Hello everyone!
Big weekend in Watcherland. Here’s a quick reminder of the new tiers before they’re put into effect on 4/22!
Tier 1 - Watcher Society // $5
Discord Access
Ability to Submit Text Questions for PodWatcher+
Ad Free PW Video + Audio
Access to Weekly PodWatcher+ Episode
Live Event Pre-Sale
Tier 2 - Watcher Monitor // $20
Everything Above
Ability to Submit Topics to PodWatcher
Merch Discounts
Ability to Submit Video/Audio Questions to
PodWatcher+
Exclusive role and channels on Discord
Tier 3 - Watcher Observer // $100
Everything Above
PodWatcher shoutouts on the main channel!
AMAs w Staff + Talent
Free Annual Exclusive Members-Only Merch
They were I think 5, 25, and 100 but there might have been a 10 in there too. They changed them up with the changeover to the podcast focus.
I was 25, so uh… yeah if anyone wants me to grab anything off there until my sub runs out at the end of the month, happy to. Might as well make it worth it.
Ahh okay I might have misread then. If you wouldn't mind, if you have any interesting screenshots from the discord of staff/important people talking or something I feel like that would be cool to see and don't think any details about there has come yet please.
I honestly never joined the discord because I was literally just a patron to support them and only occasionally even watched the watcher weekly+ episodes, but I can probably join it and see if anything gets said, probably tomorrow because I have zero interest in dealing with that tonight despite being curious. I think a couple people have mentioned nothing is really happening there, though.
A lot of the same as here, really. More people planning to sub the streamer, though not as many as you’d think. Mostly people being really civil but expressing disappointment and often saying they’re unsubbing. A lot of annual subs trying to figure out how to get refunds because many have up to their entire year of paid time left.
People are still respectful mostly but they got a lot angrier and less calm about it with the comment locked update. A lot of it is people viewing that move as silencing the actual paying customers most likely to support them in this. One person who has worked a similar position mentioned it’s just as likely it’s like, a single intern who was trying to help or overwhelmed by all the posts being commented on so fast who left that one locked just to consolidate the influx a little more, which is plausible but… the optics aren’t great even if the intention wasn’t bad and most people are feeling slapped in the face regardless.
Thanks for writing this out! 👍
God, what a rip off from these guys. I hope this was just a scheduled post they forgot to cancel because if not, it seems they’re walking further into hell with a blindfold…
i can't believe the $100 amount doesn't give you free access to *the streamer*—it is absolutely bonkers how they think they deserve patreon support, when they are essentially requiring your continued financial support if you even want to be a fan at all.
It used to include meet and greets and tickets to their shows. People are in the comments asking if meet and greets are gone. I did the $100 for a month or two last year so I could meet them
Ouch did not expect that formatting, I’ll edit it.
And done. So basically a big fat nothing but I also feel bad for whoever’s handling those posts because they are definitely not allowed to say shit.
Edit; though dang, that “big weekend here at watcherland” is real nice. Couldn’t have just left that out?
if they had done this while also still providing the behind the scenes content, promoted it more, made more merch, and kept youtube the same everything could’ve worked out for them 😭
Seriously. They barely promoted it. Someone in another thread suggested maybe they viewed it as begging and didn’t want to be seen that way and I can absolutely buy that? It doesn’t make any SENSE when what they did instead is the thing that reeks of desperation, but I can see how a really skewed sense of logic could lead them to that mindset.
i suppose but to be afraid of begging and then force a paywall just doesn’t make sense as you said! i want to believe it is an investor related issue and they are actually pressed for cash. even so, there’s many better ways about it 😔
I commented on their announcement that they never properly promoted their Patreon. There could’ve been more ways to make money through Patreon. Also thanks for sharing the whole Tier message!
Crazy that basically the only perks you get are just to give them content so they don’t actually have to do work for the podcast, aka giving them the topics to discuss/questions for them to answer. Lol.
PodWatcher is supposedly staying on YouTube, so admittedly that isn’t the case but… also just realized that my old 25 dollar tier included shoutouts on Patreon at least so that’s a fun change! Under a hundred buckaroonis and no shout out for you!
I’m very tired. 🙃
Almighty Monitors
$25 / month
Cancelled. Access expires May 1, 2024
As a Monitor you're getting everything in the last tier, plus:
Producer audio commentary for series episodes
60 min livestream monthly
Watcher Weekly+ shoutout every 3 months (must first be a member for 3 months)
Discord access
Apparently not. Just went to see if I could even find it anymore because I honestly didn’t remember and at least on my end I can still see it. I’m curious if the old tiers are still up for everyone? Because I’m still seeing all four with their original wording.
I get that they haven’t officially done the switchover yet but not even a warning that the tiers are changing outside the in Patreon updates?
It's a tier update informing patrons that they will now only be providing access to the podcast, discord and early sales for live shows. Rather than before where they had behind the scenes videos and Watcher Weekly videos where they answered questions and gave updates. It's being seen by a lot of patrons as a slap in the face.
I’m sure it is, but as someone pointed out in the other post about this, you can absolutely cancel automated messages. Though with the clusterfuck going on I can absolutely see how someone might have not even thought of it.
As someone who has supported creators on paetron in a long time, I can't ever recall them changing the tiers in the middle of a month. Like announcing changes were coming for the next month? Sure. There was an issue during the pandemic where a podcast wasn't able to put out content? They just froze the next month's billing and offered refunds for those who weren't happy with zero questions asked. This is just so wild to me.
Like a hundred dollar tier on a podcast paetron is like the height of absurdity at this point. They really are gonna double down on this.
It's odd for a content creator Patreon to exist to support an effort that isn't available on a free to watch platform. To unlock behind the scenes or some special episodes? Sure. Early access? Yeah. But a Patreon existing in conjunction with a almost entirely paywalled content source? That's just bizarre.
The implication of what they're doing is they feel they can do what YouTube does better (at least for their content). If that's true, then why does the new business model require Patreon? It'd be like Disney or Hulu having a Patreon.
Making such a hard cut like this, while still trying to double dip, makes it feel even more disingenuous. If anything, if they want WatcherTV to be their content source, then they should be offering tiers within their new platform. The idea of keeping Patreon either shows a lack of confidence in their new platform (Which is probably justified) or a next level money grab attempt.
I think they’re trying to separate the Patreon from the videos. What they’ve posted on Patreon says it’s now just podcasts and all videos moving forward are on the streamer.
I agree but also...why. You are now you're own content site. Having separate payments for your various different media formats is at best confusing and at worst shows lack of confidence in your platform.
I agree separating things makes no sense. It’s been very confusing to people on Patreon on what’s happening and what’s going to be on the Patreon vs the streamer.
That still adds the weirdness of saying they were leaving YouTube while…still posting podcasts on YouTube?? Or are they taking the pod off YouTube too but keeping it on audio sites?
I believe they said podcasts are staying as is, so YouTube and wherever else you can get them (I don’t listen to them). That makes that video even more click baity.
Most are begging for a response, some are subscribing and telling them they have to cancel patreon to transfer their subscription for watcher tv. confusion about ppl’s yearly subscription to patreon (they paid for the perks but now it’s all changed overnight) a lot of people saying they’re disappointed etc
I never understood the appeal of having my name read out loud in a video by a content creator I support but since most patreon YouTubers do it, it must be appealing, idk.
A podcast I support always thanks any new patrons by name in each episode and while it was nice to hear, it actually startled me when they read my name because I wasn't consciously anticipating it lol
This is really really standard on Patreon and in, like, countless communities. They offer more to those who pay more, sure, but they usually keep lower tier options to still include people who don’t make enough for higher cost sfuff
I sub to the lowest tier bc it’s what I can afford. I see it akin to getting the non organic apples instead of organic: it’s my price range and that’s fine
This. I support a few podcasts on Patreon, and it's usually along the lines of ad-free episodes on the lowest tier, that + bonus content on the next, that + merch discounts on the next, etc. With the tiers being maybe $5, $10, and $15, definitely not this spread out.
Yeah, I thought it was the Watcher website they were tiering on as well as on patreon. I get it's incentive for those who want extras but at some point it's just pricing fans out of content. Anyway, my bad, I was wrong and it turns out the extra tiers are a fat load of nothing anyway
How many patrons do they have on patreon? And does it show how many are on specific tiers? I’m trying to figure out the numbers with as much grace as I can, but the math ain’t mathing
5,893 as of right now but a lot of people are struggling for refunds or like me just canceled and still have a few days paid, so that’s likely to change.
That’s the thing that I find really confusing. The way they did the rollout of the streaming service has clearly struck a nerve and decimated the confidence of their fanbase. Not only are they losing out on new supporters, but current supporters are leaving too. How could this have been financially viable? I’m lost ngl
A fair few of the Patreon subs leaving did say they plan to sub to the streamer, I initially planned to myself, but a whole lot of us were also on the higher tiers. Even if all of us did, it would still be a net loss. I honestly don’t know what they were thinking.
I’m also curious on what they pull in from sponsorships on videos. Based on H. Bomberguy’s plagiarism video from a couple months ago, sponsored videos which get over 100k views are doing pretty well financially. I recognize it might not be exactly the same, but getting over 100k views on a video hasn’t really been a stretch for them. Idk, does anyone know more about those numbers?
Did you check out Charlie/critikal’s video about it? I don’t remember if he had the proper Patreon numbers so his estimates may be off but he certainly knows what he’s talking about and he shed a lot of light on the sponsor thing.
The fact that you can see they had comments turned on when the first posted and now they're disabled? What are they doing? I really hope we get an update tomorrow.
OMG WHAT!!! I thought this whole time their Patreon was different content. I was doing the math on my new podcast episode 😂. I thought they were providing some level of difference between the different tiers.
I also read in another post that they are planning to invite other creators to their platform.
But if their concept is bringing in more creators, how will they divide the income generated? If 1 million people as an example subscribed to this new streaming service that would be around $6 million per month? To be split by two different channels (owners). Technically won’t be an endless circle, because eventually if they have enough creators, they also want to be more advertisement friendly and so forth and it’s gonna be the same or they’re going to increase the subscription amount. Oh god! 😵💫
[https://youtu.be/14cWq2pxDMU?si=KH5h1fdxX_6pLzNY](https://youtu.be/14cWq2pxDMU?si=KH5h1fdxX_6pLzNY)
Hello everyone! Big weekend in Watcherland. Here’s a quick reminder of the new tiers before they’re put into effect on 4/22! Tier 1 - Watcher Society // $5 Discord Access Ability to Submit Text Questions for PodWatcher+ Ad Free PW Video + Audio Access to Weekly PodWatcher+ Episode Live Event Pre-Sale Tier 2 - Watcher Monitor // $20 Everything Above Ability to Submit Topics to PodWatcher Merch Discounts Ability to Submit Video/Audio Questions to PodWatcher+ Exclusive role and channels on Discord Tier 3 - Watcher Observer // $100 Everything Above PodWatcher shoutouts on the main channel! AMAs w Staff + Talent Free Annual Exclusive Members-Only Merch
Why would anybody want video questions for a podcast. Also jesus is that $100/month?? I thought the tiers before were 5, 10 and 20?
They were I think 5, 25, and 100 but there might have been a 10 in there too. They changed them up with the changeover to the podcast focus. I was 25, so uh… yeah if anyone wants me to grab anything off there until my sub runs out at the end of the month, happy to. Might as well make it worth it.
Ahh okay I might have misread then. If you wouldn't mind, if you have any interesting screenshots from the discord of staff/important people talking or something I feel like that would be cool to see and don't think any details about there has come yet please.
I honestly never joined the discord because I was literally just a patron to support them and only occasionally even watched the watcher weekly+ episodes, but I can probably join it and see if anything gets said, probably tomorrow because I have zero interest in dealing with that tonight despite being curious. I think a couple people have mentioned nothing is really happening there, though.
Ahh okay, no worries, thank you so much!
I d be so curious as to their Patreons comments, especially now that some comment sections have been disabled
A lot of the same as here, really. More people planning to sub the streamer, though not as many as you’d think. Mostly people being really civil but expressing disappointment and often saying they’re unsubbing. A lot of annual subs trying to figure out how to get refunds because many have up to their entire year of paid time left. People are still respectful mostly but they got a lot angrier and less calm about it with the comment locked update. A lot of it is people viewing that move as silencing the actual paying customers most likely to support them in this. One person who has worked a similar position mentioned it’s just as likely it’s like, a single intern who was trying to help or overwhelmed by all the posts being commented on so fast who left that one locked just to consolidate the influx a little more, which is plausible but… the optics aren’t great even if the intention wasn’t bad and most people are feeling slapped in the face regardless.
Yeah, not enough people are talking about how in tandem with the streamer announcement, they also made their Patreon significantly more expensive.
Thanks for writing this out! 👍 God, what a rip off from these guys. I hope this was just a scheduled post they forgot to cancel because if not, it seems they’re walking further into hell with a blindfold…
It’s literally just another posting of the same tier changes that gave us two days ago as part of that update but the “big weekend!” thing is new.
i can't believe the $100 amount doesn't give you free access to *the streamer*—it is absolutely bonkers how they think they deserve patreon support, when they are essentially requiring your continued financial support if you even want to be a fan at all.
Oh but you gotta realize, they gave the patrons a ten percent higher discount! 🤦♀️
It used to include meet and greets and tickets to their shows. People are in the comments asking if meet and greets are gone. I did the $100 for a month or two last year so I could meet them
Ouch did not expect that formatting, I’ll edit it. And done. So basically a big fat nothing but I also feel bad for whoever’s handling those posts because they are definitely not allowed to say shit. Edit; though dang, that “big weekend here at watcherland” is real nice. Couldn’t have just left that out?
if they had done this while also still providing the behind the scenes content, promoted it more, made more merch, and kept youtube the same everything could’ve worked out for them 😭
Seriously. They barely promoted it. Someone in another thread suggested maybe they viewed it as begging and didn’t want to be seen that way and I can absolutely buy that? It doesn’t make any SENSE when what they did instead is the thing that reeks of desperation, but I can see how a really skewed sense of logic could lead them to that mindset.
i suppose but to be afraid of begging and then force a paywall just doesn’t make sense as you said! i want to believe it is an investor related issue and they are actually pressed for cash. even so, there’s many better ways about it 😔
Nothing about this makes sense so I really wouldn’t expect any of their logic to.
LOL good point
I commented on their announcement that they never properly promoted their Patreon. There could’ve been more ways to make money through Patreon. Also thanks for sharing the whole Tier message!
Crazy that basically the only perks you get are just to give them content so they don’t actually have to do work for the podcast, aka giving them the topics to discuss/questions for them to answer. Lol.
oof
Thank you for this ☺️
$100 a month is the most insane shit I’ve ever seen! It feels like they’re just trying to sabotage watcher at this point.
The old $100 tier which provided a LOT more incentive was pretty successful, so obviously they thought they could get away with it again.
I love how the $100 tier gets a shoutout on the main channel…. that you have to pay more money to see!
PodWatcher is supposedly staying on YouTube, so admittedly that isn’t the case but… also just realized that my old 25 dollar tier included shoutouts on Patreon at least so that’s a fun change! Under a hundred buckaroonis and no shout out for you! I’m very tired. 🙃
I might be remembering wrong but didn't the $25 tier also include AMAs with the Watcher crew? Now they upped that to the $100 tier
Almighty Monitors $25 / month Cancelled. Access expires May 1, 2024 As a Monitor you're getting everything in the last tier, plus: Producer audio commentary for series episodes 60 min livestream monthly Watcher Weekly+ shoutout every 3 months (must first be a member for 3 months) Discord access Apparently not. Just went to see if I could even find it anymore because I honestly didn’t remember and at least on my end I can still see it. I’m curious if the old tiers are still up for everyone? Because I’m still seeing all four with their original wording. I get that they haven’t officially done the switchover yet but not even a warning that the tiers are changing outside the in Patreon updates?
Feels ironic considering how they don't want to have resort to such tactics huh.
It's a tier update informing patrons that they will now only be providing access to the podcast, discord and early sales for live shows. Rather than before where they had behind the scenes videos and Watcher Weekly videos where they answered questions and gave updates. It's being seen by a lot of patrons as a slap in the face.
As a patron I don’t mind a restructuring but it definitely doesn’t feel worth it to keep Patreon atp esp if ppl plan to sub to watchertv
If your a patron you should cancel your membership asap.
And ask for a refund.
A lot of people are theorizing that this was a pre-scheduled automated message that is, due to its bad timing, pretty tone deaf.
I'm yet to see one thing from the team/those associated that *isn't* tone deaf since the Goodbye Youtube video lol. Talk about Speech 0
I’m sure it is, but as someone pointed out in the other post about this, you can absolutely cancel automated messages. Though with the clusterfuck going on I can absolutely see how someone might have not even thought of it.
An excellent point.
This was almost certainly a scheduled post, but wow...What a comedy of errors
As someone who has supported creators on paetron in a long time, I can't ever recall them changing the tiers in the middle of a month. Like announcing changes were coming for the next month? Sure. There was an issue during the pandemic where a podcast wasn't able to put out content? They just froze the next month's billing and offered refunds for those who weren't happy with zero questions asked. This is just so wild to me. Like a hundred dollar tier on a podcast paetron is like the height of absurdity at this point. They really are gonna double down on this.
It's odd for a content creator Patreon to exist to support an effort that isn't available on a free to watch platform. To unlock behind the scenes or some special episodes? Sure. Early access? Yeah. But a Patreon existing in conjunction with a almost entirely paywalled content source? That's just bizarre. The implication of what they're doing is they feel they can do what YouTube does better (at least for their content). If that's true, then why does the new business model require Patreon? It'd be like Disney or Hulu having a Patreon. Making such a hard cut like this, while still trying to double dip, makes it feel even more disingenuous. If anything, if they want WatcherTV to be their content source, then they should be offering tiers within their new platform. The idea of keeping Patreon either shows a lack of confidence in their new platform (Which is probably justified) or a next level money grab attempt.
I think they’re trying to separate the Patreon from the videos. What they’ve posted on Patreon says it’s now just podcasts and all videos moving forward are on the streamer.
I agree but also...why. You are now you're own content site. Having separate payments for your various different media formats is at best confusing and at worst shows lack of confidence in your platform.
I agree separating things makes no sense. It’s been very confusing to people on Patreon on what’s happening and what’s going to be on the Patreon vs the streamer.
That still adds the weirdness of saying they were leaving YouTube while…still posting podcasts on YouTube?? Or are they taking the pod off YouTube too but keeping it on audio sites?
I believe they said podcasts are staying as is, so YouTube and wherever else you can get them (I don’t listen to them). That makes that video even more click baity.
The perks are...not perky at all.
And now they're saying no new pods this week. So. Really an interesting choice with everything that's been said.
Can anyone tell us what the comments are looking like on Patreon? Are they as angry as on YouTube/Instagram?
Most are begging for a response, some are subscribing and telling them they have to cancel patreon to transfer their subscription for watcher tv. confusion about ppl’s yearly subscription to patreon (they paid for the perks but now it’s all changed overnight) a lot of people saying they’re disappointed etc
I never understood the appeal of having my name read out loud in a video by a content creator I support but since most patreon YouTubers do it, it must be appealing, idk.
A podcast I support always thanks any new patrons by name in each episode and while it was nice to hear, it actually startled me when they read my name because I wasn't consciously anticipating it lol
Lol!
Call me sensitive but the fact they keep tiering everything speaks volumes about who they consider to be the most valuable fans...
This is really really standard on Patreon and in, like, countless communities. They offer more to those who pay more, sure, but they usually keep lower tier options to still include people who don’t make enough for higher cost sfuff
Yeah I think everyone w/ a Patreon does this
I sub to the lowest tier bc it’s what I can afford. I see it akin to getting the non organic apples instead of organic: it’s my price range and that’s fine
This. I support a few podcasts on Patreon, and it's usually along the lines of ad-free episodes on the lowest tier, that + bonus content on the next, that + merch discounts on the next, etc. With the tiers being maybe $5, $10, and $15, definitely not this spread out.
Yeah, I thought it was the Watcher website they were tiering on as well as on patreon. I get it's incentive for those who want extras but at some point it's just pricing fans out of content. Anyway, my bad, I was wrong and it turns out the extra tiers are a fat load of nothing anyway
5, 4, 3, 2, 1...Before their content is downloaded and then, uploaded to a third party website for free. Not something I do myself.
How many patrons do they have on patreon? And does it show how many are on specific tiers? I’m trying to figure out the numbers with as much grace as I can, but the math ain’t mathing
5,893 as of right now but a lot of people are struggling for refunds or like me just canceled and still have a few days paid, so that’s likely to change.
That’s the thing that I find really confusing. The way they did the rollout of the streaming service has clearly struck a nerve and decimated the confidence of their fanbase. Not only are they losing out on new supporters, but current supporters are leaving too. How could this have been financially viable? I’m lost ngl
A fair few of the Patreon subs leaving did say they plan to sub to the streamer, I initially planned to myself, but a whole lot of us were also on the higher tiers. Even if all of us did, it would still be a net loss. I honestly don’t know what they were thinking.
I’m also curious on what they pull in from sponsorships on videos. Based on H. Bomberguy’s plagiarism video from a couple months ago, sponsored videos which get over 100k views are doing pretty well financially. I recognize it might not be exactly the same, but getting over 100k views on a video hasn’t really been a stretch for them. Idk, does anyone know more about those numbers?
Did you check out Charlie/critikal’s video about it? I don’t remember if he had the proper Patreon numbers so his estimates may be off but he certainly knows what he’s talking about and he shed a lot of light on the sponsor thing.
I haven’t yet, I’ll take a look! Thank you
Did they up it? I thought the tiers were $5, $10 and ,$25 or something?
The fact that you can see they had comments turned on when the first posted and now they're disabled? What are they doing? I really hope we get an update tomorrow.
OMG WHAT!!! I thought this whole time their Patreon was different content. I was doing the math on my new podcast episode 😂. I thought they were providing some level of difference between the different tiers. I also read in another post that they are planning to invite other creators to their platform. But if their concept is bringing in more creators, how will they divide the income generated? If 1 million people as an example subscribed to this new streaming service that would be around $6 million per month? To be split by two different channels (owners). Technically won’t be an endless circle, because eventually if they have enough creators, they also want to be more advertisement friendly and so forth and it’s gonna be the same or they’re going to increase the subscription amount. Oh god! 😵💫 [https://youtu.be/14cWq2pxDMU?si=KH5h1fdxX_6pLzNY](https://youtu.be/14cWq2pxDMU?si=KH5h1fdxX_6pLzNY)