#literally us watching the ads is telling that conpany ‘give this person money’

[theology101]

We DO pay them on YouTube, with ads. We’re giving our time and maybe money (if we buy the products with their codes) in exchange for them making a few hundred thousand dollars. Thats the game. They’re trying to compete for my interest and time on the platform, im trying to spend my time as best as I can. They’re artists but they’re also business owners and they need to recognize the reality of their business and the model they’re in - appeal to your audience.

That’s it. Literally its not that difficult with modern analytics. You look at Ghost/Mystery Files, Puppet History, Too Many Spirits, and you see that they all routinely get views in the millions. For a channel with less then three million subscribers, that is a HUGE engagement rate that other content creators would kill for.

Then you look at the Food videos and they average around 300k. And that’s being GENEROUS. So the fact that they’re going behind a paywall and citing expenses while they’re hiring two more Talent for a food show is kind of a hugely stupid move. They may really like making those food videos but they have a buissness where they need to make responsible decisions. So invest in whats making you money!

And shit, while you’re here, why aren’t they tapping into YouTube shorts? Thats like, what half of the current algorithm is based around - long form content being edited into short funny moments/no context clips encouraging redirects. For a lot of channels I watch and have mentioned shorts (DougDoug, Corey Loses, MattPat), they claim that they easily make up a third to half of their revenue from youtube. With a staff of 25 people, they don’t have anyone who can spend two hours doing that a week?

Also, telling a company “you hired more people then you can support and you have to let people go if you want to stay profitable” isn’t anti-socialist and shows a huge lack of understanding of political theory on your part. Is being left ‘being nice’ to you because charity to a private buisness venture isnt part of any leftist ideology im familiar with. It’s just like… they messed up. Sometimes people lose their jobs and its not their fault but they just never should’ve been hired from the beginning. Watcher went beyond their means and instead of fixing themselves, they begged us to fix it for them while they refused every possible solution.

And more fans are paying them on Patreon - Of which there are three tiers for creators where patreon will take either 5%, 8%, 12%, and only 15.3% tax rate, so they’re getting the majority of that money no matter how you count it - and they got shafted. They’ve been unshafted now, but they were fully justified in being pissed off

“artists wanting a measure of comfort in their lives” stop sucking their dicks and look at their instagrams. They’re fine. They’re living well. They’re not billionaires by any means, but in a country where Middle Class doesnt exist anymore, they’re all rich. Obviously they can’t afford super yachts or to buy apartments for everyone in LA, but right now when I only have to budget out my pantry for one meal a day because i can’t afford more, Six Dollars is a big fucking deal

That being said - chill it on the Stevn talk. I believe he came up with it, just cause he talks like a finance bro and this is one of those moves, but these are three grown men who made this decision collectively. They all looked at the video they made and thought “yeah this is good - and in fact, deserves a count down!”

It was a dumb idea from the get go that, if released in its original form, would have killed their brand permanently

and you know i gotta say. the vast majority of the people losing their shit this weekend made it very clear that they do not understand the difference between "artists who want a measure of comfort in their lives" and "the billionaires actually being targeted by phrases like eat the rich." that is such a weird thing to be so proud to announce to the whole entire internet.

it's also extremely weird to behave as though any individual is entitled to an artist's work for free. or that the audience should be the final say in determining what an artist creates. there is a major difference between the betrayal of an artist who produces art and then banks on their social capital to engage in harmful, violent, bigoted behavior (like jk rowling) and the "betrayal" of an artist who decides that they should be or need to be compensated for their work. the latter isn't actually a betrayal at all. it's just a shift.

the thing is that the watcher boys didn't invent capitalism, they didn't invent the streaming model, they didn't invent youtube or patreon. they aren't getting 100% of the money from either. their merch doesn't magically appear as if made by elves while they sleep. their videos don't happen out of nowhere and without incurring bills. they have a business which employs people, and sure, you can say they employ too many people, but do they actually? a bunch of randos on the internet don't actually know that. they don't know these job titles, or how necessary it is to have everyone there. it's pure speculation. the entire company exists within a system they did not invent and are trying to stay afloat in said system while a bunch of assholes on the internet berate them for not acquiescing to their every whim at the expense of their artistic integrity, their ability to compensate their staff fairly, and their ability to keep making art.

and jumping from "i want to continue enjoying this artist's work for free" to "i think people should be fired and the remaining employees should be given greater responsibilities and more tasks to complete" is wild to me. there's nothing leftist in that and so trying to leverage leftist jargon to prove some sort of moral superiority is fucking wild, it's disingenuous, and it's sketchy as hell. you're allowed to be disappointed. you're not magically exempt from being told you're being an asshole if you decide your disappointment entitles you to take part in asshole behavior.

"but we don't want something heavily produced and we don't want these shows" then don't watch! that's it! don't watch! you are not being held hostage and forced to engage with this content. you have the choice not to. throwing a tantrum and launching racist vitriol at steven lim and demanding he step down as CEO shows a level of entitlement and childishness that, frankly, i wish they could have ignored, but they're both kinder & more patient than i am.

anyway congratulations to watcher on their new streaming service and their gorgeous new website, congratulations to the boys on a new step in their careers and on achieving something they've made clear they've wanted for ages, thank you to the boys for all their hard work and for sharing their creativity with us. thank you too for taking such a big and genuinely brave step to no longer be beholden to major corporations and advertisers so you can make the art you want to make. thank you to steven lim for taking so many steps back to keep the company running and for doing your best in a shit economy and while being targeted by this kind of nastiness online. and thank you to the entire team at @wearewatcher for continuing to do amazing work despite being treated like shit by the fan community at large on the internet while you're trying to make a living and create art. you all deserve better than you've been shown of late and i hate that such an exciting moment got overshadowed by so many temper tantrums.

because the whole fucking point, the dream, is getting to make the art that matters to them, without being held back. i'm sorry y'all don't want the heavily produced and high quality shit but your preferences as a member of an audience are not the law by which artists should abide. they are artists and they are free to, and deserve to, make the art they want to make.