making creative content online is very difficult now, i get that. i get why online creators would want to pivot to SVOD, like lindsay ellis who is now exclusively on nebula and collegehumor/droupout tv. it is tough to create when you are beholden to the whims and fancies of advertisers. HOWEVER, i cannot in good conscience say i like what watcher is doing right now. it feels extremely scummy and slimy to move entirely to streaming, without a significant transitional period, and to also delete your entire channel backlog in the process. it also feels scummy to launch a separate streaming platform while you have an active patreon where you are making a significant amount of money from your patrons--patrons who are most likely the ones to purchase a Watcher TV Subscription in the first place. i think CH did as good a job you can do when transitioning from AVOD to SVOD. in my humble opinion, CH also had a lot more of a reason to pivot to longer form subscription-based content as the changing YT algorithm made their short-form scripted sketch comedy a less and less viable business venture which matters a lot when you are a company that has over 100 full-time employees (at the time, before IAC sold and subsequently led to the bankruptcy of CH in january 2020). this just doesn't sit right with me. i would love to be proven wrong but as it stands i don't think watcher tv's existence is justifiable. this is disappointing, but honestly? not that surprising.

As a long-time fan of Watcher and even BuzzFeed back in the day, I'm beyond bummed out at the decision they've made.

I can't afford a streaming service. Paywalls are ruining the internet and turning it into cable TV.

This came with absolutely no warning and it feels like a weird betrayal of loyal fans.

Best of luck to them, but this isn't a journey I can support.

hi! have you thought about the fact that Not Everyone Can Afford That?

Hey maybe a group of creatives deciding that they want control over their content and don't want to waste time and resources begging for ad revenue is like. A good thing

Oof imagine hyping up this big announcement all week only for everyone to react by saying it's the worst idea ever. A swing and a miss, my guys.

things the watcher guys could do that aren't CREATING A WHOLE ASS NEW STREAMING SERVICE THAT THE WORLD DOESN'T NEED:

put seasons of their shows out on DVDs. bonus if you can add behind the scenes content or even commentary that would then only exist on those dvds, so people have more reason to buy (leave the originals up as they are, though).

put their shows on already existing streaming services, preferably ones that are already popular rather than really niche ones, though I do understand that maybe getting your stuff on a popular streaming service is harder than on a less popular one so i wouldn't flame them for that.

idk sell more and better merch? like I've looked at their merch before and none of it seemed all that nice to me even though I am an impulse buyer and always wanted everything by the people I'm a fan of (you wouldnt believe the amount of clothes i have that are straight up youtuber merch. we're talking more than 2/3rds of my wardrobe). probably would have actually bought some of watcher's merch if it was better. the only thing I was ever tempted to buy was the professor plushie.

also lowering the price of good merch even marginally (without making it not-profitable) = more people can afford it = you earn more.

create a new show that isn't already available for free and put that on your patreon or something. give your viewers who can afford it a better reason to pay you.

love that everyone is united in just going “terrible idea. wish you the best. thanks for the laughs. bye.”

shout out to the people who are about to start saving and archiving every watcher video in light of the news

the fact that last week we were all so hyped for the big news and now we look like this:

We all understand wanting to leave YouTube. The issue here is, instead of just getting their own website and shifting the content, they are going full throttle on making their fans pay for every single aspect- including content they’d already been given for free, over multiple years.

Plenty of content creators have had their own content sites over the years, with free content and then content specifically for their paid tiers. Not unlike Patreon but everything in the same place. So that fans could enjoy their content, especially videos they’re already viewed and enjoyed for free, but they are getting their freedom and their subscriptions.

It’s a strictly business decision and that’s fine. I just hope they’re prepared for how many regular viewers they’re going to lose because people can’t afford this, or straight up just aren’t willing to pay for something they used to get to free.

Do you guys also love it when you watch a youtube show for about a decade and then they decide to put it behind the paywall? And you can’t even pay for the subscription not only because it’s expensive and you’re already subscribed to plenty of other services BUT because you PHYSICALLY CAN NOT pay for a subscription of a service from a different country

Great, that’s exactly what we all wanted and needed 👍

Watcher, once they read all the comments to their announcement:

watcher leaving youtube... for a streaming service????

Happy April Fools 2024

occasionally I am struck dumb by the sublime beauty of the world in the small moments, you know?

egg

deep fried dick has been added to my collec- i mean vocabulary

Camp Jupiter kids are private school kids and Camp Half-Blood kids are public school.