Goodbye YouTube 

The fun will continue at www.watchertv.com/ We hope to see you there. edit: Hey all! Seeing a lot of folks saying that we’re pulling all of our content off RU-vid. To clarify, all of the content on our RU-vid channel will continue to live here forever. For new seasons, the first episodes will be released on RU-vid will the remaining coming out exclusively on the Watcher platform.

You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become BuzzFeed

If I wanted a mfer with a tesla to call me broke I would have just logged onto twitter

Rest in peace Shane Madej you would've hated Shane Madej

" You made us rich, but not rich enough :( "

This video has gotten so many "boos" they might as well count it as part of their evidence that ghosts do exist.

Y’all remember when the best parts of buzzfeed unsolved was the black screens with nothing but text… Yeah, production quality isn’t why we watched

RU-vidrs can make more money by devoting one minute of a video to a Raid Shadow Legends ad than I will make in a 40 hour work week. Do NOT ask me to pay more money for things.

“Shane finally saw a ghost, the ghost of his career” TOOK ME OUT.

With literally one RU-vid poll this entire thing could've been avoided💀

This reeks of rich friends giving awful advice and overestimating your chances tbh

“I learned how to be a human on RU-vid “ Well that’s your problem right there

it's like you helped a friend out emotionally after an abusive relationship just to see them go right back

Idk why they tried to make it a sob story about leaving RU-vid. You’re not being forced to leave, you’re choosing to leave bc you think you can make more money at the expense of your audience

Guys stop being so accurate in the comments I can’t like them all

25 staff members for one youtube channel? Yeah, that's the problem. We don't need fancy production. Too many spirits was you guys telling stories around a bonfire, one of my favorite series on this show.

Please never remove this video. It needs to remain as a shining beacon on what not to do and how not to make an announcement for ages to come.

The production cost for this goodbye video alone could have probably paid for at least 7 videos of Shane and Ryan goofing off and making our lives better. This is so depressing.

Well maybe when the fortune teller said Ryan would die on camera she actually meant his reputation and career

3 men who took themselves way too seriously.

The funniest part of this video is that they monetized it and made ya watch multiple ads of them telling you they have to create videos to please advertisers... 😂😅😂

You might as well change your name to “Watched”.

Yes, I could afford to pay 6$ a month, but I won’t support such a ”fuck you” decision. Guess it’s a goodbye then.

So, the merch website wasn't making enough with $80 hoodies, $40 tees, and $45/$125 "mystery boxes"? The 13k+ subscribers on your ACTIVE Patreon, with a minimum of $5/month donations (and higher tiers of $10/month, $25/month, and $100/month)? The monetization of your RU-vid (2.85 million subs), Instagram (489k followers), and Twitter (248k followers) accounts? The ongoing, sold-out tour shows? The podcast profits? NONE of that was enough? Instead, you felt obligated, for the sake of production quality, to add another streaming service that you want your audience to juggle? Solely for "exclusive" content? Your apology video doesn't break these costs down, either. You need to be FULLY transparent if you want even a sliver of your fans to consider subscribing to something like this.

We watched this video with our marketing teacher and discussed it. You guys really effed up.

Guys what if we all just share one account

Watcher? I can hardly afford her!

It’s crazy how genuinely betrayed I felt watching this. These guys have been my biggest comfort youtubers for so long, and the fact that they’ve become a part of the problem (the problem being my inability to afford anything) was disillusioning in a way that was, honestly, surprisingly upsetting

“i hope you guys follow us this one last time” is CRAZY

Buying gold flake covered ice cream off buzzfeeds money was funny, buying it off of ours is not.

Imagine being so tone deaf and living in such a bubble that you can look around in 2024 and think “I bet people are willing to pay for another streaming service.”

A few knee-jerk reaction points: 1 - It sounds like there are significant internal problems if your company is struggling to pay staff an equitable wage. That should not be taken out on viewers, you can't seriously expect people to foot the bill for your brand's financial problems or mismanagement. 2 - I make less than $16/hour and half my wage is spent on a 1-bedroom apartment in a small city with very few amenities. 3 - I financially support loved ones who are disabled, or who are lost to depression, or have car repairs they can't afford, and I'm still not asking someone who likes listening to me to cover any of that shit. That's MY shit to cover. I like your content, but I can no longer trust this brand or your character.

your apology doesn't make up for the ruined reputation. there's something to be said about steven filming his 'we can't afford it' section in a kitchen that looks like its part of a multimillion dollar home. i would LOVE to know how much each of you are personally bringing home salary wise. also, it is in really poor taste to ask people to subscribe to this platform so that you can 'go international.' you want us to pay for your trip to france? come on guys.

getting hit with two ads at the end of the video really was the cherry on top

Finally something the Shaneiacs and Boogaras can agree on!... how terrible an idea this is 💀

25 EMPLOYEES?! You have less than 3M subscribers, what on earth are you thinking?! That’s your problem right there. It’s not a YT problem, or an advertiser problem, it’s a YOU problem. Do better.

“Anybody and everybody can afford ($5.99)” is such a disgusting thing to say. How out of touch can you be?

This feels like a breakup, and the reason was you calling me broke.

Imo, switching from corporate sad somber music to fucking upbeat shit is the biggest slap to the face for your audience who understand the marketing tactics y’all do. We are not 12

I'm seeing people giving excuses for the "eat the rich" guy. Don't make excuses for him. If he truly believes that he would have walked away and not went along with this. Money really does show people's true colors.

The way the video starts with a ridiculously expensive LA office then saying you have no money for content anymore 🤣can’t make this shit up

“We want to rely less on advertising” WHY???? That’s what pays you and keeps your content free! Take the money from the billion dollar companies and stop asking your fans for money

did i just....get laid off as a watcher fan???

i saw those photos of shane madej’s wedding. let’s not pretend y’all are aching for money.

Ryan if you are ever searching for a place scarier than the Sallie house, it is the comment section of this video buddy🤣🤣🤣

I cant explain it but this video feels like when your rich corporate boss gives you a pizza party instead of a raise

A case study on how to destroy your brand in 15 minutes.

this is genuinely really sad. i don't wanna be parasocial and say that "they've changed" because i don't know them, but at least the way they've presented themselves thus far seems so disingenuous looking back from this

They are not nearly popular enough to have such delusion of grandeur. Who are they taking advices from?

oh icarus..

After watching their videos for 6+ years I feel like I just lost two friends in a “we’re too cool to hang out with you anymore” kind of way.

Even after the apology video I can’t help but feel like they literally just became buzzfeed . Like the apology feels more like them obligated to cancel the streaming service instead of them actually understanding what’s wrong with it. Like the apology feels like they REALLY want to keep it and that they’re just reading off a script

I love how one minute into this video there’s an unskippable ad

it's real ironic to complain about the cost of video production in a video that was clearly overproduced

I think one of the reasons this move is so unpopular is because it totally goes against your ‘brand’. You’ve always presented yourselves as underdogs, to an extent: very relatable and down to earth. You’ve always been the antithesis of what Buzzfeed has become, and people liked the smaller, more friendly vibe of this channel. People don’t WANT higher production quality from you; in fact, they are craving the exact opposite. So much of TV now is overproduced garbage, and your channel has always been a refreshing antidote to that. A puppet teaching us about history; two men reading spooky stories in his parents’ back garden: it’s a channel with a small, cosy feel, and that’s what your audience flock here for. If you want to start a streaming service then fair enough, but I doubt many fans will be following you, because it completely contradicts why they liked you as a brand in the first place.

Basically this is the way I see it think of this as a teacher telling you “oh it’s only a hour of homework” (only $6 a month) all the while you have four or five other teachers giving you a hour worth of homework (Netflix,Hulu,prime,patrion and any other subscription/streaming service)

I hope the lesson you have learned is that we don't prefer or want the expensive videos. Buzzfeed was low budget and the best you've done.

Hiring a financial advisor for your spending would've cost you less than announcing this

we never wanted better quality. all we wanted was shane and ryan, doing their stuff like they were at buzzfeed, but just in a better working environment. nobody asked for this

You guys make almost as much in one single 2 minute ad during a video than I make per year. I feel very bad for you guys, truly.

the 38k to 266k like to dislike ratio is insane

this feels like when you're at a work meeting and the boss keeps calling the team "a family" when you all make $10 an hour and they're going to Italy for vacation this summer.

scrolled for five minutes trying to find a single comment expressing that this is anything less than a terrible idea. still looking.

Shane: “There were a lot of shows we did here on this free platform that people didn’t watch … these shows will do great on a viewer-paid platform”. Uhh what? 😂

For everyone saying “calm down, it’s just $6” and complaining that people just want everything for free… I don’t think you realize how many of us are ALREADY supporting them on Patreon, purchasing their Merch, attending their live events. We aren’t doing that for free, we are already committing our hard-earned dollars to support this channel, and this is a slap in the face. And for those viewers who aren’t on Patreon, we aren’t ASKING them to pay thousands of dollars on top-notch graphics and elaborate sets. Many of us started watching back then they were on Buzzfeed, with a modest little set, a couple of chairs, and creepy mannequin in the corner. We were fine with it, we watched Ryan and Shane for them, not their production quality. In all the years I’ve been subscribed, I’ve never seen anyone complain “but why don’t you have more fancy graphics???” So pining their troubles on financial issues, honestly that’s a Them Issue. They started their business, they need to figure out how to manage their budget. Whether that is laying off employees (admittedly a tough call) or cutting episodes, or trimming a series or two, or just slashing the budget on effects, they need to hire a Financial Advisor to help them manage their money better, that is for THEM to figure out, and frankly it is just inconsiderate to put that financial burden on their audience, especially when we have done so much to support them already. And let’s not forget, if you are Subscribed, Liking their Videos, or even just adding to their View Count, you ARE supporting them. You are the reason Advertisers are interested in them, you are the reason they can monetize their channel. You are doing all that anyone has any right to ask of you. Their financial woes are not your responsibility to fix.

“nobody’s made tv caliber content on youtube before” what bubble are y’all living in, that’s so rude

if y’all are really saying that you can’t afford to make videos on this scale anymore then the awnser is to scale back, not force us to pay for new shit. we are just gonna rewatch the old shit and act like you died or something

I need to read the business plan for this. WHO thought it was a good idea? 🤦🏻‍♂️

The funny thing is the poor people are the ones watching your content. Not the rich that that can pay 65 dollars a year on 8 different platforms. You guys totally don't understand who your audience is

So to recap: you overhired, leased an egregiously and needlessly large studio space in one of the most expensive cities in the world and have exhausted all other means of monetization as a result. Basically you pulled a Buzzfeed. Ponderous.

How about instead of this... drop the "rich people eating expensive food" show, which no one can relate to. And no one wanted...

In case you don't have the 'bring back dislikes' extension in your browser: It's lookin' a little rough up there lol

"I learned how to be a human on youtube" ... jesus fuck our world is doomed.

The biggest fuck-over are their Patreons who made an annual subscription and are now having their content taken away. The comments over there are WILD y’all.

The old Shane "Eat the rich" Madej would've wanted us to pirate it.

saw a comment that said “When the fortune teller told Ryan he would die on camera, she failed to mention it would be his career”

The corporate "upbeat, triumphant, and visionary" music over the background is what's killing me. "It's an opportunity for us to spend more money on ourselves during these trips." This was never a move for the fans. Ya'll a business, we get that. But you couldn't be satisfied with being a multimillion dollar operation? Accessibility is king. You are making your content more difficult to access for the average consumer.

i’m impressed how everyone has collectively decided this was an awful take.

You know it's bad when all of youtube, instagram, tiktok, reddit and twitter all unanimously agree that this was a dumb asf idea.

“I’m not sitting here complaining….” This whole video is a complain video. We didn’t budget properly and spent way too much money in the beginning and grew way too fast when we should’ve been crafty and frugal - and now we might pay the ultimate price and unalive our company. I honestly can’t believe this video/edit passed their quality control review. 😅

Thanks so much guys for showing us how to ruin your career in one video. I really appreciate it ❤️❤️❤️

I recognise that the Council has made a decision. But given that it’s a stupid-ass decision, I’ve elected to ignore it.

good news everybody, for only $72 a year you can watch a limited pool of content that was built off the backs of a dedicated free fanbase that's been left in the dust by the decisions of a financially out of touch company that once made anti-capitalist jokes!

This probably sounded a lot better in the meeting didn't it?

I remember stand up comic Lewis Black once saying we need a new way of saying "greedy" because that one word wasn't cutting anymore in the 21st century. Think he settled on "greedy greedy f**k f**k piggy greedy piggy f**k piggy greedy". Not sure why that just came to mind.

Well boys, looks like it's back to BuzzFeed unsolved marathons.

If I were an employee at watcher I would begin looking for different employment. This does not seem sustainable.

Dude. You don't need 25 staff for what you do. You don't need a suite of expensive offices. Cut the costs, go back to your basics. People love you for that.

Not only tech jobs are getting laid off but viewers are also getting laid off

One of your most successful series is Shane and Ryan drunk in a backyard. We are here for them, not production.

I feel gaslit. You're doing this for ME? You're doing something I didn't ask you to do and you're making me pay for the privilege? Wait... What??

Kind of wild how enough fame and success makes you forget what made you successful: it was You, Ryan and Shane. Back in the days of black screen and texts being read. Lower visual quality, but such great and engaging personalities!

The fact they probably invested a lot of money on the streaming service implementation and were planning it for months and in the meetings be like "yeahhh people would love ittt they gonna give us loads of moneyysss f**k the advertisersssss" and now its all burning down....idk it gives me comfort =)

The logical reasoning for this poorly advised business decision shall remain... Unsolved.

"Anybody and everybody can afford it" - Guy who drives a tesla and eats caviar for breakfast. Anybody and everybody could in fact NOT afford it.

you people are raking it in. im sorry you can't afford your mansions, but you're getting paid, and i mean PAID, to do what you love to do. you just slapped us all in the face, and this heartfelt video means NOTHING

“Anybody and everybody can afford it” son I cannot even afford Spotify premium

Give the Goatman back his bridge. He is just as disappointed in you as we are.

Rewatching this a month later makes me truly believe that they had STRONG intentions behind this video… they were prepared to leave behind this channel and their fanbase in effort to make an extra buck behind a pay wall. I thought they left Buzzfeed because their passion to reach the world was larger than the corporation itself… I guess I was wrong. Ryan and Shane (Steven too I suppose), I wish you the best. Sincerely, a former subscriber and supporter.

Welp, this is depressing. You’d think that people who made their careers at BuzzFeed would understand that the perception of authenticity, once lost, is almost impossible to get back. Which sucks, considering that perceived authenticity was so important to your brand. Good luck, fellas. Capitalism is one hell of a drug.