I remember when Smosh was only Ian and Anthony · 1:29pm Aug 11th, 2019
I subscribed to Smosh back in 2014 and watched almost all of their content. They were so hilarious AF, especially their yearly Food Battle series and If It Were Real series. Their humor incorporated sexual references and swearing, which was the time when the majority of YouTube channels were personality-based.
In 2015, Smosh added new cast members: Keith Leak, Olivia Sui, Noah Grossman, Courtney Miller, and Shayne Topp. Their type of humor has somehow changed, but I kept watching until Anthony announced his departure in 2017. The reason why he left was because of Smosh being owned by Defy Media, his ideas do not fit the company's standards and had to go through a filter. To simply put, there was a limit to creative freedom.
After Anthony left, Smosh's content didn't have their well-known humor anymore. I unsubscribed at the end of 2017. It was probably due to the fact that several major brands pulled their ads from YouTube, a.k.a. the Adpocalypse.
Demonetization was implemented on videos that contained cussing, adult humor, violence, etc. Thumbnails of some of their videos and its titles were altered to prevent their videos from being demonetized.
At the end of 2018, Defy Media announced its shutdown due to "market conditions that got in the way", leaving Smosh homeless, though they still kicked in by releasing weekly videos.
Anthony revealed his frustrations, along with other YouTubers, about Defy Media's unfair treatment of employees, poor financial management, unrealistic investments, and other shady things. To add insult to injury, he also revealed that he and Ian made no money on the Food Battle game, despite raising $250,000 after starting an Indiegogo campaign for the game.
The following year saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Smosh is now acquired by Rhett and Link's Mythical Entertainment. They have full creative freedom, which is great and I'm happy about it. They also tried various new ideas whilst taking a larger responsibility for it than before. One of those ideas is the podcast called SmoshCast.
Even though I won't subscribe to Smosh again, I wish them the best of luck in the future. Things won't be the same as before, but as long as they're still kicking in and keeping the fun that they have, all power to them.
Never watched Smosh, but good to hear they might be getting some justice.
5103863
Any YouTubers that you watch right now or have watched back then?
5103867
Too many to name, honestly! Think I have about 800+ subscriptions, granted some are small channels or are inactive. My favorite used to be the Angry Video Game Nerd (although I started out watching his Cinemassacre website in 2005 and didn't realize he had a YouTube channel until many years later) but his content has been on a downhill spiral since 2016.
Mostly I veer towards analysis channels that break down media, usually movies, games, and anime.
5103871
Interesting. Most of my subscriptions are music artists who are underrated, who are of the indie genre, and who are not known by many.
5103875
I'll admit I'm a pleb when it comes to music, tend to favor cheesy NewWave and SynthPop stuff from the 80s.
5103881
Synthpop and new wave are undeniably the best genres. Great minds think alike, huh.
I appreciate that there are artists that incorporate 80s style into their music. (The 1975, Shura, LANY, Toro y Moi, Carly Rae Jepsen, Tallulah, Niki & The Dove)