. That’s what we loved.
Seeing this topic about these youtubers for the first time on here. Whoever they were, whatever it was they were doing? Its all going down the drain so there apparently
isn't any point in sifting through the ashes to watch some of their previous videos - whatever it was they were doing previously, I guess it is no more. Ooooops G'bye.
I actually liked it more because it was simpler, the new watcher videos are very well produced but they seem almost off, like the passion is gone
@@Carols989 That's exactly how I feel. I remember I watched every single Unsolved video they put out as soon as they were posted, I haven't watched most of the Watcher videos
Shocker.
They bit the hand that feeds them and realized instantly when 50,000 or more people unsubbed within a day so they instantly took it back.
Shocker.
not to mention they already have a paywalled content behind patreon, they already have 14,000 paid subscribers in patreon from 5$ - 25$ /month, THATS AT LEAST 70k usd AT LEAST. These greedy mfers think patreon making them 70k monthly is still not enough so they thought you know whats good, pay walling everything for a low low price of 6$ per month lmao
@@randovid1 Don’t know if this sounds rude but, I hope they realize they aren’t big enough to pull some bs like that. They aren’t close to big enough.
The real question is, is their patreon going to disappear as well? Or are they going to cheat their fans and have them pay twice for content which is idiotic.
Right.
They were at 2.9 Mil subscribers before this happened. They lost a bit of subscribers after this lol
@@blueflameSMI don’t know if they were going to stop making patreon content, but the original plan was to charge people twice. That was one of the things they very quickly back peddled on when this blew up in their face, if you were a patreon supporter you got a code for their streaming site for free, and if you already paid for it they said to contact them and you’d be refunded
This reminds me of a travel-vlog channel that I followed a couple of years back. The team consisted of a married couple traveling to various places and the usual vlog-material. They were very popular at the time because they were very relatable and they didn't push unnecessary sponsorships and the like. So they got to the point where they were about to visit their 100th (if I remember correctly) country and so they started talking about how they wanted to do something special to commemorate it. A sort of celebration together with their viewers. Fans were excited, everyone was excited. Then as this special video was about to be dropped, they instead dropped a video stating that if you wanted to see this video then you could purchase it for X dollars (if I remember correctly, they had like a sliding scale on the payment so there was a minimum you could pay and then you could pay extra if you wanted to. I don't remember how much the minimum was, but a couple of dollars).
In the video, you then see them both musing about "what if so and so many people pay 100 dollars for this?!" with pretty much dollar-signs in their eyes.. Unsurprisingly, they recieved a ton of backlash (so much in fact that they closed down the comments on said video) and lost a huge chunk of followers.
A few days later, they (or rather; the husband) did a follow-up video where the husband apologized and showed clips of his wife crying (because mean comments) and said that they'd release the video for free anyway and anyone who wanted a refund could get one. The damage had already been done though and plenty of people still decided to leave.
The funny thing was (and many commented on this) that the husband is known for being quite a cheapskate and there are plenty of examples on their channel where he'd deny his wife to do certain things (like taking a 1 dollar ferris wheel ride) just because he wanted to save money. "You won't let your wife take a ride on a cheap ferris wheel but you expect us to pay for a video that you've been promoting (as free) for weeks now?"
I don't remember if they ever did Patreon but I know they had plenty of other revenue-streams that they were doing pretty well on, including selling group-travels to places like Myanmar and whatnot - all of which were really popular, so they were definitely not running low on cash.
I don't know if they ever bounced back from that (it was a couple of years ago this happened and I stopped following them after the "apology"), but they definitely did a lot of damage by pulling that stunt.
I'm by no means an expert on these things but to me it looks like a combination of greed mixed with a big dose of inflated ego. I haven't seen Watcher (or even heard of them before this) so I don't know how high quality their content really is but I doubt that they're big enough to rival other services like Hulu or Netflix and judging by their subscription fees, it looks to me like that's exactly what they're trying to do. And if they come from Buzzfeed, I assume that their content is mainly aimed at a younger audience as well and they can't afford (especially now) to pay that much for yet another video service, even if they wanted to.
Ego and greed is a dangerous thing..
god i wanna know who this is now 😩
i just read your long ass comment and I surprised myself coz I have no patience with reading nowadays 😂...
Whoa! Spill the tea! What's the name of this channel?
Kara and Nate 😂
@@Jamiegirl79I was thinking of Kara and Nate! But I don’t remember them doing that so I thought it was someone else. I started following them last year so this must of been before I started following their content. I wonder if the video is still up?
Edit: it is! Just found the video, it’s from 4 years ago. I actually think they handled it really well and you can genuinely see how sorry they were. I’m glad their TH-cam continue to be successful! ☺️
As a devout watcher of WATCHER, I don’t want high production content I just want Shane and Ryan doing their thing,they have incredible chemistry and it’s enjoyable to watch thats all. 😊
This. I just want their raw moments when they're are nagging each other. No crazy editing. Just dim lights, read a story, put in some jokes in there. That's it. 😂
Exactly! I wasn't too crazy with all the fancy production..it was the fun dynamic that I enjoyed between Shane and Ryan.
The guys who used to work at BuzzFeed took the BuzzFeed route. Shocker😂
The people who ran Buzzfeed into the ground try to run their own shit into the ground. Haha
The guys who used to work at BuzzFeed took the BuzzFeed route. Shocmer😂
Hoping to see some "Why I left Watcher" videos and blog posts soon.
If Shane and Ryan/Watcher somehow see this:
I actually stopped watching Unsolved when the production quality when up.
On one hand, I was like “Damn! I’m so proud of them! Rock on!”
But then I just didn’t feel like I was watching “someone”, the personality felt gone.
Like atozy said, people come here to NOT watch “netflix style” content.
And that’s 100% accurate for me.
Sometimes I want to watch a full scale documentary, with 5 different narrators and 20 interviews from different people and flashy graphics.
But sometimes (Most of the time actually) I want to listen to just one or two people talking at a camera with just small basic photos coming into frame to add to their point/give examples/etc.
Yeahh I lost interest when it became over produced. I liked it when it was much more simple and all about personality.
its inaccurate to say the quality has gone up if it has become less enjoyable
proud or someone on youtube, well you must have a great freind and family circle.
@@smashtactix imagine going back 8 months to watch this video and then going to the comment section to comment this.
Maybe you should talk to your friend and family circle about your deep dives on irrelevant youtube drama, or for grammar/spelling lessons. Maybe both.
Regardless, I can assure you I am perfectly fine in life 😊
For someone who has been asking "Is it worth it?" for years Steven has somehow forgot to ask that on this decision lmao
😂😂
Cuck
13:33 Exactly - knowing your target audience is SO important! It literally determines so much of your text like your tone and diction, the angle of your argument, the publisher/platform…you have to know how your audience thinks so you can formulate your text to reach them effectively and efficiently
Your point about the quality is so true it’s crazy how many TH-camrs still use phones for a majority of their footage. Viewers on TH-cam want content more than they want something overly polished.
Never heard of them and will most definitely not be tuning in but I HAVE to thank whoever commented, "WATCHER? I can't afford her!" for making me laugh so hard because I needed that, LMFAO.
Yeah anything from Buzzfeed is cancer.
@@brosephbroman7564Yeah, I agree.
Used to watch them on unsolved buzz feed but I stopped watching after they left. I didn’t bother watching watcher either. People are struggling in the world and they paywall content, that’s a scam. They already have Patreon and it’s still not enough for them.
You missed out on the fact they have a patreon with 12k members, ranging from 5-100 euro tiers. They are definitely making enough money with merch, patreon, ads and sponsors combined. This move was pure greed
I agree they're probably making enough money. But what bothers me about this situation is how many fans are saying they support the guys yet they have almost 3 million subscribers but only 12,000 patreon subscribers?
I understand not being able to afford the patreon. But there's still a difference between saying you support them when all you really do is get free entertainment from them.
A 100€ tier??? Wth is in that one, a daily good morning message!? 😳
"making enough money" is some hasan level thinking.
And don’t forget when they go on the road and put on shows they put on and sell out.
@@claytoncourtney1309question don’t they make money from the people who just watch their videos and subscribe to them? People can support them by viewing their videos it’s a win win situation on both sides. They make money from the people watching and the people watching get free entertainment
The fact that I don’t know who they are nor have I ever had one of their videos recommended says enough for me based on what I watch.
Funny thing is that it sounds like some of their stuff might not be too far off some of the content that I like but they've never popped up in my recommendations, lol. And that's fine by me, I've already got tons of shit to watch. Lol
@20:07 when he said “early adapters” I rolled my eyes so hard. They’re not creating some new innovative concept..Their ego lol
This reminds me of when the Fine Bros announced they were copyrighting "reacting"
i’ve been searching for a comment that mentions this !!! it’s like the exact same situation… even the backtracking
@@ghoulgauze only og's remember😂. Every channel that does something this immediately falls off
Lmfao they really tried to copyright a word💀 TH-camrs get real comfortable with trying bs like that once they get a big fan base I swear. It’s always the “big production” TH-camrs too, as if people watch TH-camrs for the big budget🤨.
Jubilee is doing the same thing rn 😂
@@cookiedoe6068 oh damn😂
cultivate an audience that embraces "Eat the Rich" so who can they be mad at when the fans starts to cannibalize them for being greedy
"Capitalist realism has so captured public thought that the idea of anti-capitalism no longer acts as the antithesis to capitalism. Instead, it is deployed as a means for reinforcing capitalism. This is done through media which aims to provide a safe means of consuming anti-capitalist ideas without actually challenging the system. The lack of coherent alternatives, as presented through the lens of capitalist realism, leads many anti-capitalist movements to cease targeting the end of capitalism, but instead to mitigate its worst effects, often through individual consumption-based activities..."
What
Posting this everywhere? 😂
Greedy commies always using the sheep to get rich. Love it 😂
The irony at its finest.
Watcher had a Patreon with three different tiers. They had sponsors. They ran ads. Yet they wanted people to pay $6 on top of that. Pure greed.
They’re trying to do too much.
The problem with patreon (like youtube really) is they don't own it, they are at the mercy of patreon's rules and patreons sustainability as a business.
@@sacb0ylmao stop making excuses for them, they have many different avenues of revenue already, and if they really are so shite at business that they are losing money despite that, then they should take matters into their own hands and either fire people or cut down on costs, you don’t try to siphon more money from your broke mf audience tho. Your financials shouldn’t be the viewers problem.
@@sacb0y
And? It still makes them money.
Supposedly, the creation of the Watcher platform was to supplement Steven's luxurious lifestyle. Why is he even involved, anyway? The only reason I joined Watcher channel was because of Shane and Ryan.
It was also dumb for them in the fact that in Ghost Files, they keep traveling to places outside of the US. There are SO MANY places in Cali alone (closer and local) that they could just go to.
Not to mention they could just go to older local houses that aren't famous and have the family spin a story they'd follow. All the other ghost shows do it 😂
@@asarishepard8171 Exactly! They did it once when they were on Buzzfeed still. I don't understand why they think they need to constantly go abroad
I used to love watching Buzzfeed, but I never got recommended Watchers. So, I never even heard of their newer channel. I am on YT daily watching videos. That says a lot about their focus on marketing and channel branding.
I actually unsubscribed to the Watcher channel after their announcement and I don’t think they can redeem themselves for the choices they proceeded with. Ryan and Shane were one of the few people who I enjoyed watching for their Paranormal expeditions and unsolved cases.
Tbf their paranormal expeditions are just them getting annoyed no ghosts are talking to them in a dark house
I actually unsubscribed to the Watcher channel after their announcement and I don’t think they can redeem themselves for the choices they processed with. Ryan and Shane were one of the few people who I enjoyed watching for their Paranormal expeditions and unsolved cases.
@@Theunicorn2012Why did you repeat, word for word, the comment made by zoewong?
Same.
@@Theunicorn2012 Yeah. Why did you copy a comment I left here?
This just shows buzzfeed people don't understand how business works
This just shows buzzfeed people don't understand how business works
They are leftist communists.
This shows BuzzFeed people don't understand life in general and their hacks melted their brains
They talk like startup Tech Bros in the video. Then they took in the over-bloated managment style of Buzzfeed making a horrible combination that resulted in this idiocy.
They tall like startup Tech Bros in the video. Then they took in the over-bloated management style of Buzzfeed making a horrible combination that resulted in this idiocy.
Did you notice how much they didn’t talk, or even mention, what the viewer wants? Hint: not once. It was purely “make content WE like” or “WE want to make shows”, nothing about what the viewers would want or like. They had a few good ideas that took off way backl when and it gave them an ego to the point that they think whatever they want is going to be exactly what their viewers want. I’d imagine their comment section has been stating this for quite a while but whoever they hired to do their social media, since they clearly aren’t doing much of anything themselves with 25+ employees, probably has heavily filtered what gets reported back to them since they seem like they can’t handle criticism or hearing only things they don’t agree with. They surrounded themselves with “yes men”.
@@OnEst_Opinionthat’s what happens when you almost exclusively hire friends. I just worked with a boss who did that (being one of the not friends) and after that I started saying “you shouldn’t hire friends, you should become friends with the people you hire”
And they just rolled it back. Watcher, the streaming service, gets the vids a month early, then they're posting to YT.
At least they heard us.
This is EXACTLY what (and who) Patreon exists for. Money from ads, money from people who want to support your work on Patreon with very little censorship, and they'd probably do pretty well.
Even if the Watchers go back on their intentions, they made a public decision that changed everyone's opinions. That's like telling your parents you hate them, even though you didn't mean it. Certain things are out in the open forever.
They just uploaded. While I appreciate the apology their intentions soured my opinion.
In the apology video they said they didn't want to let go of employees.
They could've just managed the pateron better. Like actually keep it up to date and let go of redundant employees.
@@FukaiKokoro Many fans will eat that up anyways
Hey if logan can comeback from making fun of a deceased person and crypto zoo, I think watcher be fine
They have certainly changed my opinion of them. I only watched Ghost Files so there was no way I was paying to stream them. It was disappointing because I liked them alot.
@@FukaiKokoroTell me they aren't passing the blame on anything but their own egos & greed? 😂
Of course... Sorry guys we just didn't want to fire people? Lol😮 ummm 🤔 excuse me if I don't believe you 😂
The frustration in Atozy face during this almost 30 mins vid kept me here… nothing was negative he said he was just disappointed in their decision that’s respect… he could of ripped them but he was just SMH and sound explanation throughout that is why I watch you bro!!!
The great thing about YT is the authenticity of youtubers and their content. People don't necessarily want highly produced content, I would go to a major streaming network to get that.
Great point. Makes me feel better about my channel😂
Yeah, i never even heard of these goofballs until now, just like most 'big' channels. I just don't care about the hype, show me something educational with substance VS polish. Any videos that feel overly 'produced' i just tune out and click away.
💯!! While they might like to make these super high-quality long form videos, the audience doesn't care. They're doing it to satisfy themselves, so they should eat the cost or tone it down.
Exactly this!! It’s TH-cam, we want normal and fun videos not overproduced expensive ones.
@@Ryanneey In other words they let their egos get the better of them? (I wouldn't know, never saw these guys before this)
Their biggest downfall was their egos.
Seeing as how well Buzzfeed is doing - They just 'Watched' their money go out the window....
I can't imagine spending $59.99/year to watch two or three shows. There is no chance there will be a sufficient amount of content to justify spending that much money on it.
Ya I got rid of cable tv because I was paying about that to watch like 2 shows that were mostly ads. I’m not going to pay for a subscription doing essentially the same thing.
So I have been noticing something for a little while now about youtubers that live in big cities or at least expensive places to live. They either forget or have no concept that for most other people thats a lot of money. They get so used to eating something cheap there costing $30 or $40 bucks, or $12 coffee, $20 parking is the sketchy parking and so on. Well for many other places $30 is going somewhere somewhat nice lol coffee is cheap and parking is free and their income is a tiny fraction of those places that cost so much to live in.
@@mromutt I've noticed it too. They're living in a completely different reality.
Ikr? I axed hulu when Netflix raised their prices. and hulu has alot more stuff than these goobers 😂
7:30 did anyone forget TH-cam Red??
Does “Scared Pewdiepie” ring a bell?😂
I really wanted to see season 2 of that. From what I hear it really came into its own. Too bad about the bridge incident
Scared pewdiepie is n amazing show.
TH-cam red? Now thats a name i havnt heard in a loooong time, takes me back to the summer of '13.
@@arisenvalentine6288 🤣🤣
I remember that. Think I watched DanTDM’s show and MatPat’s.
Kinda hard to feel bad for these guys when Shane is openly dropping 55k on a wedding venue.
Exactly, and people try to say they AREN'T greedy?? Jesus, like imagine you constantly recklessly spend all the money you make (like with what Shane did or what they all do all the time), employ way too many employees that they don't even need, and then complain about paying those employees?? Literally it's fucking greed.
Imagine if every bit of content on Netflix was casting the same 3 guys in every movie/tv show
Not Atozy with the dad head drop in disappointment with the the dad stare in silence at 26 min in lol
They got out of Buzzfeed but could not get Buzzfed out of them.
😂
I have a feeling they were why Buzzfeed went the direction it did.
Gotta review the update now! 😂
I've watched them since their Buzzfeed days and am devastated by the news. I am NOT paying for another subscription service.
Same
Nobody asked for "TV caliber" content but they gaslighted us the fanbase to think that we wanted it and that we definitely could afford their streaming service. Their audacity and how they overestimated their appeal are astounding.
They are way overthinking this, it's dumb. All of their problems already have solutions, no need to reinvent the wheel. TH-cam -> Sponsorships -> Patreon -> Merch -> Collabs, rinse and repeat. Then when your money is right make the long form, high quality content and sell it to one of the streaming platforms.
That's what I thought. They could sell a show to Netflix if that's their goal.
It kind of sounds like a recent MBA grad gave them a bunch of half-baked ideas and they ran with it.
@@AliciaL98😂 probably
That's what The Try Guys did, I think. Put out enough quality content to get the attention of media networks that could provide them TV and streaming opportunities. I don't understand why they didn't get advice from their acquaintances. I mean, they'd collabed before.
Literally $9-$10 is like Netflix, Hulu subscription prices. Geeeeez. Plus it’s a time where people really can’t afford extra expense like that..
It was 6 bucks for them but thats still way to much a lot of people cant afford that some people are 6 bucks away from not eating
I'm from a third world country and that's what the average household uses on groceries a week , it's even cheaper to pay TH-cam premium for me because atleast the streaming servics and TH-cam subsidizes prices according to countries @@Pocket_Sized_Satan
Anything over $.99 is too much for what the offer
I feel like subscription to netflix is still understandable because there's thousands of high quality shows in there...meanwhile $6 for content that you can access right now for free on the watcher channel doesn't make sense plus a new show on May? Who will pay for $6 just for a new show that you don't even know if you'll like? That doesn't make sense. They don't make sense
Their crap shows should stay free
Something I found crazy, is that I have never been recommended a video from their channel. I watch ghost stories, true crime, unsolved mysteries at least a few times a week. I used to watch them on buzzfeed unsolved too, but have never seen their channel in my recommended.
I'd never heard of them until this debacle.
honestly it was something you had to search for since day 1 i would regularly rewatch unsolved and search in history their names and eventually got them that way but algorithmically i always had to check the subscribed tag unless i binged previously
I think because their channel has been a hodgepodge of everything at this point. With buzzfeed unsolved, there's just one genre. While the watcher channel has "everything" from lifestyle, to history, to true crime and paranormal. So i think that's why yt algorithm is getting confused
Weird. I literally cannot imagine being active on the internet and not seeing/hearing about them constantly. I suspect everyone who's never heard of them is really upright or into "bro" stuff and therefore doesn't hear about the more fun side of the internet.
@@jijittersi mean, if you don’t watch true crime or supernatural type videos then you probably wouldn’t know ryan and shane and if you don’t know them enough that u follow them closely then you might not know about watcher bc it’s not a monster of a company
Atozy I remember when you was a small TH-cam channel and I immediately was hooked. I’m so grateful I did! You keep me update on every single thing here in this yt streets. Ty for always putting your fans over greed ❤
This is either greed, maybe bad advice from someone NOT in the YT business, or extremely poor money management or all of the above
The biggest problem with things like this, is there is soo much content being made that if you get bored, tired of, or something like this happnes. There is a minimum of 10 others doing something similar enough to go watch instead.
Why would you pay for content? There's too much free stuff to watch it all.
Ironic they used such a nostalgic CRT television for a prop without seeing the larger metaphor that TV itself is old tech
I loved them on Buzzfeed unsolved, it was like a PowerPoint with the awesome dynamic with Shane and Ryan. I have a feeling they don't see themselves as a business, more as a "creative environment for creatives "personal friends". Instead of removing the uber amount of icing on their cake (that no one asked for) they are going to lose the bakery.
Seamless sponsor break, I applaud you Atozy
ok bjut if Atozy made a video called "how to drill a hole in the wall" I'd still watch
The entire Internet has been talking about this for three days.
Why who cares
@@john-Mustang-wick hm, then why does everyone talk about how USA protests from Israel? Why did we talk about Akira Toriyama for a whole week? Why do people talk about marvel or DC how they suck now? Huh, why? No one cares?
Why do so many care about internet drama, this is the first time I have ever heard of these guys, still dont know why this was recommended to me.
I think it's because the decision feels like it came out of nowhere and feels really out of character from what people know and believe of the ghoul boys. Plus, not a lot of juicey things have been happening lately 👀
Literally, someone who is terminally online, has not heard shit about this till now lol
You missed Patrion from your white board. Watcher has one with three options. So they had already put content behind a paywall. I think they made watcher tv because they wanted to get picked up by Netflix and they didn’t
The "why" boils down to their CEO, who unfortunately seems to want to both be a "CEO" type baller, and also wants to dump a bunch of money into revitalizing "Worth It" which he hosts. And if you're familiar with the series, requires a lot of money due to the premise of the show.
And before anybody pushes back, the CEO posted a tumblr post that made this pretty clear in it's town and flailing to justify the decision, that ultimately is an executive decision even if the founders are also complicit in the decision.
I absolutely think a move like this boils down to the CEO. Dropout tv pulled this off super successfully but they also have a CEO who is super transparent, cares about his employees, and participates in content
Yeah, everybody going “well you can’t blame Steven they’re all adults” yeah, but Steven is the CEO. When bad business decisions get made elsewhere people scrutinize the CEO. I’m not saying Shane and Ryan didn’t play a part or agree to go along with it but as CEO Steven does shoulder a larger responsibility for the direction they take the company. He is literally the appointed person at that company that people are going to look at and into when big public announcements and changes like this are made. Now I’m not sure if Ryan and Shane retain ownership, or what percentage of ownership they have but it does boil down to the fact Steven is the designated head of the business and it reflects more poorly on him because of that. (He’s also just not as well liked but that’s on a personal not a business note and I think people get too caught up in that trying to give him a pass)
@lilithium3940 Dropout also actually HAD to make a huge change because of everything that happened that caused Sam to buy the Company. But like you said, the obvious difference in the intention of the person running things... Dropout is worth every cent. I will not be paying for Watcher. 😑
Dropout was also I believe 3 dollars when it first started and now has over 17 shows with dozens of talents and is NOW 5.99 a month!
A CEO has 1 role. Keep investors happy
What were they thinking? People don’t even pay for Discovery Channel these days.
Wow, came expecting drama, but much more interested in the business-side analysis. Very interesting to hear. More content on you talking about that in specific case studies would be awesome.
I appreciate your take on this one! I’ve watched a few commentary videos about this situation and I really hadn’t thought about the fact that it would be cannibalizing their own user base by having little to no growth opportunities without TH-cam. Smart take!
They literally just posted an update my dude, impeccable timing xD
The way you described how channels get picked up by new viewers is literally how I found this channel and a band I follow now.
I just learned it now myself😊
@@lottikokonut1250I watched a moist critical video the other day and was recommended this channel today. I’ve never watched Atozy before this.
Imagine having so much money that you think people will spend Netflix subscription money to watch your one, sole, low quality channel
Love the longer form video here. I know there's a lot to unpack with this topic and it's a lot more work to make longer videos, but I still wanted to throw my 2 cents in here and say I like it. My preference is usually 20+ minutes.
Shane looks unhappy, Ryan looks scared, and Steven looks way too confident
Eh, Shane literally dropped $55k on a single wedding venue when there are plenty of other venues that AREN'T as expensive but are still considered fancy or romantic...while he literally is all about "eating the rich"...
They got greedy and think that because some people recognize them on the street they have all this fandom but they don’t. They think they’re famous and above TH-cam. I unsubscribed to them and after their apology I’m still not going to watch them.
Dude, Bergara was in the MCU. Like a close up shot of him saying hello to Ant Man. I think thats pretty famous.
It's math and people not grasping it. They think oh i have millions of followers. But with billions of humans on the internet 60 million is only 1% of total internet users. So less than 3 million Watcher subscribers means they are less than 0.05% of internet users.
I’m not unsubbing. At least not yet. But I agree. They got full of themselves
@@AnthologyOfDavedoesn’t mean he’s super famous. It was super cool to see him but the movie was a flop. It didn’t do well so not that many people saw it.
He’s not famous enough to do what he tried to pull off here. Though I do like him a lot.
We liked watching them spend Buzzfeeds money to buy ridiculously expensive things. I’m not about to give them my money (that I barely have) so they can continue their extravagant lifestyles
We like watching them spend Buzzfeeds money to buy ridiculously expensive things. I’m not about to give them my money (that I barely have) so they can continue their extravagant lifestyles
@@Theunicorn2012 why did you rewrite my comment?
@@AbstractlyMe83 they have been doing it to others on other comments too. It's a weird thing to do.
@@SoManyRandomRamblings I think they might be a bot, that or they're 12
Do they ACTUALLY want to be writer/director/actor? They should put together a pilot and talk to netflix. I agree with Atozy here though, they're TH-camRS.
This is honestly what they should have done. If they wanted the route of a large production and crew then going for Netflix or another streaming service would have worked better.
Man, I've been enjoying sipping my tea and watching all these reaction videos to what they've done to themselves today. So entertaining.
Rooster Teeth tried this SAME THING with RWBY and their other shows it turned out horrible
Rooster teeth will getting shutdown next month it's parent company warnerbrother discovery announced it and it was because they were making these same mistakes and other bad ones.
Rooster Teeth tried this SAME THING with RWBY and their other shows it turned out horrible
Exactly! I feel like I'm watching Rooster Teeth's downfall all over again
But you could always watch RWBY for free, you just had to wait.
Steven thought he'll be dining in steaks covered in gold again. 😂
Danke! Thank you for posting! I really love your channel!😮
thank you for the support!
Steven Lim was the worst choice for CEO. I believe that he’s always pushing and pushing for more money to be spent, constantly spending beyond their means until it finally resulted in this decision. If Ryan and Shane had just had their shows here, they’d definitely be able to afford it, but because they have Lim’s show (worth it), which doesn’t pull as many views, they’re overspending consistently.
I still dont know why he is in so many shows. Dude lacks charisma, but is included in almost everything
@@GalinaEv I agree, him in too many spirits is like watching a spoiled little kid fight for attention and sulk when it’s not all about him
@gwendolyn2442 i tried to pretend that he is playing it up for the show, but ended up just skipping to the reading
@@GalinaEv same, it sucks cause I love that show, but I always skip the bartender parts when he’s in them
they really thought 3 million people were gonna be like "yeah sure we'll pay" and they were gonna cash in..too bad people watch youtube because it's free
I think some creators forget that the subscriber counts are total from the very start of the channel, not who is currently into watching them. Unless people go out of their way to unsubscribe it gives them a false sense of popularity.
It's a tale as old as time. TH-cam channel grows, so they hire more people to expedite the process of releasing videos so they can more comfortably meet deadlines. which means they need more money coming in, so they put out some lower effort content to supplement the high effort stuff, and they start taking on more sponsorships. Then they need more on screen presences as they spin off further, growing their roster with Poochies that the fans don't really gel with, and the new stuff gets ignored so only the 'original series' people subbed for gets clicks, and ultimately it becomes unsustainable.
so rooster teeth and all its branches? XD and I guess also somewhat sourcefed (god I miss sourcefed)
Buzzfeed has been in a state of brutal denial since their downfall began.
TV And Hollywood still think the internet is just a fad that is going to go away. 😂😂
There's a TH-camr made subscription service called Nebula. I don't understand why they didn't just join that... it would be way easier to market since people would get more than only their content. Jet Lag combines this really well with their TH-cam channel.
Making a separate service just for their content wasn't a smart move if they're also going to stop making content on TH-cam
That would be great because then they'd be advertising Nebula, which helps the other creators! I didn't even kno about Nebula until someone else in their comment section said something.
They want the whole pie, not a slice
Or just manage their pateron. Like keep it up to date. And lay off redundant employees.
I was literally thinking the same thing! Why not just join Nebula? I guess they didn't want to share the wealth or collaborate...smh.
Greed is real and commies are no exception.
Does anybody remember that one kickstarter crap episode where those post college kids just tried to get people to fund their global luxury travel plans in exchange for the experience of watching a documentary about them travelling around?
Oh my God that’s exactly what this is! I forgot about that!
Holy shit I forgot about that! Wow time flies.
Havent heard about that. Please tell me they failed?
@@kvasir8931they did!
having the standalone site with pay models or fully pay gated isn't the worst thing, just cutting out the free stuff completely is stupid
They can't create enough diverse interesting content to bring enough people in to justify it. They ain't netflix
Yeah, at the very least they could start an ad free platform for the subscription and have some exclusives and extras like bts well still having most their normal content on youtube. a lot of the patrons would probably automatically sub to that as well so it would still boost income. Then they could grow that platform.
Ahhh, now I see it. They dont want to make money for other companies from their viewers, they want 100% of their subs money and lying about it.
They could break up their long videos into 20-30 min parts, so theyd generate 4-5x more for the same amount of work
These are the people that don't realize that their whole career was propped up by venture capital and that they're lucky to have a career *at all* after it dried up.
Never thought a creator I actually cared about would get this much backlash, let alone the Ghoul Boys.
Glad it was just a misguided business idea and not a genuine crime.
I understand why they took the leap, but at the same time don't let greed be your downfall.
As someone who was introduced to buzzfeed unsolved during covid, I absolutely loved Shane, Ryan, & their videos. Their chemistry is top tier. When buzzfeed unsolved went under, I sadly didn’t keep up with Watcher after that. And it was simply cause other things started catching my eye first.
With all that said, I had no clue who Steven was before all of this. I have no idea if he’s been behind the scenes/friend this whole time, or he came along when watcher started. But his statement alone and the amount of time he spoke on these videos compared to Ryan and Shane, kinda makes it seem like this was all his idea.
"Can we watch Try Guys?" "We have Try Guys at home"
Dang it, I wanted to see the cheating scandal unfold
They JUST posted a video rolling back the announcement and apologized...
Of course they did. Wonder if their audience will trust it
They already showed that they’re greedy people. Just because they now realize that they can’t be as greed as they want to be doesn’t mean they still aren’t greedy
@@Unfortunately_Mickey Seemed pretty genuine to me.
@chikumori5530 genuinely sorry about the response lol
@@TheEpicNewmantrue,heh
LMAOO atozy!! your timing!! 😂😂😂
COULD HAVE BEEN BETTER WOW F IN CHAT
@atozy just make a REAL quick update and you're fine 😂
i think their problem is that they prioritized their employees over the millions of people that watches them, so now they are going to go under and going to keep none of them
It's simple: take a page out of corridor's book. Put your really high budget stuff on the website and start some exclusive web-series and move one or two really popular series over to the website, and have some other stuff like shenanigans, behind the scenes, clips, etc and advertise the more exclusive stuff through TH-cam. By doing it like Watcher did, you're basically cutting the head of your business. Doing it like corridor means fans can still enjoy some free content, and also bring people to the website. And since you're still posting to youtube, you can ensure new fans can come to your website and possibly sign up.
Rhett and link made good mythical evening for this purpose. So they could do all the fun wacky uncensored adult things, cursing, drinking, sexual topics etc. and sold tickets to watch it. Does everyone want to pay for it, no. But is the content elevated enough from their free daily content for that to be worth it to some people and make them curious for a one time ticket? Yes. But there's no way I'd pay extra for the same content I've been getting for free this whole time. Watcher has lost 90K subs over this already.
I'm so happy that you covered this because I tried watching other videos on this and they can't keep my attention like you can 😂
I'm so happy that you covered this because I tried watching other videos on this and they can't keep my attention like you can 😂
One youtuber showed what Watcher makes, they make around $520K a year on TH-cam, then, they have around 2,901 Patreons, even if the Patrons are only paying $5 each, that's around $63,000. What watcher is failing to see here is, that TH-cam is providing Watcher with the Bandwidth and the Streaming FOR FREE, and once Watcher starts it's own Streaming Service, the Bandwidth and Streaming is going to be coming out of THEIR pockets. An expensive they currently don't have while they're on TH-cam. They're also giving up ALL of their Ad Revenue as well.
They are going to Hemorrhage money.
It's not that hard to host videos if it's your own content now days. Especially a subscription platform where every viewer is paying.
@@sacb0y Bandwidth costs money
Don’t forget that the cut TH-cam takes isn’t 100% profit for YT. Running and maintaining a video streaming website costs money