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Watcher Entertainment, the digital media studio, has now shifted from YouTube to its new subscription-based streaming service, made by former BuzzFeed creators, Steven Lim, Ryan Bergara, and Shane Madej.
The trio, known for their popular BuzzFeed shows Worth It and BuzzFeed Unsolved, launched their YouTube channel in January 2020 and generated more than 400 million views on the platform.
On April 19, 2024, they posted a video on their channel with the title, "Goodbye YouTube.” In the video, Ryan explained to viewers:
"From the very start of Watcher, our goal was to make television-quality unscripted content, and while YouTube helped us start that journey, the only way we can fully realize that vision is to do it on our own platform. So while it’s scary to leave a place that has been an amazing home to us, we know that this is a risk worth taking, just like leaving BuzzFeed was back in 2019."
The new service will not feature ads and they have a price point of $5.99/ per month or $59.99 per year. The independent streaming platform went live on Friday.
Watcher Entertainment launches its own subscription streaming service
Watcher Entertainment is a production studio aimed at creating television-caliber, unscripted series in the digital space. They have created 22 original series in the categories of paranormal, food, education, and entertainment.
Steven Lim is the CEO of Watcher and co-founded the channel with Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej. The team of three left Buzzfeed and officially launched their channel on January 10, 2020. In the past four years, they have gained 2.9 million subscribers and posted 376 videos.
They announced on Friday that Watcher is leaving YouTube and will have a new, subscription-based streaming service. Several of their popular series, including Ghost Files, Mystery Files, and Puppet History are set to be made available on the service. Lim talked about their decision on the "Goodbye YouTube" video posted Friday:
"I never thought we’d leave YouTube, so this move to [Watcher’s own] streaming [service] is a bittersweet one. But with the evolution of our content along with the maturation of our fans’ taste, this feels like the best move — putting the future of our company squarely into a platform that allows us to further our relationship with the people who watch and support us."
Beta Members who sign up during the period from April 19 to May 31 will enjoy a 30% discount off the first year and will also unlock the opportunity to revive “a previously discontinued cult-favorite series by members-driven vote.”
The voting selections include Dish Granted, Social Distancing D&D, Spooky Small Talk, and more. The three entrepreneurs explained that they wanted to further build on their content with more revenue than the Google-owned video platform could offer.
The new projects on the Watcher streaming projects include Travel Season, described as a "globetrotting food and travel odyssey" scheduled to begin in Seoul, South Korea. They are also set to release an international episode of Ghost Files for Season 3.
In their latest video, Shane explained:
"In four short years, we’ve built a library of shows that we’re incredibly proud of, and we’ve done it by sticking to our creative values. We intend to keep delivering the world’s best-unscripted entertainment, and the streamer is our way of cutting out the middleman and giving our viewers the opportunity to directly support the stuff they love."
Ryan Bergara added that the channel will remain live on YouTube along with the original backlog of videos.
Additionally, the first episode of each new season of their series will be uploaded to give the fans a glimpse of the same.
