So an interesting thing happened this past week and that is videos started showing up on the old “SourceFed Nerd” YouTube channel, but now it is called “NowThis Nerd”. For anyone who does not know around a month ago it was decided by the parent company that “SourceFed Nerd” would be no more and they fired all the staff working on that channel. It seemed that would be the end of that channel and they would move any similar content to a different franchise. Then this past week or two it appears that instead of starting a new channel they are building upon the ashes of the channel that they burned to the ground.
It has been an interesting move because the name and everything just feels like trying to ransack the channel that they just destroyed. Now this is a business so I understand why a decision like this might be made, but I do wonder if it is the best decision that could be made.
Building a New Channel
Now obviously the first thing would be – why you couldn’t build a new channel and advertise it on the old one? Let people know that you have moved this content to a new channel and say we would love to have you join us. It would be polite, but wouldn’t feel quite as much of a betrayal to the original fans of the show. At the same time building a new channel with a new following takes a lot of time and effort. There is not a history of episodes to make money off of and for people to find, as well as the fact that you are having to build a brand new audience. Even if you advertise to the old audience there is no guarantee that anyone will come over to the new channel you created. It does not help if you name the new channel a seeming copy of the old one, but it is potentially difficult to avoid.
Renaming the Existing Channel
The direction that they obviously chose to go is to rename the existing channel and try to build from there. Now this could work because offering similar content does mean that you are offering the information that the current audience wants, but at the same time it is a risk. A lot of times people do not just come for the content, but the people. So to fire the people and build up something new with a new production cast can come across as a little disingenuous. It is probably why someone decided to create a Twitter account using the new name and devote it to bashing the new channel. So far the reaction has been pretty bad from the fans with dislikes and negative comments galore.
Will It Work?
Now the big question is will it work and I think that it eventually will if the content is good. I think they will have lost a ton of people at the beginning who might have eventually watched, who definitely won’t now, but that doesn’t mean that they will not build up new people. Folks who did not watch “SourceFed Nerd” who are already fans of “Now This” might be willing to watch a channel dedicated to nerd news. The question is how long are they willing to hold out and how long with the rage of the fans last. Yes, at first here there is a big backlash, but in a month, three months are people still going to be logging in whenever a video is posted just to bash it? I don’t know.
I just think eventually it will fade and they will be able to distance themselves from this. I do think that there were some bad decisions made that they will cost them a bit and it depends on how long they are willing to hold out to make it work.
Comparative Geeks 