These Guys May Have Just Ruined Their Career

#watcher

▼▼▼▼ BE MY FRIEND ▼▼▼▼

Written by: Me
Edited by: Me

My husband’s channel: @NickPurlerMusic

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FTC: Today's video is sponsored by Factor.

[queencleopatra]

They could have saved themselves all of this embarrassment and done a youtube poll to guage interest in a new streaming service

[FlyingPancake]

The giant red flag for me was them saying how their channel was on the brink of financial collapse but also already planned trips to Europe to film content. Like. What???

[spencerallegra]

There’s just something about reading your apology off a teleprompter that really screams
⭐️⚡️genuine⚡️⭐️

[JackiHamm]

“At least they apologized with words and not a ukulele song” 😂😂😂👏👏👏

[neuroillogicandknuckles]

As a creator I just can't imagine having almost 3 million subs and being like "this isn't good enough"

[completelysamirah]

What’s interesting is they also didn’t consider that some people (fools like me) already pay for YouTube, so I already consider it a part of my “streaming service budget”😅

[akinaxx]

Random comment here: I love that you put timers on your ads. Non-aggressive, very calm timers that just count down to your content... I know it's not revolutionary, but I appreciate it.😊

[Cjai]

I think people are so tired of subscription fees. Streaming was supposed to be the answer to the high cost of cable and satellite, but sub streaming has become just as expensive if not more expensive.

[elizabethcatt]

I honestly preferred it when they had cheap production. Like season 1 puppet history is my favorite bc it was just some cutouts on a stick. It felt more intimate—like I was actually a friend watching instead of a consumer.

[covidfeverdream]

To answer questions:

They have 25 employees (mostly friends and family) in a spacious downtown LA office. For a YouTube channel that inconsistently uploads.

Shane just had a $55k wedding.

EDIT: Apparently $55k was just the cost of the VENUE. I hate it here.

Steven is renovating his Hollywood condo, brags about driving a Tesla and his $300 matcha machine, and all of HIS shows on the channel involve traveling to expensive places and eating good topped expensive foods. In fact, in the same video they announced everything is going behind a paywall, they also excitedly announced that they had hired TWO MORE PEOPLE to revive Steven’s old “worth it” show from Buzzfeed.

Ryan is the driving force behind better production value for already overproduced content.

They mismanaged money and have expensive tastes and wanted the viewers to foot the cost of the bill entirely instead of billion dollar corporations who have the money and are practically throwing it at them. They didn’t lean into their Patreon because they have to pay Patreon a portion of the subscriptions.

This is greed and business mismanagement plain and simple. I’m not at all impressed with an apology and backtrack that probably would not have happened if they hadn’t lost 100k+ subscribers and almost half of their patrons in 3 days. “We’re sorry we called you poor and almost made ourselves poor. Here’s the crumbs a month later, plebs.”

[pencilandpaper]

The fact that they’re making this heartfelt appeal with the soft lighting and synchronised sitting on the couch to their viewers, to say ‘we need *more* of your money’ is so insufferably arrogant. Like they don’t have what they need for their important work.

[eliotsholmes]

literally i think the biggest problem is that they just dont know how to manage money at all like the vision is there but the money mismanagement is insane

[blugreen]

The worst part is that they originally said that all of the old content would eventually be behind a paywall. Then, in the "apology" video they claimed they never said that, but people had receipts and proved them wrong. The whole thing was seriously mishandled.

[vai]

$100K is like 7-8 years wages for me and they earn it a month and have the nerve to act like they're underpaid

[mummamu]

Jamie I have posted 3 times on their update video. Someone posted to leave them alone, they work hard for their money.
I replied that I have been a nurse for 30 years, have been assaulted numerous times by patients and had every body substance thrown at me. I’m a hospice nurse.
I work hard for MY money.
Watcher has deleted this post every time.

[hannah-yisu]

That "All I wanted was you" was INCREDIBLE

[TwinBleaks]

Buzzfeed Unsolved was probably the best thing that ever came out of Buzzfeed😭

[emilybetz]

This really breaks my heart. Shane and Ryan were my FAVORITE YouTubers in their BuzzFeed Unsolved days. It was the only BuzzFeed show I watched or respected and it was all because of them. They were kind, funny, down-to-earth people I could see myself being friends with in “the real world.” I am shocked that they have changed so much.

[cjradenbaugh]

I was a Watcher fan but this got so… weird and horrible. First the goodbye video felt like I was getting kicked out because I’m poor, and that feels super gross. Then the fans are attacking each other on other platforms, and this whole company/ channel and fandom was like a sinking ship that is also on fire and everyone was screaming about why it happened and I just jumped off and observing from afar. I will miss Puppet History.
Will I ever resubscribe? I don’t know. I’m still salty.

[Therezumee]

Greed and arrogance really is ruining everything.