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Case Study: Watcher’s Lesson in Listening
The production company faced backlash but heard their audience
Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej have been partners in YouTube production for nearly 20 years. They started their careers at BuzzFeed. The pair’s chaotic comedy turned out to be a hit with fans of true crime and supernatural mysteries.
Steven Lim also started at BuzzFeed, but his expertise was in food shows. His popularity exploded with a travel food show. But like Madej and Bergara, he was tired of not owning the shows that he poured his heart and soul into.
The trio came together and began planning their next venture. They wanted to start a production company where creators were able to do the kind of shows that they wanted to do and own a piece of it, instead of the corporation keeping everything to themselves.
Watcher Entertainment was born in 2019.
As a fellow creator, I watched this process unfold in real time. They were doing everything right, at least what was taught in the business classes that I took.
One of the first orders of business for the newly formed company was to launch a Patreon. This allowed them to get money flowing and start production on new shows.
