YouTube channels that declined (and channels that stayed strong)

[lestagio]

What YouTube channels were good years ago, but aren't very good now? Just channels that fell to corporations and money instead of fun, or fell to what people call the "Mr Beastification" of YouTube.

For me, Game Theory is one of the biggest contenders. I used to like watching the videos in the background, but then they sold out and MatPat left and it's never been the same... it started to hit a decline when it was more about lore analysis than actual ridiculous science behind things, but it was still fun. Mark Rober is another big one for me. The videos always felt like they were for all ages and had actual good, fun science behind them. Mark broke down the science well for younger viewers but it was still entertaining. But in the past few years, he's fallen probably the absolute WORST to the Mr. Beast feel. I recently clicked one of his videos and it starts with yelling, fast cuts, previews of the video... Just bullshit and it's really unfortunate.

Hell, Mr. Beast honestly wasn't all that bad 4-5 years ago. I never was a big fan since the videos were still a bit more kid oriented, but the videos were watchable. But once he became the Youtube guy and super rich, he's become intensely grating to watch.

One of the few channels that I feel has stayed true always is VideoGameDunkey. His content and humor has stayed the same for 10+ years. True, some of the new videos aren't quite as good as they used to be, as many of them are just gameplay videos with jokes, but they're still generally pretty funny. Likely due to him having a child and starting his publishing company, but Animal Well was really good. I don't think he's really outright "declined" though. It just feels like he oscillates between lower quality, joke videos with a well thought-out one once a month, which is fine.I also find it nice that his video format has stayed pretty short for the most part, instead of chasing the 10 minutes all the damn time. And he still occasionally releases a good review or short satirical video essay that I always find has a good message below all of the jokes. Just a genuine, funny channel all around.

 

[MorriganW0lf]

Smosh...when it was all about home made sketches with those two dummies it was awesome... not so much today with a whole crew & Morning tv talkshow games.

I still remember when youtubers were affraid of saying they had monetization on because people would say they were selling out, but these days..."Topic that you were here for but...have you heard about this company that gave me money to promote them?"

And one that has stayed strong in my eyes...markiplier is largely the same, still cracks me up, big movies & all.

 

[Tsukishima]

SomecallmeJohnny, my beloved.

I love the man. Not only does his age and mental perspective click so well with me alongside his sense of humour, I've seen so many of his older, and I mean OLDER videos and they still click so damn well. His "FUCK YOU, ECCO!" lives in my brain rent free and instinctively triggers like a Yu-Gi-Oh trap card whenever I see a dolphin.

His recent videos are still an absolute blast to this day, and daresay there's hardly a bad one. His FF marathon is one of the greatest things I've ever watched on Youtube.

I honestly believe Videogamedunkey donwgraded after time. He's such a far cry from his Final Fantasy VII video, his low quality rapid fast uploads have lost all luster of what used to be "Oooh nice! A Dunkey upload!"

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

JonTron, man... its decline and constant lack of focus is a proper tragedy.

 

[lestagio]

JonTron, man... its decline and constant lack of focus is a proper tragedy.

Ooh, yup, that one still hurts.

I honestly believe Videogamedunkey donwgraded after time. He's such a far cry from his Final Fantasy VII video, his low quality rapid fast uploads have lost all luster of what used to be "Oooh nice! A Dunkey upload!"

Fair, as I said I don't think he's quite as good as he used to be, but I do find it to be quite a treat when maybe once a month or so, there's a short video packed with good editing and is just funny all the way through. The "Best of Year" videos are great, and his reviews are still great always.

Also he DID say that he was done with making good videos, so can we blame him? (/s)

 

[bombatomba77]

It's funny to look back at channels like Spoony or even better, JonTron, who used to be these giants in their own day. I used to say the whole "Well, now you're just getting sassy with me, that's going to be two kisses now! See what happens when you sass me?" with my kids when they were little.

For staying strong I think there could be a lot of examples. PeanutButterGamer or SplatterCatGaming have stayed strong for a long time, but I'd like to mention Ashens. Stuart Ashen has been going strong for 20 years at this point, sticking with his "tat" coverage as well as some supliments (and movies) as well as his holiday Advent Calendar with NerdCubed since 2018.

EDIT: Oops! Almost forgot the Ashen's video!

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

I think CallMeKevin has aged surprisingly well for a gaming channel with daily uploads — his evident fun is infectious!

 

[Luxfin]

Chuggaconroy, Despite the facts that Let's Plays has largely fell out favor for the majority. Emile still kept going and mostly stayed the same despite doing Let's Plays for nearly 20 years. Still an inspiration for me in value of content that I want to make eventually.

 

[Nebulon_Galaxy]

Chuggaconroy, Despite the facts that Let's Plays has largely fell out favor for the majority. Emile still kept going and mostly stayed the same despite doing Let's Plays for nearly 20 years. Still an inspiration for me in value of content that I want to make eventually.

I binge his old stuff. Cause they were so short but for some time now his videos are like hour long each. Not bad or anything just god damn long! The Runaway Guys trio is still something I watch religiously.

 

[dr grim]

JonTron, man... its decline and constant lack of focus is a proper tragedy.

this one hurts, i loved jonTron, his gaming reviews... had so many laught..

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

this one hurts, i loved jonTron, his gaming reviews... had so many laught..

I still watch some of his media reviews when I'm feeling down...

I get that YouTube has proven to be a bitch when it comes to showing ANY footage, but still...

 

[Vardalis]

It's funny to look back at channels like Spoony

This one will never not hurt. Genuinely one of the best of the TGWTG crowd and still watchable now.

 

[nunchuk28]

copout answer but lets play channels as a whole have just been outshined by livestreams and "funny reaction" cam videos a bit before that. Even with that asides a lot of them had some dubious humor that hasn't held up well (it was very common to use the term "rape" whenever something was beaten back in 2006 till the early 2010s), some personalities also haven't been the most likeable as time went by. I used to watch BrainScratchComms and at some point Ryan, Lewis and Ted all started to feel unbearable to listen to anymore, Johnny has his moments but his review channel is still pretty good (his personal LP channel suffers similar issues with Elliot being overly loud and obnoxious and Matt coming out as an ass at times as well).
Nostalgia Critic as a whole is something I look back with a lot of cringe nowadays, even his gold era stuff is pretty awful to rewatch, just a man making very basic commentary over a film/cartoon and screeching every now and then, it's just not endearing.
James has outlived the AVGN as well, while reading he was never that into videogames and a lot of videos are based on Mikes experiences, and a lot of the humor is very juvenile and not as funny as you get older, I still feel most of the videos until he returned from making the film had some entertainment value, I think after that I only got enjoyment from the accesory videos like the ones for the GB and tiger electronics and Earthbound, everything else felt like James doing the bare minimum to get his paycheck, which I guess it's sorta relatable as an adult but why would I waste my time watching his content if it's not good?
And then we have Ashens who somehow is still great after 20 years of content, if there's such a thing as an afterlife I feel that man deserves a place in the pantheon of comedy, truly a brilliant and charismatic fellow.
I'd say mega64 is still good too, but their main caveat, the skits, come out every blue moon nowadays and I don't blame anyone whose not too interested in their podcasts or patreon content (although the Room livestreams were legendary events), so I can see why they'd have fallen off to some.
I also loved justapancakes videos, I'm not crazy for Kingdom Hearts but the videos very much felt like a guy poking fun at the series out of love from it and not an outsider that just wants to hate on something they never even played, the tts deliveries with cheap cutout characters and very dry sense of humor just hit my funny bone like little else, but they guy seemingly retired, really was hoping he would come back to make a video when Sora was announced for Smash.
I've been getting into Vinesauce recently and the guy also seems to have stayed consistent throughout the years of content he produced.