Watcher: Bringing TV shows to YouTube

1. Watcher has mastered the hub and spoke model

When you stumble upon Watcher’s channel, you’ll notice immediately that it’s not quite like other Youtube channels that have random videos with no correlation. Watcher creates thematic, unique shows, including:

• Too Many Spirits: Ryan and Shane read ghost stories and get increasingly drunk

• Ghost Files: Ryan and Shane hunt for ghosts in unique areas around the country

• Survival Mode: Ryan plays a scary game while Shane watches and laughs

• Top 5 Beatdown: Ryan, Shane, and special guests give their top 5 rankings for topics that seem “completely asinine yet somehow garner strong opinions” (such as “Top 5 Himbos We Heart”)

• Puppet History: Shane acts as a puppet and tells real, historical stories to Ryan and a special guest

• Weird Wonderful World: Shane and Ryan explore fun, quirky places around the US.

This approach has 2 key benefits:

1. Hub and spoke model: Watcher is able to generate dozens upon dozens of episodes (the “spokes”) for a given show (the “hub”), so they never run out of content. For example, under their “Top 5 Beatdown” show, they’ve ranked everything from Disney Dilfs to the best fictional foods, the worst ways to die, the “best worst” movies, and more.

2. Familiarity: Fans of Watcher don’t necessarily need to know what each spoke will be about as long as they like the hub. So instead of clicking “Oh hey, here’s a new Watcher video, let me see what it’s about before clicking on it”, fans will think “Oh hey, a new video on that Watcher show I like, let me click on it!” The beauty of this model is that Watcher doesn’t have to make their videos “clickbaity” with flashy titles or thumbnails — they can just create consistent content under their umbrella of “hubs” that people will come back to over and over.

2. Watcher brings television to Youtube

Remember the classic Nickelodeon or Disney shows, like Spongebob, Drake & Josh, and the Suite Life of Zack and Cody? If you’ve seen any of those shows, chances are that their theme songs have been ingrained in your memory. Watcher replicates this model by ensuring that every show has the same intro from Ryan and Shane, as well as the same intro song. This is a subtle technique that creates familiarity, comfort, and, most importantly, habit. As you watch more of Watcher’s videos, your brain remembers their carbon-copy intros, their songs, and all of the repeated catchphrases they use throughout their episodes.

3. Watcher hinges on their dynamic duo

There is one core reason that Watcher attracts some of the most loyal fans on Youtube — people just really love Ryan and Shane’s dynamic. They are genuinely best friends, they talk with each other in their videos (and not to the camera), and their energy is infectious. Watching Ryan and Shane feels like you’re just hanging out with friends. It brings a nostalgic, lighthearted, feel-good vibe that other YouTubers simply don’t have. This dynamic duo also enables Watcher to create much longer videos than others. If you visit Watcher’s channel, you’ll notice that each video is about 20-50 minutes long. This is insanely long for a Youtube video. Yet Ryan and Shane pull it off because people just enjoy “hanging out” with them.