These YouTubers Killed Their Channel 

Moral of the story: Your fans may be loyal, but they're probably more broke than they are loyal

We will be seeing videos "Why I left WatcherTV" "The rise and fall of WatcherTV"

In the video they say they have 25 employees which is insane for a channel with 3 mil subs. Not to mention, Steven Lim (the guy in the kitchen) takes up like 60 to 70 percent of the channels videos and probably budget and only gets a fraction of the views the other two guys videos make. I hate to say it but if money is such an issue they may need to cut a few people out.

Steven Lim's series where he gets flown around the world to eat steak covered in gold costing thousands, plus his Tesla addiction, probably doesn't help with "production costs"

They just updated saying that they aren’t taking existing content off RU-vid because people were freeeeeaking. They totally were planning to IMO, but panicked and backtracked and just said we were confused lol

I don’t understand why they feel restricted by advertisers? They’re not making risqué content or taboo content and nobody was complaining about advertising Edit: and on top of that they were getting sponsored by movie studios! They were getting good ads! And people enjoyed them they had the log bros segment on too many spirits and the sax guy and professor in mystery files like they were making genuinely good and funny ads I really don’t know what more they want?

The internet JUST saw Roosterteeth die and they decided to copy the death model

I love Ryan and Shane, they do some of the best content here on RU-vid imo. That being said, I think annoucing the rest of your content being put behind a paywall during a time where the cost of living is at an all time high is not a good move. I'm so sad about this bc I genuinely ADORE their content from their Buzzfeed Unsolved series all the way to Ghost Files.

It's so ironic that they left Buzzfeed because they wanted creative control and probably didn't like the corporate structure of the company only to make a decision that is exactly corporate and soulless. It's a true slap to the face of the fans who despised Buzzfeed and folowed them to Watcher. For them. Not for production value. But for THEM. The reason why people fell in love with Buzzfeed Unsolved and probably Ghost files was to see Shane and Ryan. And then Steven is just there. Nobody watches Watcher for Steven. yet he is the CEO. Just irony.

Most creators: "If you cant afford to support me, just leave a like - thats enough!" Watcher: "Give us your money or get the fuck out"

Rhett & Link never left RU-vid and they grew Mythical Entertainment into a multimillion dollar company and they became wealthy in the process.

Their fixation on ‘tv quality’ is just nonsensical. I only pay for two subs: Hulu (which covers any sort of ‘tv style’ viewing I care to do, which is minimal) and RU-vid premium. I consume 80% more media on RU-vid than anywhere else. The reason for that is because in recent years I enjoy creative independently made content way more than most things on ‘tv’ these days. I’m sure I’m not alone in that either. If I wanted to watch tv I’d pay for a cable package. Also big W to Omni for covering this so fast

Anyone coping that $6 "isnt a lot" is forgetting that we went ham on Elon for wanting to charge $8 a month and then trying to belittle the users by saying thats "just the cost for a cup of Starbucks". People be living paycheque to paycheque, man.

These guys were special. They managed this perfect blend of comedy, entertainment and education in their videos. I’ve watched them since the buzzfeed unsolved days. I never in my life thought I would ever hear a negative story around Ryan and Shane’s channel, and yet here we are. Hopefully they back peddle on it.

People need to realize that high quality production value isn't required to make an entertaining video. If their production costs are high, its 100% okay to cut back on it. So many youtubers I love make videos with cheap printouts, crappy green screens, make shift lighting, and I still love them! I appreciate their commitment to quality but if it's eating their funds THIS much? i dunno... maybe biting off more than they can chew

Mind you that the whole video they're talking abt money problems just to promote a new show that will be a successor to 'Worth It' where Steven eats absurdly expensive food

Super Rare L For Watcher

I feel like if they just did a “youtube members for 5 dollars get our content early and extra content” thing so many other people have done they could have made just as much money without upsetting the whole fanbase.

Other RU-vidrs: supplementary Patreon, Merch, Nebula... These guys: "aight imma head out"

Didn’t expect Omni to cover the Watcher goodbye so soon.

When they said in their video that they have 25 staff members, I immediately knew they were failing financially. No way they are supporting TWENTY FIVE salaries on a few seasonal shows that get decent-ish views. And for some reason, this was their resolution. Instead of laying off a couple people and focusing more on the shows that actually get good views, they’re jumping ship and alienating 99% of their fans. To be frank, yes, I can afford the subscription, but I refuse to follow them to their new streaming service out of principle and out of support for my fellow fans. I understand why content behind a paywall exists, however, doing so often creates an environment in the content creation sphere that alienates the fans who may no longer be able to view the content they have always enjoyed for free. And I refuse to contribute to that concept. I will stand by the fans✊”Goodbye Watcher”

They left a brand just to become a brand

They should’ve got rid of Lim years ago and went back to basics. Most of us preferred it over the high production content anyway.

What’s crazy is that they DO get sponsors and they do ads! Idk why they decided to do this. They should have just advertised patreon more and did like. Some exclusive videos there (which they don’t currently).

What they're not realizing is that most subscribers were there for the chemistry between Ryan and Shane ... No one asked for better production value... And definitely no one asked to help support Steven eating $300 blueberries or whatever....it was cool when it was on BuzzFeeds dime ... Not the same when you're using the money of your subscribers to buy obnoxiously expensive food

apparently they already had a patreon and pretty much at minimum got $55k-100k a month from it.

The part that really made it bad for me was when they said "everyone and anyone" can afford $6 a month. No, i will choose to feed my cat than watch a single channel

They screwed up paywalling everything; they should have just started doing exclusive content and slowed down on the YT side, nobody bitches about Float Plane and Nebula.

As a Watcher fan i was surprised to learn that they have 25 employees. I'm betting the financial strain in doing so caused them to come up with this bad take.

making more merch would've literally solved that problem without killing their careers

Its just so sad to see how their OVERSPENDING resulting in their company not being sustainable has now turned into : lets make our fans pay for all of it without having a choice. edit: Also le tme remind you they already had a PATREON, merch, live shows and ofc ad revenue and sponsors.

One of the most delusional goodbyes in history

I’m so annoyed at how hard they tried to tell us how expensive it was to do what they do. Like this was just so tone deaf and so poorly planned and executed on their part. I feel like I lost a lot of respect for them over this. I wouldn’t even consider paying for their patreon at all.

Funny thing is, they have a patreon. They just never tell anyone. So why do this? As a watcher fan its a dumb decision anyway.

I honestly feel like content creators need to stop thinking "how can we make our content bigger and better?" , when the audience never asked for or needed that. We were fine with simply Shane and Ryan joking with each other in a basement style space, talking about history and cases. I loved Buzzfeed Unsolved, Puppet History and Mystery Files, but those were the only ones I watched. I feel like they should've thought the opposite and "go back to their roots" sort of speak when making videos. I prefer the sit down ones rather than big production. I don't need to see tv-quality or Netflix content from them. I don't need them to travel the world or eat expensive gold leaf food. As someone commented on their video, they should've just had everything free with ads on their website or a patreon with early released videos and exclusive content like bts. Very disappointed in them.

So from what ive read in the comments for the announcement video (28kLike/96kDislikes as of my comment btw) the guy Steven Lim, the asian dude from buzzfeeds Worth It series, is the CEO of the company, and an out of touch rich kid. A lot of people are commenting about how badly any of the Worth IT style content on Watcher has been performing, and how no one has been watching Watcher for that content in the first place. That's the popular sentiment ive seen so far. I remember loving Worth It, but with the fact that Watchers biggest draw was ghost hunting and mystery themed content i can see how just shoehorning in the old buzzfeed food videos would not be conducive to good performing videos. They should have made a separate channel for that content.

To say that I'm angry about all this is an understatement. I am absolutely furious and depressed. I have been watching them for years and never expected them to do something so selfish and horrible. Needless to say, I disliked the farewell video and unsubbed; I feel like others might do the same. Ryan, Shane, Steven, if any of you are reading these comments and want to come back, just know that the damage has already been done.

My disappointment is immeasurable as a former Shaniac.

So, they tried to do what College Humor/Dropout was FORCED to do and literally had to perform miracles to succeed? I love Shane and Ryan. Buzzfeed unsolved, Puppet History and Are you Scared but this is not it.

Shane And Ryan were both for me one of the funniest duos in all of youtube i loved them so much when i first got into their buzzfeed unsolved series Murder cases etc was just one of the best feelings ever binging those seasons. Those were a few high quality vids from buzzfeed before they left buzzfeed

This came out 3 hours after the watcher goodbye video, Omni works at god speed😭

This sets a horrible precedent if, against all odds, it ends up being successful. Imagine if all the big youtubers decide to make their own streaming service 💀

i deadass thought those were the trash taste guys on the thumbnail

came here from watcher, wanting to see what you had to say about it. when you got to saying "they'll start a patreon," i sighed so hard. they already have one. it's incredibly sad that they haven't just... increased advertising for their patreon, rather than... well. all of this.

Dude they HAVE a Patreon. The fact that so few people even knew they did says so much of how bad their budget thinking is…

This has happened before. When RoosterTeeth was at its peak, the company attempted to put RWBY and RVB on its website to migrate its audience from RU-vid during the Adpocalypse. The attempt resulted in a massive fall-off in views and weakened the brand.

one thing I've noticed about the whole situation is that while some people are pretty mad (and still very respectful which does speak to the community they've built) the majority of the reaction I've seen has been more disappointment, very literally "we're not mad (well maybe a little), but mostly just disappointed"

i loved their content so much, this genuinely saddens me. even if they DO reverse it, i feel that people probably arent gonna really trust them after this.

We had this with Rooster teeth and Dropout/CollegeHumor but they were actual groups with multiple projects which could actually help with this. Now these guys idk if they could make this successful

I really hope the Watcher reverses this move. My family and I watch this channel every week, Ghost Files and Mystery Files are amazing shows. It's just really dumb that they thought that people were okay with putting everything under a paywall. It's ridiculous. I will be surprise if we don't see a response within the next 24 hours haha.

You know what's crazy Dropout from College Humor has done something similar. However, they kind of had to do it by force. College Humor left all of their old videos on RU-vid and created all new content for DropOut. Giving fans the option to watch the old stuff and invest in the new stuff if they want to.

As a (former) Watcher fan, I just want to point out to you Omni. . . They HAVE a patreon already with over 12k members paying for content. They f-ed up really bad with this move. If they had issues with their budget, they needed to cut stuff back (get rid of video series that don't do well, cut back on sets, promote their patreon more, ect) before going this route. 🤷‍♀️

" guys we missed the mark " is one of the most Ryan things to say and yall dont even watch his content like that but that sounds like Ryan all over

Even going back to buzzfeed would’ve been a better decision than this

They ain't worried about me not watching then neither am i..

Damn, I used to watch these guys religiously and saw their “goodbye” video pop up on my homepage. I thought that it was sad they were leaving, but didn’t watch it assuming they were just not going to make content anymore. It’s kinda more sad knowing that they are putting everything behind a paywall :/ making the people that basically built their channel pay for where they are at now

I thought it was a clever April Fool's joke, posted 3 weeks late to catch everyone off guard. But they actually have the subscription pay form on their site now. Welp, it was fun while it lasted.

I've been a fan of Ryan and Shane since their BU days and this news is hard to swallow. Frickin bogus of them. RIP Watcher, I guess...

Dat lil intro in the beginning is tuff

It’s a shame. I loved buzzfeed unsolved with these guys. Literally the only good buzzfeed thing.

What you haven’t mentioned is the post Steven, their CEO, made. It was so snarky and even says “for those who want to keep watching us” as if they weren’t the reason people WONT BE ABLE TO WATCH.

These guys used to have heart. I adored them since they were on buzzfeed and watched them when I needed comfort. This really hurt. Also. They have a Patreon. The people who are gonna pay already are! It’s such a crazy decision.

"We dont want multi billionaire cooperations pay for our content, we want the people who are just trying to pay rent to pay for it"

Yeah this feels like big self sabotage Sucks because I actually really liked their content, but now they’re locking content behind a paywall instead of selling more merch, or taking more sponsorships, or really anything else to make more money. Maybe it’s just me but I would rather watch a RAID sponsorship every vid than have the vids locked behind a paywall subscription service. I know it worked for College Humor, not confident this will work for watcher.

I needed this video Omni, thank you. I love Watcher and was one of the 1% of people that almost got swayed by the emotional twist they gave their video. I'm a super impulsive and emotional person, and if it wasn't for the comment section and this video, I legit almost let myself get scammed. I literally had my wallet out and ready, refreshed my youtube feed, and this was the first thing I saw. I was like, "ope, alright let me think this over a sec." X'D

Yeahhh Like idk why they want us to be emotional about this because Steven (one of the stars) owns a Tesla and they have 25 employees and they have 11,000 patreons where the minimum subscription is 5 dollars and they have merch where most of it was above 20 dollars and can cost up to 125 SOOO I literally don't know what they expected. Still I don't think they'll give up. They've always been very passionate and despite saying they were making this change for their fans, it's clearly their vision. So I 100% believe they will go for it anyways.

and you know what's more stupid is that they could've still done the site idea but like for exclusive videos that are really good quality. like how do they really expect people to go to the site in the future when we start forgetting about them?

Ryan and Shane are an incredible Duo, I’ve been following them for damn near 8 years, across 7 different shows, but this is where I draw the line, I’m not going to pay to watch the type of content I’ve even watching for free for this long, even if they completely backtrack this, I think I’m just too hurt to continue supporting them. Oh and by the way they do have sponsorships, and a patreon that they never talk about , this is greed

I said in the tweet based off of view count they were getting between $3500 and $20000 a vid that's good money

The wild thing is that they already have a Patreon, but they never advertise for it.

It’s outta touch because of the content they’re entertaining but their content is literally making drinks, reading urban legends, and ghost hunting nothing that should be super super expensive especially since they have their equipment already…they’re not doing anything that someone can find a RU-vidr that’s giving that out for free and probably just as entertaining. As Shane and Ryan

Matpat didn’t completely leave RU-vid btw, he’s just no longer the host of his theory channels 🤷‍♂️, matpat has said numerous times that he’s still going to be around, it’s like people didn’t actually pay attention during his announcement video 🤷‍♂️

I only followed Buzzfeed for them and then followed when they left and made the Watcher channel. I was so proud of them and I felt so betrayed by this simply cause NO ONE asked for this, we didn’t even need higher production. They literally have a show where they tell a story during video chat and everyone loves it. They sit by a fire and get drunk and it’s great! Theres ways to do low budget content. I love them, I don’t think they’re bad people, I’m just disappointed that their goals are so far off from what the fans want. We don’t want a tv show, just wanted to listen to them goof around!

The FIRE intro is FIRE

I love the way your chuckle sounds, I think it brings me joy. 😅 maybe this “watcher” situation isn’t a total loss if I found a new person to watch here

They didn’t even think about fans outside of the USA! Exchange rates sucks for South Africans and it’s even worse in some other countries.

I knew it. I had commented on how someone was going to report on it from how HUGELY it blew up. The comment to like ratio was crazyyy

They’re hoping that 50,000 fans(or so) of the 3mil subscribers goes to their site. It’s really gross cause they could have monetized this in so many other ways. Look at H3. They created a successful clothing brand that basically pays for whatever. If Watcher came out with their clothing brand. Or even said “hey we are struggling. We need feedback. We need to monetize this somehow.” Then people would support them. Also I don’t think the majority of their fan base likes Lins stuff. The foodie part doesn’t seem to fit the other vibe of spooky, mystery, history, type stuff. Idk it’s weird. I unsubscribed. It seems like a cash grab.

I gotta say, I'm a huge fan of Watcher and today's really sucked with all this news. But, seeing how quickly you made this video and its relatively high quality is a pleasant surprise

Shane saying people can share the subscription and Steven looking unimpressed. Ya, thinking Shane didn’t want any part of this 😢

Their 'Goodbye RU-vid' video has just passed 103,000 dislikes! Wow!

They. Had. A. Patreon They never advertised it. Also the sponsers they got were insane! They had Disney, for one episode for ghost files they had an the state of Montana sponser them

This is actually crazy. They definitely have a Patreon so this is just... Yikes

What’s crazy is they could have done both, keep posting on RU-vid and have a subscription for fans who are willing to pay for stuff like maybe bonus content and bts. Linus tech tips does this with float plane and it’s gone great for them. Just such a dumb move and feels like a betrayal to an audience. It doesn’t even make sense you lose a large chunk of your fan base and you stunt your growth cause you’ll never get new fans.

They could have gone to Sam Reich from Dropout aka CollegeHumor to ask for collab or joining forces - or at least advice how to do it right - because he has been there and learned hard way how these things are done. Dropout and Watcher are almost perfect collab to have. Instead they did a BomerCorporation move, and only accepted reason for that is that the financial backers forced them to do this. Overall their company is hiring people way too fast in a short timeline and that is not a good thing, especially when they are based in expensive city. They didn't even try Nebula or many other options. They did have sponsors and patron, but I don't think they had membership in RU-vid. Weird. But what do I know... I'm just under educated young millennial from outside USA, all what most financial backers hate, because it's their cultural sport. So they don't probably even think of me as part of their audience.

... why is it that this situation is reminding me of what happened with the creator of The Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom?

Let's be honest, they're not making enough to cover Steven's vlogging videos. That's why they had to say goodbye. Btw, the dislike is over the 200k.. So ya. It's as ratio'd as their X post. Waiting for their RU-vid apology vid in a few hours. Btw Omni, they DO have a Pateron. They actually earn quite a lot there. But like I said, prolly not enough to fund Steven's lifestyle.

I loved that during watching this video on their channel, I got an ad for RocketMoney where they talk about “cancelling sneaky or forgotten subscriptions” 😂😂😂

I liked ghost files the most when it was just Shane and Ryan filming each other in a haunted location with maybe one extra camera person. Idk where they got this “high production value” goal from when literally no one was watching for that

These guys started on Buzzfeed and they where so successful on Buzzfeed they made a whole channel centered around them. Buzzfeed Unsolved was massively successful. It’s where they got their Watcher channel name, they did an episode where someone referred to themself as The Watcher. When they saw they had all this pull they left Buzzfeed and made their own channel. Now they’re throwing it all away where they could have just stayed with Buzzfeed.

the fact this guy put out such a well put together video so quick is crazy

I don't even watch these guys and I'm upset with them

Many have called them "greedy", but i honestly believe they aren't. I think they are desperate, which fair enough, but it led to a poorly thoughtout decision

You were close, Omni, “we messed up” is so close to “we missed the mark”; potato/potato. I’m impressed.

12:31 the fact that they just posted an apology an hour ago and the first words uttered was, "We messed up." this is hilarious.

Puppet history will be missed

I understand wanting to have a separate platform to upload your videos on, so you can earn more money. People do that all the time, but they leave their videos available on RU-vid or other free content platforms, and then they just make special content specifically to be locked behind that paywall. They don't just take ALL of their content and put it behind the paywall. Why'd they think that would work????

Yes they do already have sponsors and a patreon, in addition to merch and public tours/meet and greets.

Those custom pop figures were sent in by a fan who had no idea that they had even arrived until they saw them on this video.

As much as I would love to see a reversal on this decision, I get the feeling that these guys will double down on the decision in order to explore their experimental sides through high budget. When I started watching Shane and Ryan they were either going out to find spooks or sitting in a room talking, I love these shows because you felt that they cared and had fun doing it. Sure the new productions have been fancy but they never really needed to prove to us they could be on the level of Netflix to entertain us. I've been through YT disasters like RT and multiple content creators I enjoy having to step back due to controversial circumstances but this... came the hell out of nowhere during a good time for content and feels like both a slap in the face and a kick in the balls. Even if they decide to u-turn or apologise with a good explanation on why they decided to pursue this, that trust won't be the same and their careers could suffer for it.