In 1998 France won the FIFA World Cup and adopted the mantra, “On ne change pas L’equipe qui Gagne (don’t change the winning team)”. They went on to win the Euro 2000. Basically, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. The creators of Puppet History, owners of the YouTube channel Watcher, have decided to go against this unspoken contract.
The YouTubers Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej announced that future episodes of their show will exclusively be available on their new streaming platform. Not only that, accessing content on the streaming service will require fans to part with $6/month. Well, the fans voted with their feet (more of fingers), and the creators lost 50,000 YouTube subscribers in a day.
Puppet History is a YouTube game show, created by Shane Madej and brought to life by Madej, Bergara, and Lim. It debuted on the Watcher Entertainment channel on YouTube in January 2020. The educational game show features 2 guests competing to be crowned as the History Master.
Since its launch, Watcher Entertainment’s YouTube channel has grown to reach 400 million views and over 2.9 million subscribers. In total, they have shared 376 videos and created 22 original series.
Going forward, the Watcher’s new platform will host their popular original series like Ghost Files, Mystery Files, Puppet History and more. Currently, it is in a beta period until May 31st. Lim, alongside his former Worth It colleagues Andrew Ilnyckyj and Adam Bianchi, are expected to be the platform’s debutants. They will air a new food show called Travel Season.
Leaving YouTube is a peculiar move and we will observe if the subscriber’s hemorrhage continues as the news spreads. At the time of writing the subscriber count stands at 2.86 million. However, for sharing videos, there exists no other platform as rewarding as YouTube. This is a fact that even Jimmy Donaldson AKA Mr. Beast, the highest-earning YouTuber, has admitted to.
Number of Users on YouTube
YouTube allows everyone to become popular overnight. This is because over 2.70 billion people worldwide use YouTube per month. It is the world’s second biggest search engine and users spend an average of 19 minutes daily on it. In addition, the number of channels is growing, with 500 hours of video being uploaded every minute.
So, people are already on the platform and can easily find content from all creators. Moving your fans can be risky business. In the USA, YouTube Premium costs $13.99 per month for individuals, and $18.99 per month for iOS users. This is more than the $6 Puppet History creators want viewers to pay. However, they get so much more content on YouTube. In Kenya, for USD 3.80 (KES 499.00) per month, one can access YouTube Premium which comes with no ads. Remember, if you are willing to have the slight inconvenience of ads, the platform is free.
While content is King, YouTube remains the prime seat at the royal court of creators. Furthermore, Watcher already has a three-tier paid offering on Patreon ($5, $10 or $25 per month) with varying levels of perks, such as 24-hour early access to new episodes. However, the creators claim a subscription service will enable expansion in content creation. For example, “Ghost Files” will be traveling to the U.K. in upcoming episodes. We will keep an eye on the news and see how the Watcher’s bold move turns out.
