On April 19, 2024, the creators of the YouTube channel “Watcher” announced in a video entitled “Goodbye YouTube” that they are creating an independent streaming service for their videos and will stop posting on the site. This caused immense anger within their fanbase, and the creators had to release an apology video just three days later.
“Watcher” is a YouTube channel started by Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej. All three gained notoriety when they made videos for BuzzFeed, with Steven Lim starring in a food show called “Worth It,” and Bergara and Madej co-starring in a ghost hunting and true crime show called “BuzzFeed Unsolved.”
They started their YouTube Channel together in 2020 after leaving BuzzFeed. Their goal with Watcher was to make content independently and to their standards without being held to BuzzFeed’s decisions or sharing the profit.
When the video “Goodbye YouTube” was released, fans did not take it well. Fans were upset with the insensitive way the video handled it and the high paywall they put on the streaming service to get what used to be free content. They were mainly upset about the implication that their fee of $6 a month was easily affordable to all people, and a loud part of the comment section preferred their lower budget content over their content made with costly production teams.
The creators at “Watcher” felt that they couldn’t make the kind of videos they wanted to make while still being relevant to people buying their ad space. Their videos have become costly as they bring more people onto their production team and begin more extravagant projects. They knew if they didn’t figure out a new way to get an income, they would have to stop their channel or significantly change the unique style of videos they create.
However, it became quickly apparent that this change was not good for their community. To rectify it, on Monday, April 22, they released a video entitled “An Update,” where they apologized for their first announcement. “We have been reading the things you’ve been saying,” Shane Madej said. “And we are sorry for the way we handled this as well as the way we communicated it.”
“We are taking this as a serious learning experience. With that in mind, we’re making some changes to ensure that there’s a way for our community to continue watching our content for free.” Lim stated. Their videos that were already released are going to remain on YouTube. For the foreseeable future, all of their videos will be released on their streaming platform but will be released on YouTube a month later.
The apology video was received by the community much better, and people seem, for the most part, content with this new change and are hopeful for what “Watcher” will create in the future.
