The Greediest Channel on YouTube

Watcher, a KZbin channel that has recently faced major backlash for attempting to paywall all of their content through their own personal streaming service. Today, we take a look at this situation, and their recent apology. Buckle up.
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[@bloodyneptune]

The best comment I saw on their goodbye video was "I just paid $300 for groceries. Get bent." It just summed the whole thing up

[@aidanangalia8868]

LMAOOOOOOOO😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@katielove8874]

$300 that doesn’t even last a month anymore 😭

[@romktch17]

​@@StacheOperator Ya gotta cut out the sexual encounters with relatives.

[@TottoHolm]

​@@StacheOperator And who do you think you are? You are not better than anybody. You leftist and rightist are all the same, just with different views.

[@Happy_Internet_Commenter]

Damn 😂

[@sapphire56695]

This is also a blatant slap in the face to their international viewers as well, What is $6 in USD is a whole lot more in some other countries.

[@sarahanditakarina1726]

$6 could get me 3 decent warm meals where i live 😂

[@julianblackthorn903]

It is the cost of two whole meals for an adult in my country so yea I'm not paying that much for yt content

[@idrisie6720]

I can eat for 2 days with that money in my country lol

[@TheJo4an]

Translated into taxed money it's about $10 here.

[@TikkieTerug]

Well, in Belgium thats about the same amount in euros so that gives me a coffee on a terrace or a beer in a café

[@lasura]

Omg the corporate sad-ish piano in the background that switches up to happy corporate music when they introduce Watcher. It's like an SNL skit, drives me up the walls.

[@Megan-rr6qg]

It’s so cringe and staged it IS like a skit but we’re not supposed to know that

[@OpalLeigh]

They have 25 employees and not one told them that this was a bad look 🙄😬

[@Megan-rr6qg]

@@OpalLeigh they hired “yes men” I guess

[@siniebeck4821]

If I had a nickel for every time 3 former BuzzFeed employees sat on a couch and discussed a controversy, I'd have two nickels.

[@erikasarmientor.5293]

Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice

[@upland77]

What was the other time?

[@siniebeck4821]

@@upland77 Try Guys.

[@ForeverSweetx3]

How about a nickel for every time a KZbinr says goodbye?

[@frankb2866]

That would lead to generational wealth ​@@ForeverSweetx3

[@tomburress4928]

One of the best comments I saw on their goodbye video was a patreon member saying “it was funny watching Steven Lim buy expensive food on Buzzfeed’s dime but watching him eat gold leaf covered food on our donations when most people are struggling to buy groceries is just the worst look”. Nobody wants to watch a smug douche fly around the world to eat the most expensive food when people are shopping at Walmart and coupon cutting to afford groceries.

[@carrained]

SO frickin' true.

[@gracebailey5989]

Or just not eating at all and using the snack break room as a hunting ground for small unclaimed snacks

[@HingleMacCringleberry]

13:29 we had to make some incredibly challenging decisions like telling Steven he couldn’t cover his daily meals in gold leaf any more.

[@Mistahhuntah]

And they still rolled that show out on schedule. They definitely hired a PR firm to police their videos now though.

[@denisejones5932]

]is a

[@necrogenesis1981]

Ironic how they left Buzzfeed because they’re a shitty company only to be shitty themselves.

[@Aqui77aO]

They learned from the best it seems

[@apathybronson]

I mean, a lot of people left because Buzzfeed didn't recognise when their talent was seriously getting views and treating them accordingly in terms of workload and screen time. It's to be expected that some of them got too high on their own supply

[@NessyNess182]

History truly repeating itself.

[@memonos]

Someone said on this about them “you can leave buzzfeed but you can’t take the buzzfeed out of them” and it checks out they’re just as bad

[@jijitters]

I don't think they're being all that shitty, just stupid. They terribly mismanaged everything, bloated their production costs, and hired too many people. They make a lot of money but instead of using it wisely they over-inflate their production unnecessarily, driving up costs more than they have to, and have nearly 30 total employees which is way more than is reasonable and surely more than they need. They've realized they can't afford to pay all those people AND keep the production quality as high as they want to, and are trying to get fans to supplement that income rather than scale back their spending.

[@Mgermai]

"We're quitting KZbin" ¡LeTs TaLk AbOuT mOnEy!

[@BlueBanana.]

It’s giving mr.krabs

[@titaniac3037]

@@BlueBanana. can you feel it mr. krabs?

[@ZxCv134-n3b]

They committed a sin called "Greed"

[@Nope-s]

Seriously lol. Sounded bad when they said it, but to see it typed out... yikes.

[@TheCommanderTaco]

​@@Nope-sthat was the perfect edit from August. It made me laugh unexpectedly.

[@Earlieboo]

If it won't feed me, house me, clothe me, or drive me to work, I find it difficult to convince myself to pay for it. Things are rough out there. "Oh it's only $5 a month--" Yeah but there's like ten of you doing that. I might be willing to pay $15 a month to get access to everyone's everything, but $5 per creator is outside my budget. There's gonna have to be some cuts made.

[@dukenukem69]

​@@BringBackTheDucknpc 'tard bot

[@TheCommanderTaco]

I keep stating in other videos ( not meant to be an advertisement lol), but the closest I can see what they were going for was something like DropOut did. Unlike Dropout they came off extremely unprofessional. Dropout's initial announcement got straight to the point about not wanting to rely on advertisers and how they expect to receive negative feedback from the announcement ( would reccomend to check it out just to compare messages lol. The video is called "how the internet is ruining comedy"). They even made a followup video joking about how there are too many streaming services ( including their own) and how the term "Netflix" is synonymous with streaming lol.

[@Sffker]

@@TheCommanderTacoRoss is doing something similar with vlogcreations, but there was never some cheesy announcement, it just came up in a video one day, keep putting out free KZbin videos to watch, but on their own website they have additional premium videos. honestly, like what was said in the video, straight up paywalling your views will make you so much less money. you might get an influx of subs at the beginning, then as your channel goes dead from lack of uploads, your KZbin views will fall off, your subs will dwindle, etc. no idea how these guys thought they’d ever get enough subs to straight replace their KZbin money, and growth, which is arguably even more important.

[@annienunyabiz6627]

Shane's wife went whining about needing a survivable wage for their employees while they're living in Hollywood, doesn't want to ask their own company to sacrifice, but asked people who some of their country's monthly wage is a couple hundred USD to sacrifice.

[@manyyoumas]

EXACTLY I’m so tired of this “it’s only X” but meanwhile you’ve got 15 services trying to charge “just” X

[@senpaigru]

1) unsubbed from watcher because i dont like when people spit in my face 2) subbed to you because you're a duck and i like those

[@Kalaphant]

underrated

[@Brokefumo666]

@@Kalaphant fr

[@pimpozza]

I just *love* this comment! 😂

[@OpalLeigh]

A duck that is free to watch!! It’s everything we’ve ever wanted really 😉

[@quinnaddison420]

Why is this comment both savage and adorable

[@darrellcovello7917]

This is the biggest slap in the face to their *thousands and thousands* of Patreon members, who they don't even mention (as far as I know), and were already paying them in thanks for their content but now must pay $6 to get nothing

[@talkichik]

Yeah I was paying $120 annually to them and I would have preferred if they'd followed college humor route of having a paywall section of TV shows. I liked being able to watch everything on KZbin. This new streamer is so dumb, they have to pay for the servers and website and storage. That was likely all included with youtube. I'm trialing their watcher website for now, but I'm not impressed at all. I see them coming back to KZbin fully within 2 years or less. Guarantee they can't make their website user friendly enough in time to stop people like me from unsubscribing.

[@robertorodriguez1086]

@@talkichik why? stopy paying them..

[@Xamry]

My impression about this is we left cable for the internet. I left TV for KZbinrs. I don’t want KZbinrs to be TV. Big difference.

[@NovaAlt-og2lm]

and then there's me who watches youtube on a tv

[@lakeshowbron4747]

​@@NovaAlt-og2lmfacts same 😂😂

[@chrigontrr]

the circle of life repeats once more. we shall return to cable in 2026.

[@oooh19]

@@NovaAlt-og2lmusing a Roku box?

[@NovaAlt-og2lm]

@@oooh19 no my tv is made by samsung i dont know the actual name

[@emuwarrior7490]

They say they would've done it ad free. But I highly doubt it would be truly ad free. They would totally double dip if someone offered the opportunity.

[@WobblesandBean]

They absolutely would.

[@desaug]

yep

[@cozycasasmr4510]

100% random product placements etc like Netflix movies do

[@kx_xx]

*casually drinks prime in watcher video*

[@jijitters]

I don't think that's true, but not because I don't think they're greedy. They're obsessed with control and a big part of this bad move was them wanting to be fully independent and crowd-funded so they could make whatever they want and no I don't think they'd willingly go against that. It's the same reason they'd never join Nebula or Collider or whatever suggestions people are making - they're very prideful and convinced they can *BE* the next big streaming platform so they'd never be willing to join or bow to another company's rules.

[@SpiritzPlanet]

3:00 - Oh, my god. The “emotional piano music.” Kill me, now.

[@noosy530]

So painful

[@cassie.m.0723]

I rolled my eyes so hard at that clip that I still haven't been able to find where they fell out

[@queenicedcoffee4217]

Their 3 faces alone made me cringe

[@A5H_01]

“Instead of funding our content through advertisers, we’re sourcing our finances from YOU - The audience! Now watch Steven eat gold!”

[@NessyNess182]

🤣

[@jessicastar433]

55k on a wedding VENUE when most of their viewers don’t make that in a year

[@thedeadman8361]

KZbin charges $12 for ad free access to everyone's content and to KZbin Music, and most people aren't even willing to pay that. How the hell did these guys seriously think people would pay $6 for ad free access to just theirs!!!

[@zoelundy5561]

Yeah I refuse to get KZbin premium cause it’s £16.99 per month

[@Barb123-i4h]

Its only 6 dollars here

[@MisterRubbertoe]

They appear to have had a silent, seething resentment for having to have their “television caliber quality” content on this lowly platform… imagine how they are going to resent their subscribers for “making” them change their plans and stay here, when their streaming site inevitably fails.

[@Ontologi]

Damn 😭

[@ominouscherub]

I commented this same thing on another video on this topic. They’re content creators who have resented that their fanbase wants certain content at a certain place and payment level

[@framerate1494]

$5.99 per month is not “affordable to everyone” 🤦‍♂️

[@framerate1494]

At least they apologised though, don’t get me wrong

[@bloodyneptune]

Right? I've got $0.22 in the bank right now, I literally _cant_ afford ir

[@supreme-ss777]

@@bloodyneptuneFirst rule of the internet. Never tell anyone you don’t know how much money you have.

[@framerate1494]

Just wondering what your card details are? Asking for a friend 🙂

[@stanleypines3626]

@@supreme-ss777 Yeah that persons lucky this isn't Instagram reels

[@danielleho1451]

One of their shows is them eating super expensive food. And asking for money because you want to travel to all kinds of places and asking as if it is a necessity??? Aightttt

[@jijitters]

It is misleading to say "them" there. That is just Steven, and he is bringing back his old Worth It friends to do it with him. Most of Watcher's viewers are not there for Steven, they are there for Ryan and Shane, who came from Unsolved. Separate entities that both exist at Watcher because they're trying to become a company with many shows and "talents." Most of their fanbase does not want that show to exist and it's undoubtedly going to lose them money because of Steven's false view of his own relevancy.

[@tmalaklaryka]

@@jijitters I never watched any of Steven's videos, I don't like him, nor his content, he and Sara are two leeches living of Ryan's and Shane's carisma and personalities, I avoid them like a plague. Steven lives is his own reality where money is laying everywhere like dust and wants more, he is willing to sacrifice his friends to maintain his lifestyle, this bs has Stevens signature all over it.

[@52tayyy]

@@jijittersworth it was actually good though

[@TheAngelFolly]

Wine and dine on the fans dime to just say "yeah, a $500 dish with truffle and gold leaf isn't worth it. I'm still hungry" what would we do without that piece of advice.

[@genericname2747]

Also they had an expensive wedding (don't remember the specific amount) only for one of their wives to go on Tumblr and defend them for trying to get a "survivable wage" Edit: Actually I'm stupid, I think only one of them got married, so it was the 50K venue this guy is talking about

[@TwiDashFTW]

I was baffled that all that backlash just faded away. Like guys??? You babying them and saying "it's okay" ain't gonna make them learn their lesson??

[@Jd-808]

Perils of parasociality

[@yellowblob405]

They haven’t gotten away with it. Ever since they posted their update video which was months ago they’ve not managed to hit a million views on any of their recent videos. Before then, some videos did get a million or millions of views. So I think people, including myself have lost interest.

[@BlinkArmy4]

@@yellowblob405Well I don’t think that video was the reason. Their videos were popular a year ago in the millions now not so much.

[@jmk0822]

I've noticed that the videos Steven is in don't have nearly as many views as the ones he isn't in and that's because most people can easily identify him as the one who came up with this shitty idea

[@marionnel2931]

THANK YOU! Their apology video really rubbed me the wrong way and just everyone seems to be satisfied with it but, like you said, should we really be? They've shown their true colours, they haven't actually learned anything from the situation either, they're going to be losing even more money since people will opt to wait for the episodes to be released for free on youtube after a month of it being released on their streaming service like... This was a rough apology video. They did say sorry, they did address and tell the audience that they are heard but that doesn't fixed the situation at all. They are all still mismanaging their money with poor business decisions and they really thought/think they can rectify this by making their fans pay for a service like... Bruh, hire a financial advisor, because paying for 25+ staff members that you don't need, creating videos that don't need the budget they're given (cough cough, Stephen and his whole going around the world eating fancy food with friends) and just them being out of touch with the state of the world in general. They're too used to their over-indulgent lifestyles that they have that they think they need more funds than they actually do, like how out of touch do you need to be? And don't get me started on them saying they're not sponsor friendly like they're arguably one of the most sponsor friendly channels out there, they get 800k-1m views on their paranormal videos and those range from 30-50mins for ads I just can't fathom how horrible they all are with money. Throw in their live shows and merch... I don't understand how they think they're still in the red I'm absolutely perplexed

[@bribrilolzOG]

Calling this a “goodbye to KZbin” feels like an ultimatum…

[@WobblesandBean]

Or a tantrum.

[@favoritemustard3542]

Bad buy or KZbin lol _whoops_

[@stevencarney7124]

@@WobblesandBean I think you are both right

[@LizaGrace97]

The craziest part of this is them thinking that their videos/production are TV show quality, a blue puppet show, sitting around a campfire talking, hunting "ghosts" with a flashlight and eating caviar are not TV ideas. They ARE fun and the videos ARE good but, only for KZbin, their content is still very much KZbin content and there's still so much work, planning and brainstorming to do for their content to deserve a streaming platform. I don't even agree that a one-month time gap per video is good for them, maybe a couple weeks but no one loves a KZbin video that much to wait months for one of them, they really just dug their grave and jumped right in which sucks bc I love Shane and Ryan but this whole thing shows where their real priorities lie.

[@justinm2697]

Watching that short clip of their puppet show with the blue furry puppet..... they should fire their puppeteer. That's not how you operate a puppet.

[@DylanE6969]

Well since yall have never watched one of there videos other then recently then no you don’t k ow they are meant for 10-18 year olds not 20-99 year old people

[@DylonsBBGorl]

@@DylanE6969 And which 10-18 year olds are going to be paying $6 a month for their subscription? LMAO. That makes this even dumber.

[@iiastridii]

LMAOO FR @@DylonsBBGorl

[@aperson6799]

@@justinm2697 The puppeteer is shane, and that’s the point why the show is so great ( *only for KZbin* ) Most people really like the “lower quality” stuff rather than trying to make the videos tv level. The funny dynamic doesn’t flow as well.

[@coco-wc1cz]

people say they apologised but the mask fell off lol, the gross mismanagement of their funds still upsets me. and they didn't address that in the apology either. they act like they MUST have 25 employees and a large office space in a socmed/content creation company where most can work remotely, like that's the bare minimum. making rash decisions like these instead of just downsizing makes you put all 25 of these employees' livelihoods in jeopardy, instead of just firing a few to downsize. my wording may sound harsh, but it is something that needed to be said.

[@11ozzielover]

Yeah, mask definitely fell off. I used to thoroughly enjoy their videos, even though they started to feel more and more overproduced, but this just soured their whole vibe lol. Now they just feel like one of those typical corporate channels who only really care about their revenue. Not their audience and not even really the people who work there. Sure, they might word it that way, but if money management is that big an issue, you probably don't actually care all that much. Else you would've hired someone to handle that part of the business a while ago.

[@favoritemustard3542]

It sounds like the bulk of their employees are fam & friends. Oops, this will make for some awkward get-togethers.

[@daydream5120]

@@favoritemustard3542This is exactly why you don’t make a business out of friends and families. As a business, sometimes you have to make decisions that make you seem like the bad guy (like laying off people)

[@g.williams2047]

They need to get rid of Steven but they won’t.

[@schelfie1986]

"We're going to the UK, and we're going to Scotland" is like saying "We're going to the USA and we're going to Kansas". So they're happy to announce they'll go "international" to one other country, and we have to pay money for that? How dellusional can you be?

[@measured.kadence]

I thought he meant international like they'll stream to other countries but I quickly realized he meant they get vacations across the world and get to record silly videos hunting ghosts at night and eating expensive food

[@Redh3adTheRedFox]

Haven’t finished your video, but this was my take: I didn’t buy their “apology” video. They said a lot of the right things, and reversed what they were gonna do the best they could. BUT, they still made lame excuses, tried to guilt trip, and the logic behind them having a private streaming service was so idiotic. It was all about their egos, and greed.

[@metademetra]

Rooster Teeth literally just tried to do the same thing recently. You notice how they're now officially going out of business???

[@desaug]

HMMMM

[@peach-panther]

Hasnt been good since Michael left

[@Jigamanx2]

College humor tried this eons ago. Crashed and burned to the ground

[@apathybronson]

​@@Jigamanx2that's because Facebook video faked its numbers. Dropout is doing pretty well. But that was always communicated as 'we can not do this content without somebody paying for it' vs this situation where they've clearly been able to put out content that was good enough for people for free

[@moonknight6738]

@@Jigamanx2 what the hell are you saying college humor is doing great and honestly for them specifically because of how much high quality content and staff they have it works for them

[@holydiver6511]

I love how they're charging streaming service prices for access to just their content. This feels like something EA would do. Its insane. It's the first time I heard about these guys too

[@enon8116]

More like a Bethesda move really

[@nesamdoom]

Their best videos are them getting drunk in a yard reading creepypastas, they don't need the money.

[@TheCommanderTaco]

​@@nesamdoomthey need the 25+ employees to read those creepy pasta wiki's lol.

[@TheCommanderTaco]

​@@enon8116EA does have their own subscription service lol.

[@lilstarsshine]

Omg remember when their slogan was "challenge everything"... perhaps they are taking another play out of their playbook because this business strategy literally challenges everything we know to be true about the likelihood that this will be successful for them?!?!?!?!!?

[@ARTSONICFAN990]

Watcher: *Adds a Paywall to their KZbin channel.* EA: Look what their doing to imitate a fraction of our power.

[@animemusicluver1]

I'm cackling in simlish

[@NathalieCwiekSwiercz]

​@@animemusicluver1😭😂

[@AuroraSnowflake]

they're*

[@haruhitomaeda4802]

​@@AuroraSnowflakeNo, they wrote it well the first time. "They're" is a shortened version of "they are", while "their" is a possessive determiner (like "my" and "your").

[@TheBonzaiKitten]

Aurora Snowflake is correct. "Look at what they are doing" contracted to "look at what they're doing".

[@derp195]

I immediately unsubbed and told youtube not to recommend their videos. Just left a bad taste in my mouth and I'm not interested anymore.

[@DemiAnunnaki]

Steven Lim saluting and sighing is the most cringe thing I've seen in a while. These lames used to be cool. I feel like theyre my friends trying to apologize after something they did, but i don't even wanna look at them anymore.

[@williamstar7225]

I was hoping one of them was gonna play the ukelele

[@Starterman_a]

Toxic gossip train core

[@cethis]

Underrated comment of the year.

[@farmhouseonthemountain]

😂

[@Renee2day598]

😂😂

[@carmenlonglastname6459]

Lmao good one

[@Stealth86651]

They did it because they're arrogant enough to think they're special and people would pay that much to see Buzzfeed content, stuff that wasn't exactly amazing when free. Just get a patreon if you honestly think people will pay money to see your content, this isn't complicated and I don't even do all that stuff.

[@jbuck566]

The funny thing is that they do have a patreon and still did this 😂

[@lux0rd01]

They have a tier on Patreon that costs $100 and even at that level they were only giving a 40% DISCOUNT on the platform they were trying to make. Apparently they were super lax even giving the Patreon the promised awards too

[@meredithgrubb4497]

They have a 4 tier patreon lol the top one is $100

[@ayanagreen5349]

Had a 4 tier Patreon with 13,000 members. Who they didn’t even offer a free streaming service membership…initially.

[@mymai5859]

They HAVE patreon, they have advertisers, & sponsors - mega millions. Steven is bad at budgeting & staff is bloated. They have NOT recognised that Ryan & Shane bring in 98% of viewers. Steven does dumb kitchen & expensive eating content, without shite all viewers. Trust is gone. Ryan & Shane need to run away from ego filled Steven. Drop his ass.

[@osheroth]

Mfs thought they were hot shit like Dropout *3 ex Buzzfeed employees thought they were as relevant AS COLLEGE HUMOR.*

[@desaug]

they are hot shit. just not in the good way.

[@Jigamanx2]

And CH still crashed and burned even with the size and audience that they had.

[@jijitters]

I don't think that's necessarily true, I think they just vastly overestimated how many of their subscribers were avid fans with plenty of disposable income. Like this guy in this video said, if they'd received enough new subscriptions they probably wouldn't have taken it back lol

[@favoritemustard3542]

@jijitters a'yup, they should've done a ton more research & some community polls... (Polls that some ppl like to troll, though!)

[@GedSperber]

Dropout is SOOO good tho

[@stephaniespurling6105]

If they were that desperate for money why didn’t they just promote their Patreon more??? Or thin production costs??? Literally how does it take 25 employees to maintain their channel???

[@ElleIsOtherPeople]

Absolutely spot on, my dude. I was a big fan of these guys - until Friday. Tone deaf and brain dead. Lost every ounce of goodwill I had for them

[@tashibalampkin8555]

4:34 "I hope you guys follow us one more time." We won't. But good luck to you fam. 👋🏿

[@GamerGrovyle]

I'll watch their Puppet History and maybe the Mystery Files if they ever return it. Got no interest in any of their other nonsense. much less giving them any of the money I don't have.

[@johnweiss6335]

This is what happens when you don't factor in the qualitative aspect of your data. They probably went "Ooh, we've got 12M views per month, if we can just funnel 0.25% of that we'll get double the money we're currently getting!" without any consideration of age, purchasing power and/or any other characteristics of their demographic. Plus, this would've already been a bold and risky move a few years ago, nevermind nowadays, when you can kick a stone and a dozen new streaming platforms will come crawling from under it.

[@jijitters]

I fully believe they either overestimated the age of their fans or wish their fanbase skewed older around their own company's 30s/40s age group and was trying to appeal to that older more mature demographic who was more willing and able to pay. They failed to anticipate that their older fanbase saw through the bs and refused to pay out of principle, and that their broke 20s fanbase is much larger and widely couldn't pay even if they wanted to.

[@andysmith1996]

It's like those people who go on "Dragons' Den" or "Shark Tank" and say "the worldwide market is x billion dollars, so even if I get 5 per cent of that market, I'm still rolling in it'", like that's all there is to it.

[@baobinq]

@@jijittersAnd it’s ridiculous too because they clearly didn’t put into account that a good amount of their fanbase aren’t from america🤦‍♀️ So if their charging 6$ worldwide then for some people that converts into like 4 meals right there.

[@FarahIRL]

Also it’s not like they were launching a streaming platform with a bunch of creators and a lot more content. They’re charging $6 for *just* their own content, the level of delusion is insane🙄

[@Chhjmmkg]

They also didn't factor in how most of the toddlers on yt lie about their age on here when they sign up. I would say 99% of their viewers are kids who couldn't buy a lollipop, let alone pay six dollars a month for their content. Also I don't see any adult seeing their tv shows and going "wow" because the entire tv industry exists 😂

[@Brentastrophe]

The apology they put out was more of a "Wow we got called out, you guys are so right. We're sorry. So now we'll still put it on our platform, but youtube later." Let's see how that goes down

[@bamabby010]

well it's going to go a lot better than putting everything behind a paywall. the fucked up and admitted it, and remedied the situation.

[@Brentastrophe]

@@bamabby010 You're not wrong, but goodwill of fans is really hard to get back when it's lost

[@bamabby010]

@@Brentastrophe well looking at their comment section, most people are forgiving and thanking them for listening. so yeah, they're going to be way better off.

[@aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh-y1k]

I think they will follow through

[@aperson6799]

I mean, these were some of the last people I thought would actually do something like this. But if we’re comparing their apology to most other ones on this platform- i’ll take it any day.

[@joanderson6880]

I definitely fell for the apology at first, but then days later, I rewatched it and realized how much it wasn't actually saying. They hid behind the fact that they actually said the word sorry. Now months later, I have not gone back to their channel once. They showed their hand and it was an ugly one

[@sentientplant9658]

Rolled my eyes so hard they fell out of my head and rolled across my dorm floor when they released their "apology." They refuse to understand their main audience is college kids/high schoolers, who very much can't afford to live. And they were like "sorry you're poor." I have noticed forgiven them and honestly I never will.

[@micahjacobson8533]

Honestly I would've given them the benefit of the doubt if one of them didn't spend 55,000 ON A VENUE

[@paperizzy]

They're apologies sound so fake. Like literally robotic.

[@jakasmalakas]

Very much, a corporate apology.

[@jijitters]

@@jakasmalakas Jakas learning that every company has a lawyer and PR who prepare statements for them. Sorry you found out this way.

[@ayrton42]

"we've been reading the things you're saying? And we're sorry the way we handled this?" The way he phrased that as a question is nauseating and sounds exactly like the way all forced apologies sound. Once upon a time the douchetuber ricegum made an apology that was identical.

[@booktales1687]

It’s so corporate, robotic, and ingenious for real. I genuinely don’t understand why so many are taking it as gold

[@unknownperson8527]

​@@jijitters sure every company has PR and lawyers or whatever. They can also possibly sound genuine as well lol. They could've involved their audiences and fans in their decision as well lmao. Food for thought I guess

[@Kant3n]

4:17 Nothing says "television caliber content" like showing up to work dressed like you just left a bachelor party at Hooters.

[@meredithgrubb4497]

What's crazy is I'm pretty sure they pay an employee to dress them for the show. Probably a friend or family member.

[@spoons250]

@@meredithgrubb4497 Out of the 25 "crew" they pay, 21 of them are "friends or family". The only 3 people the internet has been able to "clock" as actual employees so far are a "set designer" who places orders for shit, a travel agent who is used a few times a year, and a publicist/agent. All the camera crew are friends/family, all their wives/GFs are high ups, all 3 of them have brothers on the HIGH UP sets (with no experience) and 2 of them have moms/dads on top level pay roll. Shane had a 300k wedding, and his wife had the nerve to say " we arnt getting livable wages". They can LITERALLY starve.

[@NessyNess182]

Yeah, they're looking pretty rough

[@daneen2fabulous]

The blond's hair reminds me of Hermey the Elf from Rudolph.

[@NessyNess182]

@@daneen2fabulous Oh WOW!! You're right 🤣

[@pri2x0x]

That ending to the announcement video with the awkward smarmy chuckle and shrug told me everything I need to know about these people. Now they're just putting out fires..and people are desperate to forgive them unfortunately

[@Spooky_Platypus]

Also, these idiots posted about how they hired two more former buzzfeed dudes TWO DAYS before announcing that they’re soooooo broke 😂 Steven Lim will be the downfall of watcher.

[@ForeverSweetx3]

Yuppppp

[@Con10th.]

KZbinr apology videos does something to me i can't describe honestly ick is an understatement... there's something about it that's so manipulative i hate how they emphasis on "YOU" to make us feel like we're their main priority

[@Megan-rr6qg]

It’s emotionally manipulation to save some of their subscriber count

[@FefiBurgos]

Yes! the "you" all the time made it worse. Like, "we were going to make better content and pay better to our staff, but because YOU are cheap, we won't and we have to be back for free"... that's how it feels. They said they learned, but they didn't say "we are rethinking the costs to make this more profitable", they still believe that saying goodbye to the - big - part of their audience that can't commit 5 dollars a month was a better idea.

[@werebear7764]

3 days ago "hey F U we want more money" and now today "hey we F'd up don't leave us we still want your money" LOL

[@lisahoshowsky4251]

I saw people praising the “apology” video, and I do think they deserve a second chance, but they were backed into a corner, it was do this or go down on the ship they sank themselves. They shouldn’t be praised for coming up with a compromise on something that should never have made it this far in the first place. Their words, choices, and actions were extremely damaging and hurtful, only time will tell if this is actually an apology or just a reaction disguised as one to salvage what they can. They deserve a chance but forgiveness is earned and they certainly do not deserve huge praise for doing what literally everyone told them they needed to do to not lose most of their fan base.

[@isi__1]

I agree. I was actually quite surprised to see everyone in the comments react so overly positively to this. I saw people comment stuff like, "It's so great that you're listening to the viewers and taking accountability." , "This is the best apology video I've ever seen", "Wow, you're amazing for giving us such a fast response to the feedback you've received.". Barely anyone was mentioning that their only two options were literally apologizing and backpedaling OR losing their career. I can't immediately take an apology seriously, sincere or not, if it's pretty much the only choice they had.

[@FefiBurgos]

@@isi__1 Yes. It wasn't an apology, either. They are still saying, in other words, that they want to pay "fairly" to their employees, but they can't because we are broke and not willing to give them the dollars - for only the content of their channel - they need, they didn't say anything like, "we have a bad business model and the costs are big, we want more spendable money for us, we realized we need to rent a cheaper office and resolve things without so many people, among other things, way before making you all pay for what you always have for free". They are still blaming us, only backtracking about the paywall because they will lose their whole Watcher if not.

[@digitaltailsmon4096]

Best take I have scene regarding this. Like I am not really a fan of this channel. I preferred BFU over the Watcher stuff they do but I do think hearing their apology that I am willing to give them a second chance. I don't think they are completely irredeemable as of yet. It is their actions after this that will decide. And for the record before I end I would say I do not dislike the watcher stuff, I just think BFU was more my speed and had better atmosphere for what I wanted to see. I think a lot of the Watcher videos are funny and still charming.

[@Fatamorgana420]

The damage was done, the respect lost. I'm not as forgiving as the other better people.

[@alienlizardqueen8748]

It's the entitlement that really bothered me. These guys wanted a trust fund.

[@Brynwyn123]

The wildest part to me is they wanted to use the money to bring back Stevens "I eat a billion dollar sundae" videos. Pure greed.

[@chaoticgood0886]

Many people said this before me, but most of the fans didn't start watching because of the high-quality content and TV like episodes. They joined because they liked Shane and Ryan's dynamic in Buzzfeed Unsolved and wanted to continue watching them. Thats why I personally watched Watcher. If they cut costs and the quality got lower, that'd be perfectly fine. But they decided to ostracize so many of their fans by initially putting their future content behind a paywall. And while they quickly went back on that decision, it showed they value revenue more than their fanbase. It's extremely disappointing to see. Sorry for the ramble lol, had to get out my thoughts somewhere

[@FefiBurgos]

You are right on your accounts. Don't apologize. It's awful, really. I expected every Friday something new from them. Now it's ruined. In the "apology" video they just, as you said, backpedaled because they were losing the whole business, not that they were honestly remorseful, rethinking their business model and making changes, no. They insisted in being unable to pay better to their employees because we are not paying directly to them, lol. What you say is key, they were putting their FUTURE content behind a paywall, their audience is already monetized but seems not enough for them, they showed us they have no problem getting rid of a big chunk of us who are not being able to pay. Ugh. Hurts.

[@insanusmaximus2857]

Seriously, if they want to create "TV-quality content," they should pitch a show to Netflix and get funding from them. Putting the burden on the fans is just asinine.

[@TheAngelFolly]

I was a big fan of unsolved and puppet history. The slap in the face is their ego. It's one thing to say, we want to make higher quality content, we want to be more artistic and make their passion projects when they can. It's another to assume we'd want to directly fund those projects. WE didn't ask for them. This is youtube. We pay for the content with our views, buying merch, and supporting on patreon, or using affiliate links.

[@LivyLoucifer]

Thank you for this perspective.. It's harsh but probably true... I found them pretty recently and have been using their videos to fall asleep due to PTSD nightmares. Their goofy energy, wholesome friendship, and general good vibes have quickly made them into comfort content and it helps when I wake up freaking out. Needless to say, in a short time, I've become very fond of them and their content and it really sucked that all of this went down.

[@MyNameHere101]

How did listening to murders and ghost stories help your PTSD 😅😅 trauma is wild ❤

[@LivyLoucifer]

@@MyNameHere101 lmao yeah it's the good vibes behind it 😂 I agree tho

[@stanleypines3626]

@@LivyLoucifer The interjections between stories could make the most horrifying things funny. Miss those videos

[@apixieswhisper]

I have PTSD as well and am struggling. I hope you’re alright 🩷

[@LivyLoucifer]

@@apixieswhisperI just take it a few minutes at a time and celebrate the times when my brain is an okay place to be. When it's bad I remind myself that I do have good times💖 Healing does happen and I don't believe I'll always suffer the way I do at its worst💖 I hope it gets better for us both 💖

[@0RangeVort3x]

Try not to ruin your career challenge (Impossible)

[@stanleypines3626]

KZbinrs when they become popular and have a stable channel with dedicated fans.

[@chrigontrr]

literally the internet summarized in a sentence

[@Popcorn-oz3hl]

6:07 haha the feel good music in the background; “we’re going to Scotland, we’re going to etc.” sounds like they expected a lot of money to come in to fund those tv level content or whatever the hell. Haha. I would never

[@alden1132]

I have friends (plural) with a _lot_ of disposable income, who spend money on *ridiculous* crap, but refuse pay for subscriptions to streaming services like _HBO_ or _Netflix._ One guy stopped watching a popular show on Apple TV halfway through the second season because the free trial he got with his phone ran out, and didn't want to pay for the subscription. Maybe they have enough fans out there hardcore enough to pay to watch their stuff, exclusively, but I doubt it would _ever_ compare to even a smaller channel's ad revenue.

[@treytison1444]

If I still haven't paid the extra 3 dollars a month to Amazon, I'm sure not paying 6 dollars for one youtube channel.

[@daydream5120]

Same. I’m quite stingy with my money to the point that I’m not willing to give money to Spotify or KZbin even though I use them all the time

[@annienunyabiz6627]

I dont know if its greed so much as them being monumentally bad with money, not wanting to downscale their production cause they wanna be pretend TV, and not wanting to fire their buddies that are so bad at their jobs they still have to hire freelancers to help.

[@0ctodaddy]

They clearly have staff they dint need I just replied to someone else that on one video they had TWO directors of photography 😑😑

[@ayanagreen5349]

I agree. They seem to have a bloated staff, and overly high production standards…that nobody asked for. Had they asked their viewers, they would’ve known this wasn’t the move.

[@apathybronson]

I don't even think they're *that* bad with money. Especially their staff seems to be mainly relatives and friends. But they want to live like they're running a tech company, not like they're on KZbin making content that could have been done exactly like this by 5 people.

[@jijitters]

I don't know if I'm willing to assume or start stating that everyone there is bad at their job nor do I think you or anyone is in a position to be able to state so. But the rest - yep. They bloated their production costs, and hired too many people. They make a lot of money but instead of using it wisely they over-inflate their production unnecessarily, driving up costs more than they have to, and have nearly 30 total employees which is way more than is reasonable and surely more than they need. They've realized they can't afford to pay all those people AND keep the production quality as high as they want to, and are trying to get fans to supplement that income rather than scale back their spending.

[@aquapuppy9838]

Did they ever even explain why being paid by way of advertisement was a problem in the first place?... Are they too young to even have seen an actual TV?

[@Wreckingballblu]

If they were smart they would've made it a place to talk about stories that'd get them demonetized

[@apathybronson]

​@@Wreckingballbluthen people would've rightly pointed out how it makes way more sense to partner with Nebula for that (unless they're also plagiarising their content)

[@jijitters]

@@apathybronson Nebula isn't a partner nor is it a site anyone can just join. I really wish people would stop bringing this up as a solution. Anyone on Nebula already knows someone else on Nebula and makes similar content and people have to be invited, by design. It's a collective, wherein every creator is a partial owner. The contrast is designed so that every creator is equally responsible for the success of the company and takes in the relevant amount of revenue relative to how much they bring in. The mission statement relies on every creator there being emotionally invested in the community of the site in making their content, so while they get creative freedom with their personal videos, everyone is a collective who either sails or sinks the ship as a whole. Not only does that mean you can't just request/ask to join and automatically become part of it, it means Watcher is totally against the idea because of their obsession with being independent and being their own CEOs. Being part of Nebula means having to be part of basically a communist streaming service and Watcher are like lone wolves in the industry, and it's gonna drag them down.

[@gilded_lady]

@jijitters I'm not even sure Nebula would want them. Nebula is definitely long form essay/deep dive content which this isn't it.

[@kateliza8922]

​@@jijitterswhy are you so obbesive with this? I saw you in every responses, it's gross...

[@michaelstanley9803]

I pay $14.83 a month for KZbin premium. No commercials on any videos or KZbin music. To expect me to pay nearly half that amount for a single KZbin channel is absolutely ridiculous. I used to love Ryan and Shane. Now I will avoid their content like the plague. Just pathetic.

[@pinkfreud62]

I bought Premium, too, and along with my internet service, that's enough! People keep wanting to dip in people's pockets & shake their shoes.

[@markriosn7589]

That non-apology is so patronizing "we're sorry our audience are a bunch of poor saps..."

[@TheBackwardsLegsMan]

It's so funny seeing people say 'oh well they apologized.' They don't feel bad lol. They're just back peddling because nobody moved to their new service and they don't want to lose money. It's like buying the next NBA 2k game because 2k apologized for making the last one a pay 2 win nightmare. I'm sure that doesn't suggest anything about how future products are going to be.

[@Canyouseemeanna]

It's funny seeing people say 'they don't feel bad' as if they have committed a crime. They made a stupid decision, saw that it was stupid and remedied it.

[@d34thnote79]

​@@Canyouseemeannayou seem to be missing the point of these comments They aren't addressing the youtubers in question making a bad business decision and then damage controlling it best they can It is addressing the, frankly, sheep calling this apology sincere

[@jijitters]

@@d34thnote79 Who cares? They made a bad business move, people complained, so they took back the bad business move. Obsessing over the personal feelings of the people performing for your entertainment is parasocial whether you're being negative or positive.

[@realestsienna]

@@d34thnote79ts is not that srs

[@SurnaturalM]

​@@d34thnote79It's pointless to argue. There will always be people who will sucking celebs butt, no matter who shitty and greedy they are. That's why shity people do what they did, and that's also why people like Jack Doherty and Jonny Somali are millionaire. People are generally way more stupid than you think.

[@elliotwinstanley-rose1547]

“We messed up” Not another one of these videos.

[@flatpigeon9349]

The only good one is the one in Across the Spider-Verse. "I messed up"- Miles Morales and the baby powder issue.

[@HittPostsStuff]

"We messed up." Ah nah really? I couldn't tell.

[@underworld_jumbo]

the 'were sorry' video has about as much emotion of a freshly painted wall

[@LittleKikiBear]

Honestly they ruined their reputation for me. I won't watch them again. There are better channels to watch.

[@lilianf73]

I struggled to find comments like the ones here on their apology video. Ppl were so eager to forgive and forget... So naive

[@apathybronson]

Comments can be deleted by the channel owner. Just saying.

[@jijitters]

@@apathybronson They're not deleting anything, that's just their fanbase. Sorry if that hurts your conspiracy theories. But their fans just didn't want to pay for anything and now they don't have to, so of course they're willing to forgive.

[@elhazthorn918]

'Fan' is derived from 'fanatic.'

[@SurnaturalM]

​@@apathybronsonYeah, obviously. And from what I've read, let's say their "fans" aren't the brightest people. You have some of them here answering to every comment like if these guy would read and reward them. Mostly 15 years old girls. But I remember people like Jonny Somali and Billie Ellish also have fans. People are stupider than you can imagine. "Each minutes, a sucker is born"

[@ShesTiredd]

It's because most people that unsubscribed probably didn't watch it and were discussing "the apology" in the comments of another creators,who covered it I saw enough of different discussions and there are enough people who aren't resubscribing

[@Vincent_Beers]

The only time adding payments work for big channels is when it's expanding content. The same normal free stuff on KZbin and then "hey we're also gonna do extra things over here if you want to pay for it" just look at channels like GMM for a working model. Multiple channels + a tiered membership website where you can pay for more. Or a channel like Renaissance Periodization, tons of free content and their members only videos are for uncensored and extended versions so they don't have to bleep out the swear words. Give people options to pay you more and some might do it, force people to subscribe to see you at all and you're suddenly being compared to other services that offer better value.

[@featherlightfox1292]

Another great example of this is the Cinema Snob who has been doing it for years. He has all the free KZbin stuff, also stored on his own website also for free, then he has the Patreon stuff with polls and early access, and every now and again he releases a dvd with exclusive reviews and features that can only be found on those DVDs. Locking everything behind a paywall is just going to make people mad at you.

[@WillieComment]

Not to mention that Rhett and Link want to make more tv-like shows but are using their existing money to make that happen, not charging for their free stuff with a promise of it eventually happening.

[@FefiBurgos]

@@WillieComment yes. They are putting the cart before the horse, and now blaming us because we are broke or the greedy ones, and oh they don't have our money to fund their promises.

[@JupiterTao26]

imagine being here for a cash grab then having to refund everyone

[@cozycasasmr4510]

there is no creator i like enough to pay money for content. if its a hoodie or something tangible i can use, i can justify it but just paying money every month for the promise of content? i just would feel so guilty to myself for being frivolous with money

[@edwarda.7864]

I remember watching these guys eating $1-$1000 food for years when I was like, 14. Guess they're trying to make some of that money back.........

[@TheCommanderTaco]

That is what Atozy brought up. It feels like they don't understand how business truly works. A big network executive has money to burn. A small studio ( what they should be) doesn't have said capital ( usually) to burn like that. Instead they hired 25 people then hire free Lance staff to work on their videos. As people keep stating it's a budget issue, but those that keep defending them keep trying to go with the argument " but it's wrong to have someone fired just because you don't want to pay" ( really I was checking out their apology video and at least with the thread I was reading that was the main argument lol).

[@Snartfoodler]

@@TheCommanderTaco There's good parts and bad parts to doing your own thing. Buzzfeed creators seem to have a bad luck and bad business sense without a giant company to churn out revenue for.

[@apathybronson]

​@@Snartfoodleridk it's like they didn't understand that Buzzfeed got VC money thrown at them for a decade for fun.

[@apathybronson]

It's not like they had to pay for that.

[@edwarda.7864]

@@apathybronson I know, I'm just making fun.

[@enthiegavoir5955]

Hold up, wouldn't they do early content on their own Patreon already? So at thr end of the day they're double dipping with Watcher?

[@HobbCap]

They literally just apologized 💀 Edit: I still don't forgive them

[@FrostyPlayzYT]

the timing iswild

[@HobbCap]

​@@FrostyPlayzYTikr

[@UberWeirdChannel]

The early comments are active?

[@FrostyPlayzYT]

@@HobbCap i don’t even think the apology is enough to fix the damage done

[@HobbCap]

​@@FrostyPlayzYT yeah

[@William_Afton2002]

I’m watching this again the next day and I’m now just realizing that in their goodbye they never say anything like “we are so happy to have given our fans so much content.” it was only just “we are so happy our fans have given US so much.” Like really…

[@Falling-ender]

The only company I can think of that successfully pulled it off was College Humor now Dropout. Not only were they insanely clear on their intentions and the process. They still release videos just later on their KZbin channel and they have high quality content across the dropout platform which makes it worth the price. Watcher didn’t do any of that.

[@TheCommanderTaco]

I took a quick look at their most recent videos and the production for those shows ( which to my understanding is what they are popular for) does not look like it should cost much or require 25 people on staff.

[@stanleypines3626]

I have been watching their channel for a while and some of their most beloved videos are pretty simple. Just a narrated story with neat visuals and colored text on a black background when they interject. I loved these videos so much and I bet many other people do and they definitely don't require all this money.

[@0ctodaddy]

I've been a big fan of there's and I totally agree. Also I recently spotted on their end credits. Two. TWOOO!!! Directors of photography 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

[@TheCommanderTaco]

​@0ctodaddy having multiple directors ( could argue also it depends on the type of video) is understandable in them wanting to make high quality videos. The thing I keep stating that gets me is in their initial announcement video they state " we have 25 people on staff" then proceed to say that the ghost hunting videos cost money because of having to fly out, rent rooms, and Hire freelance staff for filming and editing. Then what on earth are the other 22 ( assuming they are part of that 25 number) people on staff doing lol. Honestly if they approached this more professionally and actually gave us a break down of how they budget different types of videos and what each staff member does then I could see room to argue for them. As it is now it just seems to be bad budgeting with them being needlessly overstaffed and they want to add more * cough* friends.

[@apathybronson]

They had way less people to work with at Buzzfeed and those video had way better quality imo

[@0ctodaddy]

@TheCommanderTaco yes but these were directors of photography which were certainly not required for a short youtube video it demonstrates how unnecessary 25 staff is for this channel

[@noosy530]

The background orchestra music made it look like a parody lol

[@ajevaan2]

these guys used to be my faves... and now idk man I'm struggling with this situation rn

[@shadowspade4258]

It amazes me that August doesn’t know about their patreon. They have 12000 backers on there. They’re making a little over $250k gross.

[@jijitters]

Slight correction - you can join any patreon for free and follow it to see the posts. 12000 people following it does not mean they're paying, and a bunch of people followed this week just to watch the drama going down, they didn't pay anything. Only the people running it know how many people are paying and how much.

[@Skinnypeoplelietoo]

They were like "We hope this isn't goodbye for you too but if it is that's okay because we don't need you anymore since we're off to be rich, so bye 😊"

[@melonmanic]

Y’all remember how sad it was when matpat passed the theory channels off, these guys were soulless as they said they were leaving KZbin

[@saffron1996]

thats what soiled it the most for me, true colors have been shown and i will not be returning

[@devden07]

I loved these guys they quite literally were my childhood and to see them destroy themselves for greed is just really sad

[@juliehayes6775]

Thank you, August, for expressing what I was thinking. The amount of insincerity in these three is frightening. And I considered myself a fan. Of their content, I still am, but not the greed. They have lost touch with reality.

[@SavoryAndFlavor]

6:58 112K $ a month is not fully correct, August. They have a Patreon with more than 12K subscribers with the lowest tier beeing 5$ per month. So a minimum of 60K would come on top. Minimum of 172K $ per month would be more accurate.

[@diminie_chimket]

It doesn't matter, does it?? They still make a shit ton of money, and then complain about not being able to pay employees when they are clearly horrible at saving all that money. Now they're expecting their fans to just forget this shit ever happened and give them more money for them to waste. It's so ridiculous and greedy

[@catladyk1111]

I didn’t even like their new content as of late, but because they meant so much to me growing up I stayed subscribed, encouraged friends and family to watch shows I think they would like and also watched anything I could handle, even if not properly enjoying it. I can in no way afford any luxuries, I’m fresh out of college in a third world country barely making ends meet, but I try support them. This crushed me man. Crushed me. I know they apologised but I can’t help the aftertaste of betrayal.

[@HobbCap]

They literally just apologizing and thought we would forget 💀

[@FrostyPlayzYT]

i’m 10 seconds into the video and wtf are those prices??

[@Wumbo_the_Mumbo]

Insanely expensive for what they're offering.

[@FrostyPlayzYT]

@@Wumbo_the_Mumbo literally, 6 bucks a month for around four videos a month is crazy

[@libby1123]

We “overlooked” how not doing free videos would affect our audience. And the Patreon. They already monetized their audience

[@jeanclaudedowning]

the best part about this video its aged like wine, the channels views dropped SIGNIFCANTLY. shout out august much love from South Africa homie been fucking with the channel a lot lately🧙‍♂❤

[@jeanclaudedowning]

also homie in the red reminds me of Kevin Spacey 😂

[@WJGSix]

This is why companies don’t apologize or try to when they mess up with a new business model. Someone is going to find something to criticize them even while they try to apologize regardless if it’s genuine or not. You can’t win.

[@mogar5666]

At this point I'd rather watch channels talking about their downfall than their actual videos. I was a fan of them since before Shane, but with how greedy they are I'm not going to engage with their content after their attempt at an apology. It's just honeyed words to try and get *some* support back, they're not actually sorry.

[@Meme.Supreme]

so happy I'm not the only one who thinks this apology isn't genuine. even the way they were talking sounded so scripted. even charlie thinks it's a pretty good apology. I'm just glad I was never invested in them to begin with, I'm just here to watch the chaos unfold,

[@ShesTiredd]

He is just being diplomatic,he probably doesn't think that

[@PixelatedPower555]

“ *most cheeseburgers aren’t free, most apps…are.* “ -a freaking duck Edit-OMG THANK YOU! This is the most likes I’ve ever gotten! 35 is insane!

[@sierram9573]

I was such a huge fan from before watcher even started and I haven’t been able to enjoy their videos since. The manipulation of “we hope you’ll follow us one more time” to make their loyal followers feel like they’re not big or real enough fans if they can’t afford another subscription over groceries

[@brittanyb.9069]

I lost interest when they went overboard with their new content. I lost respect when I saw the prices for their tour last year (150-400)

[@Wumbo_the_Mumbo]

Does anyone else miss waddles the endcard duck?

[@flannyfizzle9402]

Thank you. I totally miss the animated duck 😢

[@0ctodaddy]

Yeeeeesss!

[@WobblesandBean]

I do 😭

[@KCasper-qm2wm]

Theres a guy that religiously comments about waddles under peoples comments and i was waiting for it to be here but it wasnt, sadly. I miss waddles too

[@Obanesharvest]

Tbh ive seen pretty much every episode of their shows and I was pretty hurt/devastated that not only were they gonna paywall but also remove all their shows from KZbin. I like to think this was just a very ill informed decision. But with how down to earth they always were I can't help but feel like they lost all their relatability after this cash grab :(

[@princessmulch]

bullying works!

[@HobbCap]

Yes: (Principal Skinner)

[@Wumbo_the_Mumbo]

​@@HobbCapthis just made me think of streamed hams.

[@HobbCap]

@@Wumbo_the_Mumbo w pfp

[@BringBackTheDuck]

#BringBackTheDuck It was an iconic part of the channels outro

[@Wumbo_the_Mumbo]

@@HobbCap thanks bro.

[@robswystun2766]

I think a lot of KZbinrs and content creators in general get hung up on this illusion of having a "community" when all they really have are fans who will happily tell them to piss off as soon as they do something stupid. No one is part of your little "community" fantasy. They just like the shit you make. Don't try and read more into it than that.

[@CNM3]

They need to fire whoever advises them for real. Horrible, really just give your Patreon more incentives. They really thought building out their own streaming service was the best route? Delusional.

[@keenanpryor4965]

No one mentions their shows are on Hulu

[@SerenityRamos]

0:05 wow what a good opening