Watcher's Outrageous Goodbye | Body Language Analysis 

Are you going to pay for the new Watcher streaming platform?

Shane wants to make content he loves, Ryan wants external validation that what he makes is good enough and Steven wants money

Wild idea: Steven Lim stops eating incredibly expensive food and lives off $6 per month for food videos.

Why has no channel picked up on the fact that 6 days ago Watcher announced that they've hired 2 more people who, along with Lim, are starting up a show like worth it, which is where they test out ridiculously expensive things to see if they are "worth it" and then a few days later are complaining they need more money and are not mentioning that...just their most popular series? Incredibly manipulative and gross imo.

Complaining that you can´t make "tv quality" entertainment on youtube while GMM and rhett and link are thriving is nuts to me.

My first impression of the video was this. Steven is trying to convince us Ryan is trying to convince himself Shane is there

"No matter how much you've supported Watcher over the years, you were never anything but a stepping stone to them" hit me HARD

Garrett Watts ghost hunts with just himself, Andrew, and maybe one or two more people, and he gets as much or more views as Watcher.

Shane and Ryan can barely make eye contact and look so detached while Steven is engaged and excited af. He’s the only one that doesn’t know the ship is sinking

CEO is not good at running a business. They hired too many people, bought all the fancy tech and scaled up their production quality. Now they can't afford it. No one asked for "tv quality content". They made their wealth off online content and now their egos are too big for the platform that built them.

I think you nailed it! Most of us saw that Shane seemed opposed to it, Ryan seemed conflicted, and Steven just saw dollar signs especially since he promoted his new show in this video.

I was happy with a black screen with blue/yellow dialogue and them sitting behind a desk in a dimly lit office 🫤 Their banter and chemistry was why I watched, I never cared about production level.

Its funny they talk about how many people they employ but they couldnt hire someone to run numbers on how bad of a decision this would be or a pr crisis manager.

When they introduced new members and a travel ultra rich food show, I thought to myself, Ill never watch that show. I watch for Ryan and Shane's back and forth banter. I literally couldn't care about Steven's foodie stuff.

Okay, can I also say how fucked up it is that, on their Watcher podcast, Ryan hyped up ~next~ season of Ghost Files as having the most evidence they’ve ever gotten, to the point that even Shane was questioning things, and then do this?

25 staff members is INSANE. When they said that my jaw dropped. You could definitely manage with way less staff. The heck do you need 25 people for?! They ahould have figured out their budget before doing all this nonsense

Surprisingly, I very much enjoyed Worth It when it was on Buzzfeed's dime, but I've found Steven very unlikable. Adam and Andrew made that show worth watching at all. I have always loved Shane and Ryan and Shane's unfortunate stamp of approval on this is so sad and disappointing. Overall, no, I will not be paying to watch Steven eat the poor.

As someone from their unsolved days, im so sad about this. It feels so greedy.

“Sometimes the enemy of good is perfection.” I think this is true especially in Ryan’s case, all about production and the output. Seems to me they feel unaccomplished if they don’t reach to the impossible standard of TV and shot themselves in the foot.

With this whole discussion, I keep thinking about Mythical. They created their own brand, they're making a high-production, high-quality morning show for every single day of the work week, they have a huge community, making live shows, books, podcasts, music, quality merch, anything they really want to persue they do it and that's all from RU-vid being their main platform. Yes some content is behind a paywall, but that's additional, the main show (AND the after show) is still free and available to everybody and they're clearly making BANK. They also have way more staff then Watcher that they have to pay. They also regularly donate and they have a great contact with their audience. It's just wild to me seeing that and then hearing Watcher complain about RU-vid not allowing them to do more...

They have a Patreon already. It has 3 tier levels. It shows behind the scenes stuff and the making of the videos. That’s the really f’d up part. They’re just being greedy imo

I appreciate your righteous anger in this. Outsiders just don’t feel the same burn fans are right now. Supported them leaving BF just to watch them try to recreate a worse version of it.

You've hit the nail on the head with the bad business decisions and overstaffing. They just released their apology and stated they didn't want to lay people off so they pushed the costs to the viewers. It's really irresponsible to have done what they did and expect us to foot the bills.

Hit the nail on the head with the thought that Steven has more information. The 3 of them are co-founders of Watcher, but Steven is the CEO. In podcasts previously, Ryan and Shane discussed how they made Steven the sole CEO as they had trouble with finances and they naturally slipped into those roles. So it makes sense that Steven is making all the power moves and has all of the financial information behind this choice, but also that he is the one who would benefitting most from this. His shows are the ones that tended to flop on the channel, but removing an active audience means he can produce whatever he likes.

Steven is neutral throughout because he has no attachment to the audience because it's not his audience. It's Shane and Ryan's audience

I think that bit where Steven says "that has allowed me to bring the gang back together!" Is very telling. Ryan has a tight expression on his face (Shane also seems off) Ryan has his hand over his mouth, biting on the tip of his thumb and says kind of flatly "that's true YOUR pals". Not "OUR" pals, no excitement in his voice, its like he is not into that change at all. Ryan's reaction reminds me of myself when im being told about something I'm being made to do that I really don't want to do but for some reason or another I can't just say that. Too put it bluntly, his reaction is me when I have to be nice to someone I'm not very close with excitedly telling me about plans with other people I don't really like that I have little choice but to go along with. Or, they are my dad when I'm excitedly telling him about something that he is half listening to while thinking of all the ways to get out of it.

Anyone remember that their shows were on Hulu? I didn't watch on there because there was no comments or audience engagement

Their membership rates are a big middle finger to their international audience. Here in Thailand, $6 USD is more than half the daily minimum wage. It’s equivalent to asking someone living in LA to pay $96 a month or $960 a year to watch their videos. Ridiculous.

While watching this “An Update” from Watcher, came across my feed. I clicked so fast and watched it. I’m now back to watch the rest of your video. Thank you for your breakdown. I fully agree with you on this matter. After having watched the update I don’t know if I can accept their apology. I am still flabbergasted that the “Goodbye” video made it to the posting phase. They couldn’t honestly believe it would be well received.

It just felt like they made the wrong choice and chose the wrong wording and visuals at every turn. -Open with a shot of the Hollywood sign implied to be from their studio $$$ -Bringing back the show that most blatantly screams money being spent but also preforms the least well headed by the person fans feel the least connection to -Telling fans they don’t want multi-million dollar companies to fund them anymore, they want the regular person who’s probably living paycheque to paycheque -revealing they have 25+ staff and still have to hire onsite freelancers to do shoots -assuming people couldn’t figure out a rough minimum amount their yt revenue, sponsorships, patreon, merch, and live shows were bringing in -forgetting they are basically a cult of personality but then blindsiding their fans with this choice, no polling, no asking for opinion, just cutting them off cold -the fairly lavish lifestyles shown on their public social media pages -saying $6 USD is affordable for everyone when you’ve got an international fan base in a cost of living crisis and in the middle of streamer fatigue. Maybe it is “affordable” but you’re putting out less than 10 hours of content a month and that $6 could go to a streamer than has thousands of hours of readily available content, it’s not really about affordability it’s about cost for value and that’s absolutely not there. Oh, I know there’s more but just those alone make them feel extremely out of touch and downright disrespectful. I can understand the uncertainty of YT revenue, I can understand wanting to stretch your creative wings a bit more but there were so many other courses of action. Scale back a little on your beloved shows to where they are just good enough not amazing, people are there for Shane and Ryan anyways, cut back on some staff it sucks to fire people but it’s better than laying everyone off, have a YT membership or patreon tier that goes directly to funding a more TV like quality show if that’s what you need to feel fulfilled, join a service like Nebula, etc etc. There were so many options and steps before making this kind of final decision that just alienated fans and basically told them they don’t matter while also holding your hand out to them for money.

I think steven being the only one NOT to say thank you at the end says a lot. I wonder what other people think, but it comes across as if he harbours some contempt or jealousy towards the watcher fans, as the majority of those fans were really there for Shane and Ryan. It would make sense that he was the one spearheading this new direction for watcher that's so separate from the RU-vid community, because he never had an in depth relationship with that community and doesn't have the same emotional attachment to the RU-vid fans as Shane & Ryan previously seemed to have. That being said - the final 'thank you' from Shane and Ryan felt so awkward. Especially from Shane. It was rushed, as if he was embarrassed and he knew he was doing the wrong thing. Plus the whole first half of their video was them congratulating themselves on their achievements. Really they should have added a segment on the history with the fans and stuff. Not that this would have made people more happy to pay for a streamer, but at least properly acknowledge them, pay tribute, thank them sincerely... Just such a weird vibe. And the sudden fade out at the end... As if they consciously didn't want to acknowledge the fans, because they KNEW this wasn't a move for the fans. it was for them. Totally nuts. As a unsolved, puppet history and ghost files fan of 5 years, I'm utterly confused and floored by this.

Their pateron was VERY successful, like up to 60k a month. Their merch was extremely expensive like 80$ a basic hoodie, and 40$ basic white tshirt Sponsorships 15-30k maybe more. This isn't something they needed. They needed to budget better. They needed to let go of redundant employees. They needed to downsize the office. There's so many things they could have done. And they chose this.

25 employees and complaining about finances is crazy… that’s sooo many employees

The fact that their good bye video has such high production as well is wild

Oh I was not expecting this video so quick to upload. But I was waiting for the take on this dumpster fire.

OMG! 4 hours ago they posted and update, and from the first second, you can see a MASSIVE shift in dynamic! You should do an update as well bc it is fascinating.

Of course Shane doesn't have much genuine interest in making ghost files. From his perspective they're spending thousands of dollars to walk around dark buildings, play with tech toys, and speak to the air 😂

I predict all 3 of them will be back on RU-vid by December with an all new season of Too Many Spirits just in time for Christmas. I cant wait to see it.. 😂

So, this is kind of a rant, a few things that really bothered me about Watcher's video, when Ryan says "Were just hoping you'll follow us one last time." That felt like a guilt trip from a crappy boyfriend who's saying, "I'm just hoping you'll give me another chance" just so that he can mistreat you again. At the very end of the video, when saying goodbye, shane talks about what the viewers have let them accomplish, Ryan talks about wanting to build this thing bigger, and Steven says... absolutely nothing. Shane gives a final acknowledgement to the viewers. Ryan is hoping about the future. Steven says NOTHING. I can't even count the little finger thing he does because what even is that? He doesn't say goodbye, like the other two do. It really shows the disconnect between Steven and the audience, because it was obvious which videos got the most views on the channel, the things Ryan and Shane have done together. The most engagement Steven really got was only a short time ago when he hired on the two people to help do a reboot of worth it essentially. The engagement wasn't about Steven, it was about the other two people. That's who people were excited for. Even in the comments on every platform, RU-vid, reddit, x, Tumblr, FB/insta, we didnt come here to watch Steven eat fancy foods and fly around the world, we came for Ryan and Shane hunting ghosts and talking about mysteries and history. And don't get me started on the irony of saying you're going to reboot a show thats premise is 'are these fancy things worth the money?' And then days later making your entire audience consider 'are these content creators after everything they've just done, worth it?' In my opinion, Watcher TV, not worth it. And it truly does feel like Steven has capitalized on Shane and Ryan's popularity to fund his own efforts, which just aren't as popular, and just enable him to do all these things he wants to do that the viewers don't care about. I'm not wondering if some fancy foods or expensive vacations are worth it, because I'm never going to be able to afford it so why would I care?

Shane looks like my mum used to when she was 'disappointed" with my behaviour. xx

You make a good point. Even if someone wanted to pay for another subscription they are still losing because they can not interact with the content anymore by leaving a comment. I watch a lot of RU-vid on my TV so I don't think I could even watch there website on my TV since they don't even have an app yet.

I knew Shane and Ryan had grown disconnected from their audience when they wore $80 tees and gold chains to eat "local" food from restaurants the locals cant afford, and had more passion doing that than I'd seen in anything on their new channel to date. In my opinion, i think the dose of humility this move will provide will be good for them

Did everyone also see Ryan’s smirk when he said “yeah you get to hang out with your pals?” I think this is 100% Steven, and since he became CEO and the others stepped down from that maybe they’re bound by contract or something and have to along with it. I just can’t believe Ryan and especially Shane would be on board with this!

the end of their video really really is giving "it's not you, it's me" breakup vibes. it's so awkward and alarming.

You shouldve said “and unlike watcher, I’ll see you in the next video “

One positive thing that i've learned from this whole mess is that there's a whole sea of youtubers who are somehow able to make quality, nicely edited content in a matter of days. Kudos to ya!

I have a super small channel, 56 subscribers, I'm proud of every single one. And I would never want to give them up, my favorite part is being able to chat with them on youtube. Sometimes finding your people is worth more than just making money.

I couldn't even watch this video (edit: the original watcher video, I'm now seeing it fully with the comfort of Logan giving breaks throughout and giving me assurance that I'm not the only one who is aghast). It feels like a face-slap to everyone who followed them from their Buzzfeed days to Watcher. They're already so greatly supported, and though I understand wanting to better your business, you never piss off your fan base/consumers. Logan, thank you for your well-thought-out video. I was so angry and couldn't even comment on this horrid tragedy because I was too emotionally undone by it. As far as whether Watcher will continue whether or not they retain fans continues to remain...unsolved.

Oh I can’t wait for part 2. They just dropped an update

the overly produced shots, the manufactured emotional pauses… it’s honestly just making me laugh.

They always pick on shane for picking the most obscure things, but he always seemed to have a better grasp on what real people wanted.

Content ideas that can help Watchers to expand without needing to spend more money: 1. Ghost File Asia/Europe - So many developing countries in Asia/Europe are haunted; you can buy a multi-country plane ticket and stay in a hostel with just Shane/Ryan and a camera/sound guy for 1 month. Shoot everything and come back. Done. 2. Ghost File-Reality Show-Get your fans to sign up to join the Ghost File tour and film them competing in a reality game show. You'll get free guests and more fun as they will be spooked. 3. Are you Scared? In the last few seasons, the endings of those stories lacked luster; they need better, more horrifying stories with satisfying endings. The production value is acceptable, but the stories aren't exciting or scary enough. 4. Worth It. - Kill the show. Sonny Side (Best Ever Food Reviews) did it much better. He has no problem operating with himself and his wife; his team is in Vietnam, so he has much lower expenses. If you still want to do it, the restaurants can probably sponsor by just having them pay at costs, not the total price amount, due to the publicity. 5. Puppet History-The production Value is already good, so there is no need to make it bigger. It could include guests. 6. Team up with another platform. Collaborations increase team awareness and instantly get fans from both channels to watch. Maybe invite Uncle Roger to go Ghost Hunting or Worth It with you.

This video was fantastic and cathartic! You felt the pain the rest of us did, and explained how stupid their announcement was better than any of us could. Thank you for your amazing work! Would LOVE to see you cover their new update, too!

I like how Ryan’s head is tilted down and chewing on his thumbnail saying “your pals”; when Steven was talking about bringing in his friends from the “worth it” videos. That seems telling to me.

The way you explained RU-vid is why I love the platform so much. The personality of the individuals behind the channels.

What Ryan said about "bringing in new faces" is almost what Keith said verbatim when they talked about changes in the Try Guys after Ned got booted.

When steven says "it would be great to rely less on advertisement" it means that he wants to rely on viewers funding their shows and high production costs. How can he not see that that is exactly what it means to not rely on ad revenue (from billion $ companies) anymore... Why would the viewers want to fund steven flying all over the world to eat fancy, extravagant food??

So what I'm getting is basically Steven's series aren't doing as well as Ryan and Shane's and they think putting it on their own website will improve that? If people aren't watching it on YT, they won't watch it on the website either. Steven just isn't as entertaining as Ryan and Shane.

I honestly stopped watching them for the most part when Steven started showing up more often. I found his on camera personality off putting. I’m not surprised that he is the one at the forefront of this boneheaded move.

I am super sad to lose this channel. Puppet History gets me through a lot of work days because the energy and familiarity helps me focus. I just cant add another subscription service, especially one that will have so little content. At the very least this will end up being an interesting study on if creators can survive this kind of change.

It's Steven and Ryan. Shane said to share it because he has no option other than to go with it and probably doesnt like the situation. Steven is the CEO and holds a lot of the power going into decision making.

Love to see a deep dive on this from someone who was actually a fan of the ghoul boys before all this went down. I would’ve never expected this from them… Edit to add: They could’ve 100% moved to Dropout and that would’ve worked out better for everyone. There were so many other, better options.

Well, I can’t wait to watch you analyze the update they just posted lol. They backpedaled so hard.

Hey @ObserveRU-vid ... I think you missed one crucial moment. @53:41 ... After Steven Lim said, "It's allowed me to bring the gang back together..." Ryan replies, "That's true... Your Pals." I think that's a real telltale sign of animosity towards Lim and shows that it was Steven in charge of this COLOSSAL disaster Would love to hear your thoughts on my theory... hope to have cracked the code here, but if not... hey... I tried. Thanks for all the comments.. I'll be moving my future comments to an exclusive site for a VERY affordable price of $5.99 😂😂😂

I’ve been a fan of the ghoul boys for years and when I watched the video I really tried to see their point of view, low key believing that it made sense for them to make this decision. I don’t know much about editing or filming so I really appreciate that you took time to explain and show us that’s there so many other ways to go. Thank you for this🖤

Thank you for this video. I appreciate both the body language observations and the insights as an experienced RU-vidr. You have confirmed/supported everything I was already thinking/suspecting, and it will be very interesting to see how this all shakes out.

The apology video is in the wild, y’all 🫣

Agree with everything you're saying except one thing: they had a cancelled show called "Weird Wonderful World", and I think THAT was an inside joke on THAT.

35:09 this is exactly right. People were saying 'vote with your wallet' and I was like, well my vote is by default then because I have no choice. I'm forced out of the picture because I can't afford it

would love to see your take on the update video, specifically the psychological choice to move Shane to the middle of the frame!

Seeing the thumbnail for this video I literally screamed. Never thought I’d see the day where our Ghoul Bois (and Steven) were being analyzed by Observe 😭😭

What a mess these guys did! And then how come there is NO ONE in charge of their socials? Literally all hell is breaking loose and not a peep from their side to at least try and do some damage control. And this is especially true when we have their rich friends lecturing us on social media.

Im sad to see them leave YT. I’m worried their content will die.

Never thought I would live to see the day where Shane and Ryan would be in an observe video but god it’s warranted- this is a route I never thought they would take

I have my suspicions that the people they hired were mostly friends that they might’ve promised a job for but ended up not being able to financial sustain all of them. Maybe they feel too bad firing people due to the economy or overestimated the potential size of their channel. 🤷‍♀️

I think when they left buzzfeed they expected to have same success as the Try Guys and it didnt happen for them. Rather then adjusting content, they tried to fix it with adding staff, but production wasnt the issue, content was. So now they are stuck in this "we had a big show and following" mindset and aren't seeing it pan out, and think it must be something else causing it to happen, couldn't be what they put out there. I loved their buzzfeed shows, I tried to watch Watcher but it never hooked me, so I moved on

I only ever like Shane and Ryan. I never liked any of the other people on the show. This video they put out about leaving sucks for them because they are honestly making the biggest mistake. They will learn and most people are going to leave if they ever come back

I hadn't given much thought to the new platform's lack of a comments section, but now that you explained it, it makes the taste in my mouth even more bitter.

I think 2nd Try LLC has around 20-25 staff but they have 8 million followers and much bigger productions that make sense for that amount of staff; 25 for watcher seems crazy to me

I loved their content and will miss it, but all good things must come to an end I guess. I will find something else to watch.

I love that most of this video was just 'let's tear apart this terrible decision!' It's so fascinating to hear why it's a bad move from RU-vidrs. And the fact that it's by someone who's also a fan added to the experience

They upload a new video an hour ago, they address what the community were saying about this decision, I hope you can make a new video about that video. Shane looks so sad in the new video :(

The fact that theres gonna be ‘shows’ with random people instead of Shane and Ryan and they want to be less on screen makes it even less of a interesting streaming service for me. I’m only watching watcher for them, only watch 2 of their shows. I’m not getting a subscription.. I can live without them😂

"have an ad segment, which-" *ad for prime booms loudly" ouch my ears but damn the timing

How are they expecting to get new viewers on a exclusive one-dimensional "tv" channel that many of their current and long term viewers won't even be crossing over too?

Viva la dirt league (one of my fave channels) make amazing videos on yt. Their mini film Baelins route 10/10. They didn't feel the need to leave youtube and put all their content behind a paywall. They don't seem restricted by what they can do. Markiplier, another of my faves makes exceptional content and again isn't restricted, he's literally making his own film iron lung.

They thoroughly underestimated their audience's intelligence and took the relationship created for granted. They must have felt the repore they built was iron clad no matter what new step they took and that their subscribers would blindly follow. The delusion is real with this one. However, I do feel the levels vary.

Damn, I didn't expect to see you talk about this but I'm totally ready to hear about it!

Im so glad you did this, i wanted to see what you thought… big fan of yours and i have used some body language analysis in my day to day life so thank you!!

It's a bummer what they're doing. I feel like they are definitely selling out. I initially felt like Shane is the one who isn't fully down for the move hence him saying to share the password lol regardless it's a bit of a shame. I truly wish them all the best. Sad to see them go

I really find it odd that they keep refering to the "streamer". Like its some silent partner funding this stupid move.

I appreciate the length of the video and the quality of the information you covered in this video. Thank you so much.

Also my observations physical and verbal were that Steven said bring back something to the effect of “my friends” and Ryan said “yeah your friends” with some vitriol. I’ve always seen Ryan to have somewhat of an ego or wanting accolades but he seemed sad or something- like he’s begging for us to keep with them. Shane seems really really uncomfortable 😣

Thank you for covering this!! You confirmed what my friends and I were thinking regarding their communications, both verbal and nonverbal. It felt like a true betrayal. I haven't watched their new update but I am excited to eventually see your reaction to it!

I really appreciate your insight and thoughts on this, both professionally and personally as a fan. I’ve been watching them since the early Buzzfeed Unsolved days, and this has been so upsetting to see. I genuinely want them to succeed, and I hope their disconnect from their community isn’t so severe that they can recognize this isn’t something we want and that a lot of people can’t follow them to a paid subscription even if they wanted to. I want to see them recover from this. I’m sure they’ve lost people they won’t get back and this will always mark them- the trust they’ve built of the years has definitely been shaken with this, but man do I love their content and I would hate to see it go. I hope this is a big learning lesson from this and they try to salvage what’s been done here. Parasocial relationships are a bitch, man.

Been waiting to hear your take on this

it's finally me and you, and you and me just us and your friend Steve

I kinda feel like they tried to get on Netflix and Netflix turned them down so now this whole streaming service is one big pissing contest with Netflix.

Yes!!! Ive been hoping for this!!!🙌

Love the explanation! You gave so much more insight and light into what it takes to make content on youtube, info about advertisers, and costs. Can't wait to see your breakdown of the Update video!!!