Intermediaries · media company
Watcher Entertainment
Creator owned digital studio · Los Angeles
- Founded
- 2019
- Entered
- 2019
- Status 2026
- Active
- Metro
- Los Angeles
- Embeddedness
- 2 connections
- Confidence
- verified · strongest source trade or financial press
Method
Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej and Steven Lim leave BuzzFeed, where they made Unsolved, and found Watcher in Los Angeles in late 2019 with backing from Neuro, Boba Guys and YouTube co founder Steve Chen, funded by YouTube advertising, Patreon and merchandise. On April 19, 2024 they announce that all shows will move behind a six dollar a month WatcherTV paywall; the channel loses more than 50,000 subscribers in a day and on April 22 the company reverses to a one month early window before free YouTube release. Watcher continues on 8 to 13 million monthly views with Ghost Files and Mystery Files, and spins out a travel channel in May 2025.
People: Ryan Bergara, Shane Madej, Steven Lim
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The path: money and goods moving
- came out ofBuzzFeedRyan Bergara, Shane Madej and Steven Lim leave BuzzFeed's video unit to found Watcher in late 2019.2019
Representation, events, tools
- atYouTubeWatcher announces on April 19, 2024 that it will leave YouTube for a paywall and reverses three days later after losing more than 50,000 subscribers.2024
Sources (trade or financial press): tubefilter.com · en.wikipedia.org