adding to your original point, not only did mr beast not take money away from his viewers, he even actively give back to his community so much more!!! the sheer difference here is not even funny
Ironically it was their "low budget" stuff that made them famous. On BuzzFeed unsolved they literally sat in front of a camera and talked. On the haunted stuff, they strapped on cameras n filmed. Yeah I'm sure it cost to do that but not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My mind was blown when they said they had a staff of 25 AND hired freelancers to go onsite with them to locations for ghost files. Then you got Stevens RIDICULOUS dish granted costs?? No wonder they are bleeding money. Honestly when they put out dish granted I said to myself “how are they affording this? What a waste of money. I have no desire to watch entitled or self entitled people eat excessively expensive food”. It was such a wasteful show. But hey. Steven owns a Tesla so he’s pro environment right? 🙄
this is how liberals function. seriously. they do it with our govt too. this EXACT THING. they reap the benefits of their poor choices so you can watch them be extravagant and when shtf, ask for more money and promise it will benefit us. then they pump millions into the education systen and then half of baltimore school kids cant even pass a math test with proficiency(look it up 2023).
@@TuffunikornDont forget the Hollywood studio. I'm sure the rent there is outrageous. Necessary to create the content they do? Probably not, but they clearly want to maintain that Hollywood lifestyle.
My only question when I watched their latest video is, "Does Steven think we tune in to Watcher channel to watch him?". Pretty sure 99% of em are there for Shane and Ryan.
@@Sparkofhope621 They're actually really cool people and their content hard carried buzzfeed. If you're cool with some spooks, I recommened checking out the buzzfeed unsolved series, especially the supernatural ones. Sadly, I think they overestimated how much youtube people are willing to give in order to watch their content.
I am or well was a watcher fan. One of the most infuriating things is that Steven, their CEO, owns a Tesla. And not only that, he made a post that was SO snarky to the point where he says “For those who want to keep watching us” And then a link to the website. You cannot force a paywall for previously free content during a global financial crisis and then unironically say that shit without being completely delusional.
I don't think there's a global financial crisis. I mean, I get what you're saying but prices went up after COVID and just didn't come down. It's not like there are no jobs out there. Again, not saying any of this to take anything away from the comment.
@@calliew311any financial analysis you ask would say were in a global financial crisis basically every developed countries birth rates are dropping rapidly while living cost rises even faster
@@calliew311 I think you aren't paying attention. Inflation rate in the US was 1.4% at the end of 2020. It is about triple that right now and it is well after C-19. That is the rate that costs are increasing and wages are not keeping up. Interest rates were raised, so borrowing money is more expensive, which means everything is more expensive. The jobs available are hard to get unless you have experience. Just ask any average kid trying to get a summer job. It's a crisis. Don't believe it isn't just because some talking head says so. Do research.
For me, the worst part is there was no warning. I did not see this coming AT ALL. It’s like we were just having a nice, peaceful conversation and they randomly punched me in the face a few times and were like “we are cool right?”
Exactly- I was so excited for the next seasons of puppet history, ghost files, etc. Just to see a goodbye video where they are basically flushing their brand down the drain
I don’t agree with that analogy. It would be more like you’re having a conversation and then they just stop talking and walk away. It might be annoying, but they’re not victimizing you. They are not obligated to keep talking to you. If I’m being totally honest, I think Pegasus is blowing this a little bit out of proportion. They can do what they want with their content. Nobody is entitled to get their stuff for free.
Did you notice they collected stories and submissions for Ghost Files and their story reading shows from viewers a month ago and now all that fan provided content is going to be paywalled? 😂 wtaf
"Are you scared" is actually the only watcher videos I watch and it's absolutely my favorite youtube series. I wish they made more. I really like the sketches to add to the visual experience but I'd still enjoy it if they didnt have them to save money. It bothered me a lot that the sold out the series to sponsors whose stories felt so poorly written like they scribbled it down in 5 mins and then basically didn't make any more after. I'd be more upset about them doing this but I'd only miss "are you scared" and they dont really make those videos very much anyway since they made those sponsored videos. Dont get me wrong though I'm not against sponsors, I just wish the stories were written better for them. Sorry for long rant I just figured this was the place to do it. I'd love to hear other opinions on are you scared.
They could've instead hired someone to budget for them and maybe let go of a few employees. They DONT NEED 25 EMPLOYEES. Downsize the office. And manage things better. But instead asked us to make up for their bad financial choices.
Another youtuber suggested in her video that Watcher should shelf shows that aren't as popular, like Steven Lim's 'Dish Granted' and focus on their more popular shows like 'Puppet History' and 'Ghost Files'. I agree. Dish Granted was crazy expensive for the cost of ingredients alone.
Yeah. I don’t know much about content creation, but 25 employees seems a lot for the stuff they’re currently doing. It’s like they’ve gone ‘Hollywood’ focusing on production quality over budgeting.
I’m sad! They have paid sponsors, 12k Paterons, and 1-2million views per vid. Ryan and Shane’s content was better on buzzfeed. When they started watcher the shows were the same with high production and I think they spent more on the production quality than content quality. After 2 seasons of Ghost Files…buzzfeed unsolved paranormal is still way better. The same goes with Unsolved vs Mystery Files. Their demographic is either struggling to pay for college, not in college yet, or struggling to pay off college debt. Not to mention the fraction of people who can afford it are starting new family’s while paying off student debt. I’m capped on streaming services and I already drop them and go month to month. There’s no streaming service that we watch everyday except YT.
It seems like these old youtubers not understand their viewers. Perhaps it is best to not have that much production staffs to cut the costs. If they wanna do it, then join netflix. It will be podcast, documentary, or whatever.
@@kculyvreoowo325 If they were like we’re bringing back the old sets and buzzfeed format to save money. Everyone would be like that’s awesome, we love you. We just want to see you guys do you.
Man the like-disilke ratio is 33K - 145K and the top comments are all super negative. How did these guys make it so far with no capacity to understand their audience?
Fucking nothing lol probably They have ofc the main people, cameraman, producers, writers and directors. CEO, investors and what not. But a lot of them were their friends on Buzzfeed or irl Pure nepotism
Also i don’t know why they are acting like they wouldn’t be able to do most of the in studio shoots themselves… the camera is mostly steady and they few times it moves they could do it themselves… they aren’t shooting much themselves, they are not writing the shows themselves, they are not doing the research themselves, etc. Steven does even less in front of the camera than Ryan and Shane,… I don’t know what they are doing 8h a day - probably not much… they don’t put out enough content where they are in front of the camera (in comparison with GMM for example) that they can justify that
So they might get 5-10% of their viewers to follow them onto the website, and there will be no inflow of new viewers because of the paywall. Genius business plan.
even if less than 200,000 ppl go to their website, they would make over a million a month… i can see how it would be lucrative but shitting on 90% of your audience??!? ridiculous
I honestly don't think they will even get 5-10%, I think that is far too generous. Most people are not happy about this decision and I don't think they will support them.
These people had a blessing of having an engaged fanbase with millions of views and subscribers and ruined it all due to greed. They really didnt deserve a loyal fanbase
Gut punch feeling for sure.. I discovered them maybe 2 months ago and have been looking forward to every Friday uploads :l They were really one of my favorite youtubers, what a shame :/
Listen to yourself. let them move on in their career to try and build something new ad bigger. they're greedy? they're trying to be able to afford the high production value. You're greedy for thinking they owe you their career paths just because you've been a fan. yall sound so silly.
The sheer nerve that they have, trying to act like THEY'RE the victims, like someone FORCED them to make this horrible choice lmao. It is un-f**king-believable.
Especially when its not worth it. Its hard to compete with your youtube videos against disney movies. At least netflix has a lot of anime i can watch. But the stuff watcher makes is something i can also find for free on yt or maybe find documentaries on netflix/disney if i already have those. Why pay even more extra
@@dreamlandnightmare personally, ive been watching shane and ryan ever since buzzfeed unsolved, and i just followed both of them onto watcher. right now, i just find it hard to believe that the reason for this stupid decision was mostly just greed or being out of touch. obviously, we don't know these people personally or even the authentic reasons that went in to making this decision, since all of this kind of goes against any judgment we had of them in the past, but i just think there's a lot to unpack there, and there's definitely stuff that we don't know. in the end, it's still a really terrible move on their part BUT i do think they have an option to turn this around (starting by fixing this situation) and trying to actually communicate with the dedicated fanbase they've built over the years. it'd genuinely suck if all of that was just lost because of a stupid paywall they put up
I really liked their BuzzFeed unsolved shows and Ghost files for Watcher but I started to listen to their podcast and realized that the more they revealed about themselves that I don't really like them and they probably would not like me. They are just pompous liberal Hollywood types that I do not appreciate personally 🤷♂️
It sounds a bit like some misappropriation of funds might be going on there if they're struggling so much... they have Patreon, YT ad revenue, a merch store, and every video I've watched I remember them having a sponsor. WTF is going on here? As someone who has managed finances for a few different companies the math ain't mathing here. Whoever is in charge of budgeting and keeping track of expenditure isn't doing a great job. And I think we all have a sneaking suspicion about where all this money is going 👀
It’s 3 things in my opinion. They’re mismanaging their income, they have too many employees, or someone in their circle has convinced them to chase maximum profit.
Best they can do is to follow corridor digital business model. 1. Upload extended versions on their site. 2. Make specific or exclusive content for their website. 3. Don't be this obviously greedy.
They could've done the same thing with pateron. Now they have to pay for the website and uploading their videos which is so expensive. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
@@FukaiKokoro I guess it's because they hired bad management staff. The people they hired for management are not doing their job properly and misguiding them into disaster. Yah corridors crew already well known in industry and also have extra content on their site to back their decision of having a separate site. Even with all this they are not leaving UA-cam because they are aware of its reach.
the crazy part is they did do this, on patreon, and they make fucking bank from it (~$100k or likely more) they just now also want on top of that everyone to pay a subscription fee for their little ass streaming service
Coming from Watcher and can confirm that I followed them from Buzzfeed because I loved their personalities. I don't always care about the content of their videos, but watch them all because their personalities make any topic entertaining for me. Some of my favorite shows from them are just them reading stories or chatting. I really would rather they lower their production costs than put everything behind a paywall. I love them and listen to their videos every day in the background, but I won't be paying for a subscription, as sad as I am that I'll be losing it
The thing is, they have a stupid amount of sponsors to the point that watching their videos has gotten really annoying because of all the ads and constant references to their sponsors. They also have a Patreon they almost never advertise and from reading comments from their patrons, they won't even be offering a free subscription to their streaming service for people supporting them there. This really, really does feel like an attempt to get viewers to just pay for their lavish lifestyles. If you look at their social media accounts, these guys are constantly travelling, constantly on vacation, Steven drives a Tesla and makes content about eating at the most lux places, and we're supposed to gleefully hand them more money. It's sickening.
Guys, come one. They need that $6 so Steven can try expensive food and keep driving his tesla 😮💨 Satire aside, Rather than cut down their budgets, they want us to pay for it. Great. Remind me of the rock and Oprah who asked regular people donate to their charity, even though they are a multi millionaire and a billionaire. I feel like ,they give the same energy
Jokes aside, this was 1000% Steven's idea. He always gave me money hungry vibe. Shane and Ryan probably went along because Steven is literally their boss.
The fact that people are asking for the ghoul boys to take their most viewed series ghost files overseas which would've been a much better idea and a better investment but instead they opt for Stevens travel show where he tries fancy foods around the world where no one ask for lol is already a good representation on why they are fumbling the funds aside from the 25 employees
This will go down as the example when someone complains about a youtube memberships, the UA-camr can clap back with "well im not pulling a watcher now am i "
That and people were not so uptight over what their creators did or said. And the internet wasn't made " kid friendly". I hate how parents ruined everything for the rest of us. They used the internet to babysit their kids and then they get mad at websites that their CHILD found. Everything is corporate as hell now.
@@shannonhill5676 yeah corporate tries to take over anything when they see theres money to be made. then everything that was previously art or entertainment oriented becomes money/profit oriented, which ruins it from the ground up. because from the very beginning stages of creation, decisions are now based on what makes profit, not what is optimal in terms of the best art or entertainment. the same thing happened to the gaming industry; used to have classic after classic and was uncool and niche to be a gamer. games were made from gamers for gamers. there was a golden age around the 2000's and early 2010's. then corporations came in seeing all the popularity and exponential success in things like *Halo* and forever changed gaming. and now its normal and not anyway niche to game or be a 'gamer'. which isnt necessarily the major problem, but games are rarely made from the passion or purpose they once were when gaming was not normal or cool.
@@shannonhill5676That’s a narrow viewpoint, blaming parents! The way we view and consume content would have changed regardless as internet use spread and became all pervasive. It’s part of modern life now from school age. So kids (especially tween age and up) will see stuff whether you like it or not.
as now ex-watcher fan who just was betrayed - you took every single feeling i have and thought and put it into a video. we were SHOCKED how out of touch they are with that video
I'm going through all 5 stages of grief ngl. basically Shane and Ryan made their friend Steven a CEO of Watcher Entertainment, so that he could take care of finances and bureaucracy for them while they were just being silly guys on camera. But seems like Steven's ego can't take that he's a) not rich enough and b) unpopular with the fans. How about instead of begging us for money he sells his Tesla and reinvests the money in the company, huh?
@@Ran_Do it's a combination of several factors. He seems slimy in general, got no real charisma/star power and has ridden on coattails of his BuzzFeed colleagues for a long time. His cooking shows on Watcher always underperformed and eventually got cancelled, and the one show he got off the ground - Dish Granted - he ruined immediately thereafter by making the 2nd season chock full of guest celebrities and edible gold flakes. Makes me really ponder whether he understands humanity or has a soul at all (yes i'm being dramatic, but i'm sooo sick of soulless corpo BS)
I've been a fan of these guys for years, followed them when they made the jump from Buzzfeed to Watcher, and seeing them become a less-successful-but-just-as-bad Buzzfeed is heartbreaking. None of us were asking for Netflix quality production, we just wanted the fun dynamic between the folks, especially Shane and Ryan... That video just made me so sad
They won’t. We’ll be watching “The Downfall of Watcher” here on UA-cam by the end of the year. I truly don’t see how they can ever recover from this. Even if they completely back track this decision, they’ve totally lost the trust of their fanbase.
It's obvious they don't know shit about handling funds and made steven the sole CEO, I've read a comment saying that steven is a son of the president of some big company so ngl my ass would aslo trust a friend who has a connection somehow on the business world with business decision, as I'm just more of a creative and dont want anything to do with boring and difficult business shit. With ryan i think he has this big ambition of delivering high quality content and steven who's already fumbling the funds was like yeah we could do that, and i assume ryan is blinded with his ambition which is too early to happen anyways. What I'm shock is with shane, he's been my favourite out of the ghoul boys cause he won't let ANY BS come through on his pressence, and I'm shocked that he let this happen
@Hobiemyhubby assuming you are correct about Steven being a horrible CEO (probably an accurate assessment), and Ryan being blinded by ambition (we are all guilty of this at times), Shane very well could have been opposed to it, but was outnumbered. Only time will tell
Such a shame. I used to watch them back when they did their Buzzfeed Unsolved series. Then, when they moved to the "Watcher" channel, the quality dropped significantly, and they started doing more cringey videos, so I stopped watching completely. Now having them try to get $6 a month from their viewers is scummy and shows how money-hungry they've become. Good riddance.
I felt the same. I loved their buzzfeed Unsolved, but their Watcher content is just not as fun to watch, and at times cringey. I've stopped watching them after they had the Garrett guy on.
Same! Loved them on Buzzfeed. Could NOT get into their cringe new crap. They are SO LUCKY people still watched their tacky ass ghost files, ect. They didn't know just HOW lucky they are until now. Fools!
God Everytime Steven comes on screen my skin crawls. I can't even describe it. It's like he's an alien wearing people skin or something. I'm glad I'm not alone because I've always felt this way about Steven. And I've seen alot of people making the same comments.
This. Kinda sad that they kept on yapping about tv quality like bro, you're on youtube. You can shoot it in your car and i'd still watch for as long as you're not putting it behind a paywall. I was there for unsolved's ryan and shane. Was there for ghost files. For too many spirits. For puppet history. Tf i dont wanna see more funds siphoned for steven's travel show with andrew LMAO
This video and the intro video on WatcherTV are so focused on his expensive shows that get 1/4 or less of the views that Shane and Ryan’s videos get. And Steven is so stoked that he was able to get the gang back together so they can go globetrotting and eating bougie food on the fans’ dime. No one even wants that content.
As a former watcher fan, it actually means a lot that people who don’t usually watch them are coming in to defend us too 🥺 we can all agree this sucks.
I think its very interesting to see someone talk about this situation who hasnt heard of them before. Fans of Watcher know that Shane and Ryan were a duo and they kinda just... added Steven on. Fans didnt dislike Steven, but no one really cared for the stuff Steven was making on the channel. So its weird that they are making a paywall streaming service for money instead of cutting Steven's crazy expensive content that no cares about. Like Shane and Ryan's stuff I'm sure is costly, but the real cost comes from Tesla-wielding Steven whose videos are about travelling to expensive vacation and cooking thousand dollar meals. If it was about making higher quality production, they couldve cut Stevens shit (that no cares about) and saved like thousands of dollars a month without ruining their reputation.
I NEVER watch Steven stuff. I see Shane and Ryan I click. I feel Steven must have a different type of audience than all of us who came from Buzzfeed unsolved. His content doesn't appeal to me, clearly most of the subscribers agree judging by the views on his videos vs Ryan and Shanes. Real shame, and cringey 🙈 I want to reverse time for them so they can take this back lol.
Spot on with everything you have said. I never understood Steven being slowly added in. I never watch anything he’s in and skip his parts when they have him in videos
Saw the pics Steven was eating cost $135, the only thing I'd be thinking is "it cost 23 peoples monthly subscription for him to eat a pizza". Get rid of the expensive episodes, no one cares about spending money to watch someone eat expensive food no one can afford
I always hate it when people make it so that you have to watch/subscribe to them or pay them to be able to view certain content. It happens on a lot of platforms sadly
Unless you are forced to obviously like if youtube displatformed them. Such as MyHouseisDirty. They been making bank with their website and subscriptions because us fans are happy to do it in that kind of case.
So according to the numbers you mentioned (plus the 50 - 100k / month pateron number i've heard) so Sponsor: 20 - 100k / video Ads: 80 - 100k / month Patreon: 50 - 100k / month Minimum is 150k and upper is 300k!!!! PER MONTH. And if they do sponsor per video that is 20 - 50 times four!!! So more like 230 - 600k per month!!! Their subscription is 6 dollars per month so let's break that down. 150 000 / 6 = 25 000 people 230 000 / 6 = 38 334 people 300 000 / 6 = 50 000 people 600 000 / 6 = 100 000 people. Did they really think 100k people would / will sign up for their service????? Omg the delusion
@@KC-zw4mm ofc there is that, and also if you buy a yearly 60 sub instead!!! this was just a basic one to break it down for myself and everyone :) just to see black on white how many people they are expecting to sub *minimum* to make it break even with the same number as now. they want to make MORE.
Yeah, it's not so crazy to me (unfortunately) that they'd be willing to go this route, as much as it's crazy to me that they thought it would work long term! Because if it's actually about keeping employees, then it's only worth it if it works long term. They would need an incredible number of people to subscribe and stay subscribed. And even if they somehow miraculously got enough of their fans to sign up, I don't think releasing teasers on their UA-cam channel would be enough to prevent it from losing all momentum, ultimately failing to draw in enough new people willing to sign up and replace the people who will inevitably end their subscription at some point. IDK, if I was one of their employees hearing this plan before they went public, I would have felt my job security was about to go down, not up.
btw, creating this netflix kinda looking website must have cost them a huge amount of money and time. looks like they had the budget for that. developing a full on professional website costs so much money. i dont want to sound smart, but i was once in an apprenticeship at a company which was only developing websites and they charged like 50k for a whole big a.. project.
If you read the terms of service when signing up, it actually says their videos are being hosted on Vimeo, so they didn’t even build their own full website that hosts its own videos
loved them ever since they were in buzzfeed, their series is just so phenomenal for the paranormal community, still supported them after they moved out of buzzfeed, their current series and content is pretty decent, and yeah its their chemistry as the hosts that pulled people to them, and yet, here we are now. never knew greed could make people worse.
@@HeliodromusScorpio i knew it makes people worse, its just that i was taken aback that these people particularly became the recipient of greed itself. watching them for years, it feels like they arent the guys that would do such scummy things.
The ONLY way this would ever work is if they created it as a custom Patreon-type website where they offered EXTRA content for the subscription and only charged like $2.99. Got people to sign up, waited for a couple years until they've captured their audience, steadily increase the amount of episodes and series they put on the website and increase the price, then eventually fully transition over. Doing it the way they've done it will almost certainly insure that it dies.
I can almost guarantee that this was all Steven's idea. He's that one piece of puzzle that doesn't seem to belong anywhere. He doesn't fit in with the duo. During Worth It days, the audience adored Andrew and his analogies when describing food, so Steven was trying to copy that style yet failed horribly with his analogy. He's trying to include himself in almost every show in Watcher and I think most people skipped his part of the video. His way of talking is too corporate-y, it's like he's so used to living such lavish and bougie lifestyle, eating caviar on the daily and showing off his tesla that he's become this out of touch he's so insufferable.
Instead of trying to be the bad guys, they wanted to be the good guys and keep all their employees when they should've laid some off. They killed their channel for no reason other than saving the company.
I'd find it really surprising if they couldn't1 afford to pay their 25 employees based off how much it seems they are making. imo they are just using this as an excuse for their attempted cash grab.
That video felt like such a slap in the face, especially knowing that in their personal lives, none of these men are strapped for cash. Even if they try to salvage this, they've exposed their out-of-touch Hollywood-brand greed.
This pained me as a loyal fan since the beginning, I saw them grow and evolve and yet they always kept their silliness and down to earth energy. When this was announced (WITH NO WARNING OR EVEN A HINT) it was the biggest shock of my life. Absolutely all of us were devastated and furious because they had a patreon, they were making money (STEVEN LIM HAS A TESLA) AND THEY WANT MORE? The biggest disappointment was Shane, as he was the one we never expected this to come from. He was the definition of “yeah just pirate anything paid, and steal from the rich”
@@Tigerzeon there was also this one website I went to that designed "trainers" (pretty much a cheat code programs for pc games) called Cheat Happens. They went the same route and put all their game trainers behind pay walls....
The internet was a lot smaller 10 years ago. People are also using ad blockers which means a site can't gain a revenue from that. I'm not defending this idiotic business decision by these guys (it will fail, badly) but too many people seem to think everything should be free even to the point where ads shouldn't exist. When ad blockers are collapsing the income for most sites out there, expect those sites to disappear or put up a paywall. Hosting costs money, bandwidth costs money, writing and producing and photography costs money. People should not starve to entertain you.
I am a fan of Watcher and I am beyond gutted about this. And look, I HAVE $6 a month I could spend but I’m not going to. I’ve primarily watched their content for the past decade on my TV via PlayStation UA-cam app and I just think it’s hilarious that they are so focused on making “TV CALIBER CONTENT” that can no longer be watched on a TV. Why would I pay $6 for something I can no longer watch on TV?
Y do u guys fool urselves into thinking shane and Ryan aren't on board with this they could say no u dont know these guys, u kno the internet personalities, totally different thing they want ur money just like Steven does they aren't your friends
ironically, their content was far more enjoyable while it was more “low budget”. it feels so corporate now, they don’t even have the yellow and blue caption segments anymore.
"Somebody else will come and take their spot, you might grief for a little bit, fact of the matter is - life goes on!" *me still silently 'grieving' about Jenna but also happy at the same time for her*
Multiple youtubers do this and hide videos behind a paywall on Patreon for years. Some will only do it for "early access" to an upload while others will straight up never put the videos out unless you pay for them. It'd be different if these creators didn't have that much money and were truly struggling...but they got money...a lot of it sooooo it's pretty damn greedy.
Imagine looking at ~300k/year from patreon plus whatever UA-cam pays and thinking "we should be our separate streaming service." Plenty of channels offer patreon exclusive videos or early releases but, why would you make your content less accessible to new viewers.
I'm 51, I specifically watch your channel because of your honesty. Keeping an eye on the younger generation. You've got good content and your followers are highly interesting. As Generation X, I'm trying to learn how to bridge the gap so to speak, you guys are teaching me alot that I never had time to learn raising kids.
33 here, I've always been able to understand and have personal experiences with both gen z and Gen x since I am kinda in the middle. I definitely watch this channel to keep current on hot topics.
You're spot on. I watched their Unsolved series a while back and I watched for their personalities. They were simply sat at a desk and as much as high production is good for some projects, if you're interesting then your content will shine. Some people I watch still use webcams lmao 😂
"I learned to be a human on UA-cam" is not only wrong because this decision is so soulless, but should also be a red flag for the kind of person Steven is
I appreciate the fact that you mentioned the way the fans feel in this case, despite not watching the channel yourself. For those who stuck with Ryan and Shane through BFU into Watcher, it’s like we all just entered a bizarro world.
As a fan, or i guess an ex fan now, I can say that everyone of us is very disappointed about this sudden desion to leave UA-cam behind make us pay to watch their content. In my case, i began watching them when they stared the BuzzFeed unsolved series and i loved it! People goofing around in supposed haunted places? It was fun to watch! It felt organic in my opinion, different from other ghost hunting shows where everything is very serious and kinda ridiculous. I can relate to a lot of the commenters saying how they cannot afford this, which is a vast majority of them. I'm a broke university student that isn't in the US so to purchase a subscription would cost more. And the site doesn't even work in my country! So sum all of this up: very disappointed on them. They were doing great numbers on yt, this decision was completely shocking and unpredictable, special coming from someone like Ryan and Shane who had the "Eat the rich" speach before.
8 місяців тому+2
i felt like i lost members of my family (expect for steven lim, that guy is that annoying cousin no one cares about), i'm really sad, but as you said, if someone else appeared with the same content FOR FREE i would forget about watcher right away lol.
@@FukaiKokoro$80 dollars for those hoodies aren’t even worth it for a 3m sub count. It’s just a basic black hoodie with their logo on it. Even Coryxkenshin with 19m subscribers has hoodies under $66 with awesome designs.
Used to enjoy watching these guys, but never mind. I'd rather lose their stuff than pay £6 per month. I can get another entire streaming platform for that price lol. And you're right Pegasus, I did watch them for their chemistry and personalities. I don't care how HD their footage is. I don't care how much editing they do. I care about them making videos fun.
The problem is people making UA-cam their job. Once UA-cam enabled monetization and ads, that was the beginning of the end. I miss the old UA-cam, and the old internet as a whole.
@@buhle7651 I mean ... I understand greed is bad, but I believe there is a big jump between greed and wanting your passion to be your job. It seems that a passion should not be paid based on these comments ?
Eh, I don't know about that. Og youtubers who did yt as a job made pretty good content. Content they couldn't have made if they only did it at their free time. Besides, wanting to have what you enjoy most as a job, well, you'd do it too.
Everything having to be a monthly subscription now is getting increasingly frustrating. Streaming services have every company and small business gassed up now.
They seem delusional... their obsession with tv and comparing themselves to netflix produced shows. They make shitty shows with decent production quality...
I have been watching their content since they started. So it breaks my heart that they are doing this. I grew up poor and in a broken family, and their content helped me through it, I AM STILL IN THIS SITUATION, the fact they are now putting a PAY WALL up now after releasing disingenuous content for the last year (As in I've been feeling the happy, joking with and having fun friends vibe dissipate for the last year or two)
I 100% agree on your take as someone who watches watcher and buzzfeed unsolved/supernatural RELIGIOUSLY. I love shane and ryan but aint no way am I paying a monthly fee for ocasional uploads
They could've easily made exclusive content on that service and kept their YT content free. AVGN quotes coming clutch as always: "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"
I was a loyal fan of watcher...until now. I unsubscribed from them and subscribed to you because you managed to PERFECTLY encapsulate my feelings on this atrocious business decision.
I can see their point, it's only six bucks a month most of us spend more than that without realizing it. The problem is EVERYTHING is subscription based now. So people really have to decide what they wanna pay for.
The other thing is ....that's an American $6........in places like Australia that's closer to $10.......and in other countries, that's more like $100. But even if you could afford it, you are paying Netflix/Hulu money for 1 UA-cam channel......that's like saying "well you can afford $100 for shoes, so why can't you afford a $100 coffee?"......it's not the same value
Sad Watcher fan here, I was with them at BF and followed them to their new channel to support them. This is how they’ve repaid all of us. Since I just unsubscribed to them though, I’ll subscribe to you now
UPDATE: they released an apology video - ua-cam.com/video/3iFYULNTznI/v-deo.html
AHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA NAH MAN NO WAYYYYY
god that is so awkward, i don't know if i can watch that
adding to your original point, not only did mr beast not take money away from his viewers, he even actively give back to his community so much more!!! the sheer difference here is not even funny
I watched this. Hilarious.
Apology video is so cringe and funny
Lmao
Ironically it was their "low budget" stuff that made them famous. On BuzzFeed unsolved they literally sat in front of a camera and talked. On the haunted stuff, they strapped on cameras n filmed. Yeah I'm sure it cost to do that but not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
My mind was blown when they said they had a staff of 25 AND hired freelancers to go onsite with them to locations for ghost files. Then you got Stevens RIDICULOUS dish granted costs?? No wonder they are bleeding money. Honestly when they put out dish granted I said to myself “how are they affording this? What a waste of money. I have no desire to watch entitled or self entitled people eat excessively expensive food”. It was such a wasteful show. But hey. Steven owns a Tesla so he’s pro environment right? 🙄
this is how liberals function. seriously. they do it with our govt too. this EXACT THING. they reap the benefits of their poor choices so you can watch them be extravagant and when shtf, ask for more money and promise it will benefit us. then they pump millions into the education systen and then half of baltimore school kids cant even pass a math test with proficiency(look it up 2023).
@@TuffunikornDont forget the Hollywood studio. I'm sure the rent there is outrageous. Necessary to create the content they do? Probably not, but they clearly want to maintain that Hollywood lifestyle.
That was literally the golden age.
@@kevink1575100% what's going on. They want to get into the big Hollywood life.
My only question when I watched their latest video is, "Does Steven think we tune in to Watcher channel to watch him?". Pretty sure 99% of em are there for Shane and Ryan.
The view counts on his videos should be enough of an answer.
Steven’s ego is unhinged and out of control.
%99.9
Glad I'm not the only one. When I see they switch series and it's Steven, I know I'm not watching Watcher for a few weeks 😂
@@claw9160 this is so real,
Don't forget their patreon members. They also have to pay for this, along with their membership.
Gonna be real that's the worst part
If I was a patron after hearing that I'd literally leave bc like at that point I'm giving them money for no reason
Damn that’s actually insanely greedy. They don’t deserve another dime. I’ve never even heard of these buzzfeed dorks.
O yeah he’s the guy from 50 dollar pizza to 5000 pizza wear that white guy that use to follow him?
That part is just shitty 😢
@@Sparkofhope621 They're actually really cool people and their content hard carried buzzfeed. If you're cool with some spooks, I recommened checking out the buzzfeed unsolved series, especially the supernatural ones. Sadly, I think they overestimated how much youtube people are willing to give in order to watch their content.
I am or well was a watcher fan. One of the most infuriating things is that Steven, their CEO, owns a Tesla. And not only that, he made a post that was SO snarky to the point where he says “For those who want to keep watching us” And then a link to the website. You cannot force a paywall for previously free content during a global financial crisis and then unironically say that shit without being completely delusional.
And the way he said “everyone can afford it”. Disgustingly out of touch.
Yeah... First podcast got nice edit when he said "I have lots of racist and homophobic friends".... That was my last straw with his rich scuzzy ass
I don't think there's a global financial crisis. I mean, I get what you're saying but prices went up after COVID and just didn't come down. It's not like there are no jobs out there. Again, not saying any of this to take anything away from the comment.
@@calliew311any financial analysis you ask would say were in a global financial crisis basically every developed countries birth rates are dropping rapidly while living cost rises even faster
@@calliew311 I think you aren't paying attention.
Inflation rate in the US was 1.4% at the end of 2020. It is about triple that right now and it is well after C-19.
That is the rate that costs are increasing and wages are not keeping up.
Interest rates were raised, so borrowing money is more expensive, which means everything is more expensive.
The jobs available are hard to get unless you have experience. Just ask any average kid trying to get a summer job.
It's a crisis. Don't believe it isn't just because some talking head says so. Do research.
For me, the worst part is there was no warning. I did not see this coming AT ALL. It’s like we were just having a nice, peaceful conversation and they randomly punched me in the face a few times and were like “we are cool right?”
Thinking back, when they switched to the "watcher" channel, that was kinda a gateway to what has happened
Exactly- I was so excited for the next seasons of puppet history, ghost files, etc. Just to see a goodbye video where they are basically flushing their brand down the drain
Even worse, they had a countdown to a big announcement and this was it.
I don’t agree with that analogy. It would be more like you’re having a conversation and then they just stop talking and walk away. It might be annoying, but they’re not victimizing you. They are not obligated to keep talking to you. If I’m being totally honest, I think Pegasus is blowing this a little bit out of proportion. They can do what they want with their content. Nobody is entitled to get their stuff for free.
@jaredurbain9705 I noticed that, a distinct media brand from day 1, they were always planning for this moment
My favourite one of their shows was “are you scared” which is literally just them sitting opposite each other telling stories…
same tho fr
Did you notice they collected stories and submissions for Ghost Files and their story reading shows from viewers a month ago and now all that fan provided content is going to be paywalled? 😂 wtaf
@@Eliz-nq6ry OH MY GOD YOURE RIGHT
TBH a lot of their content is that. top 5 beatdown. too many spirits. mystery files.....there are some added graphics and effects.
"Are you scared" is actually the only watcher videos I watch and it's absolutely my favorite youtube series. I wish they made more. I really like the sketches to add to the visual experience but I'd still enjoy it if they didnt have them to save money. It bothered me a lot that the sold out the series to sponsors whose stories felt so poorly written like they scribbled it down in 5 mins and then basically didn't make any more after. I'd be more upset about them doing this but I'd only miss "are you scared" and they dont really make those videos very much anyway since they made those sponsored videos. Dont get me wrong though I'm not against sponsors, I just wish the stories were written better for them.
Sorry for long rant I just figured this was the place to do it. I'd love to hear other opinions on are you scared.
They could've instead hired someone to budget for them and maybe let go of a few employees. They DONT NEED 25 EMPLOYEES. Downsize the office. And manage things better. But instead asked us to make up for their bad financial choices.
Another youtuber suggested in her video that Watcher should shelf shows that aren't as popular, like Steven Lim's 'Dish Granted' and focus on their more popular shows like 'Puppet History' and 'Ghost Files'. I agree. Dish Granted was crazy expensive for the cost of ingredients alone.
Yeah. I don’t know much about content creation, but 25 employees seems a lot for the stuff they’re currently doing. It’s like they’ve gone ‘Hollywood’ focusing on production quality over budgeting.
25 employees does seem like a lot....but putting those people out of a job???
Steven needs to go. He's a PR disaster. He's doubling down on X and blaming the fans.
The first 2 seconds shows the view of the Hollywood sign from their office window. And yet there was no other way they could recoup costs
I’m sad! They have paid sponsors, 12k Paterons, and 1-2million views per vid. Ryan and Shane’s content was better on buzzfeed. When they started watcher the shows were the same with high production and I think they spent more on the production quality than content quality. After 2 seasons of Ghost Files…buzzfeed unsolved paranormal is still way better. The same goes with Unsolved vs Mystery Files. Their demographic is either struggling to pay for college, not in college yet, or struggling to pay off college debt. Not to mention the fraction of people who can afford it are starting new family’s while paying off student debt. I’m capped on streaming services and I already drop them and go month to month. There’s no streaming service that we watch everyday except YT.
All of that plus merch too.
It seems like these old youtubers not understand their viewers. Perhaps it is best to not have that much production staffs to cut the costs. If they wanna do it, then join netflix. It will be podcast, documentary, or whatever.
So true the buzzfeet videos were the golden age
@@kculyvreoowo325 If they were like we’re bringing back the old sets and buzzfeed format to save money. Everyone would be like that’s awesome, we love you. We just want to see you guys do you.
I can afford it but I won’t be. I just think it’s not good enough value for the number of shows you’d get a month - they only put out one show a week.
Man the like-disilke ratio is 33K - 145K and the top comments are all super negative. How did these guys make it so far with no capacity to understand their audience?
Greed/ego is a hell of a drug.
Honestly it's so out of left field, Shane and Ryan were so not like this when I first saw them 😢
@@rachelgordon5491ngl I feel like Steven ruined them
Can you tell me how you're seeing the dislikes? I can't seem to see them on any video.
@@onceyouwheeinyoucantwheeout so many hold this opinion and I don't disagree at all. He just seems so slimy.
Bro I’m not even willing to pay a buck for useful iCloud storage 💀
I feel this so bad 😂
Same😂
"I learned how to be a human on youtube" 😶...
Must be watching mark Zuckerberg
What a joke
Steven Lim is definitely an alien wearing human skin. He always gave me the creepy crawls. I can't describe it.
so pretentious its actually hard to watch
Yeah and not a very good one. Certainly not one that's good at business
i hear people saying they have 25+ employees and honestly.... what the actual fuck are 20+ of them doing?
At least one of them has to organize the sugar packets in the break room lol
I’m guessing it’s mostly for research. I feel like it would be more cost saving to just get freelancers for when they make ghost files
Fucking nothing lol probably
They have ofc the main people, cameraman, producers, writers and directors. CEO, investors and what not.
But a lot of them were their friends on Buzzfeed or irl
Pure nepotism
Also i don’t know why they are acting like they wouldn’t be able to do most of the in studio shoots themselves… the camera is mostly steady and they few times it moves they could do it themselves… they aren’t shooting much themselves, they are not writing the shows themselves, they are not doing the research themselves, etc. Steven does even less in front of the camera than Ryan and Shane,… I don’t know what they are doing 8h a day - probably not much… they don’t put out enough content where they are in front of the camera (in comparison with GMM for example) that they can justify that
Researchers, script writers, an entire film crew, editors, costume ppl, media person (including someone sorting through the stuff they get send)...
So they might get 5-10% of their viewers to follow them onto the website, and there will be no inflow of new viewers because of the paywall. Genius business plan.
Plus you have to factor in the costs of the website and the cost of uploading the videos which can be crazy expensive.
even if less than 200,000 ppl go to their website, they would make over a million a month… i can see how it would be lucrative but shitting on 90% of your audience??!? ridiculous
I honestly don't think they will even get 5-10%, I think that is far too generous. Most people are not happy about this decision and I don't think they will support them.
@@ChelsBreezefrom the comments on the video most people can’t afford it and even those who can aren’t going to.
they'll get less than 1% and will lose all of them within the first year bc they don't make enough content
Hope their employees are reading the comments on their announcement and realize they need to be putting out resumes.
These people had a blessing of having an engaged fanbase with millions of views and subscribers and ruined it all due to greed. They really didnt deserve a loyal fanbase
I still can't fucking believe it happened
Today I woke up and thought it was a fever dream,cause I've been sick for a couple of days. But it's not🤡
@@4kach24ugh exactly I feel sick it feels like a joke really didn't expect this from them
Gut punch feeling for sure.. I discovered them maybe 2 months ago and have been looking forward to every Friday uploads :l They were really one of my favorite youtubers, what a shame :/
Spot on!
Listen to yourself. let them move on in their career to try and build something new ad bigger. they're greedy? they're trying to be able to afford the high production value. You're greedy for thinking they owe you their career paths just because you've been a fan. yall sound so silly.
I don't understand why they have 25+ people on their staff and put out so little content. Including themselves, they need like 6-8 people max!
ngl youtubers be dumb sometimes
how do they expect to get new viewership this way? Actually braindead decision making ngl.
This reminds me of the fine brothers situation
They don't need new people, that the point of them moving to subscription @@dylanolson6077
@dylanolson6077 people subscribe to them on patrion probably already.
@@dylanolson6077if you’re broke just say that
The sheer nerve that they have, trying to act like THEY'RE the victims, like someone FORCED them to make this horrible choice lmao.
It is un-f**king-believable.
dramatic 🤣
In an entertainment industry where we have far too many subscription services, maybe don't start a subscription service.
What a hot take! Jajaja
Especially when its not worth it. Its hard to compete with your youtube videos against disney movies. At least netflix has a lot of anime i can watch. But the stuff watcher makes is something i can also find for free on yt or maybe find documentaries on netflix/disney if i already have those. Why pay even more extra
Didn't know Ryan and Shane would do something like this. I thought they were some of the good guys, man.
genuinely hope they change their minds or something because i really enjoy watching them.
@@recreatio But can you really continue to enjoy watching them after they've revealed themselves to be greedy and out of touch?
@@dreamlandnightmare personally, ive been watching shane and ryan ever since buzzfeed unsolved, and i just followed both of them onto watcher. right now, i just find it hard to believe that the reason for this stupid decision was mostly just greed or being out of touch. obviously, we don't know these people personally or even the authentic reasons that went in to making this decision, since all of this kind of goes against any judgment we had of them in the past, but i just think there's a lot to unpack there, and there's definitely stuff that we don't know.
in the end, it's still a really terrible move on their part BUT i do think they have an option to turn this around (starting by fixing this situation) and trying to actually communicate with the dedicated fanbase they've built over the years. it'd genuinely suck if all of that was just lost because of a stupid paywall they put up
I really liked their BuzzFeed unsolved shows and Ghost files for Watcher but I started to listen to their podcast and realized that the more they revealed about themselves that I don't really like them and they probably would not like me. They are just pompous liberal Hollywood types that I do not appreciate personally 🤷♂️
Power and greed always corrupts.. lol I mean just take a look at the US Republican Party 😅
It sounds a bit like some misappropriation of funds might be going on there if they're struggling so much... they have Patreon, YT ad revenue, a merch store, and every video I've watched I remember them having a sponsor. WTF is going on here? As someone who has managed finances for a few different companies the math ain't mathing here. Whoever is in charge of budgeting and keeping track of expenditure isn't doing a great job. And I think we all have a sneaking suspicion about where all this money is going 👀
It’s 3 things in my opinion. They’re mismanaging their income, they have too many employees, or someone in their circle has convinced them to chase maximum profit.
@@Ixteeler probably steven lmao
the funds go into steven's tesla
@@emilia4_a Tesla is nothing compared to the amount of revenue they pull in
@@LinksQuestResearch He ain't stopping at Tesla my guy😬
Thats so brutal.. imagine following these guys for years. One of the biggest f you's towards the fan base ive ever seen. Brutal
Best they can do is to follow corridor digital business model.
1. Upload extended versions on their site.
2. Make specific or exclusive content for their website.
3. Don't be this obviously greedy.
They could've done the same thing with pateron. Now they have to pay for the website and uploading their videos which is so expensive. They are shooting themselves in the foot.
Also they are no where close to the pint of corridor crew. Id agree with you but yeah. Corridor crew is way more stable to make that choice.
@@FukaiKokoro I guess it's because they hired bad management staff. The people they hired for management are not doing their job properly and misguiding them into disaster.
Yah corridors crew already well known in industry and also have extra content on their site to back their decision of having a separate site.
Even with all this they are not leaving UA-cam because they are aware of its reach.
I love corridor digital
the crazy part is they did do this, on patreon, and they make fucking bank from it (~$100k or likely more) they just now also want on top of that everyone to pay a subscription fee for their little ass streaming service
Coming from Watcher and can confirm that I followed them from Buzzfeed because I loved their personalities. I don't always care about the content of their videos, but watch them all because their personalities make any topic entertaining for me. Some of my favorite shows from them are just them reading stories or chatting. I really would rather they lower their production costs than put everything behind a paywall. I love them and listen to their videos every day in the background, but I won't be paying for a subscription, as sad as I am that I'll be losing it
It's a shame because they were genuinely really good youtubers, especially with buzzfeed unsolve and stuff 😞
I really liked them, I thought they were genuine, I really loved the chemistry they had between themselves and the audience. Sad
@@adityagandhi5040 Same
Ikr. They are funny dudes. I used to enjoy good time watching them.
and steven's worth it content too. Sighh
The thing is, they have a stupid amount of sponsors to the point that watching their videos has gotten really annoying because of all the ads and constant references to their sponsors. They also have a Patreon they almost never advertise and from reading comments from their patrons, they won't even be offering a free subscription to their streaming service for people supporting them there. This really, really does feel like an attempt to get viewers to just pay for their lavish lifestyles. If you look at their social media accounts, these guys are constantly travelling, constantly on vacation, Steven drives a Tesla and makes content about eating at the most lux places, and we're supposed to gleefully hand them more money. It's sickening.
Guys, come one. They need that $6 so Steven can try expensive food and keep driving his tesla 😮💨
Satire aside, Rather than cut down their budgets, they want us to pay for it. Great. Remind me of the rock and Oprah who asked regular people donate to their charity, even though they are a multi millionaire and a billionaire. I feel like ,they give the same energy
Jokes aside, this was 1000% Steven's idea. He always gave me money hungry vibe. Shane and Ryan probably went along because Steven is literally their boss.
@@El_Nightmare agree. I heard that he is CEO
The fact that people are asking for the ghoul boys to take their most viewed series ghost files overseas which would've been a much better idea and a better investment but instead they opt for Stevens travel show where he tries fancy foods around the world where no one ask for lol is already a good representation on why they are fumbling the funds aside from the 25 employees
@@japanesesnackIf that's the case, I hope they'll have an intervention before it turns into a David Dobrik situation.
He said on the podcast he wants ANOTHER tesla
3 months from now a new video from them comes out on UA-cam: “We’re Coming Back!”
*10 Views*
Mr Beast's next mission should be to help these guys manage their finances .
I can see it now, “Today I’ll be doing my biggest challenge yet! Being the accountant for these guys for the next 100 days without going bankrupt!”
Nah, Mr. Beast helps people in need, not people in greed
Jimmy helps people that need help
@@Lawlz4Dayzz nicely worded !
@@eglantinepapeau1582 thx
This will go down as the example when someone complains about a youtube memberships, the UA-camr can clap back with "well im not pulling a watcher now am i "
This is why I'll always prefer the 2009-2014 era of UA-cam. Creators back then simply made videos for fun.
That and people were not so uptight over what their creators did or said. And the internet wasn't made " kid friendly". I hate how parents ruined everything for the rest of us. They used the internet to babysit their kids and then they get mad at websites that their CHILD found. Everything is corporate as hell now.
@@shannonhill5676 yeah corporate tries to take over anything when they see theres money to be made. then everything that was previously art or entertainment oriented becomes money/profit oriented, which ruins it from the ground up. because from the very beginning stages of creation, decisions are now based on what makes profit, not what is optimal in terms of the best art or entertainment.
the same thing happened to the gaming industry; used to have classic after classic and was uncool and niche to be a gamer. games were made from gamers for gamers. there was a golden age around the 2000's and early 2010's. then corporations came in seeing all the popularity and exponential success in things like *Halo* and forever changed gaming. and now its normal and not anyway niche to game or be a 'gamer'. which isnt necessarily the major problem, but games are rarely made from the passion or purpose they once were when gaming was not normal or cool.
@@shannonhill5676That’s a narrow viewpoint, blaming parents! The way we view and consume content would have changed regardless as internet use spread and became all pervasive. It’s part of modern life now from school age. So kids (especially tween age and up) will see stuff whether you like it or not.
I miss all the great video game channels from back then, now if someone's making gaming content they almost guaranteed are doing it for money
as now ex-watcher fan who just was betrayed - you took every single feeling i have and thought and put it into a video. we were SHOCKED how out of touch they are with that video
I'm going through all 5 stages of grief ngl. basically Shane and Ryan made their friend Steven a CEO of Watcher Entertainment, so that he could take care of finances and bureaucracy for them while they were just being silly guys on camera. But seems like Steven's ego can't take that he's a) not rich enough and b) unpopular with the fans. How about instead of begging us for money he sells his Tesla and reinvests the money in the company, huh?
I’m out of the loop on this one, but what makes Steven unpopular with fans compared to the other two?
@@Ran_Do it's a combination of several factors. He seems slimy in general, got no real charisma/star power and has ridden on coattails of his BuzzFeed colleagues for a long time. His cooking shows on Watcher always underperformed and eventually got cancelled, and the one show he got off the ground - Dish Granted - he ruined immediately thereafter by making the 2nd season chock full of guest celebrities and edible gold flakes. Makes me really ponder whether he understands humanity or has a soul at all (yes i'm being dramatic, but i'm sooo sick of soulless corpo BS)
@@MellyWilliamscouldn't agree more, i bet this whole idea is his dumb idea too 💀
Steven is the white guy on the right yes?
@@djert24no steven is the asian guy on the far left
I've been a fan of these guys for years, followed them when they made the jump from Buzzfeed to Watcher, and seeing them become a less-successful-but-just-as-bad Buzzfeed is heartbreaking. None of us were asking for Netflix quality production, we just wanted the fun dynamic between the folks, especially Shane and Ryan... That video just made me so sad
Another thing, if they leave UA-cam, how are they going to find new people to replace others who will inevitably drop out?
Especially since before everyone got mad at them, they were planning on deleting everything from their UA-cam channel
They won’t. We’ll be watching “The Downfall of Watcher” here on UA-cam by the end of the year. I truly don’t see how they can ever recover from this. Even if they completely back track this decision, they’ve totally lost the trust of their fanbase.
25 employees and not a single accountant or bookkeeper in sight
Ngl i was really disappointed that shane and ryan listened to steven lim's BS lmao
It's obvious they don't know shit about handling funds and made steven the sole CEO, I've read a comment saying that steven is a son of the president of some big company so ngl my ass would aslo trust a friend who has a connection somehow on the business world with business decision, as I'm just more of a creative and dont want anything to do with boring and difficult business shit. With ryan i think he has this big ambition of delivering high quality content and steven who's already fumbling the funds was like yeah we could do that, and i assume ryan is blinded with his ambition which is too early to happen anyways. What I'm shock is with shane, he's been my favourite out of the ghoul boys cause he won't let ANY BS come through on his pressence, and I'm shocked that he let this happen
@Hobiemyhubby assuming you are correct about Steven being a horrible CEO (probably an accurate assessment), and Ryan being blinded by ambition (we are all guilty of this at times), Shane very well could have been opposed to it, but was outnumbered. Only time will tell
I know it's Steven
@@KVGKQuakeomg I hope this is true I’m going through grief I have been following these people for damn near a decade man 😢😅
Such a shame. I used to watch them back when they did their Buzzfeed Unsolved series. Then, when they moved to the "Watcher" channel, the quality dropped significantly, and they started doing more cringey videos, so I stopped watching completely. Now having them try to get $6 a month from their viewers is scummy and shows how money-hungry they've become. Good riddance.
I felt the same. I loved their buzzfeed Unsolved, but their Watcher content is just not as fun to watch, and at times cringey. I've stopped watching them after they had the Garrett guy on.
@@nutsonice8923hey Garret is a sweet funny guy
Same! Loved them on Buzzfeed. Could NOT get into their cringe new crap. They are SO LUCKY people still watched their tacky ass ghost files, ect. They didn't know just HOW lucky they are until now. Fools!
@@nutsonice8923 oh my god, he is the most annoying person on the entire planet, i am convinced of that
@@tinand69420 lol yeah I get that. I mean he could be a nice guy irl..but for me his whole "golden retriever" energy on cam is sooo unbearable
God Everytime Steven comes on screen my skin crawls. I can't even describe it. It's like he's an alien wearing people skin or something. I'm glad I'm not alone because I've always felt this way about Steven. And I've seen alot of people making the same comments.
This. Kinda sad that they kept on yapping about tv quality like bro, you're on youtube. You can shoot it in your car and i'd still watch for as long as you're not putting it behind a paywall. I was there for unsolved's ryan and shane. Was there for ghost files. For too many spirits. For puppet history. Tf i dont wanna see more funds siphoned for steven's travel show with andrew LMAO
You are so not alone on feeling that way. He’s a wannabe corporate tech bro and is just pure bad vibes whenever he comes on screen.
@@dw13645yeah,his vibes are off
But guys chose to do business with him, it also rubs me the wrong way
Steven comes off as some disconnected rich kid. I have a feeling it’s his idea.
This video and the intro video on WatcherTV are so focused on his expensive shows that get 1/4 or less of the views that Shane and Ryan’s videos get. And Steven is so stoked that he was able to get the gang back together so they can go globetrotting and eating bougie food on the fans’ dime. No one even wants that content.
$5 a month subscription?!? Dude Netflix is like $10! Delusional! See em in a year or two after this fails.
6 dollars actually
You guys are still paying for Netflop?
Took them one week but yea
Love that the entire comment section is unified in shutting them down.
We all already get so many subscriptions. Not gonna add another one.
As a former watcher fan, it actually means a lot that people who don’t usually watch them are coming in to defend us too 🥺 we can all agree this sucks.
"I learned how to be a human on UA-cam". That's the same thing my A.I. chatbot said to me.
I think its very interesting to see someone talk about this situation who hasnt heard of them before.
Fans of Watcher know that Shane and Ryan were a duo and they kinda just... added Steven on. Fans didnt dislike Steven, but no one really cared for the stuff Steven was making on the channel. So its weird that they are making a paywall streaming service for money instead of cutting Steven's crazy expensive content that no cares about. Like Shane and Ryan's stuff I'm sure is costly, but the real cost comes from Tesla-wielding Steven whose videos are about travelling to expensive vacation and cooking thousand dollar meals. If it was about making higher quality production, they couldve cut Stevens shit (that no cares about) and saved like thousands of dollars a month without ruining their reputation.
I NEVER watch Steven stuff.
I see Shane and Ryan I click. I feel Steven must have a different type of audience than all of us who came from Buzzfeed unsolved. His content doesn't appeal to me, clearly most of the subscribers agree judging by the views on his videos vs Ryan and Shanes.
Real shame, and cringey 🙈 I want to reverse time for them so they can take this back lol.
Spot on with everything you have said. I never understood Steven being slowly added in. I never watch anything he’s in and skip his parts when they have him in videos
@@BelladonnakittyNever understood??? He's the CEO and has an ego that needs to be fed.
@@Belladonnakitty omg yes and what i get even less was making him the ceo like what was the thought process lol
I watched Worth It before just for fun, and I liked it. But honestly, I was watching it more for Andrew and Adam 😬
Saw the pics Steven was eating cost $135, the only thing I'd be thinking is "it cost 23 peoples monthly subscription for him to eat a pizza". Get rid of the expensive episodes, no one cares about spending money to watch someone eat expensive food no one can afford
I always hate it when people make it so that you have to watch/subscribe to them or pay them to be able to view certain content. It happens on a lot of platforms sadly
Sail the seas!
@sideplus 😂
Rooster Teeth did it before they completely died.
But they had been dying for years.
the only channel Id exempt this for is Lemmino, that guy makes some really nice documentaries that I think is worth paying for
no one owes you free high production content.
It's one thing to be greedy and be open about it, its a whole different level of low to use the guise of "we care about you" to do it...
i've never even heard of these guys lmao, and the idea of membership and paywalls is the best way to end your career immediately 💀
Unless you are forced to obviously like if youtube displatformed them. Such as MyHouseisDirty. They been making bank with their website and subscriptions because us fans are happy to do it in that kind of case.
I watch some yt for 7 years if have to pay so i can watch i will stop i could care less aint gona pay nothing
@@Samanta-van-laar lol I can’t say the same because I pay for premium every month even when they up the price😭 I just can’t go back to adds.
I didn't even know about them too lol
There countless other content out there. You will be alright
Pay me or F-off!! That's basically what they're saying, I Fked off when they announced this greedy business model!
Damn, I love them, especially Shane and Ryan's interactions, but I can't afford their subscription price. 😢
right, i’ve watched them for years but bro thats crazy
@@kween4u268its almost heartbreaking seeing them do this.
Just do what I do, get a few friends to throw in a buck and then download everything from the site and share it with everyone else!
🏴☠🏴☠🏴☠ it is
@@bear0629.YES FINALLY SOMEONE USES THE FLAG TOO 🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️🏴☠️
So according to the numbers you mentioned (plus the 50 - 100k / month pateron number i've heard) so
Sponsor: 20 - 100k / video
Ads: 80 - 100k / month
Patreon: 50 - 100k / month
Minimum is 150k and upper is 300k!!!! PER MONTH. And if they do sponsor per video that is 20 - 50 times four!!! So more like 230 - 600k per month!!! Their subscription is 6 dollars per month so let's break that down.
150 000 / 6 = 25 000 people
230 000 / 6 = 38 334 people
300 000 / 6 = 50 000 people
600 000 / 6 = 100 000 people.
Did they really think 100k people would / will sign up for their service????? Omg the delusion
You forget people won't pay every month, they'll just pay once at the end of the season and binge everything. So, it's much worse.
@@KC-zw4mm ofc there is that, and also if you buy a yearly 60 sub instead!!! this was just a basic one to break it down for myself and everyone :) just to see black on white how many people they are expecting to sub *minimum* to make it break even with the same number as now. they want to make MORE.
Yeah, it's not so crazy to me (unfortunately) that they'd be willing to go this route, as much as it's crazy to me that they thought it would work long term! Because if it's actually about keeping employees, then it's only worth it if it works long term.
They would need an incredible number of people to subscribe and stay subscribed.
And even if they somehow miraculously got enough of their fans to sign up, I don't think releasing teasers on their UA-cam channel would be enough to prevent it from losing all momentum, ultimately failing to draw in enough new people willing to sign up and replace the people who will inevitably end their subscription at some point.
IDK, if I was one of their employees hearing this plan before they went public, I would have felt my job security was about to go down, not up.
btw, creating this netflix kinda looking website must have cost them a huge amount of money and time. looks like they had the budget for that.
developing a full on professional website costs so much money. i dont want to sound smart, but i was once in an apprenticeship at a company which was only developing websites and they charged like 50k for a whole big a.. project.
If you read the terms of service when signing up, it actually says their videos are being hosted on Vimeo, so they didn’t even build their own full website that hosts its own videos
Wow…I’m removing all patron support. I really wanted them to succeed on here. It was definitely possible. They had a MASSIVE following.
loved them ever since they were in buzzfeed, their series is just so phenomenal for the paranormal community, still supported them after they moved out of buzzfeed, their current series and content is pretty decent, and yeah its their chemistry as the hosts that pulled people to them, and yet, here we are now. never knew greed could make people worse.
If you really didnt know greed makes ppl worse you had to be born yesterday
@@HeliodromusScorpio i knew it makes people worse, its just that i was taken aback that these people particularly became the recipient of greed itself. watching them for years, it feels like they arent the guys that would do such scummy things.
It was their dynamic and chemistry in videos for me as well.
I heard shane and ryan were the darlings that came from buzzfeed alongside the try guys......
Funny how things have turned out now.....
The ONLY way this would ever work is if they created it as a custom Patreon-type website where they offered EXTRA content for the subscription and only charged like $2.99. Got people to sign up, waited for a couple years until they've captured their audience, steadily increase the amount of episodes and series they put on the website and increase the price, then eventually fully transition over.
Doing it the way they've done it will almost certainly insure that it dies.
Voidzilla pointed out how a lot of the buzzwords they used sound like there's a silicon valley bro in the background
That Silicon Valley bro is literally Steven unfortunately lmao
I can almost guarantee that this was all Steven's idea. He's that one piece of puzzle that doesn't seem to belong anywhere. He doesn't fit in with the duo. During Worth It days, the audience adored Andrew and his analogies when describing food, so Steven was trying to copy that style yet failed horribly with his analogy. He's trying to include himself in almost every show in Watcher and I think most people skipped his part of the video. His way of talking is too corporate-y, it's like he's so used to living such lavish and bougie lifestyle, eating caviar on the daily and showing off his tesla that he's become this out of touch he's so insufferable.
Did they confused funny weed day with April fools???
lol maybe they thought everybody in their audience would be so high they wouldn't understand
@@WillyKillya I was high and I can tell you it is just as f*cky now that I'm sober
So technically They thought " 1mil Loyal WATCHERS soo 6 usd to 6 mil every month " welp i don't think thats how it works
Instead of trying to be the bad guys, they wanted to be the good guys and keep all their employees when they should've laid some off. They killed their channel for no reason other than saving the company.
What? That makes it a "damned if you do" scenario IMO......
I'd find it really surprising if they couldn't1 afford to pay their 25 employees based off how much it seems they are making. imo they are just using this as an excuse for their attempted cash grab.
they could have, if they had cut the extremely expensive content.. so no
They could just not make Worth it? ... They wont have to spend thousands on food and travel. Seems like that'll help
@@chrisg7636but then the CEO couldn't write off his fancy vacations as " business expenses" and make the poors pay for it
That video felt like such a slap in the face, especially knowing that in their personal lives, none of these men are strapped for cash. Even if they try to salvage this, they've exposed their out-of-touch Hollywood-brand greed.
Their viewer ship is about to plummet 95% they will make less monthly then a single advertisement after taxes.
I doubt they'll have the same amount of people on their site as they have patrons ngl
This pained me as a loyal fan since the beginning, I saw them grow and evolve and yet they always kept their silliness and down to earth energy. When this was announced (WITH NO WARNING OR EVEN A HINT) it was the biggest shock of my life. Absolutely all of us were devastated and furious because they had a patreon, they were making money (STEVEN LIM HAS A TESLA) AND THEY WANT MORE? The biggest disappointment was Shane, as he was the one we never expected this to come from. He was the definition of “yeah just pirate anything paid, and steal from the rich”
100% most disappointed in Shane
The internet is so disgusting and corporate nowadays. With filthy pay walls and everything. This crap did not exist or was barely a thing 10 years ago
True, like one of my favorite game (Mech Arena) let's just say it's not going well for them because of the same thing you said..
@@Tigerzeon there was also this one website I went to that designed "trainers" (pretty much a cheat code programs for pc games) called Cheat Happens. They went the same route and put all their game trainers behind pay walls....
Late state capitalism never fails to disappoint.
The internet was a lot smaller 10 years ago.
People are also using ad blockers which means a site can't gain a revenue from that.
I'm not defending this idiotic business decision by these guys (it will fail, badly) but too many people seem to think everything should be free even to the point where ads shouldn't exist.
When ad blockers are collapsing the income for most sites out there, expect those sites to disappear or put up a paywall. Hosting costs money, bandwidth costs money, writing and producing and photography costs money.
People should not starve to entertain you.
Im earlier than the brain dead ok boomer content
My favorite part was how polished and choreographed it was, it made it feel so genuine.😂
6 dollars for some yt videos is crazy 😂😂
for ONE channel. i pay for youtube premium for ALL channels lol this is delusional
My brain has messed up the term YT now it has like 2 meanings
Netflix seems to offer more than these dudes. That is just my opinion.
Especially because they only upload once a week and have less than 400 videos
@@gamedev7088you are black.
Man...Shane and Ryan was the light of buzzfeed. Then they do this. Wtf man
Keep crying loll that’s what you get for watching those weirdos😂
@@InstaMemesio you ok?
@@bdaarmy9736 are you?
@@InstaMemesio What are you defensive for? Are you really ok?
Bro these were one of my favourite youtubers and i haven't watched them in like one month and this happens bruh💀 UNBELIEVABLE
Same, I started watching them again a few months ago, then they pull this
I am a fan of Watcher and I am beyond gutted about this. And look, I HAVE $6 a month I could spend but I’m not going to. I’ve primarily watched their content for the past decade on my TV via PlayStation UA-cam app and I just think it’s hilarious that they are so focused on making “TV CALIBER CONTENT” that can no longer be watched on a TV. Why would I pay $6 for something I can no longer watch on TV?
Villain arc - becoming what you sought to destroy
Did they become what they sought to destroy or merely reveal what they were all along?
Oof
I blame Steven, you can see Ryan and Shane's pure hate with every word they had to say, it looked like a hostage tape if anything.
Doesn't change the fact that they went along with it and chose it.
@@honestyisadyingvirtue and I hate that you're right
I only know Steven from Worth It, lol.
You can see they are both closed off, avoiding eye contact and their laughs are forced. They ABSOLUTELY hate it. But they still went through it 😢
Y do u guys fool urselves into thinking shane and Ryan aren't on board with this they could say no u dont know these guys, u kno the internet personalities, totally different thing they want ur money just like Steven does they aren't your friends
"I learned how to be a human on UA-cam" 🤣 wtf
Yeah, I don't get what he meant by that? We are all human regardless of whether you use youtube or not lol.
@@DarkPhoenixSaga In fairness I learned how to be a human on myspace... my mum learned it through facebook =)
ironically, their content was far more enjoyable while it was more “low budget”. it feels so corporate now, they don’t even have the yellow and blue caption segments anymore.
The stupidity here is just beautiful. How to destroy yourself in minutes….
"Somebody else will come and take their spot, you might grief for a little bit, fact of the matter is - life goes on!"
*me still silently 'grieving' about Jenna but also happy at the same time for her*
Multiple youtubers do this and hide videos behind a paywall on Patreon for years. Some will only do it for "early access" to an upload while others will straight up never put the videos out unless you pay for them. It'd be different if these creators didn't have that much money and were truly struggling...but they got money...a lot of it sooooo it's pretty damn greedy.
They have 12,000 patreons. Right now they're the only ones getting any info on this fiasco
People subbed for a month just to get the deets...
Imagine looking at ~300k/year from patreon plus whatever UA-cam pays and thinking "we should be our separate streaming service."
Plenty of channels offer patreon exclusive videos or early releases but, why would you make your content less accessible to new viewers.
I'm 51, I specifically watch your channel because of your honesty. Keeping an eye on the younger generation. You've got good content and your followers are highly interesting. As Generation X, I'm trying to learn how to bridge the gap so to speak, you guys are teaching me alot that I never had time to learn raising kids.
i’m an elder millennial, 38, and i love this wholesome comment ♥️
I'm 27 I don't wanna get any older than this
@@doggg4977I'm gonna be 25 when I finish my education
Everything is kinda only starting at this age
33 here, I've always been able to understand and have personal experiences with both gen z and Gen x since I am kinda in the middle. I definitely watch this channel to keep current on hot topics.
I'm 40 and a geriatric millennial.
You're spot on. I watched their Unsolved series a while back and I watched for their personalities. They were simply sat at a desk and as much as high production is good for some projects, if you're interesting then your content will shine. Some people I watch still use webcams lmao 😂
they really took "destroy your career speedrun" to a new level
"I learned to be a human on UA-cam" is not only wrong because this decision is so soulless, but should also be a red flag for the kind of person Steven is
I'm sure they'll do super well, just like Rooster Teeth and Quibi!
They always underestimate their own worth versus real world value.
I appreciate the fact that you mentioned the way the fans feel in this case, despite not watching the channel yourself. For those who stuck with Ryan and Shane through BFU into Watcher, it’s like we all just entered a bizarro world.
As a fan, or i guess an ex fan now, I can say that everyone of us is very disappointed about this sudden desion to leave UA-cam behind make us pay to watch their content.
In my case, i began watching them when they stared the BuzzFeed unsolved series and i loved it! People goofing around in supposed haunted places? It was fun to watch! It felt organic in my opinion, different from other ghost hunting shows where everything is very serious and kinda ridiculous.
I can relate to a lot of the commenters saying how they cannot afford this, which is a vast majority of them. I'm a broke university student that isn't in the US so to purchase a subscription would cost more. And the site doesn't even work in my country!
So sum all of this up: very disappointed on them. They were doing great numbers on yt, this decision was completely shocking and unpredictable, special coming from someone like Ryan and Shane who had the "Eat the rich" speach before.
i felt like i lost members of my family (expect for steven lim, that guy is that annoying cousin no one cares about), i'm really sad, but as you said, if someone else appeared with the same content FOR FREE i would forget about watcher right away lol.
Even their hoodies are £80.
Alot of people aren't mentioning that. If you add up their pateron, and merch they didn't need to do this
@@FukaiKokoro$80 dollars for those hoodies aren’t even worth it for a 3m sub count. It’s just a basic black hoodie with their logo on it. Even Coryxkenshin with 19m subscribers has hoodies under $66 with awesome designs.
1:19 Steven Lim is the most greedy one...this was his idea
Used to enjoy watching these guys, but never mind. I'd rather lose their stuff than pay £6 per month. I can get another entire streaming platform for that price lol. And you're right Pegasus, I did watch them for their chemistry and personalities. I don't care how HD their footage is. I don't care how much editing they do. I care about them making videos fun.
Having a creative vision is one thing, but sacrificing the audience who got you there to obtain it is another.
The problem is people making UA-cam their job. Once UA-cam enabled monetization and ads, that was the beginning of the end. I miss the old UA-cam, and the old internet as a whole.
I agree. People are creating content to line their pockets, not just out of curiosity and excitement anymore
@@buhle7651 I mean ... I understand greed is bad, but I believe there is a big jump between greed and wanting your passion to be your job. It seems that a passion should not be paid based on these comments ?
Yep youtube paying people ruined it and has bankrupted them. They need to stop paying
Eh, I don't know about that. Og youtubers who did yt as a job made pretty good content. Content they couldn't have made if they only did it at their free time. Besides, wanting to have what you enjoy most as a job, well, you'd do it too.
Everything having to be a monthly subscription now is getting increasingly frustrating. Streaming services have every company and small business gassed up now.
They seem delusional... their obsession with tv and comparing themselves to netflix produced shows. They make shitty shows with decent production quality...
I have been watching their content since they started. So it breaks my heart that they are doing this. I grew up poor and in a broken family, and their content helped me through it, I AM STILL IN THIS SITUATION, the fact they are now putting a PAY WALL up now after releasing disingenuous content for the last year (As in I've been feeling the happy, joking with and having fun friends vibe dissipate for the last year or two)
I 100% agree on your take as someone who watches watcher and buzzfeed unsolved/supernatural RELIGIOUSLY. I love shane and ryan but aint no way am I paying a monthly fee for ocasional uploads
They are speed running going broke.
They could've easily made exclusive content on that service and kept their YT content free. AVGN quotes coming clutch as always: "WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!"
I was a loyal fan of watcher...until now. I unsubscribed from them and subscribed to you because you managed to PERFECTLY encapsulate my feelings on this atrocious business decision.
I can see their point, it's only six bucks a month most of us spend more than that without realizing it. The problem is EVERYTHING is subscription based now. So people really have to decide what they wanna pay for.
The other thing is ....that's an American $6........in places like Australia that's closer to $10.......and in other countries, that's more like $100.
But even if you could afford it, you are paying Netflix/Hulu money for 1 UA-cam channel......that's like saying "well you can afford $100 for shoes, so why can't you afford a $100 coffee?"......it's not the same value
I definitely pick to buy groceries for a week or less than paying to watch Steven Stupid Lame Lim eat steak with edible gold.
Sad Watcher fan here, I was with them at BF and followed them to their new channel to support them. This is how they’ve repaid all of us. Since I just unsubscribed to them though, I’ll subscribe to you now
can we just appreciate how much Pegasus puts effort in his video's, like, ssspinerwolf could never ( guys am not a bot..no one bought my acc..)
Fr
you a bot. first of all- this is his second channel, second- I've seen the same prompt 50 billion times
Exactly Albedo, exactly.
@@retro_founder maybe if you saw their channel you'd realise they're not a bot like why are yall always jumping to conclusions?
@@sam.mcr22 its very very clear its an bot channel. they prob bought it