Hey guys, here's something I've been working on for a few months! I've wanted to make a video like this for a long time, and after getting a bit annoyed at how other videos on this topic completely ignore the Yogscast's move and success on Twitch, I thought I'd finally attempt to make my own. This was my first time writing a script, narrating, and properly editing a video so sorry if it's a little wonky in places. I really enjoyed working on this and doing something a little different that would normally be out of my comfort zone, and I'd absolutely love to make more stuff like this in the future!
For me, just by the virtue of Jingle Jam's existence, they are one of the most continuously successful youtubers. With a particular definition of success anyway.
Fr it always annoyed me when other vids see they failed or fell off. They literally destroy all other youtube and streamers in terms of money raised for charity each year and the jingle jam is usually one of the most viewed streams when it starts each year. How is that not successful haha
@@ahhhhyes Exactly. A bunch of goofy friends able to basically fuck around and make entertaining videos and streams and make whatever they want. On top of that their Charity work is second only to their next year of JingleJams. Considering the millions they make each year for charities i think theyre fairly popular.
being able to run a company, that makes a couple of million a year, that employs your friends, and also lets them take a couple of weeks off work to simply raise money for charity... why are not all companies/youtub channels like this....? the world would be a better place
I don't think they've failed, just settled into a groove of making content they want to make that's successful enough to keep them afloat, and not caring a whole lot about the algorithm or what the masses want. It's nice in a way.
Bit false innit? They do algorithmic and formulaic stuff. So many games they expressed strong intent to return to and never did so because TTT and GTA were more important.
@@skarloeythomas5172 "expressed strong intent" And how do you know they meant it? These could have been promises made when fans expressed desire to see something return. Doesn't mean yogs really wanted to deep down. They play WAY more than TTT and GTA nowadays anyway (for main channel on UA-cam), they probably just moved on from those particular games. Also I feel like you didn't watch the video through before making this comment, as Lewis explains why they continue to play TTT for such a long time.
I always argue that Point One, their audience changed, Point Two, general attitudes to content production changed, and Point Three, they modified the format of content they put out. But in a broad sense, they've been remarkably consistent from their inception. Hosts and members come and go, but many still have their own channels, they have their own streams, and they contribute to the umbrella of the Yogscast, still. Every year, they keep on keeping on, at a fairly consistent clip. YT numbers probs dipped a bit, but with a lot of their material moving over to Twitch, it's more a transition than a 'fall'. But then that doesn't make for a good title if you're a channel that revolves around drama videos.
@@skarloeythomas5172 I'll agree as far as main channel stuff goes. But to be honest if you look at their streams they do play a lot of things they want to play, lots of grand strategy and civ, a whole bunch of Minecraft streams, peculiar portions etc. They do cater to the algorithm because no doubt TTT and GTA bring in the bucks. But there's a lot more than just that if you look around at every channel and stream.
I think one of my favourite parts about this is Sips' loyalty to the Yogs even though he could so easily break away and still be successful. Along side that it also makes me so happy to see that Lewis' highlight is recording with Simon every week and it just shows how strong their friendship really is. I think that really is the bond between everyone in the yogs which is why they work so well together, they're all geniune friends
I think that's one thing that's always made this group quite special. Now ofc it's a business, they have jobs to do and salaries to pay but they seem to really like what they do and they all get along well and clearly have friendships outside of the Yogscast.
I think that there are three types of people that say that Yogscast are dead 1) People that stopped watching years ago, come back, see that the main channel isn’t as popular as it used to be and assume it’s dead with no further context 2) People who have never liked the Yogscast and just want them to fail 3) People who really like the old content and don’t want to acknowledge that the new stuff is successful Personally speaking even as someone who doesn’t really have the time to watch streams I still love the new content, both because I still enjoy the stuff on the main channel but also because there’s enough clip channels that I can get the bets this if the various streams and if there is one that really catches me I can just watch it when it’s uploaded to Yogscast Live
@@Akniy They're obviously talking about the old minecraft and similar content from their peak UA-cam viewership days. They did do some TTT back then but the content they produce overall now is pretty diff to how it was then.
@@skarloeythomas5172 Matter of opinion. I love the editing and ensembles members right now. I miss some combos/people, but in some ways I like the new stuff better. So def not "simply better".
That was the one that sort of pushed me to finally make this. I really like Sunny's editing and presentation style, but his lack of research to push the "Yogscast failed lol" narrative was pretty infuriating. It literally takes 5 minutes of research to see the Twitch side of things.
SunnyV2 just kinda does the same thing for every video he makes. Watches a couple vids, reads some YT comments, fills in the gaps himself to fit a narrative and looks at some UA-cam analytics. Then calls it good, gives it a clickbait title.
I think regardless of their UA-cam success, what they do every year for Jingle Jam and the millions they have raised for charity is commendable. It's amazing that even years later they are raising millions for people less fortunate
First and foremost, fantastic video Drakon, I think a lot of Loyal Yogsfans who've (like me) grown up watching these amazing people are eager to see them succedd. Particularly the section on TTT's rise on the channel and the switch to twitch is key to understanding the new yogscast synnergy. However, what Spiff fantasticly pointed out, was the lack of accessibility to the yogs for new viewers. I myself have distanced myself from the Yogs over the past 18 months or so, but 1 video pulled me back recently. The "We made our own taskmaster" video released recently, was not only fantastic, but it is perfectly suited for the yogscast. Higher production quality, a large group of people and fantastic banter between all contributing members is a perfect recipe to succeed in todays youtube, taking for instance the sidemen or mr. Beast as an example. The yogscast can make this work, if they were willing to sacrifice daily uploads for higher quality weekly videos, I truly believe they'd see a rise in popularity
Thanks! Unfortunately this was edited before the Taskmaster video came out, but I think that would have been a great thing to add. Even as a fan that runs a full-time clips channel, I have had moments where I've become burnt out on Yogs content (TTT especially) and videos like Taskmaster also pull me back in and remind me why I really like Yogs. If I'm completely honest, I think the Yogs shine best when they are making content unrelated to games, though I'm not sure if that's because I don't watch any gaming content outside of Yogs. There's definitely a balance to be had with TTT etc, and I'm glad to see the Yogs making more creative content lately.
im a huuge fan, but could never get into TTT, seems like they are just walking and joking around a bit, a bit later 1 team wins by pure chaotic killing spree luck, and all the roleplay etc was just filler, all the detective work or whatever has zero influence on the outcome... well, at least that is how the TTT games seem to me hehe
I didn't think of sidemen or mr beast, perhaps because they're not to my taste, but I think alpharad has been doing a great job of pivoting from gaming content to, I don't know what you'd call it, personality driven event content? Part of why I found all the Mario Kart speedrunning stuff so compelling is it was a competition between these personalities I like and recognise, much like why the Poker series is always great every christmas. Definitely more things like the Taskmaster video would be great.
I don't mind them expanding onto Twitch, I just hope they don't leave behind their core UA-cam content behind entirely. The nigh-daily upload is the highlight of my day!
Well researched and executed. I am surprised, however, that you didn't mention the various "scandals" that hit Yogscast staff. The Tinman and Ridge event. The fall of Turps. The sudden jettison of Sjin. I can't help but think these events impacted on view/subs levels in some way or even caused an existential crisis in Yogscast management?
I haven't stopped watching main channel stuff since I found the Yogscast back in 2012, the individual personalities and fun they have always kept me interested and involved, even when I grew up and started living a normal life. coming to the main channel or twitch to see these people who entertained me still doing it and interacting with everyone just made it... them The Yogscast, I get a odd happy/sad feeling seeing Lewis answer the questions at the end.
Outstanding video Drakon! I believe the longevity of the Yogs is the biggest testament to their success. The Yogs continue to create interesting new videos, rent an office, and employ many behind-the-scenes staff - THIS is the sign that they are succeeding. UA-cam and Twitch, and any social media really, is a business that is massively changeable - the algorithm can change, there can be new trends that you hit or miss, etc. I think by far Lewis and the Yogs biggest success is to carve some stability out of all this, and make content creation a relatively reliable livelihood for many of their members and employees Not to even mention the Jingle Jam
A brilliant and well-researched video. A step above other videos not only for looking into the focus on Twitch, but going into the full history of the Yogscast and bringing more than just your own words into it. Those sections with Spiff and RT, or Ped's stream where he talks about the Twitch numbers show first-hand the success the Yogs have. And more than ever, this shows that they really are pretty much a bunch of friends doing what they love and sharing it with a community that loves them.
Came across this video while on a nostalgia binge of the old minecraft videos. I was one of the people that assumed Yogscast had fallen off, judging by the youtube numbers. I don't watch Twitch at all so I was delighted to see that they're still going strong there! It's so cool that the people I watched as a kid are still out there doing their own thing, making what they want to make and not just playing up to algorithms or old viewers that don't even really care what they're making. The continued success of jingle jam is incredible to hear as well! The new content might not be for me, but honestly I'm fine with that, there's still absolutely countless hours of videos and series' they've made that I still love :)
Oh Drakon this is so cool, didn't know you'd originally had gotten into videos with a documentary interest! This was an enjoyable format, hope you can do a couple each year with other subjects you're interested in
My favorite thing about the people that love to declare that the Yogscast is dead or dying is that they'll look at their current TTT uploads and compare the views to their minecraft heyday. It makes me laugh bc their TTT videos still consistently get over 100k views per video-- numbers I think any of us would be ecstatic to be getting if we started up a youtube channel. Personally, I can't imagine my week without Yogs TTT in it at this point, it's become such a beloved staple for me. The thing that brings me great comfort is knowing that the Yogs are all super genuine people and that they wouldn't keep a series going just for the views. If a majority of them ever stop enjoying TTT I'm sure they'll end it or put it on hiatus-- like they did with the GTA videos for a long while. Thanks for the great video Drakon! This community is filled with such lovely people. 🥰
Excellent video! You did a great job of presenting their progression and various transformation over the past decade+. Personally, I would have preferred a more... complete time line, but *completely* understand your decision. It's clear that the thesis of this video was more focused, but you could have told the fuller story with an extra 15-20 minutes, making a more "complete" story. Again, fully understand that that was not an option. But at some point, as a long time fan, I'd love to see a feature length documentary that tells the full story. True art evokes emotion, even if they aren't always pleasant ones... I think the question the Yogscast will have to answer eventually is, who do they want to tell their story?
I have no idea how I missed this video after waiting for it and I'm glad to finally see it late! This is an awesome dive into the history of the Yogs and it's great to see it pieced together
I personally really like where the Yogscast have taken things over the years. They did the hard work. They broke records. They didn't have to continue evolving but they did. New people keep joining. New things are being created aside from just videos. And on top of all that, raising tens of millions for charity. I consider that the true achievement here. Most importantly, they still seem happy doing it. They don't seem burned out or bored. It's not a grind and that in my opinion is what makes them still very successful.
Great video Drakon! Probably my favorite of yours so far, because I can tell the love, effort, and dedication that went into it, along with genuine insight!
I made this UA-cam account back in the summer of 2011 specifically to subscribe to the Yogs when I discovered their Shadow of Israphel series. In the years since my interests have changed and I've followed and unsubbed from numerous channels, but the Yogscast has always been there. Now that I'm working, sitting down to watch some TTT every now and then or watch highlights from their streams is a nice relaxing and fun activity.
Twitch is something that takes scheduling, live attention, and engagement to get the most out of it. I 100% respect that as content creators, streaming would be easier and more fulfilling than editting and trying to get engagement via YT. As someone that has limited free time because of work however, Twitch is a lot more difficult for me to engage with than sitting down and watching a YT video that I can pause or close and pick up later. While I've fully realized that Yogscast YT content is at best stable, and at worst dying out, it is how I will always engage with them. In that sense, I can understand a certain level of 'failing', but at the same time, I 100% believe that they are an ever evolving and growing entity thanks to Twitch. As long as they keep producing videos, I will keep watching, but they have been greatly helped out by content archivers and collectors like you and Best Bits for those of us that want to see new and funny Yogs content without having to engage with Twitch, Thanks Drakon for your hard work!
I'm the same way, I hope they put out more things like the Taskmaster video they did recently. Fundamentally they have a great talent pool of funny and compelling creators who interact well with each other, that's something that lends itself well to youtube content.
Maaaan this video has me sentimental - most likely because I don't want to see the Yogs vanishing, ever. They've got to be the most genuine, laid-back and funny people there are on YT and Twitch, which is why I come back to them so often. They've been there ever since I was in secondary school and have brought a smile to my face whenever I'd needed one with the added benefit of actively expanding my English vocab (greets from Ger!). Thanks for this video, it really made me rediscover my appreciation for them. Looking forward to this years' JingleJam!
I don't usually comment, but I just wanted to say that this video was excellent. You have obviously put so much time and effort in, and as someone who has watched Yogs content since the very beginning, its incredibly refreshing to see this perspective on their evolution since there is so much negativity out there. Well done again 👏
Really, really excellent video, I never normally comment on youtube videos but this was so good and so well made that I felt I had to support it by engaging with it.
An absolutely fantastic video with a great in-depth look into things. One thing that I always think of - and which was mentioned here briefly - whenever I see the "yogscast is failing lol" take is the state of UA-cam over the years. Back when the Yogscast was at their peak, the kind of content they created was exactly the type of content that the algorithm liked. However, things have changed significantly since then, and the content creators have to follow along if they don't want to fade into obscurity. The Yogscast are no different, and like many other creators in the past few years, they took one specific path to continue as content creators: shifting from creating long video series on UA-cam to instead streaming content on Twitch. But just as things changed back then, they are still changing. If things with Twitch continue on the same track, and with the steady rise of UA-cam as a streaming platform, it'll be interesting to see how content creation will change going forward.
Honestly, you put in so much work and love into my favourite group of people, I had to comment just to say : Amazing work! Love the Yogs to bits and I'm glad you're part of the family ❤️
incredible video, really shows how well yogs are still doing these days and it didnt even mention the success of live action shoots like heroes and generals, dont starve and such which are still going to this day with things like master tasker
I don't think they failed at all. I remember back in the day, after watching swifty's wow videos I searched "British world of warcraft" (being british myself) and found lewis and simon rambling over wow boss fights which i hadn't even heard of, being a massive noob myself back then. When the yogpod trailer came out I finally made a youtube account, and I've been watching since then. The fact I could drop into any yogscast stream after all this time and enjoy it regardless of who's hosting that stream is god damn amazing.
excellent video drakon. this is something i think about from time to time and you did as close to a perfect job of explaining it as anyone could. keep up the great work mate!
Fantastic video. I opened it not checking how long it would be but just sat and watched it from beginning to end. I think people adverse to change and a loud minority are the first to claim the Yogs to be failing or stagnating. Of course there have been bad situations throughout the years. Like the people they had to let go, from PirateTinman back in the day all the way to the more recent big 3-4 names, or even more inane things like Tom quitting TTT, it just seems some viewers who enjoyed their content a bit more have turned especially jaded. Yes, the content changed, just as the people making it changed. The fact is, even with the end of SoI, Simon's illness, the YogVentures situation, or any other big source of change in their content, they have focused on content they enjoy creating, and us as viewers appreciate that and get enjoyment out of that as well.
I got into the Yogscast pretty late (like 2017 or 2018) and that was mainly through fan channels compilations so I'm glad you mentioned that helped build the community up
Honestly thought I would never get around to watching this but im so glad I did. Its such a good video that reminds us of things that have happened, that are happening and that will happen. The only thing that I think is a shame is the fact that most people who dont watch the yogs anymore wont even see this and even if they do they might deem it too long to watch. Amazing stuff DA.
Drakon, you made some excellent points in this video and did an excellent job in presenting the reasons why the yogscast is still indeed thriving and not failing as some have claimed. As a long time yog fan I wholeheartedly agree. One comment I do have however for this video is there is an absence of discussion regarding some of the past controversies that are often pointed to as reasons for the yogscast failing. Yogventures was not discussed, and of course the removal of *redacted* x 3 back in 2019. The latter scandal I do think would have been particularly important to address as it was a pivotal and tumultuous change within the yogscast that genuinely did threaten its reputation and success as an entertainment platform. When people claim that the yogscast failed, or is failing, they will point to this particular event above all things. The fact that the yogscast didn't crumble under that controversy was because they responded quickly, appropriately, and both the remaining creators and audience managed to adapt to a yogscast without those former figures. Many other channels and communities would not have survived a divisive controversy like that. Avoiding the controversies entirely does make this video feel somewhat cherry picked. I think this rebuttal would have been stronger if you addressed those events, but I also understand that doing so would have been challenging discussion to have, especially for a first video essay. Regardless, you made a very strong argument for the success of the yogscast and I really enjoyed the video. Cheers!
Awesome video. I didn't realise you (and the other comp makers) were actually part of Yogs. Even though I've not watched any actual videos for years (Sips streaming Red Dead 1 was probably the last time watched a whole playthrough) but I still feel like I watch the yogscast and know what's going on because I watch a lot of these compilations. Thank you for the excellent work you guys do :)
Drakon, this video is incredible, so well-written and well-edited. I watch videos on 1.25x speed naturally and it still flows really well and everything is concise and easy to understand. I became a Yognaught around 2010/2011, when I had just started high school, with Minecraft being the big grab for me as it's what I was mostly playing at the time beyond Call of Duty. I watched majority of the video content, only really skipping videos on games that I had no interest in, but I was also watching pretty much every channel in the network at the time also (adding more watch time as more channels were added). There was definitely a period of time where I stopped watching some main channel content, thinking maybe when Twitch really did start becoming the main focus (I'm an Australian in Australia, so timezones have always been wack to work with), but picked it back up when I decided to invest more time into the people that always made me laugh, and haven't stopped since. From TTT, to GTA, to Minecraft on Duncan's channel, to Hat Films doing what Hat Films do, to Best Bits and compilations, I love everything the Yogs are doing right now, even if I don't have the time anymore to watch all of it, and I'm truly looking forward to the years ahead.
I think the notion that the Yogscast is/was failing could have been considered true back in 2018 when they were still pretty firmly sticking to Minecraft in a time where most viewers were kinda growing out of Minecraft or at least getting a little tired of 7 years of it (though I might just be projecting, because that's about when I stopped watching for said reasons, coming back in early 2020 about when they started diversifying a lot more). Sure, they could have stuck to the easy and safe Minecraft views and floated on that bubble until it might burst, but the fact alone of how they pivoted and adapted with their audience speaks volumes about how they recognised that it'd be a bad business decision but also how it'd be terrible for content creator burnout. I basically grew up watching Yogscast videos, but I wouldn't be able to say I still love them today if they hadn't grown with me.
As sad as it was, the scandals in 2019 was a big point of upheaval in the yogs, they were slowly going that way but sjin, turps and hannah leaving gave them a desisive shove, away from a Minecraft group and into personality driven MCN. The gaps left by old personel meant others had to step up into a more prominent role, this was often newer members who hadn't joined as a Minecraft channel and fans who were still stuck in the old mc days left. Now the focus isn't on the Yogscast group, it's on individual communities within the Yogscast network who have high viewer crossovers with efficient and natural collaboration. This is why main channel views aren't super important because every individual has their own corner within the larger Yogscast community.
I'd say the only time the Yogscast is one big entity is jingle jam and possibly yogcon, where everyone forgoes their individual recognition to represent the Yogscast brand.
Its lovely to see the visual documentation of their history. Having watched them since their genesis it is a fantastic and entertaining video. Thanks :)
Have the Yogscast fallen? No. I don't think so. I think, instead, they've GROWN to be a bigger community than once was. Before really getting involved in The Yogscast twitch community, I would only watch youtube. After getting involved, I now mod for Lydia's discord, and every community I've interacted with is honestly THE BEST! They're all super understanding, honest, and really fun to play with! Never in a million years would I imagine I'd find a amazing community such as The Yogscasts community, and I am so happy I did find it! It's amazing to see where The Yogs started (I found them back in 2009 in L4D2 videos on UA-cam), and to where they are now. I always am so happy to see how much effort they put into things because they truly do care about their communities and everything they do. 20:00 LOOK ITS ME MUM! I'm in chat! 31:14 This is why I love Lewis. He isn't going to be greedy and put energy into things he doesn't want to. I love how honest The Yogs are more than anything. 44:42 Hands down my fave Lewis moment. He's watching over 10 years of progress come before him.
God I still remember listening through the YogPod episodes during childhood road trips with my parents. I’ve grown up with these people and I think it’s beautiful that they have been apart of many of our childhoods and it’s wonderful to still see the now company thriving. I always catch up with Jingle Jam clips and different vods each year and it’s so great to see their positive impact all these years later.
I agree! Excellent analysis and usage of first hand interviews with the Yogs and all those Social Blade-esque stats. Saying the Yogscast declined is such an easy yet lazy thing to do, in reality they were just playing 4D chess while also balencing that with being true to themselves. Props to Lewis and Simon, the Yogscast members and community, and you for all keeping the Yogscast alive and thriving, when oh so many contemporaries have sputtered out, occasionally with a large bang (the Creatures). I myself wish I can continue watching the Yogs as I have since 2012, I'm in my twenties now and I've increasingly lost the ability to spend as much free time as when I was younger, however they'll always forever be in my memories. Small criticism: At 9:46 you mentioned that twice already. Schooling tells you not to present the same thing more than once in an essay, or in this case, a video essay.
I remember loving Tekkit and the Dropper when I was a kid, and Duncan’s Castle series. Rythian’s X-Com playthough was another one of my favs and convinced me to buy the game myself and made me an X-com fan. Hannah’s Walking Dead playthough, Panda’s Flame in the Flood vids and Nilesy’s FTL series, which also made me buy the game. Sips Don’t Starve as well, hell they influenced most of my game choice when I was younger. And can’t forget Martyn’s Advent series too. Zoey’s vids in general as well, especially the Scribblenauts and her ‘You are Awesome’ videos which is one of the nicest videos I’ve ever watched. I fell off before Yogventures like I did with a lot of UA-camr’s when I was younger and started watching again in 2019. The TTT series has anchored itself as one of my favs. Honestly they aren’t as popular, but I don’t think every single entertainment channel or company need to consistently grow in order to stay ‘good’, especially since they struck lighting in the bottle to the point where UA-cam itself had to break the bottle. They’ve earned a fan for life in me pretty much. Especially with their support towards Pride.
I will be completely honest, nothing will be better then those early yogscast days in 2012-13, things just seemed to come so naturally, the stuff they make now is still good, but like I said nothing can beat Jaffa factory with all the legends
YOGSCAST are the most underrated content creators who quite literally defined a whole genre and even a new career. I am being entirely serious when I say without YOGSCAST there would be no Dream (+SMP + "mcyt") and even more surprisingly there would be no KSI - I may be imaging this but I am sure he has even credited the YOGSCAST before as being at least some part for his UA-cam inspiration & early success. The YOGSCAST literally had a major part in defining most just minecraft/gaming comedy content but the entire idea of UA-cam career path for UK based creators, this being both through their innovative
I am just happy to see Lewis and Simon on the main channel again they are so funny together. I don't have the time to watch Twitch but I am glad they are doing well on it.
I find people that say channels with more than 100k views daily are dead so strange. Like do they only watch channels with millions and millions of views?
My introduction to Yogscast was through a suggestion to watch A New Rim. I'd never heard of Yogscast before, but it was so funny I binged the whole series. Then UA-cam suggested one of their TTT videos and I was hooked.
Hi Drakon, good job on the video. Just want to share that the cadence/pacing is a little fast, by which I mean that it feels like there wasn't much breathing space between each chapter/section. If you are planning to make more of such similar video essays in future, I would recommend checking out Defunctland (here on YT) and observing how the creator/narrator paces his dialogue. That aside, thank you for making this video. As someone who only started watching the yogs in 2011/12, it's interesting to learn of how they started back in their WOW days. Good work and hope to see more of such informative videos, alongside the regular clips of course!
I think they've had ups and downs, and long periods of stagnation, and there was a particular low point that saw a few members go (which I must say was handled incredibly). I think they've grown as a business and brand but have still stayed quite honest and true, like sure it sucks that the main channel is all just TTT but perculier portions, the wealth of different channels and streams and collaborations and real life quality content that feels real genuine and fun has insured that the yogscast has never quite become "false" or formulaic. The jingle jam, the contious genuine friendship and chemistry between members, the growth of several individual careers whilst still staying part of the group and the recent "renaisance" with more successful streams than ever and some beloved new members has insured that the yogscast has never really fallen or failed. I find in recent years it's been lovely to watch some streams, some of the Minecraft streams especially like the simon and gee and duncan and boba honestly bring back great memories of the tekkit stuff like BlackRock and Duncan's stuff. I agree with pretty much this whole video, there was a golden age, a steady period of growth, gradual increase in production value and members. And then a period of decay and decline, but then new ideas, fresh faces and a larger amount of content insured that they were able to continue and modernise without ever resorting to the algorithm catering stuff that yo usee other early 2000s content creators fall into.
Ok I MUST admit there is clearly a lot of algorithm baiting on the main channel and a few others, and if they could do whatever they liked we'd probably see less TTT and GTA. BUT they still do a lot more than just that, I think they do what they need to do to make money, but they clearly leave room for things they really enjoy.
Seeing this video after seeing what happened with Roosterteeth, the other content creator group I grew up with, has been an eye-opening experience. Especially since I am not a huge fan of watching streams, I have always felt a great sadness with Yogscast and of course Roosterteeth as their youtube channels and content started becoming stale and unimaginative. I always thought Roosterteeth would last longer since they have such a greater diversity of content and were more successful in many markets. Seeing how the Yogscast are still doing good work and staying true to their community definitely had me shocked. What I failed to see was the actual focus each of these groups had and how they are developing themselves. RT wanted to become bigger and better every time and was willing to take big risks with new projects and new talents without properly introducing or engaging the community. This was amazing when they first started out with RvB, Achievement Hunter, RWBY etc. But as the years continued (and a mix of bad employer practices and scandals) the creative output became unsustainable and costly; however, RT has been around for 21 years and was relevant for around a decade - an achievement nothing to scoff at. Though of course we will remember their ending to be a whimper as they slowly faded away out of the limelight. Seeing how the Yogscast looks as if it took the same route or maybe even worse was hard to see but now understanding how successful they still are brings about an understanding on why they succeeded where others failed. The Yogscast was never really about being the best or being bigger just for the sake of having talent. They brought on new talent into their community slowly and let them flourish by switching their perspective on the type of content they want to make. In all honesty, twitch was the right move. The way that gaming content on UA-cam became so saturated and changed so much since the early 2010s, it would be a huge ordeal to stay relevant for longer than they currently are. Even big creators nowadays are slowly fading away only having a few years of being in the limelight. I truly appreciate the perspective that the Yogscast has taken on doing things that they love and not putting too much pressure on themselves to be bigger and better than their former selves, rather develop the people who have great talent and provide for the community. I would have loved to see that for some of my favorite RT members. Thank you for such a great in-depth video. Its almost making me considering coming back to watching the Yogs on stream if I had the time. I really appreciate all your work in making the highlight videos.
@Drakon Astron You are a beautiful person! Thank you so much for making this fantastic video. I have been a fan of the yogscast since the last few episodes of. Shadow of Israphel came out. I really could not agree more when you said that the yogs are now looking to grow their staff and content creators more now than ever before. The hay days of Minecraft may be over but i really think that this is a new leaf and different playing field the yogs are growing into. I find it amazing of you to put this amount of effort in to showcase their history. You have definitely been one of my favorite fan/newer channels to watch from the yogs. Much love and you will always have my support!
I love this! Other videos about the Yogscast's downfall have irked me for the same reason, they don't mention Twitch and how the Yogs have changed for the better. It's not just Lewis and Simon playing minecraft anymore, now it's a large network of amazing personalities and charismatic pairings like Ben and Tom, Lewis and Sips and Pyrion, Lydia and like, every member, Boba and Pedguin, Rythian and Briony.. I could go on and on. Those clips and Ped and Sips talking about the Yogscast have always stuck in my mind, I love them. This video describes perfectly what I think when my irl friends say "what do they even do now? I don't know anyone, what's left of the old group?" A few, but there are soooo many more people now that give me soo much content to watch. They make any day better imo!
I don’t think they have. Their community has got even tighter, content has got better, and they’re a constantly expanding and flourishing business. I love the Yogs and they’re one of the only things left from my childhood that I find to be just as entertaining, if not more so, as I did 10 years ago
Preety good documentary on the history of the yogs (better than the 10-year stuff they put out, though still a bit biased). The main channel was forced to diversify away from their usual content because Simon was less available to make videos (this began before he had to go to hospital), their view count had already been dipping anyway. It's easy to see why this can be seen as a kind of failure. You can define success many ways though, and Lewis managed to keep the company alive through all the scandals and setbacks, the Jingle Jam, the expanded business ventures , those are all kinds of success (I dunno how well the other businesses are doing). but also apart from a few channels, most of the yogs twitches have fairly low viewcount, but hey they can live off it which is great. But I think you can't say the Yogs are stonger than ever, or even as strong as before, they were preety famous, had huge viewcounts and probably made more money than they could ever spend, they're clearly not at that level now, even if they have managed to survive it all.
For me Yogscast is successful because they reached the entirety of the audience that enjoyed their humor, and then kept on producing things only for their fans. That’s not to say the fanbase is small, only that at some point they realized that they were no longer pulling in new viewers, and instead shifted to building in-jokes into every series that their long-time fans would enjoy. Obviously they haven’t been stagnant, though there were periods where the content was. But for me, having watched them since about 2010, I appreciated watching Lewis become batshit insane and the progression of the ensemble building out to support him. Additionally, there is a sense now that this content is by millennials for millennials. There is the occasional Gen Z mixed in there, but usually they’ve inherited the humor that Yogs provided when they were younger.
I never like the "Yogscast dead" narrative, because whilst I can realise that I watch them far less than I did when I was younger, purely due to having less free time to do so, I look at all their other UA-cam ventures with things like Games Night, Battle Boys, Civ, the list goes on, and all their Twitch streams and I know that they're just as big as they were 10 years ago, and in 10 years time they'll be just as big. Sure, they might not be on a constant incline or as prominent as they were during the SOI/Moonquest/Hole Diggers era, but the Jingle Jam is still a massive hit and success for charity, the Yogs family is always expanding with more and more people, giving new creators a spotlight alongside the 'core' Yogs of Lewis, Simon, Duncan, Sips and even some of the 'newer' (I say as I'd already been watching for years before their introduction) Yogs members who are now staples in my eyes, like Tom Clarke, Ben, Harry and all the others. The Yogs isn't dead or even on a decline, they've simply switched more towards Twitch and are comfortable in their position, and that's perfectly fine, as it's a great place for them to be.
i think i stopped watching the yogs around 2016. i'm not really in to watching streams as i have a full time job and gaming content doesnt really interest me anymore. however i'm just happy lewis, sips, duncan and simon are healthy and doing well, their videos were there for me when i was going through a pretty rough childhood, and ill never forget that nor take it for granted.
I've honestly been pretty pissed off with all those videos saying that they've "failed". It's simply not true. True, there's been controversy over certain members, but at the heart of it the Yogs are fantastic people. They're doing a lot of stuff on Twitch now, but I've been watching the Yogs on YT since the Tekkit Jaffa Factory series and I still find their content funny to this day. They raise millions for charity every year. I've been a channel member since they announced it because I like being able to give some of my money to my favourite creators so they can do some really fun stuff together.
I started watching the yogs on and off years ago but I gradually stopped but what really got me back was the TTT series. Between 2015-19, I would say I watched more of rooster teeth but then the TTT collab with AH happened. Then with the world going into lockdown due to covid, I had to work from home and constantly found myself looking for things to watch on YT. So I ended up watching Yogs more again since 2020. It will be interesting to see how things go in the next few years, especially with the never ending controversy on Twitch, maybe everything will come full cycle again with everyone moving back and stream on UA-cam.
Just so everyone knows: on a recommended video you can click "Not interested" and then on "Tell us why" pick "I don't like this video". This impacts the YT algorithm and the video and similar videos to that video won't be showing up in yours and others recommendations. The videos will get less and less views and hopefully get content creators to put a little effort into them. Did they fail, in my eyes yes. I shared my more constructive opinion some time ago, but was banned by a mod for a "targeted harassment" even though I haven't mentioned any names. In short, I still enjoy watching some members of the Yogscast, mostly the OG ones. I used to be a fan, but now The Yogscast as a group don't mean much to me since people are joining and leaving left and right. I also don't agree with why some of the previous members were expelled.
I never followed the yogscast group much, but I heard about them as this big, significant group in UA-cam history, it’s cool to have a sub 1-hour video that summarises around 14 years of a single UA-cam group!
Idk. They stopped doing games night or any non ttt stuff since then. Thankfully they seem to be finally trying something new. Simons PP, plate up, one off things like sports day and mastertasker. To be honest I see 2019-2021 as the bad period. IMO they are getting better again. That is also just the main channel. HAT films, Tom, Duncan, all have pretty varied stuff and most of the new additions like RT and Spiff are variety creators.
Yogscast is following the same path as Smosh. They've been there, done that on UA-cam. They were once the biggest with a fanbase of a young generation different to now, but they've all grown up- or their sense of humour has been changed by the copious amount of short form, self-deprecating and dark humour content created by Gen Z and Zoomers. Why many believe the Yogscast and Smosh are failing now are due to their small numbers compared to the modern standard we are led to believe as "success", when in actuality, as a business- these two are actually living well off. They post enough content with enough sponsors, brand deals, merch sales, ad revenue and donations to live comfortably. And THAT is success.
Hearing all of the things they've accomplished and done since I started watching them (Surviving the First Night) all put together like that made me tear up a few times. I feel like a proud mom despite them being around the same age I am. I'm proud of Lewis and Simon, I'm proud of the Yogs as a whole, I'm proud of everything they've done for their local community and charities, and I'm incredibly proud to be a part of such a unique community of absolute nerds. Bless you all.
22:44 LOOK MOM!!! I'M FAMOUS!! I can't believe I'm in a Drakon Astron video 😁😁 Your video is a masterpiece and you should feel very proud. Job well done. It makes me appreciate the Yogs even more for all the entertainment they've brought us over the years.
Thank you for this. An outstanding time capsule of nostalgia woven with new behind the scenes insights. Would love to see more like it maybe for each yogs creator.
what are the clips of them being interviewed from? When Lewis talks about there being people he now trusts with things and Tom and Ben talking about the new Ben?
God damn, what an epic fucking video. I hate those other videos as well that say that yogs is dead. I'm glad you included Spiff and RT talking about newcomers. I had no idea and now I understand that aspect better. I love the way that yogs has evolved over the years and I'll continue to be here to watch them change and grow as the years go on.
Hey guys, here's something I've been working on for a few months! I've wanted to make a video like this for a long time, and after getting a bit annoyed at how other videos on this topic completely ignore the Yogscast's move and success on Twitch, I thought I'd finally attempt to make my own. This was my first time writing a script, narrating, and properly editing a video so sorry if it's a little wonky in places. I really enjoyed working on this and doing something a little different that would normally be out of my comfort zone, and I'd absolutely love to make more stuff like this in the future!
Those UA-cam videos always annoyed me with how they ignored the twitch move.
TIL Drakon is Irish
@@vegancam he's actually northern irish
@Faroth I know
Good job
For me, just by the virtue of Jingle Jam's existence, they are one of the most continuously successful youtubers. With a particular definition of success anyway.
Also, I loved Lewis and Lydia Mystery Streams so if luck permits, I would love to have that back.
Fr it always annoyed me when other vids see they failed or fell off. They literally destroy all other youtube and streamers in terms of money raised for charity each year and the jingle jam is usually one of the most viewed streams when it starts each year. How is that not successful haha
@@ahhhhyes Exactly. A bunch of goofy friends able to basically fuck around and make entertaining videos and streams and make whatever they want. On top of that their Charity work is second only to their next year of JingleJams. Considering the millions they make each year for charities i think theyre fairly popular.
being able to run a company, that makes a couple of million a year, that employs your friends, and also lets them take a couple of weeks off work to simply raise money for charity... why are not all companies/youtub channels like this....? the world would be a better place
I don't think they've failed, just settled into a groove of making content they want to make that's successful enough to keep them afloat, and not caring a whole lot about the algorithm or what the masses want. It's nice in a way.
Bit false innit? They do algorithmic and formulaic stuff. So many games they expressed strong intent to return to and never did so because TTT and GTA were more important.
@@skarloeythomas5172 "expressed strong intent"
And how do you know they meant it?
These could have been promises made when fans expressed desire to see something return.
Doesn't mean yogs really wanted to deep down.
They play WAY more than TTT and GTA nowadays anyway (for main channel on UA-cam), they probably just moved on from those particular games.
Also I feel like you didn't watch the video through before making this comment, as Lewis explains why they continue to play TTT for such a long time.
I always argue that Point One, their audience changed, Point Two, general attitudes to content production changed, and Point Three, they modified the format of content they put out. But in a broad sense, they've been remarkably consistent from their inception. Hosts and members come and go, but many still have their own channels, they have their own streams, and they contribute to the umbrella of the Yogscast, still. Every year, they keep on keeping on, at a fairly consistent clip. YT numbers probs dipped a bit, but with a lot of their material moving over to Twitch, it's more a transition than a 'fall'.
But then that doesn't make for a good title if you're a channel that revolves around drama videos.
@@skarloeythomas5172 I'll agree as far as main channel stuff goes.
But to be honest if you look at their streams they do play a lot of things they want to play, lots of grand strategy and civ, a whole bunch of Minecraft streams, peculiar portions etc.
They do cater to the algorithm because no doubt TTT and GTA bring in the bucks.
But there's a lot more than just that if you look around at every channel and stream.
I think one of my favourite parts about this is Sips' loyalty to the Yogs even though he could so easily break away and still be successful. Along side that it also makes me so happy to see that Lewis' highlight is recording with Simon every week and it just shows how strong their friendship really is. I think that really is the bond between everyone in the yogs which is why they work so well together, they're all geniune friends
The real guy, the best guy.
I think that's one thing that's always made this group quite special. Now ofc it's a business, they have jobs to do and salaries to pay but they seem to really like what they do and they all get along well and clearly have friendships outside of the Yogscast.
also not to mention, Lewis and Sips have been very good friends for years. Sips' first born even calls Lewis uncle
sips is just a great guy having some fun
I think that there are three types of people that say that Yogscast are dead
1) People that stopped watching years ago, come back, see that the main channel isn’t as popular as it used to be and assume it’s dead with no further context
2) People who have never liked the Yogscast and just want them to fail
3) People who really like the old content and don’t want to acknowledge that the new stuff is successful
Personally speaking even as someone who doesn’t really have the time to watch streams I still love the new content, both because I still enjoy the stuff on the main channel but also because there’s enough clip channels that I can get the bets this if the various streams and if there is one that really catches me I can just watch it when it’s uploaded to Yogscast Live
What do you mean old content? They have been doing the same old content for mor than 5 years now.
@@Akniy They're obviously talking about the old minecraft and similar content from their peak UA-cam viewership days. They did do some TTT back then but the content they produce overall now is pretty diff to how it was then.
@@Akniy you're one of the persons he's talking about lol
@@matildamichel3463 Stuff from 2014-8 has GTA and TTT and some Minecraft and Trucking Tuesday, but the editing and ensembles were simply better.
@@skarloeythomas5172 Matter of opinion. I love the editing and ensembles members right now. I miss some combos/people, but in some ways I like the new stuff better. So def not "simply better".
Thank you for making a vid on this.
I absolutely hate SunnyV2’s disingenuous title and lack of research done in that video.
That was the one that sort of pushed me to finally make this. I really like Sunny's editing and presentation style, but his lack of research to push the "Yogscast failed lol" narrative was pretty infuriating. It literally takes 5 minutes of research to see the Twitch side of things.
@@DrakonAstron It sucks because it’s a top result when you type ‘Yogscast’ into YT. Good work 👊🏽
Sunny's videos are often very poorly researched and hastily thrown together just for clicks.
@@DrakonAstron sunnys video follows the same format as other channels he has covered when they aren't the same.
SunnyV2 just kinda does the same thing for every video he makes. Watches a couple vids, reads some YT comments, fills in the gaps himself to fit a narrative and looks at some UA-cam analytics. Then calls it good, gives it a clickbait title.
No matter what happens with the yogs the tom and Ben duo will always be my favourite I love how they bounce off each other
I think regardless of their UA-cam success, what they do every year for Jingle Jam and the millions they have raised for charity is commendable.
It's amazing that even years later they are raising millions for people less fortunate
First and foremost, fantastic video Drakon, I think a lot of Loyal Yogsfans who've (like me) grown up watching these amazing people are eager to see them succedd. Particularly the section on TTT's rise on the channel and the switch to twitch is key to understanding the new yogscast synnergy. However, what Spiff fantasticly pointed out, was the lack of accessibility to the yogs for new viewers. I myself have distanced myself from the Yogs over the past 18 months or so, but 1 video pulled me back recently.
The "We made our own taskmaster" video released recently, was not only fantastic, but it is perfectly suited for the yogscast.
Higher production quality, a large group of people and fantastic banter between all contributing members is a perfect recipe to succeed in todays youtube, taking for instance the sidemen or mr. Beast as an example.
The yogscast can make this work, if they were willing to sacrifice daily uploads for higher quality weekly videos, I truly believe they'd see a rise in popularity
Thanks! Unfortunately this was edited before the Taskmaster video came out, but I think that would have been a great thing to add. Even as a fan that runs a full-time clips channel, I have had moments where I've become burnt out on Yogs content (TTT especially) and videos like Taskmaster also pull me back in and remind me why I really like Yogs.
If I'm completely honest, I think the Yogs shine best when they are making content unrelated to games, though I'm not sure if that's because I don't watch any gaming content outside of Yogs. There's definitely a balance to be had with TTT etc, and I'm glad to see the Yogs making more creative content lately.
im a huuge fan, but could never get into TTT, seems like they are just walking and joking around a bit, a bit later 1 team wins by pure chaotic killing spree luck, and all the roleplay etc was just filler, all the detective work or whatever has zero influence on the outcome... well, at least that is how the TTT games seem to me hehe
I didn't think of sidemen or mr beast, perhaps because they're not to my taste, but I think alpharad has been doing a great job of pivoting from gaming content to, I don't know what you'd call it, personality driven event content? Part of why I found all the Mario Kart speedrunning stuff so compelling is it was a competition between these personalities I like and recognise, much like why the Poker series is always great every christmas. Definitely more things like the Taskmaster video would be great.
Man seeing someone with "The King of Poo Lagoon" and that avatar brings back memories.
I don't mind them expanding onto Twitch, I just hope they don't leave behind their core UA-cam content behind entirely. The nigh-daily upload is the highlight of my day!
This was so well written and edited, actually made me a bit emotional to watch. All your content is amazing so keep up the good work!
Well researched and executed. I am surprised, however, that you didn't mention the various "scandals" that hit Yogscast staff. The Tinman and Ridge event. The fall of Turps. The sudden jettison of Sjin. I can't help but think these events impacted on view/subs levels in some way or even caused an existential crisis in Yogscast management?
I haven't stopped watching main channel stuff since I found the Yogscast back in 2012, the individual personalities and fun they have always kept me interested and involved, even when I grew up and started living a normal life. coming to the main channel or twitch to see these people who entertained me still doing it and interacting with everyone just made it... them The Yogscast,
I get a odd happy/sad feeling seeing Lewis answer the questions at the end.
Excellent analysis, I loved the chronological look, as well as the factors on youtube that pushed each change that happened to the yogscast.
Outstanding video Drakon! I believe the longevity of the Yogs is the biggest testament to their success. The Yogs continue to create interesting new videos, rent an office, and employ many behind-the-scenes staff - THIS is the sign that they are succeeding.
UA-cam and Twitch, and any social media really, is a business that is massively changeable - the algorithm can change, there can be new trends that you hit or miss, etc. I think by far Lewis and the Yogs biggest success is to carve some stability out of all this, and make content creation a relatively reliable livelihood for many of their members and employees
Not to even mention the Jingle Jam
A brilliant and well-researched video. A step above other videos not only for looking into the focus on Twitch, but going into the full history of the Yogscast and bringing more than just your own words into it. Those sections with Spiff and RT, or Ped's stream where he talks about the Twitch numbers show first-hand the success the Yogs have. And more than ever, this shows that they really are pretty much a bunch of friends doing what they love and sharing it with a community that loves them.
Came across this video while on a nostalgia binge of the old minecraft videos. I was one of the people that assumed Yogscast had fallen off, judging by the youtube numbers. I don't watch Twitch at all so I was delighted to see that they're still going strong there! It's so cool that the people I watched as a kid are still out there doing their own thing, making what they want to make and not just playing up to algorithms or old viewers that don't even really care what they're making. The continued success of jingle jam is incredible to hear as well!
The new content might not be for me, but honestly I'm fine with that, there's still absolutely countless hours of videos and series' they've made that I still love :)
Genuinely an incredible video. Loved getting this look at the history of the Yogs.
Oh Drakon this is so cool, didn't know you'd originally had gotten into videos with a documentary interest!
This was an enjoyable format, hope you can do a couple each year with other subjects you're interested in
My favorite thing about the people that love to declare that the Yogscast is dead or dying is that they'll look at their current TTT uploads and compare the views to their minecraft heyday. It makes me laugh bc their TTT videos still consistently get over 100k views per video-- numbers I think any of us would be ecstatic to be getting if we started up a youtube channel. Personally, I can't imagine my week without Yogs TTT in it at this point, it's become such a beloved staple for me. The thing that brings me great comfort is knowing that the Yogs are all super genuine people and that they wouldn't keep a series going just for the views. If a majority of them ever stop enjoying TTT I'm sure they'll end it or put it on hiatus-- like they did with the GTA videos for a long while. Thanks for the great video Drakon! This community is filled with such lovely people. 🥰
Man, what an incredible watch!
Drakon, you really put out something amazing here. Love your stuff, man!
Excellent video! You did a great job of presenting their progression and various transformation over the past decade+. Personally, I would have preferred a more... complete time line, but *completely* understand your decision. It's clear that the thesis of this video was more focused, but you could have told the fuller story with an extra 15-20 minutes, making a more "complete" story.
Again, fully understand that that was not an option. But at some point, as a long time fan, I'd love to see a feature length documentary that tells the full story. True art evokes emotion, even if they aren't always pleasant ones...
I think the question the Yogscast will have to answer eventually is, who do they want to tell their story?
That's a really good way to put it and a really good question.
Completely skips huge chunks of drama and ghosts some members which had a negative impact on yogscast reputation.
I have no idea how I missed this video after waiting for it and I'm glad to finally see it late! This is an awesome dive into the history of the Yogs and it's great to see it pieced together
I personally really like where the Yogscast have taken things over the years. They did the hard work. They broke records. They didn't have to continue evolving but they did. New people keep joining. New things are being created aside from just videos. And on top of all that, raising tens of millions for charity. I consider that the true achievement here. Most importantly, they still seem happy doing it. They don't seem burned out or bored. It's not a grind and that in my opinion is what makes them still very successful.
Nice to see that my community overlap statistics were helpful. Great video and good response to the „yogscast failed“ videos.
Great video Drakon! Probably my favorite of yours so far, because I can tell the love, effort, and dedication that went into it, along with genuine insight!
I made this UA-cam account back in the summer of 2011 specifically to subscribe to the Yogs when I discovered their Shadow of Israphel series. In the years since my interests have changed and I've followed and unsubbed from numerous channels, but the Yogscast has always been there. Now that I'm working, sitting down to watch some TTT every now and then or watch highlights from their streams is a nice relaxing and fun activity.
What a trip down memory lane... Great video!
Twitch is something that takes scheduling, live attention, and engagement to get the most out of it. I 100% respect that as content creators, streaming would be easier and more fulfilling than editting and trying to get engagement via YT. As someone that has limited free time because of work however, Twitch is a lot more difficult for me to engage with than sitting down and watching a YT video that I can pause or close and pick up later.
While I've fully realized that Yogscast YT content is at best stable, and at worst dying out, it is how I will always engage with them. In that sense, I can understand a certain level of 'failing', but at the same time, I 100% believe that they are an ever evolving and growing entity thanks to Twitch. As long as they keep producing videos, I will keep watching, but they have been greatly helped out by content archivers and collectors like you and Best Bits for those of us that want to see new and funny Yogs content without having to engage with Twitch, Thanks Drakon for your hard work!
I'm the same way, I hope they put out more things like the Taskmaster video they did recently. Fundamentally they have a great talent pool of funny and compelling creators who interact well with each other, that's something that lends itself well to youtube content.
Maaaan this video has me sentimental - most likely because I don't want to see the Yogs vanishing, ever. They've got to be the most genuine, laid-back and funny people there are on YT and Twitch, which is why I come back to them so often. They've been there ever since I was in secondary school and have brought a smile to my face whenever I'd needed one with the added benefit of actively expanding my English vocab (greets from Ger!). Thanks for this video, it really made me rediscover my appreciation for them. Looking forward to this years' JingleJam!
Thank you for the awesome video! It was very insightful into the history of the Yogscast and I'm glad to hear that they are doing well
I don't usually comment, but I just wanted to say that this video was excellent. You have obviously put so much time and effort in, and as someone who has watched Yogs content since the very beginning, its incredibly refreshing to see this perspective on their evolution since there is so much negativity out there. Well done again 👏
Great video, Drakon! I can tell you've put an immense amount of effort into this project!
Really, really excellent video, I never normally comment on youtube videos but this was so good and so well made that I felt I had to support it by engaging with it.
An absolutely fantastic video with a great in-depth look into things.
One thing that I always think of - and which was mentioned here briefly - whenever I see the "yogscast is failing lol" take is the state of UA-cam over the years. Back when the Yogscast was at their peak, the kind of content they created was exactly the type of content that the algorithm liked. However, things have changed significantly since then, and the content creators have to follow along if they don't want to fade into obscurity. The Yogscast are no different, and like many other creators in the past few years, they took one specific path to continue as content creators: shifting from creating long video series on UA-cam to instead streaming content on Twitch.
But just as things changed back then, they are still changing. If things with Twitch continue on the same track, and with the steady rise of UA-cam as a streaming platform, it'll be interesting to see how content creation will change going forward.
Honestly, you put in so much work and love into my favourite group of people, I had to comment just to say : Amazing work! Love the Yogs to bits and I'm glad you're part of the family ❤️
incredible video, really shows how well yogs are still doing these days and it didnt even mention the success of live action shoots like heroes and generals, dont starve and such which are still going to this day with things like master tasker
This was a great video, saves outside of controversies, Yogscast have consistently kept adapting and producing content.
I don't think they failed at all. I remember back in the day, after watching swifty's wow videos I searched "British world of warcraft" (being british myself) and found lewis and simon rambling over wow boss fights which i hadn't even heard of, being a massive noob myself back then. When the yogpod trailer came out I finally made a youtube account, and I've been watching since then. The fact I could drop into any yogscast stream after all this time and enjoy it regardless of who's hosting that stream is god damn amazing.
excellent video drakon. this is something i think about from time to time and you did as close to a perfect job of explaining it as anyone could. keep up the great work mate!
Fantastic video. I opened it not checking how long it would be but just sat and watched it from beginning to end.
I think people adverse to change and a loud minority are the first to claim the Yogs to be failing or stagnating. Of course there have been bad situations throughout the years. Like the people they had to let go, from PirateTinman back in the day all the way to the more recent big 3-4 names, or even more inane things like Tom quitting TTT, it just seems some viewers who enjoyed their content a bit more have turned especially jaded. Yes, the content changed, just as the people making it changed. The fact is, even with the end of SoI, Simon's illness, the YogVentures situation, or any other big source of change in their content, they have focused on content they enjoy creating, and us as viewers appreciate that and get enjoyment out of that as well.
still watching since Israphel. so they haven't failed me yet!
I got into the Yogscast pretty late (like 2017 or 2018) and that was mainly through fan channels compilations so I'm glad you mentioned that helped build the community up
This is really well thought out and put together Drakon! Was a pleasure to watch!
Honestly thought I would never get around to watching this but im so glad I did. Its such a good video that reminds us of things that have happened, that are happening and that will happen. The only thing that I think is a shame is the fact that most people who dont watch the yogs anymore wont even see this and even if they do they might deem it too long to watch. Amazing stuff DA.
Drakon, you made some excellent points in this video and did an excellent job in presenting the reasons why the yogscast is still indeed thriving and not failing as some have claimed. As a long time yog fan I wholeheartedly agree. One comment I do have however for this video is there is an absence of discussion regarding some of the past controversies that are often pointed to as reasons for the yogscast failing. Yogventures was not discussed, and of course the removal of *redacted* x 3 back in 2019. The latter scandal I do think would have been particularly important to address as it was a pivotal and tumultuous change within the yogscast that genuinely did threaten its reputation and success as an entertainment platform. When people claim that the yogscast failed, or is failing, they will point to this particular event above all things. The fact that the yogscast didn't crumble under that controversy was because they responded quickly, appropriately, and both the remaining creators and audience managed to adapt to a yogscast without those former figures. Many other channels and communities would not have survived a divisive controversy like that. Avoiding the controversies entirely does make this video feel somewhat cherry picked. I think this rebuttal would have been stronger if you addressed those events, but I also understand that doing so would have been challenging discussion to have, especially for a first video essay. Regardless, you made a very strong argument for the success of the yogscast and I really enjoyed the video. Cheers!
Awesome video. I didn't realise you (and the other comp makers) were actually part of Yogs. Even though I've not watched any actual videos for years (Sips streaming Red Dead 1 was probably the last time watched a whole playthrough) but I still feel like I watch the yogscast and know what's going on because I watch a lot of these compilations. Thank you for the excellent work you guys do :)
Drakon, this video is incredible, so well-written and well-edited. I watch videos on 1.25x speed naturally and it still flows really well and everything is concise and easy to understand.
I became a Yognaught around 2010/2011, when I had just started high school, with Minecraft being the big grab for me as it's what I was mostly playing at the time beyond Call of Duty. I watched majority of the video content, only really skipping videos on games that I had no interest in, but I was also watching pretty much every channel in the network at the time also (adding more watch time as more channels were added). There was definitely a period of time where I stopped watching some main channel content, thinking maybe when Twitch really did start becoming the main focus (I'm an Australian in Australia, so timezones have always been wack to work with), but picked it back up when I decided to invest more time into the people that always made me laugh, and haven't stopped since.
From TTT, to GTA, to Minecraft on Duncan's channel, to Hat Films doing what Hat Films do, to Best Bits and compilations, I love everything the Yogs are doing right now, even if I don't have the time anymore to watch all of it, and I'm truly looking forward to the years ahead.
the sense of nostalgia i got from watcing this. 13 years i have watched them and its crazy
I think the notion that the Yogscast is/was failing could have been considered true back in 2018 when they were still pretty firmly sticking to Minecraft in a time where most viewers were kinda growing out of Minecraft or at least getting a little tired of 7 years of it (though I might just be projecting, because that's about when I stopped watching for said reasons, coming back in early 2020 about when they started diversifying a lot more). Sure, they could have stuck to the easy and safe Minecraft views and floated on that bubble until it might burst, but the fact alone of how they pivoted and adapted with their audience speaks volumes about how they recognised that it'd be a bad business decision but also how it'd be terrible for content creator burnout. I basically grew up watching Yogscast videos, but I wouldn't be able to say I still love them today if they hadn't grown with me.
As sad as it was, the scandals in 2019 was a big point of upheaval in the yogs, they were slowly going that way but sjin, turps and hannah leaving gave them a desisive shove, away from a Minecraft group and into personality driven MCN. The gaps left by old personel meant others had to step up into a more prominent role, this was often newer members who hadn't joined as a Minecraft channel and fans who were still stuck in the old mc days left.
Now the focus isn't on the Yogscast group, it's on individual communities within the Yogscast network who have high viewer crossovers with efficient and natural collaboration. This is why main channel views aren't super important because every individual has their own corner within the larger Yogscast community.
I'd say the only time the Yogscast is one big entity is jingle jam and possibly yogcon, where everyone forgoes their individual recognition to represent the Yogscast brand.
i honestly think the yogscast is still peak internet entertainment
Maybe in 2013/2014, not now.
Its lovely to see the visual documentation of their history. Having watched them since their genesis it is a fantastic and entertaining video. Thanks :)
Have the Yogscast fallen?
No. I don't think so. I think, instead, they've GROWN to be a bigger community than once was. Before really getting involved in The Yogscast twitch community, I would only watch youtube. After getting involved, I now mod for Lydia's discord, and every community I've interacted with is honestly THE BEST! They're all super understanding, honest, and really fun to play with! Never in a million years would I imagine I'd find a amazing community such as The Yogscasts community, and I am so happy I did find it! It's amazing to see where The Yogs started (I found them back in 2009 in L4D2 videos on UA-cam), and to where they are now. I always am so happy to see how much effort they put into things because they truly do care about their communities and everything they do.
20:00 LOOK ITS ME MUM! I'm in chat!
31:14 This is why I love Lewis. He isn't going to be greedy and put energy into things he doesn't want to. I love how honest The Yogs are more than anything.
44:42 Hands down my fave Lewis moment. He's watching over 10 years of progress come before him.
Good video man, well done
I love you for this! What a great documentary
God I still remember listening through the YogPod episodes during childhood road trips with my parents. I’ve grown up with these people and I think it’s beautiful that they have been apart of many of our childhoods and it’s wonderful to still see the now company thriving. I always catch up with Jingle Jam clips and different vods each year and it’s so great to see their positive impact all these years later.
I agree! Excellent analysis and usage of first hand interviews with the Yogs and all those Social Blade-esque stats. Saying the Yogscast declined is such an easy yet lazy thing to do, in reality they were just playing 4D chess while also balencing that with being true to themselves. Props to Lewis and Simon, the Yogscast members and community, and you for all keeping the Yogscast alive and thriving, when oh so many contemporaries have sputtered out, occasionally with a large bang (the Creatures). I myself wish I can continue watching the Yogs as I have since 2012, I'm in my twenties now and I've increasingly lost the ability to spend as much free time as when I was younger, however they'll always forever be in my memories.
Small criticism: At 9:46 you mentioned that twice already. Schooling tells you not to present the same thing more than once in an essay, or in this case, a video essay.
Lewis and Ben save the world is the new Israphel, change my mind.
that old Yogpod clip really made me smile
I remember loving Tekkit and the Dropper when I was a kid, and Duncan’s Castle series. Rythian’s X-Com playthough was another one of my favs and convinced me to buy the game myself and made me an X-com fan. Hannah’s Walking Dead playthough, Panda’s Flame in the Flood vids and Nilesy’s FTL series, which also made me buy the game. Sips Don’t Starve as well, hell they influenced most of my game choice when I was younger. And can’t forget Martyn’s Advent series too.
Zoey’s vids in general as well, especially the Scribblenauts and her ‘You are Awesome’ videos which is one of the nicest videos I’ve ever watched.
I fell off before Yogventures like I did with a lot of UA-camr’s when I was younger and started watching again in 2019. The TTT series has anchored itself as one of my favs.
Honestly they aren’t as popular, but I don’t think every single entertainment channel or company need to consistently grow in order to stay ‘good’, especially since they struck lighting in the bottle to the point where UA-cam itself had to break the bottle.
They’ve earned a fan for life in me pretty much. Especially with their support towards Pride.
I will be completely honest, nothing will be better then those early yogscast days in 2012-13, things just seemed to come so naturally, the stuff they make now is still good, but like I said nothing can beat Jaffa factory with all the legends
YOGSCAST are the most underrated content creators who quite literally defined a whole genre and even a new career. I am being entirely serious when I say without YOGSCAST there would be no Dream (+SMP + "mcyt") and even more surprisingly there would be no KSI - I may be imaging this but I am sure he has even credited the YOGSCAST before as being at least some part for his UA-cam inspiration & early success. The YOGSCAST literally had a major part in defining most just minecraft/gaming comedy content but the entire idea of UA-cam career path for UK based creators, this being both through their innovative
I am just happy to see Lewis and Simon on the main channel again they are so funny together. I don't have the time to watch Twitch but I am glad they are doing well on it.
This. Is. Great.
Good to see a perspective that doesn’t dismiss their recent years by only looking at youtube statistics.
I find people that say channels with more than 100k views daily are dead so strange. Like do they only watch channels with millions and millions of views?
compared to channels of similar size and age it's quite a healthy number
My introduction to Yogscast was through a suggestion to watch A New Rim. I'd never heard of Yogscast before, but it was so funny I binged the whole series. Then UA-cam suggested one of their TTT videos and I was hooked.
Never quite noticed that "Call Sips" is one of their oldest jokes. I remember the Jingle Jam ones, but oh boy.
Hi Drakon, good job on the video. Just want to share that the cadence/pacing is a little fast, by which I mean that it feels like there wasn't much breathing space between each chapter/section. If you are planning to make more of such similar video essays in future, I would recommend checking out Defunctland (here on YT) and observing how the creator/narrator paces his dialogue. That aside, thank you for making this video. As someone who only started watching the yogs in 2011/12, it's interesting to learn of how they started back in their WOW days. Good work and hope to see more of such informative videos, alongside the regular clips of course!
I think they've had ups and downs, and long periods of stagnation, and there was a particular low point that saw a few members go (which I must say was handled incredibly).
I think they've grown as a business and brand but have still stayed quite honest and true, like sure it sucks that the main channel is all just TTT but perculier portions, the wealth of different channels and streams and collaborations and real life quality content that feels real genuine and fun has insured that the yogscast has never quite become "false" or formulaic.
The jingle jam, the contious genuine friendship and chemistry between members, the growth of several individual careers whilst still staying part of the group and the recent "renaisance" with more successful streams than ever and some beloved new members has insured that the yogscast has never really fallen or failed.
I find in recent years it's been lovely to watch some streams, some of the Minecraft streams especially like the simon and gee and duncan and boba honestly bring back great memories of the tekkit stuff like BlackRock and Duncan's stuff.
I agree with pretty much this whole video, there was a golden age, a steady period of growth, gradual increase in production value and members. And then a period of decay and decline, but then new ideas, fresh faces and a larger amount of content insured that they were able to continue and modernise without ever resorting to the algorithm catering stuff that yo usee other early 2000s content creators fall into.
Ok I MUST admit there is clearly a lot of algorithm baiting on the main channel and a few others, and if they could do whatever they liked we'd probably see less TTT and GTA.
BUT they still do a lot more than just that, I think they do what they need to do to make money, but they clearly leave room for things they really enjoy.
i will always love these people, these goofy bastards have brought a smile to my face for over a decade , and will continue to love them forever
Seeing this video after seeing what happened with Roosterteeth, the other content creator group I grew up with, has been an eye-opening experience. Especially since I am not a huge fan of watching streams, I have always felt a great sadness with Yogscast and of course Roosterteeth as their youtube channels and content started becoming stale and unimaginative. I always thought Roosterteeth would last longer since they have such a greater diversity of content and were more successful in many markets. Seeing how the Yogscast are still doing good work and staying true to their community definitely had me shocked.
What I failed to see was the actual focus each of these groups had and how they are developing themselves. RT wanted to become bigger and better every time and was willing to take big risks with new projects and new talents without properly introducing or engaging the community. This was amazing when they first started out with RvB, Achievement Hunter, RWBY etc. But as the years continued (and a mix of bad employer practices and scandals) the creative output became unsustainable and costly; however, RT has been around for 21 years and was relevant for around a decade - an achievement nothing to scoff at. Though of course we will remember their ending to be a whimper as they slowly faded away out of the limelight.
Seeing how the Yogscast looks as if it took the same route or maybe even worse was hard to see but now understanding how successful they still are brings about an understanding on why they succeeded where others failed. The Yogscast was never really about being the best or being bigger just for the sake of having talent. They brought on new talent into their community slowly and let them flourish by switching their perspective on the type of content they want to make. In all honesty, twitch was the right move. The way that gaming content on UA-cam became so saturated and changed so much since the early 2010s, it would be a huge ordeal to stay relevant for longer than they currently are. Even big creators nowadays are slowly fading away only having a few years of being in the limelight. I truly appreciate the perspective that the Yogscast has taken on doing things that they love and not putting too much pressure on themselves to be bigger and better than their former selves, rather develop the people who have great talent and provide for the community. I would have loved to see that for some of my favorite RT members.
Thank you for such a great in-depth video. Its almost making me considering coming back to watching the Yogs on stream if I had the time. I really appreciate all your work in making the highlight videos.
This was an amazing heartfelt video!
This was great! 🙏
What a great video! :D I didn't know I cared so much about Yogs Lore
@Drakon Astron You are a beautiful person! Thank you so much for making this fantastic video. I have been a fan of the yogscast since the last few episodes of. Shadow of Israphel came out. I really could not agree more when you said that the yogs are now looking to grow their staff and content creators more now than ever before. The hay days of Minecraft may be over but i really think that this is a new leaf and different playing field the yogs are growing into. I find it amazing of you to put this amount of effort in to showcase their history. You have definitely been one of my favorite fan/newer channels to watch from the yogs. Much love and you will always have my support!
I love this! Other videos about the Yogscast's downfall have irked me for the same reason, they don't mention Twitch and how the Yogs have changed for the better. It's not just Lewis and Simon playing minecraft anymore, now it's a large network of amazing personalities and charismatic pairings like Ben and Tom, Lewis and Sips and Pyrion, Lydia and like, every member, Boba and Pedguin, Rythian and Briony.. I could go on and on.
Those clips and Ped and Sips talking about the Yogscast have always stuck in my mind, I love them. This video describes perfectly what I think when my irl friends say "what do they even do now? I don't know anyone, what's left of the old group?" A few, but there are soooo many more people now that give me soo much content to watch. They make any day better imo!
Imagine them doing a minecraft series now, it'd be so chaotic and great! I think the only issue is they all play at a different pace.
I don’t think they have. Their community has got even tighter, content has got better, and they’re a constantly expanding and flourishing business. I love the Yogs and they’re one of the only things left from my childhood that I find to be just as entertaining, if not more so, as I did 10 years ago
Preety good documentary on the history of the yogs (better than the 10-year stuff they put out, though still a bit biased). The main channel was forced to diversify away from their usual content because Simon was less available to make videos (this began before he had to go to hospital), their view count had already been dipping anyway. It's easy to see why this can be seen as a kind of failure.
You can define success many ways though, and Lewis managed to keep the company alive through all the scandals and setbacks, the Jingle Jam, the expanded business ventures , those are all kinds of success (I dunno how well the other businesses are doing). but also apart from a few channels, most of the yogs twitches have fairly low viewcount, but hey they can live off it which is great.
But I think you can't say the Yogs are stonger than ever, or even as strong as before, they were preety famous, had huge viewcounts and probably made more money than they could ever spend, they're clearly not at that level now, even if they have managed to survive it all.
For me Yogscast is successful because they reached the entirety of the audience that enjoyed their humor, and then kept on producing things only for their fans.
That’s not to say the fanbase is small, only that at some point they realized that they were no longer pulling in new viewers, and instead shifted to building in-jokes into every series that their long-time fans would enjoy.
Obviously they haven’t been stagnant, though there were periods where the content was. But for me, having watched them since about 2010, I appreciated watching Lewis become batshit insane and the progression of the ensemble building out to support him. Additionally, there is a sense now that this content is by millennials for millennials. There is the occasional Gen Z mixed in there, but usually they’ve inherited the humor that Yogs provided when they were younger.
I never like the "Yogscast dead" narrative, because whilst I can realise that I watch them far less than I did when I was younger, purely due to having less free time to do so, I look at all their other UA-cam ventures with things like Games Night, Battle Boys, Civ, the list goes on, and all their Twitch streams and I know that they're just as big as they were 10 years ago, and in 10 years time they'll be just as big. Sure, they might not be on a constant incline or as prominent as they were during the SOI/Moonquest/Hole Diggers era, but the Jingle Jam is still a massive hit and success for charity, the Yogs family is always expanding with more and more people, giving new creators a spotlight alongside the 'core' Yogs of Lewis, Simon, Duncan, Sips and even some of the 'newer' (I say as I'd already been watching for years before their introduction) Yogs members who are now staples in my eyes, like Tom Clarke, Ben, Harry and all the others. The Yogs isn't dead or even on a decline, they've simply switched more towards Twitch and are comfortable in their position, and that's perfectly fine, as it's a great place for them to be.
i think i stopped watching the yogs around 2016. i'm not really in to watching streams as i have a full time job and gaming content doesnt really interest me anymore. however i'm just happy lewis, sips, duncan and simon are healthy and doing well, their videos were there for me when i was going through a pretty rough childhood, and ill never forget that nor take it for granted.
I've honestly been pretty pissed off with all those videos saying that they've "failed".
It's simply not true. True, there's been controversy over certain members, but at the heart of it the Yogs are fantastic people. They're doing a lot of stuff on Twitch now, but I've been watching the Yogs on YT since the Tekkit Jaffa Factory series and I still find their content funny to this day. They raise millions for charity every year.
I've been a channel member since they announced it because I like being able to give some of my money to my favourite creators so they can do some really fun stuff together.
I started watching the yogs on and off years ago but I gradually stopped but what really got me back was the TTT series. Between 2015-19, I would say I watched more of rooster teeth but then the TTT collab with AH happened. Then with the world going into lockdown due to covid, I had to work from home and constantly found myself looking for things to watch on YT. So I ended up watching Yogs more again since 2020.
It will be interesting to see how things go in the next few years, especially with the never ending controversy on Twitch, maybe everything will come full cycle again with everyone moving back and stream on UA-cam.
Great video really enjoyed it. Also where / what is the video at beginning with sips on screen ?
this is an epic video!
Just so everyone knows: on a recommended video you can click "Not interested" and then on "Tell us why" pick "I don't like this video". This impacts the YT algorithm and the video and similar videos to that video won't be showing up in yours and others recommendations. The videos will get less and less views and hopefully get content creators to put a little effort into them.
Did they fail, in my eyes yes. I shared my more constructive opinion some time ago, but was banned by a mod for a "targeted harassment" even though I haven't mentioned any names. In short, I still enjoy watching some members of the Yogscast, mostly the OG ones. I used to be a fan, but now The Yogscast as a group don't mean much to me since people are joining and leaving left and right. I also don't agree with why some of the previous members were expelled.
13:40 To this day, it still gets me good.
this was the video i was looking for
I never followed the yogscast group much, but I heard about them as this big, significant group in UA-cam history, it’s cool to have a sub 1-hour video that summarises around 14 years of a single UA-cam group!
dude! this is S tier content!
The autogen subtitles are the best. The Yogscast turned in to : The orcs cast, the York's cast , the orgscast, the ox cast , The Oaks
Really interesting to see some of the history of the yogs as I started watching in 2018 so I feel I missed the supposed "downfall".
Idk. They stopped doing games night or any non ttt stuff since then. Thankfully they seem to be finally trying something new. Simons PP, plate up, one off things like sports day and mastertasker. To be honest I see 2019-2021 as the bad period. IMO they are getting better again.
That is also just the main channel. HAT films, Tom, Duncan, all have pretty varied stuff and most of the new additions like RT and Spiff are variety creators.
Yogscast is following the same path as Smosh. They've been there, done that on UA-cam. They were once the biggest with a fanbase of a young generation different to now, but they've all grown up- or their sense of humour has been changed by the copious amount of short form, self-deprecating and dark humour content created by Gen Z and Zoomers. Why many believe the Yogscast and Smosh are failing now are due to their small numbers compared to the modern standard we are led to believe as "success", when in actuality, as a business- these two are actually living well off. They post enough content with enough sponsors, brand deals, merch sales, ad revenue and donations to live comfortably.
And THAT is success.
Hearing all of the things they've accomplished and done since I started watching them (Surviving the First Night) all put together like that made me tear up a few times. I feel like a proud mom despite them being around the same age I am.
I'm proud of Lewis and Simon, I'm proud of the Yogs as a whole, I'm proud of everything they've done for their local community and charities, and I'm incredibly proud to be a part of such a unique community of absolute nerds. Bless you all.
22:44 LOOK MOM!!! I'M FAMOUS!! I can't believe I'm in a Drakon Astron video 😁😁 Your video is a masterpiece and you should feel very proud. Job well done. It makes me appreciate the Yogs even more for all the entertainment they've brought us over the years.
Thank you for this. An outstanding time capsule of nostalgia woven with new behind the scenes insights. Would love to see more like it maybe for each yogs creator.
This was so well done! Do you have thoughts about any similar videos in the future!
what are the clips of them being interviewed from? When Lewis talks about there being people he now trusts with things and Tom and Ben talking about the new Ben?
10 year anniversary video I think
God damn, what an epic fucking video. I hate those other videos as well that say that yogs is dead. I'm glad you included Spiff and RT talking about newcomers. I had no idea and now I understand that aspect better. I love the way that yogs has evolved over the years and I'll continue to be here to watch them change and grow as the years go on.
This video is absolutely excellent.