On April 20, 2024, the popular channel Watcher released a video titled “Goodbye YouTube”. In the video, to the immense surprise and disappointment of over 2.8 million subscribers (and, by now, almost the entirety of the internet), the channel’s founders, Ryan Bergara, Steven Lim and Shan Madej, announced that they would permanently move their content to a new, paid platform, and that, after five years, this would be their last ever upload on YouTube.
Three days later, on April 23rd, the same channel released another video, titled “An Update”, addressing the concerns that had been raised about their previous upload. Evidently, the initial announcement and ‘final ever YouTube video!’ did not quite achieve the trio’s desired outcome.
Ryan and Shane in the series, Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime
Watcher was formed in 2019 by ex-Buzzfeed personalities, Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej, and Steven Lim, and has since gained significant popularity through unscripted series such as Ghost Files, Mystery Files and Puppet History. While working at Buzzfeed, Bergara and Madej were particularly known for co-hosting the Buzzfeed Unsolved series, before leaving and joining forces with Lim to launch Watcher.
However, it appears that the trio are prepared to leave behind the channel they have built up over the past five years. The founders announced that they would be moving to a new standalone platform, simply named Watcher, and that, while existing content would still be accessible on YouTube, all new videos including installations of their most popular series’ would only be available to paid subscribers - but don’t worry, the membership fee is only $5.99 per month (or $59.99 per year), not $6! (and yes, that is USD).
“YouTube has never been the perfect fit for us,” says Madej in the announcement video, with the trio citing a lack of finances and wanting freedom from advertisers as their justification for moving to the new platform. Many viewers have however been quick to point out that an overly produced and highly budgeted “Goodbye YouTube” upload may not have been the most appropriate for a channel that is apparently lacking funds, but who are we to say?
The overall reaction to Watcher’s announcement has been less than positive (and understandably so). In the first 24 hours following the upload, the channel lost more than 50k subscribers. Over the following weekend, they dropped another almost 100k.
The comments on the video alone prove how disappointed and upset viewers are. “Scrolled for five minutes trying to find a single comment expressing that this is anything less than a terrible idea. still looking,” says one user - and me too.
Many viewers found humour in the situation, expressing their obvious anger and frustration through sarcasm and deadpan that, personally, made me feel at least a bit better about the situation.
“Ever had a friend that became friends with the popular kids? And suddenly you can’t sit with them at lunch anymore? Or talk to them on the bus? This feels like that,” comments one viewer.
“Rest in peace Shane Madej you would've hated Shane Madej,” says another.
“It's like you helped a friend out emotionally after an abusive relationship just to see them go right back,” reads another comment.
The response across social media echoed a similar sentiment.
“Mystery Files: The Instant Disappearance of The Watcher Audience,” says one user on X. “The next season of Mystery Files will investigate the disappearance of your audience.”
But aside from sarcastic, frankly hilarious comments, several people brought to attention the legitimate concern that many fans had - that, in a world where prices are rising and individuals, especially young people, are already struggling to make ends meet, entertainment and streaming sites such as the proposed Watcher platform simply cannot be a priority.
“Most of your audience are people who are in their 20s,” comments one user, “and seeing how the economy is right now and how expensive everything has been lately, I’m afraid a lot of people won’t be willing/able to add another streaming service.”
In the announcement video, Lim states that they had aimed to set a price where “anybody and everybody can afford it”. If every other comment that had been made in the announcement had not already been disappointing enough, assuming that a fanbase composed primarily of young people already facing immense economic stress and uncertainty can absolutely afford to subscribe to a new streaming site is frankly infuriating.
It seems that Watcher have at least somewhat come to their senses, with the follow-up “An Update” video announcing that all content will still be uploaded to YouTube, however only some time after being shared on the subscription platform. Their response came too late, though, and it is safe to say that the damage done to Watcher’s reputation may be irreparable.
“It's giving Ex that's crawling back after realising they're not as big of a catch as they thought,” reads a comment on the update video.
“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become 3 guys on a couch,” says another.
Ultimately, the Watcher disaster may at least serve as a reminder for all content creators that their fans are, in fact, real people with their own concerns and financial struggles, and that most of us are very much happy to watch advertisements on YouTube rather than pay for another subscription service. In an economic state where many have to decide between paying rent or eating a good meal, entertainment is not even a financial consideration, as great as your videos may be, Watcher - sorry!
Emma Peters is a second-year student at UNSW, currently completing a Bachelor of Media, majoring in Journalism. She is extremely passionate about all things related to pop culture and music, especially K-pop. You can most likely find her singing her heart out at a concert, or otherwise crying her eyes out while looking through concert videos.
