#genuinely curious what the results will be

[skyloftian-nutcase]

Aight Rusl and Fierce need to FORCE Abel to sleep that man is SUFFERING

Rusl glanced at Abel as the latter set up a fire for the night. When the Fierce Deity walked up beside him, the Ordonian could sense the mythical being’s eyes on him.

“It’s Abel,” Rusl said quietly. “I don’t think he’s sleeping.”

“Perhaps his increased irritability gave it away,” Fierce intoned with just enough sincerity to almost make Rusl think he was being genuine. When he shot the deity a quizzical look, Fierce flicked his eyebrows with enough sass that it made the resistance member laugh.

“Look at you, knowing what sarcasm is,” Rusl chuckled. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“There usually seems to be enough coming from our knight to make up for it,” Fierce sighed. “I must admit, though, he does seem far more exhausted.”

“I doubt he’s been sleeping well,” Rusl noted, crossing his arms. “You’ve been keeping watch, has he been sleeping?”

“On and off,” Fierce answered. “It’s unclear if that’s his usual habit. I didn’t comment on it before as a result.”

“Exactly how much sleep do you think mortals need?” Rusl asked, finally curious enough to push the matter.

“Based on the little hero, around four hours.” The deity watched Rusl’s expression shift, and the reaction made him almost nervous as he fidgeted in place. “Is that incorrect?”

“We usually need seven to eight,” Rusl corrected. “Children usually need more. Your boy only sleeps four at a time?”

Fierce’s eyes narrowed as he turned his head slightly, seeming to be looking at nothing. “I knew that child was doing it wrong.”

“More to the point, is that how much Abel is sleeping?” Rusl pressed. They could address the other issue later.

“Oh no,” Fierce answered easily. “Far less than that.”

Rusl groaned, rubbing his forehead as a headache developed. “Well we have to make him sleep someho—Fierce, wait!”

The deity didn’t listen, picking Abel up by his tunic as the man spluttered in protest.

“What are you—”

“It’s time for you to rest.”

“Put me down—”

Rusl sighed heavily. This was going to be a long night.

[noodlesarecheese]

So Watcher is launching a Dropout (it's not called Dropout but they're clearly using the same template format platform thing idk what it's called, and the same pricing structure), and the reaction so far has been wildly different than what I remember from Dropout's launch. I was curious about why that was or if I was just misremembering the Dropout launch, so I went back to the Dropout launch video to compare them and I think I can see where some of the difference is coming from.

If you want to make the comparison yourself: Watcher's Video, Dropout's Video.

I wanna clarify first though that this isn't a knock against Watcher or the fans who are reacting one way or another or anything like that, I genuinely am just fascinated with how different the reactions are to what seems to be the same business decision. This also isn't a 'wow watcher sucks and dropout is so much better' I'm just using them for comparison because they did the same thing with different results. ALSO this isn't about the business decision itself, just the presentation! Disclaimers out of the way, here's the analysis.

Title and Thumbnail So the Watcher.tv announcement video is titled "Goodbye Youtube" and the thumbnail is Ryan, Shane, and Steven sitting on a couch looking serious, with a dark background. That really makes it seem like they're quitting (which, ok, they are quitting youtube but not quitting quitting). Viewers are already primed to be upset, and it's easier to go from upset to angry than upset to excited, curious, or neutral.

Compare to the dropout announcement video: "How the Internet is Ruining Comedy" - inline with other collegehumor video titles, might make you curious. Thumbnail - Big News! with Sam smiling and a bright background. We know its big news, but he looks happy, and the exclamation point let's us know they want us to be excited. Viewers are primed to be curious and excited.

Tone The Watcher announcement has 2 main tones. The first half is very sentimental, almost sad or wistful at times, and while there are parts that veer into pride at achievements, it's mostly bittersweet and sentimental. The second half is a bit more uplifting, but still quite serious. It reminded me of a tech announcement, like when they introduce the new iphone or something like that. Very professional, sleek, and serious, which isn't automatically a bad thing! But I do think that's not the vibe a decently-sized chunk of the audience expected or wanted. Many people watch Watcher for the cast's dynamic with each other, humor, and the more relaxed/conversational/friendly feel that most of the series have.

Compare to dropout - excited and comedic tone. Still professional, but also fits the expectations of the viewers. People watch collegehumor for the humor (it was in the name, after all). They also poke a bit of fun at themselves, which lightens the mood, shows self-awareness, and alleviates some of the bad feelings about paywalling.

Focus The Watcher announcement focuses a lot on the creative journey of the cast and company, as well as how this move will benefit them. Which isn't a bad thing, that's actually quite interesting! The problem here, I think, is actually more about what isn't here - a solid explanation of how this will also benefit the viewers and why the viewers should be excited. There's a brief description of one new show, and the promise that existing shows will get an upgrade, but we weren't given many specific details about how they'll be improved, and there's only one new show to tempt us into subscribing. Some people will be excited for that, some people won't, and some people will be excited but not enough to subscribe. Having 2 or 3 series (even if it's 1 fleshed out plus a few teasers of what's in production or what is being planned) plus some more details about how existing shows will be improved would've helped. Without that, it really does seem like it'll just be the same stuff viewers were getting for free, but now paywalled, rather than new and exciting stuff. That makes a big difference. I think with the fans not getting as much focus, this also led to some (accidental, I hope) hurt feelings. Based on what I've seen from fan reactions, all the talk about hitting the peak of what they can do on youtube and wanting more, translated for many people to 'youtube isn't enough' which became 'you (the current viewers) aren't enough.' Which I don't think was their intent! But I also don't think fans are wrong for feeling hurt by that.

Compare to dropout: They clearly explain how the move will benefit fans, and reassure viewers that existing content will stay where it is, and only new content will be behind the paywall. (Watcher clarified this too, but in a comment. It's not in the video itself, which is a huge problem.) They include clips of several new (at the time) series that would be premiering on dropout, including things that specifically could not be made on youtube (due to weed, violence, and sexual humor), so the reason for the shift is clear to the audience.

Advertisers Both videos contain the sentiment that being monetarily successful on youtube means working to appease the advertisers, and that over time what the advertisers want and what the creators want drifts further and further apart, putting strain on the creators.

However, I think the message gets lost a bit in the Watcher vid. Instead, it leaves viewers with the idea that the main problem is just ads are annoying instead of advertisers putting constraints on content. I'm not even sure what the specific constraints are for watcher, because they didn't give any examples. And the focus on ads being annoying leaves viewers frustrated because people typically either don't mind ads or they already have an ad blocker.

Timing and Size Okay, this isn't exactly about presentation, but it is still a factor that impacts perception so I'm tackling it. And I'm actually going to do dropout first. CollegeHumor launched dropout in September 2018. Pre-pandemic, but also pre-Sam Reich as CEO. The company was still owned by IAC. It was a Company, and while it wasn't huge it wasn't tiny either. So launching dropout was a Company Decision, a Business Strategy. Some people were upset about, but it wasn't a personal betrayal (generally, anyways). If I remember correctly, this was also not a high point for the company. They kinda needed dropout to do well to keep things running smoothly (which is why they shut it down and sold it to Sam just 1 1/2ish years later), so the sudden shift made sense.

Watcher Entertainment is a company, but it doesn't feel like one. Ryan, Shane, and Steven own and operate things, but they're also the faces, and they're youtubers. Which makes every business decision they make feel more personal to viewers, especially those who have been watching for a long time. They've also seemingly been doing well on youtube, which makes it more difficult for viewers to understand why the sudden change is happening now. They do talk a bit about it, about the company expanding and wanting to do things that advertisers don't like (which I've already covered). However, mostly the choice to start a streaming platform is framed as 'the next big step' without much clarification on why it's the next big step. Plus, it's post-pandemic, and a lot of people are still struggling financially with the ripple effects of that. Yes, $6 isn't a wild amount of money, but there have been some months where $5 absolutely meant the difference between paying all my bills or not, and I know I'm not the only one. This, coupled with a lack of clarity about why exactly they're doing this, leads to fans feeling hurt, betrayed, bitter, and frustrated.

Now, presentation and framing isn't everything. No matter how perfect your announcement is, some people are still going to be upset. It's a big change, of course people will be upset! But I do think a more careful presentation would've alleviated some of the hurt and anger that fans are feeling. While I do think a lot of the reaction we're seeing is due to the decision, I think (based on what I've seen) that some of it is also based on the poor communication in the video itself, and that could've been avoided!

So I'm gonna get a little speculative and describe what I would've done. In this hypothetical, they've decided to launch the streaming service and brought me on just for the announcement.

Firstly, switch the title out. If they're married to Goodbye Youtube then add a (and hello...?) after so it's at least obvious they aren't fully quitting. The dark color scheme of the thumbnail fits their regular vibe, but they want everyone to be excited so they should look excited. Next, let's lighten the tone up. Being proud of what they've done so far is great, but we don't need the sentimental music and bittersweetness. Remember, the goal is to get viewers excited about what come's next - so let's focus on what actually comes next! Talk about specific show plans and mention why they wouldn't work on youtube. Then, take some time to reassure the fans. Predict a few likely worries and address them in the video. Acknowledge that it's a big change, that it will take time to get used to, and that not everyone will be onboard, and let the fans know that it's ok if they aren't onboard.

Like I said, this wouldn't fix everything. There are a few differences in between dropout and watcher that don't have anything to do with presentation. Dropout launched with primarily new shows rather than new seasons of existing shows, and they continued uploading to youtube relatively regularly in addition to the content behind the paywall, which I do think went a long way to keeping fans happy. At this point it's unclear if watcher will do either of those or not. But, while I don't think it would fix everything, I do think improved communication in the announcement would've helped.

[narniangirl1994]

Since the tumblr sexyman poll from Twitter was almost entirely animated characters, and I haven't seen a poll here yet about the real life dudes Tumblr has been/is obsessed with, I'm genuinely curious what the result will be...

[progschmog]

Chances are you've seen the Beatles vs. Monkees fight polls circulating around on your dash before, now here's one for the Yesheads out there...

******This isn't a popularity contest. Pick who you think would win.

Feel free to reblog with propaganda!

[that1randomnerd]

I just wanna test something, because I just remembered the debate thing we had in English after reading the script in High School where this question was one we had to debate

[guinevereslancelot]

is there an actual specific reason there's like 10x more ads everywhere in the past few years than there used to be? besides greed, its not like brands were ever not greedy so what actually changed to create the hellscape of ads we're in now?

[secret-third-thing]

I know a lot of y'all like to organize by ship, but I feel like I am more of a non-ship writer, idk. I would still consider that option though!

[mm19throwbacks]

Which one is the hottest advertisement?

I'm actually so curious on what everyone has to say about this! Mine is the Sure ads but I have a feeling i'll be in the minority about that 😅

Oh, here's the Nike ad for referens:

Edit: Bonus: Sure behind the scene

[mechsbrackets]

Who has been nominated so far?

Since we have 48 nominees so far, I'm gonna go ahead and put the list under a cut:

Gunpowder Tim 22 Ashes O'Reilly 18 Mordred 14 The Toy Soldier 14 Loki 13 Jonny D'ville 11 Lyfrassir Edda 10 Nastya Rasputina 9 Ulysses 9 Dr. Carmilla 7 The Aurora 7 Drumbot Brian 6 Raphaella la Cognizi 6 Frankenstein's AI 5 Iphis 5 Marius von Raum 5 Arthur Pendragon 3 Briar Rose 3 Comsat Cheshire 3 Galahad 3 Guinevere 3 Ivy Alexandria 3 Lancelot 3 Majors Hatter & Hare 3 Narcissus 3 Yog-Sothoth 3 Alice 2 Gawain 2 Hereward the Wake 2 Rose Red 2 Scuzz Nishimura 2 Sigyn 2 The Stranger 2 Ariadne 1 Bertie 1 Blogbot 1 Dorian Grey 1 Frankenstein 1 General Snow White 1 Gunther the Octokitten 1 Jack Spratt 1 Orpheus 1 Pellinore 1 Prometheus 1 Stowaway 1 The Moon Kaiser 1 The Octokittens 1 The Rose Reds 1

[elegyofthemoon]

so with that last video, do you think people out there have made conspiracy theories about penacony the way people have made conspiracy theories about disneyland?

how funny would it be if those theories wound up true for penacony

[sukugo]

I THOUGHT HE WAS GONNA WIN ANYWAY😭😭😭😭😭😭

BUT HE DIDN'T AND U WERE COMPLICIT IN HIS FALL

but it's ok, i shall forgive u 🙄 bc ily