With more than 2 million subscribers and a devoted fanbase that spanned from the early 2010s to now, many people might be wondering why Watcher is leaving YouTube. The entertainment media company made a surprising move on Friday, April 19, 2024, which shocked and angered longtime fans.
Watcher Entertainment was founded by Buzzfeed Video alumni Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej. The three had very successful video series at their time at Buzzfeed— with Bergara and Madej spearheading the true crime and paranormal series Unsolved, while Lim partnered with fellow Buzzfeed creators Andrew Ilnyckyj and Adam Bianchi for the series Worth It. Both series garnered more than 2 billion views total. The three quit their full-time jobs as employees at Buzzfeed and were contractors on their respective shows.
At the same time, they announced that they would start their own entertainment company in January 2020. Shane Madej said, “Madej, “Our goal is to provide a really well-rounded entertainment experience that speaks to new and existing fans alike.” Their content was similar to what they had at BuzzFeed. Madej and Bergara started their own paranormal investigations with Ghost Files and Lim continued his food series with shows like Dish Granted.
On April 19, Watcher made a video announcing that they would be leaving YouTube and would be posting their videos on their own streaming platform. Full seasons of new shows will be available only on a new streaming service (watchertv.com) — priced at $5.99/month or $59.99/year. However, Watcher fans were quick to call the creators out about how they were carrying out their plan.
Why was Watcher leaving YouTube in the first place?
Watcher was leaving YouTube because expanding their staff and creating quality content for their viewers. “In terms of where this company is going and where I believe we can be most successful, YouTube is no longer the place for that,” says Lim in the video titled “Goodbye Youtube.”
“From the very start of Watcher, our goal was to make television-quality unscripted content, and while YouTube helped us start that journey, the only way we can fully realize that vision is to do it on our own platform,” Bergara said. “So while it’s scary to leave a place that has been an amazing home to us, we know that this is a risk worth taking, just like leaving BuzzFeed was back in 2019.”
He also pointed out that 50% of their business comes from advertising. “We’re making something for two audiences — we’re making it for fans, all of you out there, and we’re also making it to please the advertisers. It’s difficult to make the stuff that we want to make and also then appeal to the advertisers as well.”
Bergara said, “We really couldn’t be more excited for you guys to join us in this next chapter — hopefully. We’d love for you guys to come along for us. But at the same time, this is our final goodbye to YouTube. And if it’s our goodbye to you — I hope it’s not, but if it is — I do want to say ‘thank you’ for supporting us all along the way.”
Why were fans mad that Watcher is leaving YouTube?
Fans took to the video’s comments and social media to express their anger at Watcher’s decision. One fan said, “gonna be honest, I’ve been watching Ryan and Shane since the beginning of Buzzfeed days. I’ve watched them weekly for YEARS now, but I can’t justify paying for another streaming platform just for Watcher shows. this is really sad 🙁 think you’re gonna lose a lot of your audience tbh.”
“With literally one Youtube poll this entire thing could’ve been avoided” YouTube user @chloehepperle5886 commented. Another pointed out how they couldn’t afford another streaming platform in another country @zarishhassan5286 wrote, “You guys do realise you have an international audience too right? How am i supposed to pay for 6 dollars for a service when after i adjust it to my currency it’s more than the cost of groceries? Your American audience can barely afford it, how will your international audience afford it at all? Did a single critical thought actually go into the decision or did you think your entire audience was American or something?”
How did Watcher respond to fan backlash?
Watcher posted a response video on April 22, 2024 titled “An Update.” “We messed up. A lot of you came forward with extremely valid comments and concerns,” Lim said. “We’ve been reading the things you’re saying and we’re sorry for the way we handled this,” Madej continued. “We understand where you’re coming from and we’re making immediate changes. ”
Bergara affirmed that their fans are the reason why they make their own content and were incredibly grateful for them. “We’re sorry for how we originally delivered our goodbye to YouTube. We were insensitive,” he said. “We did a bad job of explaining the reasoning behind this transition.”
“We didn’t want to compromise our content to ensure they met advertising requirements,” Bergara continued. “And we definitely did not want to lay people off that have brought Watcher to life behind the scenes. And we didn’t want to bring Watcher to a close, which would have happened if we stayed solely on YouTube.”
“That’s why we decided to launch the platform so that we as a company could continue, we could pay our staff fairly, and not only continue to make great content for you but expand with new shows, new voices, all ad-free,” Madej explained.
Watcher explained their compromise where they would publish videos on YouTube a month after it has premiered on the Watcher platform. The trio also explained that people who have subscribed to the new streaming platform can also be fully refunded if they choose to do so.