Watcher’s Move Off YouTube to Paid Streaming Service Sparks Angry Fan Backlash

variety.com:

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Watcher Entertainment has drawn millions of fans for their unscripted and comedic videos on YouTube — and now the studio’s three creators have drawn the ire of a significant number of them.

On Friday, Watcher, formed in 2019 by former BuzzFeed hosts Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej, announced that going forward, 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.

They said they’ll still upload the first episodes of new seasons of shows like “Ghost Files,” “Mystery Files,” “Road Files” and “Puppet History” (and the archive of existing videos will remain on YouTube).

The announcement did not go over well. Watcher’s move to a $6-per-month paid subscription elicited a range of mostly negative reactions from Watcher fans (or, perhaps, now-former fans) spanning anger, incredulity, sarcasm and sadness — as well as calls to reverse the decision. “Mystery Files: The Instant Disappearance of The Watcher Audience,” one commenter wrote in reply to the trio’s X announcement.