In a rather momentous change for a YouTube channel, Watcher has been making the rounds across YouTube for their decision to move their content to their own private streaming service.
On par with the ever-expanding greed across YouTube and social media, the incredibly successful channel Watcher announced their decision to develop their own streaming service, separate from YouTube. Most well-known for their series “Mystery Files,” Watcher attempted to incorporate paying an unnecessary subscription fee for their currently free long-form content, as shown in their video “Goodbye YouTube” posted April 19.
Generating more than 400 million views on YouTube, gathering more than ten thousand Patreon members and fostering one of the most committed audiences on YouTube, Buzzfeed creators Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej told fans that as much as they loved the ride on YouTube, the Watcher company planned to completely transfer all new content onto a private streaming service. The team describes that the subscription was an “affordable” $5.99 per month, or $59.99 per year, to pay for content that, again, was originally free.
Though all currently posted videos on YouTube were to remain on the site, like their most recent Mystery Files episode “The Serial Killer Family That Terrorized The Old West,” new series, episodes and content would only exist on the Watcher site.
The backlash instantly filled the comment section, as diehard fans and fellow content creators alike came together to critique the Watcher team for their decision. Top comments on the original video noted that the subscription was not, in fact, affordable for everyone, while others focused on the destruction of their beloved brand and, of course, the absolute betrayal to their fans. For many viewers following Bergara and Madej specifically , the production quality of Watcher’s long-form videos was not the reason they stayed; it was the love of the content, the vision and the people behind it.
Fortunately, in a rather rapid response to all the criticism, Watcher returned with a surprisingly vulnerable and apologetic video titled “An Update”, on April 22. In the three minute and 40 second video, they address and acknowledge fans’ primary problems with the decision to go rogue from YouTube.
The team discussed how their assumption that the subscription was affordable was ignorant and dismissive of fans, concluding that all future content would remain on YouTube. For those paying the subscription, new long-form content would be available a month earlier, similar to a system creators have on Patreon.
Fully apologizing for their previous tone and perspective, the Watcher team acknowledged their mistakes and expressed how their fans really changed their lives, fueling the success of the channel as a whole – “First, we wanna affirm that you are the reason why we’ve been able to do anything at this company,” Bergara said. “You helped us every step of the way when we left BuzzFeed to start Watcher at the top of the pandemic in 2020.”
Furthermore, the team concluded that fans no longer interested in the service with the new update would receive a full refund if they already paid for the subscription. In essence, with both a popping Patreon and now a new website, it begs the question why Watcher even considered creating a new separate streaming service when Patreon is a valid and excellent additional source of revenue.
Yet, despite the genuine remorse in the most recent update, there has been speculation about the behind the scenes at Watcher. Even with a successful apology video, fellow creators cannot help but contemplate the motivation behind not just the update, but the original video. Though they acknowledged their shortcomings, the Watcher team started the discussion of how they struggled existing on YouTube, considering the inconsistent and ever-changing landscape of YouTube policies.
In their video, Watcher discussed how the continuously changing and increasingly strict nature of YouTube’s policy make it difficult to continue sponsorships. For example, content including vulgar language such as “excessive profanity in the content” can age-restrict a video on YouTube. Though as streamer and YouTuber penguinz0 expressed that Watcher is a rather ideal target for sponsorship content, as an influential and structured YouTube channel, the risk of any possible error is intense on YouTube.
The face of Game Theory Matthew Patrick left YouTube on a very similar note after a decade online. With the Game Theory channel growing and employing more people such as editors, researchers and writers, MatPat decided to step down from YouTube to spend more time with his family. “We knew that honestly, we didn’t want to do this forever,” MatPat said. “As much as I love you and I love overthinking things, and I love theorizing, I don’t love late nights.”
And though MatPat had no interest in taking his content elsewhere, allowing others to take over his role, the intensity of running a business on YouTube is what pushed his decision, similar to that of Watcher. And of course, both Watcher and Game Theory were channels with what many would consider “safe” content online.
But with YouTube more exceedingly dismissing long-form content and trying to convert to TikTok, it is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain a platform, especially for channels such as Watcher. Despite the reasoning behind Watcher’s original decision, how valid or invalid audiences may interpret it, the interactions between audiences and creators are what can maintain an economy where creators can continue to create and thrive.
