#watcher downfall

[i-live-in-my-bookshelf]

The Ghoul boys betraying their *very* supportive fanbase and pulling out the middle finger in their face makes me physically sick. I was bawling my eyes out yesterday after the news (i already had a shitty week and a shitty day so it was not hard) because It was just a kick in the nuts honestly. I looked at them and saw three guys giving us a fucking act, and I was so mad. Since then I'm not able to look at them the same, and I'm afraid I never be able to watch their videos again like in the past. I only see some man that only wants more money and fame, and would happily throw their fans (who's been there and supportive for years!!) under the bus for a couple of more bucks. This is exactly what happens when regular dudes gets a taste of fame. They WILL fuck shit up just for more. I hate it. I hate them actually. And by the way, I lived through Bon Appétits downfall after that stunt they pulled, and I'm so sad to live it through again.

Ps. I'm mostly mad at Shane because I thought that he's better than this. All men are the same I'm afraid.

[zackbyychocolate]

Watcher needs to take notes on Andrew and Garrett

[thatonegeekygirl]

hey, you there! fellow watcherina!

reblog this if you love ryan, steven and shane, and their art. if you appreciate all the effort and care they've put into their creations over the years. if you are rooting for them. if you see them for the human beings they are. if you remain a fan, and will continue to support watcher!

[thepartyishere]

screaming into the void about this and shoot me if I end up being wrong but Steven Lim getting so much hate for the Watcher news dosen't sit right with me. watcher has 25 employees, he's surely not wholly to blame and being dogpiled by the internet must suck. this is a decision they all made as a company

dont get me wrong watcher is making a horrible mistake to move and paywall their content but it feels wrong for everyone to be saying such mean stuff soley about steven lim

[suetrim]

My favorite comments from watchers goodbye video

Ngl after getting over how sad it makes me there downfall is kinda funny

[kkslicer]

you know what this whole watcher debacle is making me realize, we are NOT in the pages of our children’s history books. we are in the video essays of their favorite commentary youtuber.

[monarchisms]

i just Know that someone on youtube is drafting a video essay on this right now

[multi-babii]

some of my thoughts about this whole mess before I go to sleep

first off all i can see where they are coming from with this decision. it's no secret that youtube is fucking over creators more and more so it makes sense they want to move to a different platform

however the way they announced it was just not it and i think it's the main reason for such a huge negative response

if they introduced this gradually then it would be better. this way we basically loose access to all the new content at once (better solution in my opinion would be to put some exclusive things on the streaming service first and then slowly move there once you're sure the audience will follow)

also almost completely abandoning youtube seems like a bad idea. what about the casual watchers?? or new people?? where are they going to promote now??

also it seems like the details about the streaming service are not set. will they only make 4 new videos a month?? because that really doesn't seem worth it for 6$

not to mention the huge disadvantage for international fans who will have to pay more

also them saying it's just 6$ and that they made it affordable for everyone was not it

over all this either isn't very thought through decision or they are not disclosing all the details which makes them look shady

also the fact that it's basically confirmed they wanted to pull everything from youtube but decided not to after the backlash is truly disheartening

another thing, a lot of people are blaming solely steven for this decision which i think is unfair. just because he is the ceo (which also means he has better knowledge about the overall situation of watcher) doesn't mean he makes all these decisions himself. ryan and shane are still owners too so they have to agree with what is happening with their company. i think it's possible that steven was the one who pushed the decision but i believe he would have a genuine reason for it

lastly i saw a lot of people calling out the fact that shane is very eat the rich and rob the banks type of guy and that this goes against it. IT DOES NOT. THEY ARE NOT RICH. which is the whole reason why this is even happening. this is their job so it's understandable they need to make enough money.

in conclusion, i don't think they made this decision out if greed or anything but unfortunately the way they presented it was very poor and that's why it was taken so wrongly by the fans.

[rustyrainedrops-blog]

It would be kinda funny if in a year or two this thing failed and shane had to get another barista job lmaoo

[pandasaurio-espacial]

The watcher news make me legitimately sad. I understand they need the money and I don't believe it's a move made out of greed. But I don't think it's going to work and it might very well mean the end of the watcher.

[ask-the-grian]

*watcher* remember xelqua, it could be so so easy for us to take you but, we prefer for you to finally stop your tantrum so we don’t have to deal with your constant escape attempts*leaves and the spell on grian comes undone*

*grian hugs himself. Hyperventilating *

PEARL?! SCAR?! JOEL!?

[crowtits]

considering the success of dropout, i'm really excited for watcher to get it's own platform. i think it'll let them be more creative without having to bend to the youtube censors and will perhaps give them more money to make more cool stuff. mostly i just think y'all're being extremely weird about this whole thing

[ashleyisartsy]

Problems (objective and personal) I'm not seeing discussed a lot w this new WatcherTV thing, in no particular order:

-Alienates people internationally who literally CANNOT GET the streaming service!

-Alienates casual fans who don't watch or want to watch all of their shows. Putting down 60 bucks a year to watch just one or two shows is kind of insane, at least for me.

-The volume of content Watcher has produced historically hasn't been enough to justify a separate streamer. I understand there's no way a small team could compete with something like Netflix, obviously, but that's what you're trying to do by putting yourself in the streamer market.

-Will this streamer be secure? What steps are in place to protect your viewers info? ESPECIALLY payment info.

-Will it be easily watchable on multiple devices? I watch YouTube videos on my phone at work 90% of the time, or at home on my TV thru my switch. Is this a browser only deal?

-What are the internet requirements for this? Believe it or not most streaming services won't run on my internet personally. I don't have any for that reason. I can watch YouTube on 360p, or on my 2-bar-reception phone data. Not everywhere has stable reliable internet.

-The suddenness and totality of the move was going to be jarring no matter what, if the idea had been introduced gradually or started as a hybrid model to test audience interest there wouldn't be nearly this amount of pushback.

-I understand the people saying "pay artists!!" Bc I am one, and I get that their quality is expensive and they have a whole company's worth of people to support. I do actually think their work is worth paying for! Everyone's is! But convincing anyone to pay for something they previously got for free is going to be a hard sell. They were still getting paid before, they're now just asking us to pay instead of the advertisers. Idk about you, but that's a way bigger hit to my pocketbook than a multimillion dollar company's bank account.

-I get that YouTube can be a really shitty place to be a creator sometimes, and that being beholden to advertisers is something they don't want to be. It's why they left Buzzfeed! They already have a patreon and merch and it's clearly not been enough for their ambitions. But shooting yourself in the foot because your running shoes are wearing out isn't going to make you a better marathon runner. They had to know that there was going to be a not small portion of their audience unwilling to make this move with them (and again, lots literally aren't able to!)

-If they had a free w/ ads option, or even did a hybrid model with whole shows behind the pay wall, or even just ran a fucking crowd funding campaign to help cover costs of new seasons of shows, any of those things could have worked. They don't even have YouTube memberships turned on, which I've personally seen many many channels do even when they already have a patreon. It really doesn't seem like they've exhausted other options, at least from an outside perspective, which is all we have as viewers!

-I get that this has been in the works for a long time, and that there probably isn't a way for them to back out now. But I hope they can find a way to make this more accessible if they want it to work at all. I truly am not wishing for their downfall, but the whole situation is an awful mess.

Idk, rant over. As a lot of you are I'm feeling very disappointed and upset with this one, and I'm not paying for it either. Hope the boys can salvage this one for their and their crew's sake. Would really hate for this to be the end.

[carpedzem]

i think mcyt cc are playing losing game in how they treat dteam. i think they dont understand that a lot of stans, when they are forced to leave for one reason or another, they do leave mcyt space all together. like the moment shit goes down im not interested in watching people who left dteam and even more im not interested in watching people who were so tryhard to see their downfall. i know it happens sometimes people just switching ccs but even looking at the numbers, mine and craft is not as popular as it was 2 or 3 years ago. and sure the big boom happened during pandemic and we now live in different reality but i think that a lot of people just leaves and when they leave upset, they want it all gone from their lives. like i cant imagine tapping into jm stream after dropping dt like ever. i regularly block and mute ccs that i just dont want to see in my recommendations. there's also a whole thing of how they act in general. its not about that they finally proved to me that dt are evil people but bc how they treated past situations - usually in an awful way

im thinking about it bc i recently watched matpat final game theory and he actually talked about it in his vid. he mentioned how yt is is a game in which everyone can win through collaboration - ironically he even used qsmp as an example! and as contrast he mentioned beauty community that started fighting between themselves to gain viewers and steal them from other youtubers. and by the end every watcher was fed up with this behaviour and they left all together. and i wouldnt be surprised if mcyt wasnt on the same path. people mostly watch ccs for entertainment not to be involved in drama constantly. and when never ending discourse just keep happening they move to another thing that is less draining. and this is what is happening with mcyt. not only dt is losing views but every single cc in that group as well

[aceforwhatevenisthis]

i need everyone who swore off watcher and called for its downfall and acted like watcher committed a war crime to sit down and contemplate what led them to act that way

[jesus-said-chill]

The people wishing on Watchers downfall are so cruel, it’s insane.