Inasmuch as I love watching Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, I thought it was a tone-deaf move for them to tell everyone that they are moving all of their content to a different platform with a paywall.
Asking their audience to fund their production costs is cruel. Putting their new content hostage is a huge middle finger to all their fans who moved from Buzzfeed Unsolved to their current Watcher platform.
And it's not like their most funded endeavors are their best. The only reason why I got invested in Buzzfeed Supernatural is because of Ryan and Shane's interactions. I did not care about their gadgets. I just want to see Ryan go mental on ghosts and Shane provoking the elements.
My favorite Buzzfeed Supernatural episode will always be the three-part special in which they go to a priest to seek advice because they are going to go to the Winchester House, the island of creepy dolls, and the Sallie House.
I love the Buzzfeed True Crime episodes more because I am a history buff and a fan of the true genre.
Ghost Files and Mystery Files have their moments, but I feel like the genuine reactions are not there. For Ghost Files, ghost-hunting is going to take a toll and I believe that they were losing their edge even before their move to Watcher. For Mystery Files, while I love most of their topics, I prefer the execution of Buzzfeed: True Crime.
In terms of Watcher content, I love Too Many Spirits, Puppet History, Top 5 Beatdown, and Are You Scared (except for its first season where they were too serious.) Again, I love the interactions between Ryan, Shane, Steven Lim, and Ricky Wang. Of the three, Puppet History is the most elaborate, but it's justified.
In some ways, I wanted the "Goodbye Youtube" post to be some sort of elaborate plot by one of the Puppet History characters to destroy Watcher.
Aside from the aforementioned series, Steven Lim is their resident foodie. Except for Simu Liu, it's hard to book a draw in their food-based series like Dish Granted, Homemade, Grocery Run, and Worth A Shot (Ricky's short-lived cocktail drink series.) This is why I think most of the blame revolves around him since he is seen as the brains behind Watcher's marketing. This is why I get that they are trying to help him find ways to elevate their food content by mixing it with travel.
But if they are asking for financial support via a paywall, maybe this is not a good idea to begin with.
A couple of months ago, WWE conquered a mishap when they tried to push for a Roman Reigns versus The Rock Wrestlemania match even though Cody Rhodes won the Royal Rumble. They listened to their fans, gave The Rock a heel turn, and Wrestlemania XL turned into one of the best wrestling events of all time.
I also remember when lifelong Wondershare Filmora subscribers were given an ultimatum on its product licensing. After receiving backlash, not only did Filmora change what they said, but they also upgraded a lot of their features.
Watcher can either make an elaborate plot from this or just erase this from their annals altogether. With that said, they need to get rid of the paywall thing. Unless their streaming service is going to be Netflix-like, I doubt if this is going to give them the edge in the future.
At the moment, their fans are hurt. They can choose to ignore this, but sooner or later, they have to realize that their 3 million YouTube fans came to their channel because of their interactions.
Watcher gives up one or two videos per week. It's the same thing as Smosh, but Smosh has more channels. Furthermore, there are times when Smosh does it better. Are You Scared can be countered by Reddit Stories. Inside Watcher can be countered by Smosh Mouth. Survival Mode can be countered by well, the Smosh Games channel. And my favorite Too Many Spirits can be a cross between their Reddit Stories and the defunct Eat It or Yeet It series.
Yes, Smosh also has member's exclusive content, but fans can still see most of their content on YouTube for free.
And Watcher gives up one or two videos per week and then wants their fans to watch them via a paywall.
Again, what a tone-deaf move.